KARACHI, June 29: The Urdu translation of a book, Jerusalem in the Qur’an, authored by Islamic scholar Imran Nazar Hosein, was formally launched at the Karachi Press Club on Friday.

The book, titled Al-Quds aur Ikhtitam-i-Waqt (Jerusalem and the End of Time) in Urdu, has been translated by Mohammad Jawed Iqbal, while Mr Hosein has come from the Caribbean island country of Trinidad and Tobago to speak on the occasion.

The author said the basic purpose of the book was to explain that Islam had a different view of the historical process as it pertained to the Holy Land (Jerusalem).

“It is one in which time is fast running out for Israel. The Sea of Galilee will soon run dry! Jesus will return! And his return will witness the destruction of the state of Israel,” said the author, a pupil of Karachi’s Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies who also studied at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Translator Jawed Iqbal said he was hugely inspired by the scholarly approach and eloquence of Mr Hosein, which persuaded him to translate the book into Urdu. He said the book has already been translated into many European and Asian languages and stirred huge debates in the US, Europe and elsewhere in the world.

According to the organisers, Mr Hosein has written more than a dozen books on Islam, of which Jerusalem in the Qur’an has become a bestseller.

Mr Hosein said Jerusalem and the Holy Land should be dearest to all hearts — as dear as Makkah and Madina — and the struggle to liberate the Holy Land from the control of Israel should be the dearest of all struggles (of liberation) for the Muslims.

“If a Jew can leave the US or Europe or Russia and join the Israeli Defence Force and participate in the armed oppression of the Muslim and Christian Palestinian people in the Holy Land, then a Muslim should also have the same freedom to leave wherever he resides in the world and join the armed resistance of the oppressed in the Holy Land. It is, in fact, a minimum tangible expression of faith in today’s world that Muslims should at least have the desire in their hearts to participate in that armed resistance (Jihad) in the Holy Land,” argued Mr Hosein

Mr Hosein worked for several years as a foreign service officer in the ministry of foreign affairs of the government of Trinidad and Tobago. He lived in New York for 10 years, during which time he served as the Director of Islamic Studies for the Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations of Greater New York. He lectured on Islam in several American and Canadian universities, colleges, churches, synagogues, prisons, community halls, etc.

He also participated in many inter-faith dialogues with Christian and Jewish scholars while representing Islam in the US. He was the Imam, for some time, of the Masjid Dar al-Qur’an in Long Island, New York. He also led the weekly Juma prayers and delivered the sermon at the United Nations’ headquarters in Manhattan once a month for 10 years continuously.—HM