New Delhi, April 11 The second day of the two-day 30th All India Ahle Hadees Conference began here today at Ram Leela Ground with the emphasis upon the point that the great companions of Prophet Mohammed were a model to the humanity irrespective of religion, caste, creed or race, and all the problems in the world in general and our country in particular faced today could be solved by emulating them in spirit and practice.
Prominent among those participating in today’s first session included well known Arya Samaj leader Swami Agniwesh, eminent ideologue and Pro Chancellor of Meerut-based Shobhit University Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra, former Member of Parliament and Editor of Hindi weekly and Internet TV “Chauthi Duniya” Santosh Bharti, former Member of Parliament and Chairman of Jain TV Group Dr J K Jain, renowned expert of world religions Dr M M Verma, Swami Omkaranand Srivastava, Ayodhya saint Jugal Kishore Shastri, Jain expert Prof Anay Kant Jain, Member of Parliament Mohammed Adeeb, Member of Delhi Assembly Shoib Iqbal, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind secretary Maulana Mohammed Rafique Ahmed Qasmi, Tanzeem Aemma Masajid President Maulana Umair Ilyasi, All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Tanzeem Ulama-e-Haq leader Maulana Ejaz Urfi Nadvi, besides a number of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind leaders like Wakil Parwez, Maulana Abul Aas Waheedi, Dr Syed Abdul Haleem, Abdullah Hyderabadi, Abdul Qadir Anwer Bastawi, Dr Abdul Aziz Fauzan, Saad Ali Ash’ar, Abdur Rahman Khilji, Sher Khan Jameel, Dr Hamid Yaqub, Shafi Ahmed Madani, Dr Abdul Aziz Sulaiman, Ahmed Al Rumi, Abdul Mannan Salafi, Shamim Ahmed Salafi, Abdur Rahman Mubarakpuri, Shamim Ahmed Nadvi, Shaukat Ahmed Shah, Shakil Ahmed Madani, Mufti Rashid Azmi, Abdul Hakim Abdul Ma’bud Madani, Abdul Wahab Hejazi, Abdul Moid Madani, Khursheed Ahmed Madani, Shahabuddin Madani, and Dr Jawed Azam.
Swami Agniwesh said that he considered himself as a comrade of Prophet Mohammed and his companions because they after a long period revived the concept of “Tauhid” (Oneness of God) and spread it. According to him, Tauhid possessed a potential that could alone bring a revolution in the world.
Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra said that the only way to empower the humankind was to get them educated. According to him, this was the message that Prophet Mohammed and his companions spread in the society. He said the first word of the Holy Quran that was revealed was “Iqra”, meaning read, obtain knowledge, and get you educated. He also said that the Prophet’s companions stressed the importance of education. That’s why they as the leaders of the initial Islamic governments declared education compulsory upon both males and females. He said the education that was declared recently compulsory in our country had been declared compulsory by the world’s first coalition government at Madinah, headed by Prophet Mohammed himself and pursued by his companions later on. He made it clear that this all showed how much stress Islam laid on education. He also averred that the Prophet’s companions came to Malabar (India) during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammed himself and made the spread of education the mission of their lives. He was of the view that’s why that part of India had emerged as the most literate and educated state of the country.
Veteran journalist Santosh Bharati said that most of the companions of the Prophet were youth and the role they played then to bring a social and religious revolution was well known. Therefore, the need of the hour was that today’s youth came forward following the footsteps of the Prophet’s companions and what needed to come forward was only possible to get them empowered socially and educationally. He revealed that his Hindi weekly “Chauthi Duniya” played a decisive role in tabling the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report in the Parliament whose main recommendation was to provide 10 per cent reservation in education and services to the Muslims.
Scholar Dr J K Jain said as a result of the wisdom and strategy of the Prophet’s companions, Islam was flourishing in the world today. According to him, the Prophet’s companions were like the shining stars in the sky and who would like to get enlightened from them would be on the right path. He also said that Islam was a religion of peace, not of terrorism.
World religions expert Dr M M Verma said that all the companions of the Prophet had spread the message of peace and harmony. Quoting the holy Quran, he said that Islam asked to respect other religions and not hate any body on the ground of religion.
Swami Omkaranand Srivastava was of the view that Islam was a religion of peace and talked of integration, not disintegration. “I have come here to integrate myself with Islam,” he opined.
Ayodhya saint Jugal Kishore Shastri said the teachings of the Prophet’s companions were the remedy to the present problems found in the society but unfortunately it was not spread the way it needed. He said that this created a gap between Islam’s followers and other religions’ adherents.
Jain expert Prof Anay Kant Jain said that he had studied the holy Quran and compared its teachings with the teachings of Jainism. According to him, there were several similarities between the two great religions. Both denounced violence and terror, he opined.
Congress Member of Parliament Mohammed Adeeb stressed the need to spread the teachings of the companions of the Prophet in this country today. He regretted that today those with beard were seen with suspicion.
Shoib Iqbal, MLA, Delhi Assembly, opined: “We have gone away today from the real teachings of Islam. Due to which we have been shrouded by a lot of problems. We can even today get rid of these problems if we follow the teachings of the great companions.”
—-Issued by Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind