Sheikh Hassan Hassan, the Chief Imam for Madina Central Mosque, has dubbed the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving a needless exercise.
The Islamic cleric argued that the exercise is unimportant, especially when citizens lack patriotism and discipline. He stated that Ghana has a large religious population, with Christians forming the majority, followed by Muslims and other religious sects. Despite this, he noted, corruption, indiscipline, immorality, criminality, and deception are rampant in the country.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he highlighted that “we have Christians who go to church every Sunday and sometimes within the week, while Muslims pray five times a day, and yet we have evil thriving in the country.”
Sheikh Hassan Hassan called on citizens to “turn over a new leaf and be patriotic,” emphasising that without these qualities, “our prayers would be a waste of time and resources.”
“Thanksgiving and prayer are something we always do, and this is not anything special. The African understanding of religion is problematic. We have a misconception about God,” he said. “God has granted us the wisdom to do things and succeed, and so it is not always about prayer. God has given us the land to till and sow and harvest and eat, and if we don’t work hard, we will starve.”
He further questioned the exercise: “While they were praying, they cited China, Japan, the US, the UK, and other countries that have developed better than we have, and yet these countries don’t have any special day for prayer and thanksgiving. So why the obsession with this exercise? We are joking.” He concluded, “Christians and Muslims make up a larger number of the total population, and yet the thievery, stealing, corruption, and the evil things are done by them. Look at the time we report to work, and we expect God to come from heaven and transform the country. That is ridiculous. These countries they referred to during the prayers put in the work to transform their respective countries and were not lazy.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
