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ISLAM, POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT: NEGOTIATING THE
FUTURE OF DAGBON
A LECTURE DELIVERED BY
MUSTAPHA ABDUL-HAMID
LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND HUMAN VALUES
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
CAPE COAST
DATE: 11TH APRIL, 2011.
VENUE: ALISA HOTEL, ACCRA.
TIME: 5:00pm
Part One
Introduction
I have chosen the topic, Islam, Politics and
Development: Negotiating the Future of Dagbon for
good reason. Islam, since its introduction into
Dagbon in 1700 through the conversion of Na Zangina,
has exerted great influence on the Dagomba people.
Dagomba customs and traditions are inextricably
interwoven with Islamic ones. Naming, marriage and
funeral ceremonies all show considerable Islamic
influences. Even the most important festival of the
Dagomba people, Damba, is celebrated to commemorate
or coincide with Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. As far
back as 1820, Joseph Dupuis, the British Consul to
Ghana, on the testimony of Yendi traders, classified
Dagbon among “governments which are either purely
Moslem, or countries where the Koranic law had been
received and serves for the civil code of the
believer and infidel.”
Indeed, to this day, Dagombas themselves, hardly
refer to one of their own as chefira, a corruption
of the Arabic word, kafir, which means unbeliever.
Thus Dagombas distinguish three levels of commitment
to Islam. First, afanema, that is those who have
literacy in Islam and Arabic and therefore preside
over birth, marriage and funeral ceremonies.
Secondly, those who say the Muslim ritual prayer,
called jing puhriba, meaning “those who pray.”
Lastly, Dagbang dabba that is, those who are nominal
Muslims and who also actively participate in
traditional rituals. The 2000 Population and Housing
Census of Ghana also put the Muslim population of
Dagbon at 79%.
According to C.R Gaba, religion for the African, is
a twenty-four hour-a-day affair. “Wherever the
African is, there is his religion.” Scott Appleby
also has this to say about the role of religion in
people’s lives.
Indeed, literally millions of people structure their
daily routines around the spiritual practices
enjoined by a religious tradition, and they often do
so quite ‘publicly’. Dress, eating habits, gender
relations, negotiations of time, space, and social
calendar-all unfold beneath a sacred canopy. Around
much of the world, politics and civil society are
suffused with religion.
If this is the case, then we cannot be discussing
the Dagomba people without their religion and that
religion is Islam. What makes the inclusion of
religion even more significant is the fact that
Dagbon is in crisis; curable crisis. According to
H.O Anyanwu, “humans interact with the supernatural
in order to cope up with life’s crisis.” Indeed
Pargament argues that most religious traditions
developed out of crisis situations.
The teachings of Confucius, with their emphasis on a
social and cosmic order, developed out of a time of
social anarchy when warring armies massacred
populations in the tens of thousands…It is an
ultimate crisis, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
which set the stage for his triumphant resurrection.
The revelations of Muhammad took place against the
backdrop of a brawling chaotic society as well as
the tragic deaths of his parents in childhood.
Crises situations give birth to stress. And when
stress situations occur, they ought to be
alleviated. Y.S Agyeman avers that;
“Stress situations are periods in the life of the
individual when anticipated goals are not
realized…they also refer to situations when
uncontrollable and unpredictable accidents occur in
the life of the individual and society.”
There is no doubt that the people of Dagbon are
under stress. So religion or, for that matter Islam,
becomes vital in finding peace in Dagbon and also
helping the people to cope with their stress
situation. Politics (as defined by the chieftancy
institution) was the basis of the crisis.
Contemporary politics also has a lot to do with the
crisis in Dagbon. Since Ghana’s self-rule, political
parties have sought to feed on the royal divisions
for partisan support and advantage. A recent example
was how the National Democratic Congress (NDC) made
the death of the Ya-Na a major plank of their 2008
campaign. Beyond that, Aristotle states that “humans
are by nature political.” Neil Omerod also states
that “all human activities have a political
dimension.” Indeed every government, from Nkrumah to
Mills, has had to deal with the Dagbon chieftaincy
crisis in one way or the other.
Development is the goal of every human society, even
though states would differ from one another in terms
of the ingredients of development and the benchmarks
of development. In fact Na Zangina converted to
Islam, because he perceived Muslim clerics as having
the power to induce development for the Dagbon
state. According to Ivor Wilks, the cleric who
converted Na Zangina to Islam made Dagbon prosperous
with the aid of the Qur’an. Na Zangina is reported
to have uttered the following prayer at his
conversion: “I pray to God to build my kingdom as
compact as clay…I pray to God to allow travelers in
this area to have safe journeys to their
destinations’. Ivor Wilks writes that following this
prayer which was performed in the nature of the
Muslim ritual prayer of Salat, ‘the roads opened and
many traveled by them…’
In this lecture, I shall be navigating these
concepts as they relate to the Dagbon crisis. But
ultimately, my aim is to point to a future in which
justice, peace and sanity shall prevail in Dagbon
for the roads to development to be opened for all to
travel by them, regardless of your Gate and which
party may be in power. That future will not come
through belligerence, intransigence and exclusivism.
That future will not come through the beating of war
drums. That future will not come through dividing
Dagombas into victims and villains, devils and
saints, just and unjust. That future will come
through sacrifice, compromise, negotiation and
development. I do not pretend to have the answers
but I share the view of those who see the answers in
wider appreciation of justice, peace, reconciliation
and development. Like I stated at the beginning of
this lecture, I am a humble citizen of the Dagbon
state, who presumes to contribute my quota to the
resolution of a decades old conflict. But I do not
have access to the boardrooms where these
negotiations take place or would take place. I
belong in the public sphere. And it is in this
public sphere that I make my contribution.
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