Sheikh Aremeyaw Shuaib, a spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, has affirmed that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s participation in Christian events does not conflict with his Islamic faith. This statement comes in response to discussions surrounding the Vice President’s frequent interactions with the Christian community.
Sheikh Shuaib emphasized that interfaith engagements are not inherently problematic within Islam. “It is not an abhorration if there are good reasons why you find me in the church. I have entered the church with the Chief Imam for an anniversary at the Catholic Church here,” he explained. “Apart from that, due to my interfaith engagements, I enter churches like the Presbyterian Church to give lectures. It doesn’t make me less of a Muslim.”
Addressing the concern that participating in Christian rituals might compromise one’s Islamic faith, Sheikh Shuaib clarified that symbolic gestures of friendship and respect do not equate to religious conversion or compromise. “If I behave like every Christian inside me, I’m a Christian, though I say I’m a Muslim, that would mean compromising my faith,” he noted. However, simply being present and respectful in a church does not constitute such a compromise.
On the specific issue of Christian pastors laying hands on Muslims, Sheikh Shuaib dismissed the notion that this act undermines one’s faith. “No, no, there are things that are done symbolically. Priests come to the Chief Imam’s place and when they are going they say they want to pray for him. Sometimes I cringe a little bit because I don’t know what will happen, and I will whisper to his ears that they say they want to say a prayer for you, and he will say let them pray. Those acts are symbolic of friendship.”
He further explained that these symbolic acts are part of empathetic engagements, a concept in religious studies that encourages understanding and cooperation between different faiths. “There is something in religious studies we call the phenomenological study of religions, which is a method of research that requires you to bracket your subjectivities in order to understand. So symbolically those ones are called empathetic engagements.”
Source: GhanaFeed.Com
