National and international religious scholars said during a seminar organized by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPs) on Tuesday that it is imperative for the Muslim Ummah to make the modern education its top most priority in the face of emerging challenges in the contemporary world.
The seminar titled “The emerging challenges and the responsibilities of Islamic scholars” was based on an interaction between international Islamic scholars and Pakistani religious scholars to promote peace and harmony.
The Islamic ideological Council Chairman Senator Moulana Mohammad Khan Shirani while speaking as a chief guest of the inaugural session of the seminar, said that in the face of the present challenges being witnessed by the Muslim World, it was imperative for them to stop finding faults in others for their own failures and should instead be focusing on serious soul searching to redress the emerging issues.
Shirani said that there were so many commonalities among the majority of humanity which needed to be highlighted instead of focusing on the differences. He further added that it was the responsibility of the religious scholars to promote peace and tolerance in the society. Moulana Shirani urged the United Nations (UN) to ensure religious freedom for the followers of every religion.
Renowned scholar and University of Peshawar Vice-Chancellor Dr. Qibla Ayaz, said during his keynote address that it was unfortunate that in the Muslim world education was deemed as a waste of money whereas the rest of the world considered it as an investment. He said that one great challenge being faced by the Muslims was the growing trend of extremism in their midst.
Dr. Ayaz said that it was quite evident that the history of extremism was bound to fail. Therefore, he said, it was the responsibly of the intelligentsia and the religious scholars to come forward and educate people about celebrating the differences and keeping unity among each other despite the existing differences. He said that the Muslim Ummah was now looking towards the Muslim leadership and the religious scholars to come up with the solutions for the present challenges. He said that tolerance and diversity were the key elements of any forward looking society which had been ignored in the Muslim world. He added that it was the collective responsibility of the religious scholars to invoke informed thinking in all Muslim societies.
Earlier, PIPs Director Mohammad Amir Rana welcomed the religious scholars from Pakistan and other parts of the world and termed it a remarkable opportunity with regard to sharing ideas pertaining to various contemporary issues of the Muslim world and to implore the solutions.
Dr. Arif Zamhari, a religious scholar from Nahdatul Ulema Indonesia, while speaking to the 1st session of the seminar ‘Challenges on Educational Front and the Way Forward’, termed the lack of education and modern knowledge as the biggest challenge of the Muslim world. Dr. Zamhari said that Muslims lagged far behind the other nations in almost every field of modern education and thus, it had to be an area of concern for all the Muslims in the world.
Shaikh Mehmet Paksu, a religious scholar and writer from Turkey said that Muslims should develop a system of education that could cater to their religious and spiritual needs as well as the contemporary requirements. Jamia Imdadia Faisalabad Vice-Principal Mufti Mohammad Zahid said that Muslims could not perceive a state craft without religion and therefore they were seeking the solution of their socio-political issues in accordance with the guiding principles of Islam. He said that it was a positive sign that Muslims around the world had now developed a strong realization that they needed to equip themselves with modern education.