Islamic University celebrates Islamic Unity Week

MUSLIM youth around the country have been urged to join together to form one unit irrespective of their denominational differences. Also,they have been encouraged to use their best endeavours to advance their educational careers for a better future.
The Minister for Youth and Sports , Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, said this at the Islamic University College, Ghana (ICUG), when, as a guest of honour, he was addressing students of the university during their celebration of Islamic Unity Week.
He said he was so much attached to the occasion because of its theme of unity in Islam and Quranic recitation.
“This programme is dear to my heart, because I strongly believe that it takes us close to Allah. Therefore, Muslim youth should be very proud of themselves, but in doing so, they must as well behave themselves,” the minister said.
He said there was the need for the entire Muslim youth to come together in order to grow as a single community, explaining that it was only when all Muslims were united that they could succeed in all endeavours.
Alhaj Mubarak also pleaded with the authorities of the university to give more scholarships to the Muslim youth to study in the university.
For his part, the Head of Cultural and Religious Affairs and Chief Imam of the ICUG, Dr Syed Mohammed Ali Aon said the essence of the programme, which involved Quranic recitation, was to increase public awareness of the value of the Holy Qur’an.
In reference to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khumaini, who said “we must respect the Qur’an, we must recite it, we must abide by it”, Dr Aon, who doubled as the initiator of the Quranic recitation programme, lamented that it was rather unfortunate that Muslims were still disunited.
Dr Aon urged all Muslims to direct their lifestyle towards the teachings of the Qur’an, expatiating on the fact that, by that “we can get victory over our lusts which make us suffer in this world”.
The Greater Accra Regional Manager of the Islamic Education Unit, Alhaji Armiyao Shuaib, for his part, noted that Islam was one of the greatest religions in the world, but by virtue of the multiplicity of the people practising it, sectarianism had become a serious issue, adding that tribalism was one of the most serious challenges.
“Islam has traversed various cultures, tribes and ethnicities, but there is still a fundamental problem with Muslims. That must be searched to discover the cause,” Alhaj Shuaib intimated.
He said for the Muslim Ummah to be able to come together as one family, there was the need for it to appreciate its differences and recognise them as such. He added that it was also important for Muslims to always hold a kind of interdenominational dialogue and also tolerate one another for their differences in religious beliefs, cultures, tribes, etc.
The Chairman for the function, Major Mohammad Essah(retd), commended the initiator and the Islamic University, for that matter, for organising such a wonderful function, with the aim of cementing unity among Muslims.
Major Essah said it would always take just one instrumental person to initiate such a programme in order to join us together, explaining that Allah always wants us to come together as a people.
Among the dignitaries present at the function were the Iranian Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Valliullah Mohammadi; the President of Muslims School of Thought in Iran, Dr Abdul Karim Bi-Azar Shirazi, and the President of ICUG, Dr Ahmed Ali Ghane.