These views were expressed by different speakers at the Lahore High Court (LHC), gathered for the book launch of K M Azam’s “Pakistan, Islam and Iqbal.”
Professor Humayoun Ihsan, while mentioning the recent Arab spring, said that the original thoughts of Islam are concealed by the Muslim rulers as they fear rebellion. Ihsan then said that the Poet of the East, Allama Iqbal through his poetry preached the concepts of Islam that ask for the establishment of a society based on justice and equality.
Former LHC chief justice Mian Mahbood Ahmad, while speaking on the occasion highlighted the recent trend of Ijtehad on individual level.
“This (trend) is creating confusion in Muslim societies, this should be banned forthwith,” Ahmad said
Ahmad further added that not everyone is rational enough to preach Islam. “They (preachers) even point fingers at the way you dress up. Such attitudes affect the universality of Islam which is a religion for the entire mankind,” Ahmad said.
Justice(r) Nasira Javed Iqbal in her brief address said that the ‘memogate’ scandal is one of the signs of our slavery.
“We should step forward towards self reliance while keeping in mind the teachings of the Poet of the East,” Iqbal said.
Iqbal also said that the real challenge before us now is to break the beggar’s bowel.
The author of the book, Azam said that one cannot guarantee an Islamic society by forming parties and chanting slogans of Islam.
“Islam is not about enforcement but penetration,” Azam said.
Azam also said that the Ulemas, with their narrow-mindedness, have made Islam a religion, rather than a “deen,” which is a way of life.
“To me, the two nation theory is not restricted to India and Pakistan alone. It is a broader concept of virtue and immorality,” Azam explained.
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@Furqan: Please quote one incident when the Holy Prophet sent Yahoudies or followers of other beliefs outside of Madina or Makkah for their worshiping. I am sure there places of worships were in the same cities and it stayed the same with the Khulafa. Pakistan is today for us and majority of other Muslims countries as well are the prime example of religious intolerance in the world today. I never knew being 'Islamic' meant trample on the others and kill whom so ever you please in the name of Allah and religion...can one commit a more heinous blasphemy than that???
Its about giving the rights to others what one enjoys himself. Its not about secular law or sharia law.
@aamir tanvir: That's because the United States is secular. It shouldn't have a problem with building a mosque. And our country is "Islamic republic of Pakistan". I'm not arguing about whether Islamic principles are followed are not but ISLAM is our state religion and it should be followed. Any patriot would agree.
“To me, the two nation theory is not restricted to India and Pakistan alone. It is a broader concept of virtue and immorality,” Azam explained.
Ironically, the nation at present with the 'immorality' side of the deal is Muslim.
aamir tanvir: the moment you compare the Swiss countries with Pakistan, you commit a blunder of logical fallacy. You cannot compare Shariah law with Secular law. According to Shariah law, no such things can be built. According to Secular law, everyone is free to practice their religion. I do not see any hypocrisy when I demand my rights according to Secular values from Swiss, which they are so proud of and yap about all the time, while I enforce Shariah law in my own home/country and demand those values to be followed/respected.
@aamir tanvir
You are spot on.It's precisely this type of double standard, that makes the west to look down upon muslims. Nobody repects a hypocrite, muslim or not.
i have relatives that live overseas.what i can't fathom is their hypocrisy when thy whine about the swiss not allowing them to build minarets or the americans worrying about the wtc mosque but these same people when they were in pakistan would never have even considered let alone allowed the building of a synagogue or tolerated the existence of atheists in pakistan.when they come back to visit it's the same misogynistic,severely homophobic mentality they had while they were living in pakistan.the muslims ranting about west's intolerance should take a long,hard look at themselves and honestly ask themselves would they allow synagogues or openly atheist people in pakistan?