Imams caution Bawumia

Dr. Mahmud Bawumia, the running mate of Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, the 2012 Presidential Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has incurred the wrath of the top hierarchy of the Muslim community over his decision to swear with the Holy Qur’an when he appeared before the Supreme Court as the Second Petitioner yesterday.

To the Muslim Ulama, the issues Dr. Bawumia was giving testimony to were not entirely firsthand information but rather, matters that were partly known to him or reported to him by second and third parties and so for him to appear before the court and swear with the Holy Qur’an to “say the truth and nothing but the truth” was in bad taste and sacrilegious.

They pointed out that he could incur the wrath of Almighty Allah if the information he is relying on in court turns to be false.

An eminent Islamic scholar close to a meeting of Muslim clerics convened to deliberate on the matter, disclosed to The Al-Hajj yesterday that in strict Islamic practice, for one to swear with the ‘Holy Qur’an’ means that whatever that person is going to say is nothing but the whole truth, and so for Bawumia to resort to swearing by the Holy Qur’an for a matter that he knows deep down his heart he cannot vouch for, save, for the sake of its political convenience was highly condemnable in the sight of our Maker, Allah.

Explaining further the concerns of the aggrieved Muslim leaders, the source rather suggested that he could have opted for the choice to affirm instead of swearing with the Holy Qur’an.

Dr. Bawumia, who together with the NPP 2012 flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and NPP Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey are seeking to overturn the declaration of President John Mahama as winner of the said 2012 elections, opted to swear with the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an when he mounted the witness box yesterday at the Supreme Court to lead evidence for the petitioners who have cited widespread irregularities during the conduct of the polls.

Nana Akufo-Addo, jointly with his running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and party Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey in their petition before the Supreme Court are requesting the court to annul 4,670,504 of the valid votes cast during the election involving 11,916 polling stations where the alleged irregularities took place.

The Court has since narrowed the essence of the petition to two, based on which they would give their ruling after parties in the case have advanced their arguments.

First of all, the court will establish whether or not there were statutory and constitutional violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices in the 2012 general elections and then determine whether these could have affected the results of the election.

But, Dr. Bawumia’s use of the Holy Qur’an to swear on day two of the hearing of the 2012 election petition before the Supreme Court has not gone down with many Muslim clerics.

However, refreshing information reaching the Al- Hajj at the time of going to bed speaks of crunch meetings being organized by the Muslim leaders to evaluate the implications and the possibility of averting any calamity that could befall Bawumia following his use of the Qur’an to swear over a matter whose veracity, he could not completely and totally vouch for.

“He (Bawumia) is one of our own and therefore we are concerned about what happens to him after the incident," a source told The Al-Hajj.

Throwing more light on the matter, two Islamic Clerics Sheikh Mohammed Bagaya and Ustaz Tahir said high penalty awaits whosoever commits such a dangerous religious sacrilege but differ on the remedies.

Whereas Sheikh Bagaya believes that the possible dangers of such a crime could be averted if the culprit could fast for some prescribe period or feed orphans for some period of time, Ustaz Tahir indicated there could not be remedies for such a crime.