Ghana’s religious tolerance under siege?

On Friday, February 20, 2015, the Muslim Community in the Western Region embarked on a peaceful walk dubbed “March and Rally for Freedom”.

It was held, principally, to draw the attention of the nation, especially its peace-loving people, to the human rights violations the Muslim Community was suffering in the hands of some individuals and institutions.

The demonstrators later presented a petition to the President through the Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo.

Immediately after the peaceful demonstration, the government issued a statement condemning school heads who breached the constitutional freedom of religion.

Government’s commitment

According to the Muslims, the action by the government indicated its commitment to the rule of law and readiness to defend the Constitution.

“The fairness with which the Ministry of Communication handled the situation underscores the government’s commitment to national issues and good leadership style, they asserted.

They also stated, “This will go a long way in promoting the peace and tolerance between the leadership of the country and its citizens across different cultures, political opinions and religious beliefs”.

It was probably good the government came in quickly to douse what was emerging as a flame of religious intolerance.

Ever since Ghana attained nationhood 58 years ago, she has always been hailed as a very peaceful country where people of different ethnic, religious and political persuasions have agreed to live together as one people.

There might have been a few skirmishes here and there along the line but the unity of Ghana has never been threatened as to attract the attention of the outside world, even  our neighbours.

It is ,therefore, a big surprise that in recent times there have been reports of protests from some Muslim Communities over the treatment of their members by some individuals and institutions.

These protests have to do, especially, with some schools refusing to allow Muslim girls to wear the hijab to school. The hijab is a typical Muslim wear that covers the upper part of the body leaving only the face.

It has also been reported that WAEC has always refused to accept pictures of Muslim girls who wear the hijab, since, according to WAEC, a passport picture must show the ear and some parts of the face and parts of the hair for it to be accepted.

Recent development

I know the wearing of the hijab by Muslim girls, especially, is a recent development. I am saying this because it is only in recent times that many Muslim parents have allowed their daughters children to go to school. The number actually keeps growing. With so many Muslim teachers having lived and studied in some Arab and Islamic states, one should expect these teachers to encourage Muslim girls to behave like their counterparts from other parts of the Muslim world. 

The wearing of the hijab may be intimidating to the non-Muslim, looking at the number of Muslim girls enrolled in our public schools, but as far as the Muslim Community is concerned that is the vogue, that is the order of the day.

It is, however, unfortunate that it is this recent development, that is the wearing of the hijab by Muslim girls that appears to be setting the Muslim Community and some institutions on a collision course.

Over the years, Muslims and Christians in Ghana have been living in unity as brothers and sisters. It will be difficult to find any country that is so tolerant like Ghana when it comes to religion.

It must be admitted that the Christian population is more than that of the Muslims. Despite the advantage, I wonder if the Christians over the years have tried to lord it over the Muslims to such an extent as making the Muslims feel inferior.

I know in the past, Muslim parents did not like to enroll their children in public schools which were dominated by Christians. 

This was because whatever was taught was geared towards the children becoming good Christians. No provision was made for the Muslim student. 

It is for this reason that Muslim parents did not encourage their children to attend these public schools for fear that their children would be converted into Christianity.

At that time, there was even no talk of the Muslim girl, they were only prepared for marriage at a very early age.

Not that Muslims did not know the value of education but it was mainly this fear of conversion of their children to Christianity that kept them at bay.

Those who still wanted their children to have some form of Western education sent them to private English –Arabic schools which appeared to lay emphasis on Islam, Arabic and the teaching of the Koran.

Some of us were lucky to be sent to public schools in the early ’50s. It is very true we were not treated differently from the other pupils who were mainly Christians. We were made to learn the Christian doctrine and there was nothing we could do about it. Even we were forced to attend church services on Sundays since failure to do this would lead to caning on Mondays.

My father had no choice but to allow me to go through that experience since he was determined to give me sound education. Thus at the Salvation Army Primary School at  AshTown and the St Paul’s R/C Middle School at Amakom, both in Kumasi, I was the only Muslim pupil before two others joined me at St Paul’s.

It was the same in  secondary school where Muslim students were made to participate in all activities including morning devotion alongside the Christian students. But during Ramadan fasting, some of the schools arranged special meals for Muslim students.

One can say that until the coming of Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings, Muslims in general were not given any preferential treatment.

Muslims were only given permission to attend prayers during Id-el-Kabir and Id-el-Adha festivals and return to school or their workplace after the prayers.

Fortunately, all that changed under Rawlings, who first allowed Muslims holiday on their festive occasions before these special occasions, that is the Id-el-Kabir and Id-el-Adha, were declared national holidays.

I was not in the country when this happened but I never heard of any protests from the Christian quarters over the new arrangements. 

Since then, there has been cordial relationship between Christians and Muslims in Ghana.  Many Christians join their Muslim friends during Muslim festivities while Muslims also join their Christian friends during Christmas and at New Year to celebrate together.

Living in unity

At the national level, over the years, but especially, during the Fourth Republic, all our Presidents ( and all have been non-Muslim) have always joined the Muslims during their Id prayers at the Independence Square and addressed the congregation.

During national events such as Independence celebrations, Muslim and Christian leaders sit side by side to mark the occasion. I remember when President Atta Mills died, the National Chief Imam, Shehu Usuman Sharubutu and the Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Mission, Dr Wahab Adam, joined the Christian clergy at the funeral. What better way to promote religious tolerance and promote national cohesion!

In fact, at T.I Ahmadiyya, the practice as I got to know, was for the Lord’s Prayer and the Fattiha to be recited at morning assembly. Christians are allowed to practise their religion, while Moslems who are not Ahmadis are not forced to go to the Almadiyya Mosque for prayers.

When one looks at all this, it is unfortunate that in the past few weeks, the impression is being created as if there is a religions war in Ghana, with the problem receiving some mention in the BBC and VOA.

As one religious leader said, there must be some sort of dialogue among both the religious and political leaders to have a permanent solution.

Ghana is not in a religious crisis. The jaw-jawing must therefore stop.