The call by the National Chief Imam and the Police for an Eid Ul Fitr steeped in discipline sums it all about how Muslim youth on a day like today, engage in activities incommensurate with the tenets of Islam.
It has now become normal for such youth to misconduct themselves on such days; something not restricted to Accra. A few years ago or so, there was fatality in Kumasi during such an occasion.
It is ironic that after a whole month of fasting and prayers resulting in a strengthened spirituality of the individual, we should witness such unruly behavior from our youth who it would appear do not understand very well the place of discipline in Islam.
The Islamic faith is all about discipline and so the youth should be minded by this fact and listen to the word of the Chief Imam and the Police by conducting themselves in a manner devoid of sitting in the booth of cars and riding motorbikes dangerously without crash helmets through the principal streets of Accra and some parts of Kumasi. These unruly activities only expose them to dangers which can only lead to accidents, injuries and even death. This certainly does not make sense and goes contrary to the tenets of Islam.
Be it as it may, we wish to congratulate all who have completed this important act of faith in Islam. It is no doubt a challenging period which requires the faithful to abstain from food and bodily pleasures from dawn to dusk.
An important lesson during this period is the appreciation of what famine is: the reality of some parts of the world today. Does this therefore not imbibe in us the need to be frugal in the manner we manage resources and to remember that some do not have a fraction of what we have? The quantity of food which goes waste in some parts of the world and even our country is worrying. Many are they who even in the land of plenty cannot access three square meals a day. The sense of charity which the Ramadan fasting instills in us must be sustained even when we are done with the rituals of the Holy month.
As for the spiritual enhancement of fasting to the individuals who undertake the religious exercise, it can only be imagined.
Were those who fasted during the month of Ramadan to continue on the path of heightened discipline as they did during the period of abstinence, the world and for that matter, our country, would have been better than we have it today.
Backbiting, lying, engaging in fraudulent activities among all other bad habits, have negative impact on society and these are inconsistent with Islam.
Even as the curtains were drawn over the fasting period yesterday, it is our hope that Muslims will improve upon the already cordial relationship existing between them and their Christian neighbours – something the Prophet Of Islam was said to have done during his lifetime.
Let Muslims resolve to be supportive of the government’s programmes and avail themselves of the novelties which are geared towards enhancing the lives of all Ghanaians, some of them, particularly tailored or engineered for Muslims: most of them residents of the Zongos. Barka da Sallah.
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