When I relayed the
matter to the diligent painter, his response was not only funny, but surprising
as well. Not forgetting the fact that it was an apt and a very logical answer.
This painter responded in Hausa “Ni waawa nei, ko hankali na baashi gida nei?
Kana kashe dan uwa na, kana baani abinchi?” (To wit; am I a fool or am I a
non-compos mentis, you are killing my brother and you are feeding me?)
The issue he was
responding to was the donation of 200 kilograms of rice and sugar each to the
National Imam of Ahlu-Sunna wal Jamah (according to them, to support the Nima
community and the Muslim community in Ghana in their Ramadan fasting) by the
Israel embassy on the 11th of July, 2014. The presentation was done by the
Deputy Ambassador of Israel, Eyal Lampert.
The first time I
also heard it, I got shocked to the marrow and the erectile hairs on my skin
got raised. The news also received a whole lot of backlash from the Muslim
community especially those on the social media. The reactions had less to do
with the donation and more to do with the timing of it.
The donation came
at a time when the state of Israel had unleashed its severest act of savagery
yet on our Muslim brothers and sisters in faraway Palestine. Innocent souls
were being slaughtered and the surviving ones could not tell the night from the
day because of the anarchical state in which they found themselves.
The later
rejection of the items and returning of it was a step in the right direction
although it will do nothing or little to mollify the battered spirit of Muslims
in Ghana and salvage our bruised image. This is due to the fact that ‘the harm”
as said “had already been done” as the donation exercise had wider coverage and
blown through the ‘media vuvuzela’ (social media) into outer space.
Several
explanations have come out from several quarters of the Muslim community.
Notably, the office of the National Chief Imam, the office of the Imam of
Ahlu-Sunna wal Jamah and some individuals whose actions have rendered the
Muslim community in Ghana in this state of ridicule and mockery in the eyes of
the world.
The back and forth
of the issue has left in its wake, a number of questions to be answered.
• Who is to blame,
at the end of the disgrace caboodle?
• Who acted as the
representative of the Israel embassy?
• Who dragged the
Imam of Ahlu-Sunna into this shameful enterprise?
• Is the office of
the Imam of Ahlu-Sunna so weak and attenuated that any crook can come around
and pick him up under the pretext of the Chief Imam’s calling and entangle him
in a web of humiliation?
• So after the
numerous dealings between the two great Imams, one office cannot ascertain an
official envoy from the other?
• So of all the
schemes and plots of the Jews in Ghana (as we are made to believe in the other
vein that they deceived the Imam), they had no way of involving us with them
than under the enticement of rice and sugar?
The last question
raises another serious issue that has eaten into the fiber and fabric of the
Muslim leadership and community in its entirety. Anyone who wants a favor from
the Muslim community just brings some ‘chufunta’ rice and sugar and we fall for
him flat. Hook, line and sinker! In the times past, politicians had hoodwinked
us by sharing these things; it is very rife especially in the political spheres
of our Zongo communities where you see members of the party in power fighting
one another just because of a donated tin of milk, cup of rice or box of sugar.
The horrendous aspect of it is the fact that, that is the yardstick used to
determine the ‘hardworking’ politician in our communities. He who gives more
rice and sugar wins. That is how low we have sunk.
Just recently, The
Independent newspaper reported “Chief Imam endorses Alan Cash” just because
Alan K. Kyeremanteng, an aspiring flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party had
donated some gallons of oil, rice and other things not worth the caption given
it, to the National Chief Imam.
Perhaps, the
unfortunate Israel embassy incident should trigger the culture of change. We
should move away from such irresponsible actions. No wonder we hold the largest
number of mendicants spread across the length and breadth of the land and
anyone who is not even a Muslim who finds himself in that business pretends to
be one. This is seriously far from Islam. It is not and can never be Islam.
Our religion
exhorts us to be more of givers and not the always cup-in-hand receivers. It is
this premium placed on giving that the religion has Zakat as its third pillar.
Zakat or alms-giving is talked about in the Quran in not less than thirty
verses. “The payment of Zakat benefits the person paying, the person receiving
and the community as a whole. By improving the status of the poor and the
needy, we also improve the economy of the community. Everyone gains from the
simple but effective system of bringing the poor and needy closer to the
wealthy. The constant circulation of wealth within the community, as opposed to
being hoarded in banks or spent on lavish material items, improves society and
reduces economic hardships, jealousy, crime etc. the recipient of Zakat are
assisted towards self-sufficiency. The Zakat may enable them to start their own
businesses. This will give them wealth, taking them from being a recipient of
Zakat to a payer of it.” This truth was stated by Mohammed Thompson in his book
“Basic Principles of Islam.”
Apart from Zakat,
Muslims, regardless of the weight of their purse are exhorted to give especially
in Ramadan.
The Prophet is
reported to have said “The hand that is up (the hand that gives) is better than
the hand that is down (the hand that receives).
The shameful
donation enterprise should be the wake-up call!
NB: This article
was written last year and published on Ghanaweb on Saturday, 19 July 2014. Had
to re-post it here due to similar occurrences the piece touched on.
Inusah Mohammed.
