Ghana

 
 

1.  Variation in the Colonial  Representation of islam and Muslims in Northern Ghana  
In 1910 the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh declared its protest against – what was said to be – British pro-Muslim colonial policies in Africa. According to Christian missionary organisations, British policy tended to favour Islam and Muslims. Even worse for
the missionary societies, the British colonial government had closed some regions, among others Northern Nigeria, to Christian missionary activities and restricted their activities in others, such as the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast. Furthemore, in some areas the British colonial government was utilising Muslim authorities and administrative personnel in systems of indirect rule, sanctioning Islamic education and law. Such a policy, the missionary societies claimed, contravened the general goals of colonial rule, namely spreading (Western) civilization and lifting up Africa from the stage of barbarism and heathendom. It was argued that such a pro-Muslim policy would enable the spread of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa and
pose a serious threat both to Christian missionaries as well as to European rule in general.

 

2. Islam in Ghana - Report
[
By International Islamic News Agency(IINA)]
Ghana was formerly known as the Gold Coast, because the mining of this commodity was the most profitable commercial undertaking at the time in this West African country that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

Out of its population of 20 million, Ghana’s Muslims account for 45 percent of that population.

Sheikh Hassan Khalid, a prominent Ghanaian Islamic Daawa activist said that Islam reached through Daawa activists who visited the country from the neighboring African countries, whose sole aim was to spread Islam to their neighbors.  Sheikh Hassan told DAAWA magazine that many of Ghana’s Daawa activists got their Islamic education in mosques where the activists from the neighboring countries used to give instruction to the Muslims, adding that the mosque in Ghana is playing a prominent role in the lives of the Muslims here.  

   
 

3.  The expansion of Muslim NGOs in Ghana  
[
By Holger Weiss]
One notable result of the societal crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has been the expansion of NGOs during the last few decades, including, especially since the 1990s, Muslim ones. Most regional Muslim NGOs often supported by transnational NGOs, and, as one also has to stress, by foreign Muslim governments, particularly the Gulf States and Libya. Tracing such links, the author argues that while these connections are essential to their activities, the dependency on external actors simultaneously limits their effectiveness.

 

4.  Muslims cry foul over population figures 
[
Published in newsfromafrica.org]
A recent protest by the Coalition of Muslim Organisations about Ghana's population statistics concerning religion highlights the age-old fear that Islam is playing second fiddle to Christianity, and points to the difficulties of gathering statistics in Ghana.

Amos Safo
The divisive and potentially explosive issue of which religion has the largest number of followers in Ghana is causing sleepless nights for the country's government.  

   
 

5.  Muslims Reaching Out in Ghana 
[
By IslamOnline(IOL)]
The Islamic Bureau for the Disabled and Service to Islamic Institutions is based in Accra, Ghana. They provide many services to the people in their area and they help anyone, regardless of their race, religion, or ethnicity. In the true spirit of Islam they provide immediate aid to the disabled, financing their schooling and pressing needs.

 

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