Sheikh Aremeyao Shuaib, Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam

The Ghanaian Muslim community has issued a strong-worded statement denouncing the activities of LGBTQI+ and all related activities while expressing its strongest support for the anti-gay bill currently before Parliament.

Passage of the Proper human sexuality and Ghanaian family values, Bill 2021, it said, has become most relevant due to the dangers LGBT+ poses in the long run to the country, which goes beyond human rights and constitutionality.

According to the Muslim Community, the Bill is about the dignity of the nation and the country’s time-honoured family and national values.

The call was made at a news conference at the National Chief Imam’s residence on Wednesday and in support by the various Muslim sects in the country whose leaderships were in attendance.

Spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyao Shaibu who read the statement on behalf of all the Muslim sects stated that Islam as a faith and system of life stands diametrically opposed to LGBT+ and all its ramification as damnable, morally objectionable, publicly and socially reprehensible and above all a subject of divine reprobation and prohibition.

He stated the Holy Qur’an contains verses that make it clear the practice of LGBTQ+ is a moral perversion and a damnable practice that portends perditious consequences on the nation and cited Qur’an Chapter 26:173 as an example.

The Muslim leadership, he said, was compelled to express its position following the vehement rejection of the Bill by the group of legal experts, professors and human rights activists and the constitutional and human rights concerns they have raised.

According to Sheikh Aremeyao, the convenient attempt to make the subject of God’s disproval of LGBTQ+ a nonentity and elevate the matter of human rights and constitutionality as the basis for arguments is lame.

He stated that contrary to being considered godless, Ghana is a secular state with a deep sense of God that is expressed in a number of national symbols including the national anthem that begins with ‘God bless our homeland Ghana…’ and the national pledge which ends with ‘…And so help me God’ among many other state prayers and oaths.

“Sadly, LGBTQ+ is an emanation of humanistic and hedonistic philosophy and inclinations. It is our view that beneath the viewpoints of the proponents of LGBTQ+ is the hedonistic and humanistic philosophical inclinations, which make complete nonsense of God’s involvement in the hidden affairs of humans.

“It is an attempt to declare the Almighty God absolutely irrelevant and unnecessary in the affairs of man.

“Goaded by this belief, the proponents of this sexual aberration are calling on humanity to pursue lustful pleasure freely in an absolute unconstrained and unrestrained manner under the guise of human rights and constitutional freedoms,” he said.

He stressed that Islam as a way of life upholds a belief in sanctity, value and necessity of family institution as a unit of society built on the foundation of marriage between men and women.

Same sex and related sexual aberrations, he said, therefore constitute a violation of natural order and a way against the very survival of the family and its value.

Sheikh Aremeyao stressed that while upholding the principles of constitutional democracy and the guarantees for human rights and freedoms, the perverse freedoms that draw a nation into destruction should be completely outlawed, discouraged and legally prevented.

He applauded Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin and his predecessor Professor Mike Oquaye for their unwavering stance against LGBTQ+, the MPs working on the Bill for their courage and the Christian community for strongly coming out against the proponents of the practice.

He appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians to give their full backing to the Proper human sexual right and Ghanaian family values, Bill 2021 when Parliament begins debate on it.