An Islamic scholar, Speaker and Director of the Zaitun Dawah Institute in the United States of America, Sheikh Mohammed Awal has debunked the ascertion held by some that Islam is a religion of violence, noting that Islam is not just a religion, but a way of life that promotes education and propagates peace.
Giving a lecture at the 9th Annual Conference and a 2-Day Dawah and Handing Over ceremony of the Zongo Students Association-Ghana in Agona Swedru, Sheikh Mohammed Awal disclosed that Islam has produced scholars who led in the discovery and inventions in the sciences long before the Europeans, and that the claim by the so-called Western world that Islamic religion and for that matter Muslims are backward in terms of education is not acceptable and must be rejected by all well meaning Muslims.
According to him, Muslims were ruling the world during the Dark Ages between the 16th and 17th Century when the Europeans were semi-literates and living in caves. According to the Islamic scholar, it was until the Europeans grabbed hold of the Islamic ideologies and philosophies that they began to embrace education as a way of life that can lead to development.
He revealed that words like philosophy, chemistry, sugar, algebra, algae, cheque among a host of others were all words derived from Islamic words by the Western world to suit English pronunciations.
According to him, there have been successive attempts by the Western world to submerge Islamic religion and ideologies by describing it as a violent religion, but all to no avail, as Islam has continue to remain a force to reckon.
He pointed out that to be able to achieve this objective, the Europeans begun to write me history (which simply means His-tory) about others and stored them in what they call library ( which also simply means lie-and-bury) where posterity could go and read and be brain-washed.
He later urged Muslims to learn more about the Islamic religion and not’ allow anyone to deceive them into believing in anything that they hear or learn.
The Public Relations Officer of the Association, Alidu Alhajj Bilal later hinted that the objective of the formation of the Association is to promote education in all the Zongo communities across the country, and also promote peace with their neighbours, irrespective of lthe one’s race or religious affiliation.
He hinted that as part of its objectives, the Association has embarked on some community projects including blood donation exercise for the Swedru Government Hospital as well as clean-up exercise in various communities, and also supported the education of needy but brilliant students in the various Zongos and also the aged.
By: Robert Ayanful