General News of Saturday, 13 November 2010

Source: GNA

National Chief Imam tells Muslims to take education serious

Accra, Nov. 13, GNA- Sheikh Osmam Nuhu Sharabutu, the National Chief Imam, at the weekend urged the Muslim fraternity to commit to the education of Muslim wards for future benefits. He said: "Education is the knowledge of putting one's potentials to maximum use and that human beings are not in the proper sense till they are educated".

The Chief Imam made the statement at the commissioning of a central mosque in Gbawe near Accra. "Without education, man is as though in a closed room and with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards the outside world", he added. He said this was why Islam attaches such great importance to knowledge and education.

The Chief Imam said when the Qur'an began to be revealed, the first word of its first verse was 'Iqra' that is, "read" and, therefore education was thus the starting point of every human activity. He thanked the committee and the sponsors for putting up the mosque for worship and said the Holy Prophet said,"whoever builds a mosque so that Allah may be remembered in it, Allah will build a house for him in paradise". Sheikh Sharabutu was optimistic that the commissioning of the Mosque would help propagate the Islam in the community. He appealed to them to maintain the building for it to last long. Alhaji Nii Adam Kwatei Quartey, the Dzaasetseh of Gbawe, appealed to the community to make good use of the mosque by keeping it clean. He said the Aidiaa Society, Ghana (ASG), which sponsored the construction of the mosque, has promised to build a clinic and vocational institution for the community to help in health delivery and equip the youth with skills.

Alhaji Abass Ali, the Public Relations Officer, ASG, said the society was a non-partisan and a Non-Governmental Organisation with the objectives of providing education, health, and socio-economic development to the people of Ghana and others West Africa countries. He said since its incorporation, it has succeeded in digging more than 1000 wells and bore-holes and put up about 700 mosques in Ghana and other West African countries. 13 Nov.10