KARACHI: Islam not a religion of authoritarianism: Seminar told...
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 7: Speakers at a seminar on Saturday called upon the Muslims to follow the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah.
The identity of a Muslim lies in his true faith in the Almighty Allah which he or she must demonstrate through his/her behaviour, they said.
Mere attempts to assert anyone’s ideology on others, deviating the true philosophy and spirit of Islam, would not only add to the existing societal conflicts, but would also advance the process of fragmentation, which the Ummah is currently faced with, they added.
The seminar on “Islam and the Muslim identity” was organized by the Karachi Women’s Peace Committee at the Defence Central Library on Saturday.
The committee intends to hold two more seminars on the same topic.
In her introductory remarks, the chairperson of the committee, Nargis Rahman, expressed the hope that the seminars on the topic would help promote an understanding and would bring forth the “reality of the Muslim identity — the individual”.
She called for steps to prevent a further disintegration in the already fragmented Ummah.
The first speaker of the evening, Allama Dr Kaukab Noorani, said that Islam lays emphasis on a pious and god-fearing society, which perpetuates the good and discards the evil.
He said Islamic teachings ensure character-buildingof an individual, who gets ample opportunities to integrate with the other segments of the society while practising Islam.
The impression that Islam is a religion of fear and authoritarianism is absolutely wrong, because it teaches an individual to promote friendship with others.
Dr Manzoor Ahmad of Usman Institute of Technology maintained that Muslims should not worry about any identity problem and should care for their behaviours and bring those in line with the Islamic teachings.
“In fact, we have fallen prey to the identity of dogma, otherwise Islam is a religion of behaviour,” he opined.
He said that it seemed that the issue of Islam and the Muslim identity had become our psychological problem.
“Only with the demonstration of our identity on our shirt-sleeves would not serve any purpose, unless we follow the true spirit of Islam and unless we work for a true peaceful society,” he added.
Brig A R Siddiqui said he did not understand why after a lapse of so many years of birth of Islam now the question of Islamic identity was being raised.
“It is deplorable that after a long time, we are still struggling to define ourselves as Muslims,” he remarked.
He said efforts be made to promote a real sense of brotherhood.
“We should not pain others. Instead of this, we should assess what an individual had given for the glory of Islam.
He referred to the declaration of Qadianis as non-Muslims in the country and separation of the East Pakistan and questioned that it was a time to review whether we came up to Islamic teachings after the creation of Pakistan.
