The Other Side of Islam

One thing that Ghanaians enjoy is peace. There are some tribal issues here and there but generally people have learnt that much of it is unnecessary and unproductive and those who still hold biases have learnt that it is better to keep it to themselves. What I am really grateful for is the fact that Christians and Muslims in Ghana live together in peace. During the Sallah, those who have Muslim friends go over to their houses and celebrate the breaking of the fast with them. Muslim holidays are observed in Ghana, and about the only thing we don’t do is observe Friday as a holy day and practise the sharia law.

I don’t really have any problems with Muslims, especially those in Ghana. When I was in Achimota, I went for a few of their services and it wasn’t too different from the Christian service. I remember one service in which they were talking about how upset they were about how the al-qaeda were portraying their religion. Someone actually told me “those people are not Muslims, don’t call them Muslims.” The Muslims asked if any Christians were around, and invited them to share their views on Muslims and Islam as a whole. The only time I had any problem with anything that was said at a Muslim service was when certain resource persons were invited, who made certain comments about Christianity I wasn’t too happy with, and even then, I just walked out. I was in their turf, wasn’t much I could do.

Some say if the Muslims in Ghana formed a larger percentage, it is possible that they would try to impose their religion on us. Honestly, that’s not something I’m going to argue with because I’ve been told of a verse in the Quran that says gives Muslims the right to enslave anyone who does not accept their religion.

I took the time one day, to talk to a Muslim friend of mine about some aspects of the sharia law I found a bit disturbing. She was quite eager to inform me about anything I wanted to know about and we ended up having quite a long conversation. Here are a few things I was educated on.

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      The law about having your limbs cut off if you steal

She said, they look at your condition, the reason why you stole. If you are a poor person, and you steal an apple or a piece of bread or something like that, they won’t punish you because it was done out of poverty.

·         The law about women being stoned if they commit adultery

According to my friend, they can only stone you if there were four (or five, forgotten the exact number) people present to witness the act. She said that was put in place so that it would be highly unlikely for anyone who committed adultery to be stoned. She also mentioned a case that took place some years back in Nigeria about a woman who was found to have committed adultery. The woman was set free because her lawyer mentioned that verse in the Quran so they had to let her go.

I look at the religious conflicts that take place all over the world and I just find them UNNECESSARY. You don’t worship the same God so what? He or she is still a human being just like you, of course there’s the major concern over where the person is going to spend eternity but there’s only so much you can do. I don’t think the fact that a person doesn’t share the same beliefs as you means the person does not deserve to live.

I think the religion of islam is misunderstood by many, mainly because of the way it is portrayed by the media. Think about it, the MAJOR  news stories on Muslims usually involve bombs and attacks here and there in the name of islam. Because of that, people judge by what they see. If you don’t live around any Muslims and all you here is al-qaeda, book haram etc, especially if a loved one has been affected, it’s only human that some form of negative impression would be formed. There are some people, of course who would take pains to dig deeper, but really, how many?

Once again, I am grateful for the peace in Ghana, especially that between Christians and Muslims; it is something many countries don’t enjoy. Think it’s mainly a matter of agreeing to disagree and respect mine, I’ll respect yours form both sides. Those who judge Muslims should actually take the time to get to know one or two (I find that they usually delight in talking about their religion. My friend went on and on and on……lol) they are eager to show people the other side of Islam. If people actually did that, I feel the world would be a better (and a whole lot more peaceful) place.