Pres Mahama’s fulfilment of Hajj promise good for pilgrims

 IT is heart-warming to learn from the Ghana Hajj Taskforce that the reduc­tion of last year’s Hajj fare of GH¢75,000 to GH¢62,000, an equivalent of $4,130 at an exchange rate of GH¢15 to a US dollar, is a campaign promise made by then former President John Dramani Mahama and flag bearer of the National Demo­cratic Congress (NDC).

There are Five Pillars of Islam, which are its core beliefs and practices and all faithful Muslims strive to fulfil them.

These pillars include the profession of Faith (known in Arabic as shahada), the belief that “There is no god but God, and Muhammed (May the bless­ing of Allah be upon him) is the Messenger of God”.

This belief is central to Islam, because the Arabic word ‘Islam’ means ‘submission to God’, and a Muslim is the one who surren­ders himself or herself uncondi­tionally to God’s will,

The other pillars are Prayer (salat); Alms giving (zakat); Fast­ing (sawm) and Pilgrimage (hajj).

It is instructive to note that while the first four pillars as they are presented in this editorial piece can be upheld anywhere, Hajj alone must be observed at a particular place, Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

That means there are cer­tain implications, including the financial burden for those living distances away from Mecca.

Meanwhile, Hajj is a sacred pilgrimage that is required of ev­ery Muslim at least once in their lifetime, yet in places like Ghana, many Muslims wonder if they could undertake Hajj even just once because the cost involved is a fortune to them; even those who have the wherewithal still struggle under the huge cost.

This means those unable to undertake Hajj are missing one of the important pillars of their faith and its benefits, particu­larly the spiritual, such as the opportunity to wipe clean past sins and start life afresh before Allah (SWT).

In all of this, President Maha­ma’s efforts to reduce the cost to undertake Hajj go to ease the financial burden of those who can and encourage the others to endeavour to undertake this spiritual obligation.

In fact, it pleasing how Presi­dent Mahama is timely fulfilling his campaign promises.

For instance, apart from the Hajj, he promised a lean govern­ment by appointing only 60 min­isters and thereby cut cost to the state and he has done exactly so.

Days ago he fulfilled another promise of commissioning a Constitutional Review Com­mittee to assess and propose amendments to the country’s 1992 Constitution.

The Ghanaian Times knows there are other campaign prom­ises and hopes that they too would be fulfilled in their own time.

The Ghanaian Times cannot close its eyes to the fact that as the days go by, circumstances would crop up for the President to be compelled to make other promises.

But in the meantime, his atti­tude of being honest to fulfilling promises portend good things to come, which is what is expected of him.

But it must not be lost on anyone that fulfilling promises is contingent on the availability of funds, so restraint is the catch­phrase when a promise delays.

Restraint or patience is crucial because so far, the President has demonstrated enough goodwill that he would keep his promises.