Islam in Ghana

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The spread of Islam into West Africa, beginning with ancient Ghana in the ninth century, was mainly the result of the commercial activities of North African Muslims. The empires of both Mali and Songhai that followed ancient Ghana in the Western Sudan adopted the religion. Islam made its entry into the northern territories of modern Ghana around the fifteenth century. Mande speakers (who in Ghana are known as Wangara) traders and clerics carried the religion into the area. The northeastern sector of the country was also influenced by Muslims who escaped the Hausa jihads of northern Nigeria in the early nineteenth century.

Most Ghanaian Muslims are Sunni, following the Maliki version of Islamic law. Sufism is not widespread in Ghana; the Tijaniyah and the Qadiriyah brotherhoods, however, are represented. The Ahmadiyya, a sect originating in nineteenth-century India, is the only non-Sunni sect present in the country.

Despite tensions in the Middle East, North Africa, and Nigeria since the mid-1970s, Ghanaian Muslims and Christians have had excellent relations. Guided by the authority of the Muslim Representative Council, religious, social, and economic matters affecting Muslims have often been redressed through negotiations. The Muslim Council has also been responsible for arranging pilgrimages to Mecca for believers who can afford the journey. In spite of these achievements, the council has not succeeded in taking initiatives for the upgrading of Islamic schools beyond the provision of basic Qur'anic instruction. This may explain the economic and technological gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. The Ghanaian Ahmadiyyah Movement, which has established a number of vocational training centers, hospitals, and some secondary schools, is an exception.

Although offical Ghanaian census reports 16% of Ghanaians as being Muslims, this figure is highly criticized by Muslim Ghanaians who place the figure at closer to 30%, and in some extremes, as high as 45%.

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[edit] External Links

• [[1]] Muslims cry foul over population figures. Amon Salo. Feb 2002
• [[2]] International Religious Freedom Report Ghana 2006. US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.