Muntaka calls on parents and community leaders to build peace from the home up
At a gathering steeped in spiritual reflection and communal purpose, Ghana’s Interior Minister used the platform of one of the country’s most respected Islamic lectures to deliver a message that wove together faith, family, and national security into a single, urgent call to action.
Speaking at the annual Dr. Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu Ramadan Lectures at the National Mosque, Minister for the Interior Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak made a direct appeal to parents, urging them to treat the upbringing of their children not as a routine responsibility, but as a foundational act of nation-building.
The minister argued that the values a child absorbs at home ultimately shape the safety and stability of the communities those children will inhabit as adults. For him, the connection between family nurturing and national security is not abstract, it is direct and consequential.
He called on parents to spend meaningful time with their children and guide them through the teachings of their faith, so that they develop into disciplined, morally grounded individuals capable of contributing positively to society. The responsibility, he stressed, does not rest with parents alone.
Mr. Mohammed-Mubarak also directed his message at Muslim leaders and Zongo chiefs, urging them to take an active role in promoting peace, social responsibility, and the kind of moral guidance that can steer young people away from the influences that breed insecurity. Traditional and religious leaders, he argued, occupy a unique position of trust within their communities, and that trust carries an obligation to use it purposefully.
Drug abuse emerged as one of the specific concerns the minister raised, identifying it as a contributor to insecurity across many communities and calling on leaders to confront it directly rather than look the other way.
“Let us work together to create opportunities and guide our youth towards success,” he said, invoking the Prophet’s teaching that “seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim” to underscore his point about the centrality of education in building capable and purposeful young citizens.
The minister also touched on the government’s broader efforts to address security challenges, while emphasizing that the state cannot do it alone. Inner peace, collective responsibility, and investment in education and vocational training, particularly in Zongo communities, are equally essential tools in the effort to build a safer Ghana.
He anchored his address in a Qur’anic verse that has long resonated as a call for personal and communal transformation: “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Suratul Al-Ra’d 13:11), a reminder that progress begins not with external intervention, but with internal commitment.
National Chief Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu also addressed the gathering, calling on Muslims to abandon wrongdoing and remain steadfast in obedience to Allah’s teachings as a path to peaceful living. He offered prayers for the faithful and extended warm wishes for the holy month, expressing hope that Ramadan would bring peace, security, prosperity, and stability to Ghana.
The event was jointly organized by the National Mosque and the Hudai Foundation in collaboration with the Office of the National Chief Imam, a fitting backdrop for a message about the inseparable relationship between faith, family, and the kind of society Ghana aspires to be.
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