01 March 2005	Tuesday	19 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, Feb 28: Iraq-born Muslim philosopher Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri has said that in the modern day world Muslims must refer to their heritage of religion, science, psychiatry and philosophy to illuminate their hearts.

He was delivering a lecture on "the ultimate purpose of the Deen is to illuminate the heart" at Sindh Madressatul Islam, here on Sunday evening. Shaykh Haeri highlighted the causes which were leading to a disoriented Muslim world.

"The Muslims have no priorities today," he said and added that almost all the Muslims were living under stress in today's world, which was caused by economic and financial matters. "This is all due to the love for the outer world", he observed.

He regarded soul and heart as being the most important components of the Muslim belief. "Soul is always pure, but we have to purify our Nafs, reduce ego and negative tendencies", he implied.

In his lecture the scholar explained the purpose of existence, the way to inner freedom and outer harmony. He said the heart had an inner identity whereas the outer world of human beings was a mirror of their inner state. The shaykh was of the view that if there would be peace in the inner world, then the outer world would be balanced.

Shaykh Haeri said action and knowledge could not be separated, the values were same but their presentations had changed with the passage of time. He recited a poem of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in this regard.

Earlier, Principal Sindh Madressatul Islam Mohammad Ali Shaikh in his welcome speech said that darkness was prevailing almost everywhere in the world. Sindh Madressah had too experienced a suicide bombing in its Shia mosque, which took many precious lives in the recent past.

"Sindh Madressah is a modern Muslim educational institution that produced father of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah and great Muslim scholars like Allama I I Kazi, Dr Umar Bin Mohammad Daudpoto, A K Brohi and others," he concluded.

The principal presented Ajrak and Nishan-i-Madressah to the chief guest Shaykh Haeri. Scholars, academicians and intellectuals of the city including Mohammad Hassan Bhutto, Abbas Hussain, Nusrat Mirza and Saifuddin Bandoqwala also attended the program. -PPI