Chapter 1, �Al-Faatih-ah� of the Glorious Qur�an begins with these holy words: �Bismillahir Rah�manir Rah�eem�. It is translated to mean �In the name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful�. With the exception of one chapter all the others in the Qur�an begin with these words.
The Beneficence and Mercy of Allah (God) lies at the very heart of Islam. Human beings pray often for blessings and mercy from the Creator and are expected to show same towards other human beings.
A young Nigerian boy, born into an Islamic family turned these holy words upside down when he attempted to blow up a trans-Atlantic airplane (from The Netherlands to the US) on Christmas Day 2009. Thanks to God�s mercy, he failed and the world exhaled a sigh of relief.
But his wicked plans, though unsuccessful have added to the world�s anxieties, fears and distrusts, making world travel once more a very frightening and dangerous proposition. Is it not ironical that, while modern aeronautic technology is making airline travel one of the safest modes of transport in the world, human religious fanatics are pulling from the other end trying to make it the most dangerous?
We welcome the safety measures being put in place by governments around the world and call on the international community to close ranks and fight terrorism in the air and on land and piracy on the high seas with the same kind of zeal that the world is showing in combating climate change.
What would be the point if we succeed in saving the world from climate change but leave it vulnerable to terrorism and piracy?
For us Ghanaians, we should take a lesson from this near miss � near miss, not only because he almost succeeded in his dastardly designs to blow up the plane, but because our country was used as one of his staging points which if he had succeeded, could have tarnished us with the label of a terror-promoting country, even if remotely.
Everyone knows us Ghanaians for our tolerance and love for a good time. It is not in us to do what that silly boy tried to do on Christmas Day. Let us close ranks and guard with all our might and strength, against all those, from whether outside or within, who would want to drag the good name of Ghana into the sinful quagmire of their bigotry and in the process make nonsense of �Bismillahir Rah�manir Rah�eem�.
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