An Islamic scholar Sheikh Mohammed Danyawo Sharubutu has taken issues with the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister Eric Opoku and other politicians who according to him employ political chicanery and propganda to prosecute their agenda.
He was reacting to the minister’s description of Muslims in the NPP as not being proper members of the faith.
“The political chicanery and propaganda ploy deployed by some Ghanaian politicians is a matter of great and discordant concern which when left unaddressed constitutes an act of blasphemy” he said.
The minister’s remarks made in the name of politics, he noted, is a matter of great concern and constitutes blasphemy.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister stated that, ‘‘Any Muslim that aligns himself with the opposition NPP is not a true Muslim because the Quran advises Muslims to stay away from elephants, of which the animal in question represents the emblem of the Opposition Party’’.
He described the remark as “fallacious and gimmick. This depicts an absolute disrespect to Islam for a non- Muslim without an intensive surveillance into the well formulated semantics of the Holy Quran to interpret the contextual nature of this Holy Book devoid of circumspection.”
The name ‘Elephant’ was only used in the context as an adjective describing the Army of Abraha Al-Ashram, and what they rode on, he explained adding “although, the meat of elephants is prohibited to be consumed by Muslims based on this Hadith from ‘’Abdullah Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) stating that, the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) prohibited the comsumption of all fanged beasts of prey and all birds having talons’’.[Sahih Muslim page 1534]. This Hadith only prohibits the meat and not other permissable relations with those animals if deemed fit.”
Moreover, nowhere across the confines of Islam, are Muslims commanded to abstain completely from Elephants as well as Elephant Tagged Entities as proclaimed by the Minister, he said.
The usage of the pronoun [ ‘’HUM’’ INARABIC, meaning ‘’THEM’’ ] in almost all the verses clearly indicates that the destruction and anger of Allah was only on the Ka’aba Attackers and not the elephants, he went on adding “this is because ‘’HUM’’ is used in Arabic context ONLY forHUMANS and not animals or non living things. Animals, non living things and the feminine gender use ‘’HAA’’ as plural pronouns respectively.”
The NPP’s Emblem of Elephant came about through a conglomerated choice and not to disrespect Allah’s supremacy, he stressed.
He challenged the Minister “to vindicate his assertions regarding this sensitive issue.”
Eric Opoku, he said, should focus on politics which, according to him, he is more inclined and avoid such issues which can affect inter-faith relationship negatively.
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