Dirt is contrary to Islam – Central Regional Imam
The Regional Chief Imam of the Central Region, Alhaji Abubakari Yusif has stated that Islam and cleanliness are inextricably intertwined as the Holy Quran teaches Muslims to be clean and live healthy lives.
He has therefore tasked Muslims to support Zoomlion’s efforts by making the teachings of Islam manifest in their everyday lives, since living in dirty surroundings means going contrary to what the Holy Prophet teaches Muslims.
The Regional Chief Imam said these at a Public Education in Islamic Communities durbar organised by Zoomlion Ghana Limited in collaboration with Sheikh Ishaak Nuamah, a renowned Islamic Educationist and Theologian.
Sheikh Ishaak Nuamah stated that attitudinal change towards the environment is one of the main solutions to the sanitation problems in the country, admonishing that the environmental sanitation situation in the country is a shared responsibility for the government, private companies and the people of the various communities.
For his part, a Communications Officer of Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, Mr. Adams Mahama, commended Muslims in the Cape Coast municipality for partnering the company to fight filth in the country and urged them to keep on cooperating with the company to help in the attainment of the ultimate goal, which is to provide excellent waste management services to the people of Cape Coast and the nation as a whole.
He also used the platform to advise Muslim women to teach their children to imbibe good sanitary practices and not to send them to the rubbish dump to throw rubbish and also practice personal hygiene.
In a similar development, Zoomlion Ghana. Ltd, as part of its nationwide Public Education on Sanitation for the Islamic Communities, last week organised an educational and sensitisation seminar for the community of Nima which was well-attended by the people of Nima and addressed by officials of Zoomlion as well as highly-respected leaders of the Muslim community including Sheikh Ishaak Nuamah, and Sheikh Basheer Yandoh, a Muslim leader in the Nima Community.
Addressing the people, Sheikh Nuamah touched on the need for the people to keep their communities clean, intimating that, over the years, people have had a negative perception of the ‘Zongo’ communities across the country as dirty and unwholesome and it behooves on the people residing in the ‘Zongos’ to disabuse the minds of such cynics by keeping their communities clean.
He stressed that in this modern era, people are being judged based on their religious affiliations and it is therefore imperative that the Muslim community live above reproach and live exemplary lives – including their resolve to keep their surroundings clean.
On his part, Communication Officer of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr. Ernest Asiedu Caesar, reiterated his Company’s resolution to partner with the ‘Zongo’ Communities to champion the cause of sanitation because of their sense of unity. He said the perennial flooding that hits Accra annually is as a result of the dumping of solid wastes into drains.
He further stressed that, various diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea and cholera are all caused by the practice of poor sanitation in the communities and if proper sanitation is achieved by the people, money spent at the clinics and hospitals to treat such diseases can be adequately saved for other essential needs.
Mr. Asiedu Caesar also touched on the success stories of Islamic countries such as United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Singapore, regarded as some of the most beautiful and idyllic countries in the world and hinted that Ghana can also attain such status – and entreated the Nima community that if Ghana were to attain such status, it had to start with the Muslim communities keeping their environment clean.
He also encouraged the people to organise frequent clean-up campaigns and be watch-dogs on cleanliness for their communities.
Sheikh Basheer Yandoh emphasised on the personal hygiene of the people of the Nima community, imploring them to keep themselves clean by taking bathing, brushing of teeth and clothing seriously.
By Edmund Smith-Asante