Minister voices concern about immoral degeneration among Muslims

Accra, June 26, GNA - Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister of Women and Children's Affairs at the weekend called on Muslims to critically examine their role and positions in helping to alleviate moral degeneration in the country.

She said there was the need for the Muslims to realise and define their positions clearly on the need to put an end to moral decadence in the society.

Hajia Gariba made the call at the 30th annual conference of the Greater Accra Regional Ahmadiyya Women's Association, in Accra.

She said: "We live in an era where values of morality have broken down and crimes are committed by very young people, armed robbery is on the increase, while prostitution, Sakawa (internet fraud), and occultism are all growing strong presence in our society."

Hajia Gariba noted that 93the major causes of this moral decline are the numerous acts of indiscipline that had engulfed almost every sphere of our lives".

She said in order for nations to develop there was the need for moral uprising and called for collaborative responsibility to bring sanity into the society.

She called on Muslim leaders to inculcate good moral values into their children and serve as role models and lead in the campaign against indiscipline, in order to bring back sanity into the Islamic community.

Dr Rabiatu Ammah-Konney, Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana, said moral degeneration was the by product when morality had gone down and people do not do what was right but rather do what was wrong with impunity.

She said Islam teaches morality and expects all Muslims to uphold it where ever they found themselves.

Dr Ammah-Konney said the Quran teaches Muslims through the Pillars of Islam how moral values should be practicalised and lived to ensure a peaceful society.

She said ignorance and illiteracy were some of the challenges facing the Muslim community and called for a holistic approach to solve it.

Dr Ammah-Konney said Muslims have a task to enjoin what is right and forbid indecency, and contribute to national development, adding: "When things are not going well because of degeneration Muslims must endeavour to change or interrogate the status quo."

She urged Muslims to set their priorities right and develop a holistic approach to education in order to understand Islamic virtues and values.

Maulvi Dr Wahab Adam, Ameer and Missionary in Charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana who spoke on homosexuality said it was not a natural trait of man but rather a habit which was acquired by some people who were confined for a long time without access to the opposite sex.

He said it was well known fact that homosexuality and lesbianism caused HIV and AIDS and other deadly diseases, adding that it also ran counter to the natural order of creation.