'Religious scholars should collectively condemn terrorism': Scholars

Religious scholars urge for the need of education and promotion of moderate forces to offset extremist mindset.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani religious scholars have been oft criticised for never collectively condemning acts of terrorism in the country and have never mustered enough courage to issue a fatwa against suicide bombings which have resulted in the loss of thousands of deaths across Pakistan.

Dr Mumtaz Ahmed expressed these views while speaking at an international conference of Islamic scholars titled "The emerging challenges and the responsibilities of Islamic Scholars" organised by Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on Tuesday.

Citing Bangladesh’s example, Ahmed said that over 200 Deobandi scholars had gathered after the 2005 bombings in the country, to collectively issue a fatwa which declared bombing and other acts of terrorism as un-Islamic.

“To most challenging situations arising in Pakistan, religious scholars’ response has always been lukewarm and pathetically emotional,” Dr Ahmed said while noting the recent spate of protests sparked by a sacrilegious film, which was made by an individual and not the American government.

Local religious scholars along with scholars from Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey stressed on the need to educate Muslims.

“It is unfortunate that in the Muslim world education is deemed as spending whereas rest of the world considers it an investment,” said Dr Qibla Ayaz, Vice-Chancellor University of Peshawar.

She added that extremism was growing because there was no emphasis on education.

“Muslims lag far behind other nations in almost every field of modern education,” said Dr Arif Zamhari, a religious scholar from Nahdatul Ulema Indonesia.

Dr Zamhari further said that religious scholars in Indonesia had taken an initiative to replace extremist ideology with a moderate one. He added that the Indonesian government and governments of other Muslim countries needed to play their part in assisting scholars to eliminate the prevalent extremist mindset.

“The state needs to setup a network of moderate forces at the provincial and district level which should spread their message to the people,” said the Indonesian scholar.

Shaikh Mehmet Paksu, a religious scholar and writer from Turkey said that Muslims urgently needed an education system that would cater to religious, spiritual and contemporary needs.

Secretary General Wafaqul Madaris Al-Salifa Maulana Yaseen Zafar pointed out that instead of pursuing education with the intention to secure employment, one should educate himself with the objective to serve humanity.

Appreciating the views of scholars, Vice Principal Jamia Imdadia Faisalabad said that it was a positive sign that Muslims around the globe had finally realised that they needed to equip themselves with modern education.

Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Senator Maulana Mohammad Khan Shirani said that it was high time that Muslims stopped blaming others for their own failures. He added that instead of focusing on differences, commonalities in different beliefs and religions should be highlighted.

Iranian scholar Dr Abideen Momneen said that Musims needed to develop a system of self-reliance to empower themselves.

Among other speakers were Dr Abdul Mu’ti, Secretary General Board of Muhammadiya Indonesia, Dr Muhayyudin Afifi, Dean faculty of Islamic Studies and representative of Grand Imam Jamia tul Azhar Egypt, Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi, principal Jamia Naeemia Lahore and Maulana Obaidur Rehman from Bangladesh.