From Ghana, A Message Of Faith And Tolerance

By

Sule Ya’u Sule

suleysule@yahoo.com

 

I have always been fascinated by the steady progress being made by Ghana, Nigeria’s historically linked neighbor to the West Coast and increasingly a choice investment destination for expanding Nigerian business as well as tourists.  Of course Ghana is a small pond compared to Nigeria’s mighty ocean of riches and opportunities but to the credit of their well-cultured people and fairly responsible governments, they have kept it simple.  Ghana does not boast of Nigeria’s international hotel brnads but you will find comfort and security in their alternatives.  Theirs is a more disciplined and ordered daily life and what they lack in infrastructural expanse, they  compensate with an admirable maintenance culture and self-contentment many Nigerians find both self-effecting and laid back.  But Ghana marches on with a slow and steady pace.  Like Kano, their national elections are credible.  Ghanaians are not embarrassed to seek answers to questions that challenge their development dreams.  They fancy their beautiful, modest cities as idyll conference centres where people from all over the world are welcome to exchange ideas on any topic under the Sun.

 

It was under this ambience of knowledge-seeking that His Excellency, the People’s Governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, was invited to a two-day International Conference on Islamic Law and Muslim Minorities, held at the Aviation Centre, Accra, under the auspices of Al-furqan Foundation on October 25, 2008 (Shawwal 25, 1429AH).  As in Nigeria, Malam is always the centre of attraction at such international conferences, be they in Europe, the Americas or Africa.  He delivered a keynote address “Toward Understanding Shari’ah”, which the main was a sharing of experience with the conferees on the challenges of institutionalizing and nurturing the structures of Shari’a based society even in a country where Shari’a Law is viewed with suspicion by elites inebriated with the excess indulgences of secular jurisprudence.

 

Malam’s 30-page, highly thoughtful address was divided into segments – Introduction, Defini of Shari’a from scriptural and methodological perspectives, the Experience and numerous Challenges of Shari’a implementation, his famous Institutional paradigm (the people-first approach, which has made the Kano model of Shari’a implementation the most admired and most sought-after) and lastly his thoughts on the emergence of a New Methodology of Study and Implementation of Shari’a.

 

Malam explained that “because of the intrinsically Divine basis of the Islamic family legal system, its preservation and effective implementation is integral to, and is at the heart of the preservation of the Muslim community itself, its distinct identity, character and ethos” and classified and family legal system of secularization of the state and its institutions in many countries”.  In defining “Islamic Law [knowledging that this definition is not only limited in scope but does gross injustice to “one of the most profound, all-embracing and complex notions of Islam].  Shari’a he explained “is sacred and divine …based on the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the beloved Prophet (SAW) as well as the lesser category being “the product of our efforts to understand the Will of Allah and transform it into the path that leads to the fulfillment of this Will”.  Classical Islamic Scholarship, he told his audience, identified four basic sources of the Shari’a: the Holy Qur’an, the Sunnah of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW), Ijma, or the consensus of the Scholars and Qiyas or Judgment by deductive analogy.

 

Passionately, exhorting Muslims to develop a proper understanding of Shari’a, Malam posited that from the Islamic perspective, this is important “not merely for theorlogical advantages but also “to restore and reclaim the dynamism that enabled Muslims  under the leadership and guidance of the Prophet to lay the foundation of a great community, leading to a vibrant society and civilization, worshiping God and serving the Humanity in His path”.

 

Rendering his report card as Chief Executive of Kano, Nigeria’s largest state and a model in modern day Shari’a implementation, Malam espoused the welfare and distributive content of Shari’a which has won him accolades from far and wide.  Regarded as one of Nigeria’s most honest and transparent Governors, critics appreciate that Malam has been able to sustain the Shari’a legacy in Kano due to his personal example and integrity of character.  The Kano model is based on meeting the real needs of the citizenry, Malam said “rather than wait to catch a thief and amputate his hand, we made efforts to create situations and circumstances comfortable enough to make stealing unnecessary; and rather than focus on stoning the adulterer, we introduced programmes in many forums to educate the people on the sanctity of marriage and the health hazards and moral dangers inherent in adultery and fornication”.

 

He explained the rationale and working  of Shari’a supporting institutions in Kano – the Shari’a Commission, Zakkat and Khubsi Commission, the Hisbah Board and other vital Shari’a implementation agencies.  Highlighting these achievements to the appreciative audience, Malam spoke glowingly on the focus of the Hisbah Board “reconciling about 5,500 disputes within families, between families and between neighbours in just the last eight months; disputes that would have otherwise resulted to carnage or would have been referred to the Courts for settlement”.  Within the same period, the Board converted 1,091 persons to Islam, controlled 10,476 movements of intoxicants, offered assistance of well over N4million to the needy and carried out over 3,000 Islamic propagation activities.

 

“We established the Shari’a Commission to guide the people and the government to act according to the principles and tenets of the Shari’ah to inculcate enterprise, civility, morality, peaceful co-existence, fulfillment of obligation, selflessness within the people and to urge them to abhor all acts of wickedness and selfishness.  Thus our passion for the Shari’a from the  beginning was rooted in the prospect that when successfully implemented, it will render the Courts quiet, rather than busy condemning poor souls”.

 

In goodwill message to the conference, the Chief Justice of Ghana, Justice Mrs Georgina TI. Woode, regretted that “registration of Muslim marriages under the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance (CAP 129) has over the years been observed more in the breach than in the observance, largely because majority of Ghanaian Muslims are wholly ignorant of the law” and regretted that “it is a matter of some wonderment that the significant large Muslim Community in Ghana, led by their scholars and intellectuals, have not sufficiently scrutinized this piece of Colonial Legislation for the purpose of proposing appropriate recommendations for the review of the law or even for its replacement with a relevant enactment”.

 

In his contribution, Malam Baba Yunus Muhammad, Executive Chairman, Al-furqan Foundation of Tamale, Ghana underscored the importance of the conference as a platform for Islamic Scholars and legal experts, human rights activists, policy makers, professionals to interact and share experience with the main aim of promoting understanding of the Islamic Family Legal System and to promote and expand academic studies and teaching on the subject in the faculties of Law of Ghanaian tertiary institutions.

 

Besides the conference, which went a long way in sowing the seeds of better understanding of what the Nigerian Shari’a model has been able to achieve since 2003 when Malam came to power, the visit of the Kano Chief Executive served to further deepen the already cordial relationship between Nigeria and Ghana.

 

A visit to Ghana’s Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama proved a point or two that Ghanaians are a people who sleep well at night and have no security hang ups.  Meeting the Vice President was easy and the man himself was at ease without overzealous security officials shielding him from the people.  The Osu Castle, the Ghanaian seat of power is a story in simplicity and functionality and foreign tourists could be seen around mingling freely with natives.  You immediately get the impression that the Ghanaian government is transparent and responsive and that this is a place one can do business.  They do not require expensive Radio and Television jingles to prove they are open for business, merely interacting with Ghanaians or visiting them in their offices, or their seat of power or meeting their top officials, including, we were told, the President himself, is such an uncomplicated business.

 

Vice President Aliu Mahama received the Kano delegation well and impressed us with his grasp of issues and vision of leadership. He expressed optimism that the forthcoming national elections in Ghana would be free, fair and credible.  Ghana already has a world-wide reputation for credible elections.  “These elections should not be a life-or-death affair because we stand to lose credibility in the eyes of the international community should we allow this to degenerate into chaos”, he said in his calm voice.  The Vice President  also recounted the good relations existing between Nigeria and Ghana and asked that it should not be allowed to wane but be grown stronger.

 

Malam, himself a product of one of the freest and fairest elections in the history of Nigeria told his host that “we expect Ghana to go though the elections peacefully so that it will continue to play its role in ensuring peace on the continent”.

 

Malam also received an Award from the Al-furqan Foundation, alongside 27 others who had distinguished themselves in the service of humanity.  Executive Chiarman of Al-furqan, Baba Muhammad said the awardees were carefully chosen based on various services they have rendered to Islam.

 

Ghana has much in common with Nigeria.  It is also a multi-cultural society with diverse views and tendencies.  Ghanaians are patriotic and adore their African heritage.  It is not a very rich country in terms of natural resources but it has managed its sparse wealth with aplomb.  There is not religious or ethnic tension in Ghana and the level of tolerance is very high.

 

I have every reason to believe that the conference provided us an important forum to exchange ideas on Shari’a Law and help assuage the ignorance of people who believed that Shari’a is all about amputation of common thieves and stonning of adulterers.  Kano stand as a test case of how a developing society can nurture Shari’a Law into a system that care for its people and provides the energies for development.

 

Sule Ya’u Sule is the Director of Press and Public Relations to the People’s Governor of Kano State