The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, has urged Ghanaians to protect the country’s peace and interfaith harmony, describing the peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians as a blessing from God.

He said religious diversity should serve as an opportunity for people to know and support one another rather than become a source of conflict and war.

“We are grateful to Allah for granting us peace in the country.

As practitioners of different religions, our experience has always been that we sit together in peace. Allah has indicated that in the Holy Quran,” Sheikh Sharubutu said.

He made the call last Friday during an engagement between the Police Management Board and religious leaders at the National Police Headquarters.

The meeting brought together religious leaders and state actors to discuss recent incidents that had generated tensions between sections of the Christian and Muslim communities.

Common ancestry

The Chief Imam said all human beings shared a common ancestry, regardless of their religious and cultural differences, explaining that the Quran reminded people that they came from the same parents.

“Each one of us here proceeded from these two human progenitors.

The Quran now reminds us that we all come from the same parents. Our father is one, the same, and our mother is the same,” he said.

Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Inspector-General of Police, addressing the clerics and the media

The Chief Imam said God created humanity in diverse communities for a specific purpose, which was to enable people to know and understand one another.

“Now, it is also, that across diversity we will acknowledge and know each other.

It is not because our diversity should give rise to conflicts or war.

It is not His wisdom that out of diversity we must live at war with each other,” he said.

He said the country’s peaceful relationship among followers of different faiths represented a blessing that needed to be protected.

Sheikh Sharubutu said some nations did not enjoy the same level of interfaith harmony and urged Ghanaians to preserve the peace being enjoyed in the country.

Appeal to religious leaders

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, also appealed to religious leaders to help de-escalate growing religious tensions and discourage their followers from resorting to violence, mob action and other forms of reprisal.

He said the recent incidents involving alleged blasphemous comments and calls for extrajudicial killings had tested the country’s reputation as a peaceful and religiously tolerant country.

“Violence will not fix what wars have broken, and vigilante retribution will never replace the rule of law in Ghana,” he said.

The IGP, therefore, called on religious leaders to use their platforms to promote calm, religious tolerance and respect for the law.

Mr Yohuno urged Christian and Muslim leaders to dedicate sermons to interfaith harmony, self-control and the dangers of religious conflict.

The IGP also called for stronger public displays of Christian-Muslim unity, including joint statements, shared activities and engagements within communities.

He further urged religious leaders to advise their followers against mob justice, online harassment and physical violence, stressing that reporting suspected offences to the appropriate authorities was the proper course of action.

The IGP said freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution should not be used as a licence to insult or desecrate the sacred beliefs of other religious groups.

Mr Yohuno also cited the need to protect freedom of religion while preventing speech that incited religious hatred, hostility or violence.

Presidential envoy

The Presidential Envoy in charge of Interfaith and Ecumenical Bodies, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, commended the Ghana Police Service (GPS) for what he described as its swift and professional response to the recent incidents.

He said the developments had been disturbing because religious leaders had consistently promoted Ghana as an example of interfaith harmony.

Mr Afriyie Ankrah called for deliberate systems to deal with religious tensions firmly and lawfully, based on evidence and without discrimination.

He said misconduct by a religious leader should be condemned irrespective of the person’s religious affiliation.

“If a Muslim cleric, individual, goes on that track, he has to be condemned, dealt with by the leadership, dealt with by the law.

If a Christian cleric goes on that track, he has to be dealt with, condemned, publicly. No ambiguity,” he said.

Mr Afriyie Ankrah also cautioned against politicising religious tensions, saying political parties would have nothing to gain if the country descended into conflict.

He said an utterance by an individual Muslim or Christian leader should not be regarded as representing the position of the entire religious community.

Peace Council

The Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, Dr George Amoh, said the recent incidents should serve as a reminder that the country needed stronger mechanisms to manage religious tensions whenever they arose.

He said diversity was a feature of the country’s democratic system and should be treated as a strength rather than a source of conflict.

Dr Amoh said violent conduct should never be answered with violence, adding that such an approach would only deepen tensions.

He commended the Ghana Police Service for its response and urged the security agencies to remain prepared for similar incidents in the future.