Interior Minister Muntaka calls for documented procedures for selecting Imams
Accra: Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, the Minister for the Interior has called on Muslim leaders to standardise and document the procedures for choosing district and regional imams.
The move, he said, was necessary to avert growing mosque-related misunderstandings that often lead to the closure of mosques across regions and districts.
“There is no single church that is closed because of differences, but we have so many mosques that are shut down because they couldn’t resolve conflict among themselves. Why should it be so?” he queried.
He made the call when he addressed the regional Imams of the various Muslim sects at the Conference of Imams and Islamic Clerics in Accra.
The minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Asawase Constituency, observed that most misunderstandings surrounding Imamate emanate from dishonesty and parochial interest of some individuals.
“Becoming an Imam is not about ethnicity. Whenever you say someone cannot become an Imam because he is not a Dagomba, then know that you are being selfish.
“It is neither hereditary for you to say my father was an Imam, so I should also be an Imam,” he said.
Sheikh Sulaiman Mozu Ahmed, Western regional Imam of Ahlussunah Wal Jama’a (ASWAJ) in a welcome address, said the role of modern Imam in society goes beyond leading prayers to providing leadership, guidance and counselling to the Muslim community for better welfare
He therefore called for the empowerment of Imams with the requisite tools to address modern challenges within the Muslim community.
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