Hajj Council urged to review its activities

Accra, Dec. 30, GNA - Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Yawson, Deputy Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, on Saturday urged the National Hajj Council to review its activities to prevent the annual suffering of prospective pilgrims.

"There is no justification whatsoever for prospective pilgrims, who have met the conditional ties of the Council to be stranded in Accra or Mecca due to lack of air transport or any other reason" he said. Maulvi Yusuf Yawson was addressing a congregation of Ahmadiyya Muslims during the Eid 96Ul-Adha celebration in Accra.

He said it was sad that pilgrims had to suffer each year when embarking on Hajj, adding that all stakeholders should work conscientiously to make the Hajj process trouble-free. Maulvi Yusuf Yawson said Eid-Ul-Adha should serve as an occasion for Muslims to reflect on the extent of their commitment to their faith, community and nation as demanded by Islam.

"It should serve as a forum for spiritual, social, political and economic transformation of our nation" he said.

Maulvi Yusuf Yawson said righteousness, which underlined the performance of the Hajj, was to discharge one's responsibilities with God as a trust and also to pay regard to what one owed to fellow human beings according to the best of one's ability.

He called on Muslims to inculcate the spirit of moral values into their children to enable them to become good citizens.

Eid Ul-Adha or festival of sacrifice is celebrated every year by Muslims to commemorate Prophet Abraham's obedience to God's command to offer his only son Ishmael as a sacrifice but for which God substituted a ram. It is obligatory for every Muslim to make the spiritual journey (Hajj) one's in a lifetime provided the one was fit and had the means.

It comes seventy days after the Ramadan fast and climaxes the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia every year. 30 Dec. 06