Article Title :
Muslim Marriages in Accra, Ghana: A Perspective on Minority/Majority Relations, Gender, and Social Mobility
6 (2022)
1-13
Sunni , Social Mobility , Shi’i , Muslim marriages , Ghana , Gender , Accra
Muslims in Ghana form a significant minority of nearly eighteen percent of the total population of over twenty-five million people. Out of this number exists a small minority of Shi’i Muslims among the dominant Sunni group. This article considers marriage practices between the minority Shi’i and majority Sunni groups with relevance to gender and social mobility. Relying on field data gathered between 2014 and 2020 through interviews, informal conversations as well as the usage of an informant, the article demonstrates how the minority situates itself in relation to the majority group with respect to marriage as a social practice. The article argues that the minority negotiates its space within the context of the majority with respect to continuing and sustaining some traditions while placing some other practices into a contextual perspective. Furthermore, the article contends that mobility takes place in the lives of both men and women; however, Muslim men have some advantage over Muslim women.
This article has demonstrated how the minority negotiates its place among a majority group.
The Muslim community represents the idea of a society or a community, which has different classes and marital choices and practices is the lens chosen for examining social mobility.
Existing culture of Muslim learning and knowledge transmission is linked to the prevalent idea of segregation between Muslim men and women.
There is also the case for some women to continue with a marriage that they are not satisfied.
The reason for resistance is mainly seen as minimal; the Shi’i do not have a different Prophet or Quran.
Mut’a falls within marriage and prostitution. The practice of mut’a raises questions about the contests over its legitimacy.
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