26 February 2019 at 16:32
Hajj School to educate pilgrims established
By Salifu B.B. Moro
The Muslim Ummah Development Initiative (MUDI), made up of Ghanaian Muslim scholars and professionals, has set up a school at the Durra Institute of Languages (DIAL) in Accra to educate and prepare would-be pilgrims before they embark on the journey in the ensuing years.
The school, dubbed the “Free Hajj School”, is the first of its kind in the country and will be organized every month in three centers in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.
Three modules of courses will be offered in the school, with the first one covering issues pertaining to the historical background of Hajj and Umra (non-mandatory pilgrimage), the age-old centrality to the Abrahamic faiths, the Quranic verses and Hadith relating to the pilgrimage and its virtues.
The second will cover the essential of figh (Islamic Law), women issues, with the third module focusing on practicality of how to perform Hajj and Umra.
Lack of Knowledge
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the MUDI Group of Companies, Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, observed that many of the problems that were caused in Saudi Arabia by Ghanaian pilgrims were largely due to the lack of knowledge on the part of the pilgrims relative to how they ought to conduct themselves.
“When you look at Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, and the rest, you have a situation where you ought to sit in a classroom and be taught for a long time, understand and appreciate that journey, before you set your foot out of the country.
“That is why when you get there, you see the difference between them and Ghanaians,” he further explained.
Free Service
Hajj Abdel-Rahman added that the Hajj School was a free service being rendered by the board of directors and the shareholders of the MUDI Group to attract the “blessings of Allah”. A resource person for the school, Sheikh Musah Alhassan Jieakeya, said Islam was a religion that encouraged Muslims to seek Knowledge, adding that it behaved every Muslim to know how to perform the hajj rituals before embarking on the journey.
The Group Chairman of the MUDI Group of Companies, Alhaji Alhassan Haruna, for his part, explained that the Hajj School was simply to educate people on the right ways of performing the hajj rituals, and “come back as well-recognized Alhajis”.
The Chief Imam of the Shia Muslim in Ghana, Sheikh Abubakar Kamaldeen commended MUDI for the initiative; adding that hajj rituals were purely practical and that people ought to learn them before embarking on the pilgrimage
CREDIT: Daily Graphic January 30, 2019.