The Ghanaian Minaret

Accra – The Chief of Weija Zango, Sarki Sulemana Mumuni, on Sunday, May 23, 2021, sanctioned a community mosque by dissolving the mosque’s management committee.

This was necessitated by the failure of committee members to apologise for holding Eid prayers in the community mosque as opposed to praying at the Weija Zango central mosque.

The chief has also reported the Imam of the mosque and his relative to the Nii Dzaase of Weija over what he termed as an act of misconduct towards him.

It turned out that the Upper Weija mosque had hosted Eid ul Fitr prayers for some 200 Muslim residents who were expected to join the congregation for prayers at the Central Mosque.

According to some Muslim residents at Upper Weija who spoke to the Ghanaian Muslim, the location of the central mosque which is about 1 kilometre away is causing a lot of inconvenience for the old people, sick, and children who go for Eid or Jummah Prayers.

Worshippers would either board a vehicle, thus taxi or trek a steep slope of Weija Hills to the Central mosque which is currently under construction.

Residents also disclosed that, after successfully hosting Jummah (Friday) prayers at the mosque for about three months, the chief has since July last year prevented them from doing so.

In an interview, the Zongo Chief, Sarki Mumuni explained that the decision to dissolve the committee was based on insubordination on the part of members who failed to heed the general directive of the National Chief Imam, requesting prayers to be held at Jummah Mosque.

After several attempts to reach out to committee members to redirect prayers to the Central mosque, he said none obeyed his instruction with the excuse that it was too late to call off the Eid prayers.

He believed that holding prayers at a mosque that was not designated as Jummah Mosque flouted the COVID-19 protocols since they could not be assisted with safety items that were brought to the Central Mosque.

The decision to ban Jummah prayers, he said was among other things based on the lack of capacity of clerics to lead prayers and the relatively limited number of Muslims within the vicinity.

The Imam of the Upper Weija Mosque, Imam Iddrisu Ibrahim however said that decision to hold Eid prayers was based on misinformation from the Municipal Assembly that Eid prayers should be held at local mosques.

“We had already sent the information out there that Eid will be held at 8.30 am and so by the time we got to know that Eid was to be said at Jummah mosques it was late in the night,” he said.

Deputy Imam of Upper Weija Mosque, Abdul-Malik Faisal however said objections to the capacity of the imam were never raised when the Muslim congregation informed the Chief of their intention to host Jumma prayers.

Objections he said were rather based on the ability to sustain Jumma prayers in the mosque since the Chief regarded the residents as mostly temporary settlers and workers who would not be available for the Jumma prayers.

Mr Faisal also noted that abiding by the COVID-19 protocol at the central mosque would have been difficult had the congregation of Upper Weija joined the Eid prayers since the female worshippers had to be provided separate tents due to the lack of space and the obscure location of the mosque.