Sacrifice needed for national development - Ameer

Accra, Jan. 10, GNA - Maulvi Wahab Adam, Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, said on Tuesday that there was the need to identify the kinds of sacrifices that were to be made to speed up development.

He said individual sacrifices, such as getting to work early and staying until the official closing time, were most needed for the development of the country.

Maulvi Adam said this when he delivered a sermon on the occasion of Eid-Ul-Adha, the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice, in Accra. He referred to the significance of the sacrifice by Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) of his son Ismail (Ishmael) and observed that for any achievement to be chalked, there was the need for some kind of sacrifice.

The Eid-Ul-Adha was, therefore, a strong reminder of the need for sacrifice in nation building, he said. "If the Prophet Abraham and his family settled on a desolate land and prospered, there is no need for us to migrate to other lands to seek greener pastures." He noted that with the right attitude on the part of the people, the resources within the country were enough to guarantee sustainable development.

Maulvi Adam cautioned that for democracy to flourish, there was the need to do away with unsavoury language, falsehood, intimidation and violence.

"The Holy Koran enjoins pilgrims to Mecca to avoid foul talk, quarrelling and acts of violence." He said while recognising ethnic religious and political differences, those differences did not have to divide the people but enrich Ghanaians as a people and to help them to harness their efforts towards building a strong and prosperous nation. Maulvi Adam noted that with the present level of peace prevailing in the country, Ghana had every opportunity to progress. "We should all try to exploit this rare opportunity to the full advantage of the nation."

Let peace prevails - Minister tells Northerners

Tamale, Jan 10, GNA - The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, has appealed to people in the region to allow peace to prevail, so that people could go about their economic activities freely without any hindrance.

He noted that violence and unstable environment were not conducive for economic activities, "it reduces productivity and creates shortages in the provision of basic services and goods".

Alhaji Boniface was addressing orthodox Muslims at the Tamale Police Park to mark this year's Eid- ul -Adha celebrations. He said, " we must strive to take purposeful action that would eventually reduce suffering in our society and one of the ways we could achieve this is to allow peace to prevail".

A representative of the Regional Imam, Alhaji Abudu Ahmed Sallam, called on people in the region, especially Dagombas to reconcile and endeavour to sustain peace in the area.

He urged the people to be tolerant, patient and learn to forgive one another in order to maintain the peace.

Maulvi Muzaffar A. Durrani, Regional Missionary of Ahmaddiyya Mission, said peace was a basic thing in life without which everything would come to nought and appealed to Muslims to co-exist peacefully. He urged them to use dialogue to settle issues rather than resorting to the use of violent means at the least provocation. Maulvi Durrani commended the government for creating an enabling environment for freedom of worship in the country. 10 Jan 06