The sad news about Nazir Notei Alema a former student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) joining ISIS in Iraq has triggered fear that Ghana would soon become a hub for terrorists, capable of causing mayhem.
Although Major Derrick Oduro Member of Parliament?s Defense and Interior Committee says the nation must be troubled, I feel that nothing untoward would happen as a result of the departure of Nazir to join the ISIS.
Although it is alleged that Mr. Alema has left the shores of Ghana to Iraq there is no concrete proof that this is true. Even if it is true that he has landed in Iraq, it would be difficult for him to succeed in influencing many other Ghanaian youths within the Muslim communities to follow his footsteps.
Most Muslim youth in Ghana are liberal Muslims and not fundamentalists. Their belief in Islam is centered on following the five tenets of Islam and also seeking the welfare of mankind. The average Muslim in Ghana has been taught not to force people to follow their beliefs or shed blood of so called unbelievers. All these Muslims know that Ghana is a circular nation whose government allows freedom of religion.
Even those Muslims who follow strictly the practices of Prophet Mohammed known as ahlul sunna wal jamma or the tijania movement who follow the tariqa have been taught to accept the views of other Muslims in the practice of Islamic rituals. Apart from this, Muslims in Ghana live and work in peace with fellow Muslims who hold contrary views and adherents of other religions like Christians.
A visit to government offices, markets, police and army barracks and shopping centers in Ghana would only reveal people from different religious backgrounds working together in peace and harmony. Muslins in Ghana are not against democracy because they believe that through democracy people of all shades of opinions can share ideas towards national development.
This is revealed in the ashura concept practiced by Prophet Mohammed in his days. Most Muslims belong to political parties and they vie for positions in parliament where they represent people of their communities. For these reasons there is no way anyone can convince a Ghanaian youth to kill someone by way of suicide bombing or the use of cutlasses to behead another Ghanaian in advancing the course of a religion or extremist political beliefs.
The authorities of KNUST are worried about the involvement of one of their products himself in the ranks of terrorists in Iraq.
To the KNUST heads and students I wish to advise them not to worry so much about what has happened. Their former student may not be the only person in Ghana who has got in touch with foreign terrorist organizations. A visit to most communities? schools and colleges may reveal many youth browsing the internet and only God knows those they interact with.
Much as we know that most Ghanaian youth cannot be dragged into terrorist groups we must be wary about their movements and the friends they and chat with on line. All we need to do is to advise all parents school authorities and community leaders to devise means of educating the youth to refrain from dealing with terrorist organizations the world over.
To the parents of Nazir I wish to commend you for revealing what your son did. Many parents would have hidden the departure of their son but you revealed it to the Ghanaian community through the media.
To Mr. A R Gomda the journalist of the Daily Guide, I wish to doff my hat to you and together with the management of Daily Guide commend you for bringing out all there is to know about the steps taken by Nazir. You deserve a special award for alerting the nation of the important news.
The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usman Nuhu Sharubutu the acclaimed man of peace in Ghana has voiced out his feelings about the issue. He is definitely not happy about what has happened, a situation that can cause a dent to the good reputation of Ghana.
After commending the parents of Nazir for revealing the story he called on all parents to pay attention to all that their wards are up to. This way they would be able to help them to chart the right course in life as required by Islam.
By Alhaji Alhasan Abdulai
Executive Director
EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
P.O.BOX 17070AN 233244370345/23326370345/ 233208844791
[email protected] /[email protected]
