Egyptian football team builds a mosque in Ghana

Egyptian football players donated a portion of the bonus they got for making the African Cup finals to build a mosque in the Ghanaian city of Kumasi, which has a Muslim majority.

"Every player made a donation," the captain of the Egyptian club al-Ahly, Shady Mohamed, said in a phone interview with the Egyptian Modern Sport channel.

"The team also collected a big amount of money for the poor of Kumasi," Mohamed was reported as saying by the Egyptian daily independent Al-Masri Al-Youm.

The decision to make the donation was taken after Egypt defeated Angola 2-1 in the quarter finals of the African Cup of Nations, which Egypt went on to win in a 1-0 defeat over Cameroon on Sunday.

The Egyptian team also slaughtered three cows during their stay in Ghana and distributed the meat to the poor – an act of charity that all Muslims are encouraged to make whenever possible.

After Ghanaian press reports speculated that the first slaughter was some kind of black magic aimed at weakening rival teams, the second and third offerings were made in secret, the President of the Egyptian Football Association Samir Zaher said in press statements.

The players also befriended Sheikh Ahmed Said, the imam of the mosque they attended in the southern central city of Kumasi.

Said, who speaks perfect Arabic, graduated from al-Azhar and lived in Cairo for years. He said he was impressed by the piety of the Egyptian players and how they knelt after each goal they scored.

According to official statistics, Muslims make up 16 percent of Ghana's 22-million population. But the head of the Accra Higher Institute for Islamic Research, Sheikh Abdul-Qader Nibari, says the actual number is around 35 percent.

Ghana is a secular state where all religions are treated equally. Christianity is the main religion and there are also a variety of pagan creeds.

Muslims in Ghana occupy high-ranking posts, such as the Vice President Ali Mohamed and Minister of Labor Mustafa Ali, as well as a large number of officers in the Ghanaian police and army.

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the government passed a law to monitor donations made to mosques in an effort to combat funding to terror groups.

The Religious Affairs Committee of the Egyptian People's Assembly -- the lower house of parliament -- approved the draft law on monitoring donations to government and civil mosques, especially those affiliated to the Islamic non-governmental organizations.


(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid).