28/11/2025
The Enemy of Islam Is Not the Christian, But the Ignorant Muslim: Reflection on Misconceptions Surrounding Muslim Rights in Public-Funded Schools.
No statement have been more abused, misapplied, or weaponized against the legitimate rights of Ghanaian Muslims than these in recent times than: βGo and build your own Muslim schools.β
At a time when Muslims across the country are expressing deep concern over perceived injustices arising from the ongoing Wesley Girlsβ Senior High School case, it is unfortunate yet unsurprising that some of the harshest opposition comes not from outside the faith, but from within it. The loudest chorus attempting to silence the struggle for constitutional fairness is the persistent refrain: βIf you want to pray and fast, build your own schools.β
This position, often loudly proclaimed but poorly thought through, exposes a worrying disconnect from both constitutional reality and civic principles.
Let it be stated clearly, once and for all:
Muslims are not demanding rights in privately funded institutions. We are not insisting that wholly private schools adopt Islamic practices or adjust their policies for Muslim students.
If an institution is privately built, privately funded, privately maintained, and privately run, it has the autonomy to determine its regulations religious or otherwise. Muslims have not protested against that, and we are not naΓ―ve about what private autonomy means.
Where the problem arise and where the debate must remain is when an institution receives public funds.
Public funds belong to:
β’ Muslims
β’ Christians
β’ Traditionalists
β’ Atheists
β’ Every Ghanaian taxpayer
If a school is built by a religious body but maintained and sustained with national resources, then it becomes subject to the public rules that govern all public-funded institutions.
You cannot eat from the national purse and then deny national rights.
You cannot accept state resources and reject state obligations.
You cannot take funding from Muslim taxpayers and then tell their children they cannot pray or fast.
The principle is simple: If you do not want to respect the constitutional rights of all students, do not use public money.
The Qurβan warns Muslims not merely against external hostility, but against internal ignorance. The Prophet (SAW) repeatedly cautioned that one of the greatest dangers to the Ummah is the uninformed believer who speaks confidently from a position of misunderstanding and today, that warning echoes loudly.
While Muslims across Ghana are taking a principled, lawful stand for equality in public-funded schools, a handful of fellow Muslims undermine this effort with misplaced arguments, poorly reasoned objections, and an eagerness to surrender rights that the Constitution already guarantees.
This internal opposition weakens collective advocacy, emboldens discriminatory policies, and signals to the nation that Muslims themselves are divided about their own dignity.
Ghana has enjoyed decades of peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians. Many Christian leaders, lawyers, and citizens have stood publicly with Muslims on matters of fairness. The issue at stake is not interfaith hostility.
The real challenge is ensuring that public institutions reflect constitutional values, not sectarian preferences.
Therefore, when some Muslims try to shut down legitimate advocacy by shouting βbuild your own schools,β they are not defending peace they are defending discrimination, even if unknowingly.
Muslims are simply asking for what the Constitution already promises:
β’ Freedom of worship
β’ Freedom from discrimination
β’ Equality before the law
β’ Protection of minority rights
These rights do not depend on who built the school structure; they depend on who funds the institution today.
And as long as state resources are involved, then state obligations apply.
No amount of internal noise can change this legal and civic reality.
The Muslim community must recognize that injustice thrives not merely because of external forces, but because of internal complacency, disunity, and misunderstanding. The greatest obstacle to Muslim dignity in Ghana is not the Christian community many of whom support fairness but the uninformed Muslim who opposes his own rights.
As Ghana engages with the ongoing debate on the rights of Muslim students in public-funded schools, we must reject silence, reject ignorance, and reject the false narrative that demanding constitutional equality is an act of confrontation.
It is not.
It is an act of citizenship.
An act of dignity.
An act of justice.
And no amount of βbuild your own schoolsβ rhetoric will silence the truth.
Wesley Girls school issues.
Imam Abass Abdul-Karim
