Islam in Ghana

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Al-Fatiha translated into Dagbani by Sheikh M. Baba Gbetobu.

Islam is one of the major religions practiced widely in Ghana. Its presence in Ghana dates back to the 10th century. According to the Ghana Statistical Service's Population and Housing census, the population of Muslims in Ghana is about 17.6%.^[3][2]

According to a 2012 report by Pew Research, 51% of Muslims in Ghana are followers of Sunni Islam, while approximately 16% belong to the Ahmadiyya movement and approximately 8% identify with Shia Islam.^[4] The Maliki school of jurisprudence was the most common until Afa Ajura's reformist activities in the 1960s saw an overwhelming shift toward Hanbali doctrine.^[5] Sufism, once widespread, has waned considerably over the years; the Tijaniyah and the Qadiriyah brotherhoods, however, are still represented among Ghana's traditionalist Muslims.

Despite tensions in the Middle East and North Africa since the mid-1970s, Muslims and Christians in Ghana 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 National Hajj Council observes the responsibility of arranging pilgrimages to Mecca for believers who can afford the journey.^[4] The National Chief Imam of Ghana is the highest authority on Muslim affairs in Ghana.

Some metropolitan areas and cities, especially in areas with a significant Muslim population, have Islamic or Arabic schools offering primary, junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary education.

Muslims in Ghana complain from a clear lack of representation in local media. Local television and the radio stations are predominantly operated by organisations from the south of the country, disseminating gospel music and Christian evangelical content on both national and local channels and stations. No national television channel or national radio stations broadcast in Dagbani, Hausa, Wala, Dyula, Gurunsi, Zarma, or any of the widely spoken vernaculars Muslims use. This vacuum of information results in Ghanaian Muslims tuning into radio from much more northerly Sahelian areas of surrounding West Africa with more predominantly Muslim populations or identities, especially from Hausaland (Northern Nigeria and Niger), and Gur- and Manden-speaking areas (Mali, northern Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso) for news, Quranic recitations, sermons, cultural and religious content that reflects their identities better.

History of Islam in Ghana[]

Islam was introduced by traders of Sahelian tribes of West Africa. Prior to that, Da'wah workers had made contact and written extensively about the people including inhabitants of Bonoman states located in the hinterlands of contemporary Ghana.^[6] The introduction of Islam into Ghana was mainly the result of the commercial activities of Mande and Hausa Speaking traders.

Spread of Islam in Ghana[]

Islam spread through several pathways; the Mandens came through the North and North-Western corridors of Ghana while the Borno and Hausa traders came from the North-East. Islam is thought to have successfully penetrated southern Ghana following the "collapse of the Bono and the Begho states, and its increase was encouraged by the fact that the slave trade became more lucrative and competitive".^[7] Furthermore, the British colonial administration in the nineteenth century enlisted people from various northern predominantly Muslim communities into the colonial army. Finally, the mass exodus of immigrants into forest areas of Ghana following the 1892 Sack of Salaga by joint incursion by Dagomba, Namumba and Gonja tribes depleted Muslim populations in the north while boosting that of the south.^[8][9]

Population of Muslims in Ghana[]

Larabanga Mosque, built in the 15th century.

Ghana National Mosque, Accra.

Muslim population is concentrated in Northern Ghana and in Zongo communities scattered across the country. Zongo communities are settlements predominated by immigrants from Sahelian areas of West Africa (Mandinka, Soninke, Hausa, Songhai, Fulani, etc.) who have adopted Hausa language as a lingua franca. Members of the Zongo community are mistakenly but commonly regarded as Northerners. However, the two communities are distinct, having different cultures and languages.^[10][11][12]

The official Ghana Statistical Service census reports approximately 20% as being Muslims^[13] although that figure is being protested by independent organizations. The Coalition of Muslim Organizations maintain that the final figures released in 2002 "contained serious flaws and as a result could not be used as reliable data for planning and projecting the country’s development agenda".^[14][15] The call came at the same time groups mainly from the North petitioned the government to withdraw the results, expressing concern that some ethnic groups were underrepresented in the population count and that the service should open up their procedures for public scrutiny. CIA statistics put the population of Muslims in Ghana at 17.6 percent.^[2] Other accounts place the figure at 25 percent.^{[16][17][18][note 1]} The government of Ghana's allocation of funds for national development is heavily influenced by population demographics.^[19][20]

Geographical distribution[]

According to the 2017 Census, Muslims constitute about 18 percent of the population of Ghana.^[21]

Muslims constitute a majority in Northern Region, the biggest religion in Upper East Region and a large minority Upper West Region. There a slightly less Muslims in the southern parts of Ghana.

Sub groups[]

The Chief Imam of Ghana, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, meeting with Ahmadiyya Caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, at the 50th Jalsa Salana UK, in 2016^[23]

Ahmadiyya[]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, formally established in 1921, is the oldest continuous Muslim community in Ghana. Ahmadi Muslims were among the earliest Muslim missionaries in Ghana, and by 1957, they had converted over 100,000 (mostly Christian) people to Islam.^[7][24] The first Ahmadi missionary to Ghana, Maulvi Abdul Rahim Nayyar, came upon invitation from Muslims in Saltpond.^[25] At 16%, Ghana hosts the largest proportion of Ahmadi Muslims to the wider Muslim population by country.^[4]

Sufi[]

Sufism is the most traditional form of Islam in Ghana because of its long presence, close association and tolerance for the culture of the indigenous peoples even though they have never come together to form an establishment or a unified community.^[26] Prominent Sufi orders represented in Ghana are the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya. Sufism is common among the immigrant Muslim population of Ghana, also known as the Zongos. About 37 percent of Muslims in Ghana say they belong to a Sufi order.^[4]

Sunni[]

Sunni Islam was introduced into Ghana as part of the 1940s reformist activities of late Ghanaian Mujaddid, Afa Ajura. Afa Ajura's campaign challenged the status quo of the Sufi doctrine and pitted him against the already established Sufi social structures. It was not until the 1970s that his message gained wide acceptance, resulting in a Sunni majority of Muslims, 51 percent (2014),^[4] now affiliating with the Anbariyya Sunni Community. For most of its established time in Ghana, Sunni Islam was propagated across the country in Dagbanli - the mother tongue of Afa Ajura. Recently Sunni adherents in Zongo communities in southern Ghana (18% of Muslims)^[4] have formed the "Ahlusunnah wal Jamaa" (ASWaJ) organization in order to reach the Hausa-speaking population. ASWaJ still draws inspiration from their parent Anbariyya leadership, headed by Afa Seidu in Tamale.^[27][28][29]

Shia[]

Shia Islam is also present in Ghana. It came to wider prominence since the 1980’s when the Shia Lebanese businessmen came to the country and with the return of Ghanians who studied Islam in Iran. The population of Shias in Ghana is approximately one million. Shias freely operate religious schools and mosques.^[30][31]

Other denominations[]

• Non-denominational

Notable Muslims[]

• Afa Ajura
• Aliu Mahama
• Sheikh Osman Nuhu Shaributu
• Mahamudu Bawumia
• Samira Bawumia
• Abedi Pele
• Farouk Aliu Mahama
• Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
• Abdul Salam Mumuni
• Mubarak Wakaso
• André Ayew
• Jordan Ayew
• Baba Rahman
• Kasim Nuhu
• Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka
• Haruna Iddrisu
• Mohammed Kudus
• Ahmed Ramadan

See also[]

• Office of Chief Imam of Ghana

Notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Hanson, John H. The Ahmadiyya in the Gold Coast: Muslim Cosmopolitans in the British Empire (Indiana University Press, 2017).
• Ryan, Patrick J. "Islam in Ghana: its major influences and the situation today." Orita: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 28.1-2 (1996): 70–84.
• Skinner, David E. "Conversion to Islam and the promotion of ‘Modern’Islamic Schools in Ghana." Journal of religion in Africa 43.4 (2013): 426–450.
• Weiss, Holger. "Variations in the colonial representation of Islam and Muslims in Northern Ghana, Ca. 1900–1930." Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 25.1 (2005): 73–95.
• Wilks, Ivor. "The growth of Islamic learning in Ghana." Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 2.4 (1963): 409–417. online

External links[]

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