May 12, 2019
By Favour Nunoo
BBC Pidgin, Accra
[image: Sheikh Osman Sharubutu]Image copyrightAFP
Ghana's chief imam is a man of few words, but the 100-year-old Muslim
cleric certainly knows how to make waves - by attending a Catholic Church
service as part of his birthday celebrations.
Pictures of Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, sitting attentively in the pews of
Accra's Christ the King Catholic Church for an Easter service, went viral
on social media.
The grand mufti, leader of Ghana's minority Muslim community, wants to
ensure that his legacy is peace - the fruit of inter-faith harmony.
[image: Sheikh Osman Sharubutu (C), in green, sitting in a pew at the
Christ the King Catholic Church in Accra, Ghana]Image copyrightSADIQ
ABDULAI ABUImage captionSheikh Sharubutu (in green) attended the Easter
Sunday service
His church attendance was given even more resonance as on the day he was
being pictured alongside parish priest Father Andrew Campbell, Islamist
suicide bombers unleashed attacks in Sri Lanka, killing more than 250
people at churches and hotels.
Those on social media championing the imam's approach described him as a
light shining in the darkness.
<https://www.facebook.com/emmanuelkwame.tettey?fref=nf>
*app-facebook*
<https://www.facebook.com/emmanuelkwame.tettey/posts/2111607422221261>
Emmanuel Kwame Tettey
about 3 weeks ago
<https://www.facebook.com/emmanuelkwame.tettey/posts/2111607422221261>
Happy centenary anniversary to His Eminence Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, the
National Chief Imam. May his humility, commitment to peace, religious
tolerance and interfaith cooperation be an enduring feature of many
religious leaders for many generations to come. May this bright light of
hope we see here illuminate many territories, far and near, where the
darkness of terror in the name of religion sadly continue to thicken.
Shalom! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
[image: image.png]
Chief Imam worships with Christ the King Church ahead of 100th birthday
celebration
https://citinewsroom.com/2019/04/21/chief-imam-worships-with-christ-the-king-church-ahead-of-100th-birthday-celebration/
Not everyone was happy - some critics condemned his actions as an
abomination, for a Muslim to participate in Christian worship. But Sheikh
Sharubutu insisted he was not worshipping but moving the relationship
between Muslims and Christians from mere tolerance to engagement.
"The chief imam is changing the narrative about Islam from a religion of
wickedness, a religion of conflict, a religion of hate for others, to a
religion whose mission is rooted in the virtues of love, peace and
forgiveness," his spokesperson Aremeyao Shaibu told the BBC.
[image: Presentational grey line]The priest who befriended an imam
*By Elizabeth Ohene, Accra*
[image: Father Andrew Campbell (L) and Sheikh Osman Sharubutu (R)]Image
copyrightSADIQ ABDULAI ABU
Unlike Ghana's chief imam, Father Andrew Campbell, the parish priest of
Christ the King Catholic Church, is certainly not a man of few words and it
is fair to say he likes to stir things up a bit.
The 73-year-old was born in Ireland and arrived in Ghana in 1971 to work as
a missionary. Over 48 years he has become a champion of unpopular and
unfashionable causes. He has adopted the cause of lepers in particular and
campaigns for them not to be stigmatised and to be treated with dignity.
His church is situated across the road from Jubilee House, the seat of
Ghana's presidency. A few months ago, he was made parish priest for Jubilee
House. The cleric has stated his support for some government policies, but
it is accepted he will be equally vocal when he feels the need to
criticise, no matter that he might be designated the in-house priest for
the presidency.
He has acquired full Ghanaian citizenship - however, he has refused to
adopt some local habits. He insists on keeping to time.
Not too long ago, I attended a wedding ceremony and he started the service
despite the absence of the bride. Half-way through the published programme,
the bridal procession could be seen trying to make an entrance from the
back door. Fr Campbell rushed down, leading the groom and stopped the bride
in the middle of the aisle, where he conducted a hurried marriage ceremony
and walked back to the altar to continued from where he had left off before
the bride appeared.
But the combination of the peaceful Muslim cleric of few words and the
trouble stirring loquacious Irish-Ghanaian priest make an unpredictable and
beautiful cocktail.
- The country where everyone is expected to be late
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47376368>
- What is Ghana like? <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13433790>
[image: Presentational grey line]
Sheikh Sharubutu has been Ghana's top Muslim cleric for 26 years, and has
always insisted the key tenets of Islam are rooted in peace and love, as
his weekly sermons at Friday prayers at the Central Mosque in the capital
attest.
Another favourite theme of his is a call to shun materialism, saying it
only brings greed.
[image: Mural of Sheikh Osman Sharubutu in Accra, Ghana]Image captionThe
chief imam reportedly stopped an all-out war in the Ashanti region by his
meek demeanour
At his residence in the poor neighbourhood of Fadama, he has insisted that
the gates remain open.
For years now, hundreds of township residents troop in each morning to
fetch fresh water from taps at the property while others visit at night
with bowls to be served hot meals for free.
It is the nature of Islamic leaders to give to charity, but his supporters
say the scale of his work stands out. He has personally sponsored hundreds
of students in their education at home and abroad and has also established
an educational trust fund to support talented but needy pupils.
Ghana, where Muslims make up 18% of the population in the mainly Christian
country, has no history of religious warfare. But relations can be
fractious - and the imam has sought to douse any flare-ups.
He is a member of the National Peace Council, made up of 13 mainly
religious leaders - but he is also known to intervene personally to resolve
tensions.
Cemetery disputes
Earlier this year, he reprimanded a group of young Muslim men who attacked
a church in Accra after its pastor predicted his death in the coming 12
months <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46747182>.
He told those who had been armed with machetes to forgive the preacher and
managed to defuse the tension, something that earned him the thanks of the
police chief.
[image: People pray during the celebration of the Eid al-Fitr at
Independence Square in Accra, Ghana - June 2017]Image copyrightAFPImage
captionMuslims make up 18% of the population in Ghana
When gunshots reverberated through the streets of Old Tafo in Kumasi in a
row over a cemetery in 2016, he immediately made a trip to the Ashanti
regional capital.
A curfew had been imposed after one person died in clashes. Traditional
leaders wanted proof that the Muslim community owned a section of land in
the graveyard to bury their dead.
The situation nearly degenerated into all-out war after rampaging Muslim
youths slapped the traditional leader of the Tafo community.
The slapping of a chief constitutes a desecration of his office, a taboo in
Ghana which requires war to be waged - something that could have spread to
other communities.
[image: Sheikh Osman Sharubutu as a young man]Image copyrightOFFICE OF THE
NATIONAL CHIEF IMAMImage captionOsman Sharubutu taught Islamic studies as a
young man
According to Mr Shaibu, the chief imam went to the palace of the Tafo
chief, and without even speaking a word, he calmed the situation by the
humility and meekness of his presence, preventing further unrest.
It was the second time that he had interceded in a fallout over a cemetery.
In 2012, the corpse of an imam in the Volta Region was exhumed and dumped
by the roadside by a community who felt Muslims should not bury their dead
in that graveyard.
Sheikh Sharubutu flew into the south-eastern region and negotiated a peace
deal - saving the state from using force to quell the riots.
'I read without gadgets'
He puts his peaceful philosophy down to his favourite Koranic verse, which
says people should be fair with each other to help achieve a harmonious
society: "Allah does not forbid you from showing kindness, and dealing
justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not
driven you out of your homes. Allah loves just dealers."
As a young man, he made this the central message of his lessons as a Muslim
teacher in Accra - going on to become one of the country's most erudite
Islamic scholars.
[image: Presentational grey line]Sheikh Sharubutu's record at 100:
- Personally officiated at more than *5,000 marriages*
- Led prayers at more than *4,000 funerals*
- Officiated at more than *10,000 naming ceremonies* for children
[image: Presentational grey line]
He then made history when he was appointed chief imam in 1993, at the age
of 74, as until then Ghana had not had a national Muslim leader.
There is some trepidation about finding a successor who can follow in his
footsteps, given that he has become so central to sustaining religious
peace.
But his serene nature seems to be key to his continued longevity, something
those who come after him may want to emulate.
"I am old, strong and vital. I can see, [am] able to read and write without
the support of any gadgets. I am able to walk on my own - God has not
tested me with weakness," his spokesman quoted him as saying.
"I am in perfect control of my mind, I have not grown senile. Placing God
at the centre of my life gives me calmness and inner peace in life."
--
Ann Marie
"The art of living consists of knowing what to pay attention to and what to
ignore." -- Mardy Grothe
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