India: Ittehad-e-Ummat and Talimat-e-Ghaus-ul-Aazam (RA) conference held at Mysuru

Unity among Muslims urged at spiritual moot to fight challenges

“Ittehad-e-Ummat and Talimat-e-Ghaus-ul-Aazam (RA)” conference was organized by Minhaj-ul-Quran Mysore unit on 19th March at the Eidgah Maidan in Mysuru.

His Holiness Shehzada Ghause Aazam Shaykh Sayyid Hashim-ud-Din Gilani from Baghdad was special guest at the occasion. Maulana Syed Tanveer Hashmi (Khanqah-e-Hashmi), Maulana Habib Ahmed Al Hussaini (Director MQII), Khusro Chishti (Gulgraga sharif), Maulana Obaidullah Aazmi (Ex-MP), Syed Babar Ashraf (Founder of Sada-e-Sufia-e-Hind), Maulana Zulfiqar (MQI Bengaluru) were other speakers at the event. The ground was packed with audience who were eager to catch glimpse of Shaykh Hashim-ud-Din Gilani and big LED screens were put up at various spots on the ground for the audience.

Minister for Primary and secondary education, Waqf and minorities welfare Tanveer Sait and Minhaj-ul-Quran India core committee members were invited as a guests of honour.

Maulana Muhammad Khan Qadri recited Qirat and Nasheed at the beginning of the event.

Maulana Zulfiqar Ahmed from MQI Bangaluru said that unity among religious people is of great importance today and stated that backbiting/negative publicity of other scholars is causing great loss to the image of Islam among the youth. He stated that that there is a need to fight Takfiri approach and adopt inclusive attitude and to look at positive works of other scholars.

Syed Babar Ashraf asked Muslims to revive the spirit of unity among the Ummah in these difficult times that we are faced with and pointed out that we ourselves are responsible for our plight. He highlighted the importance of education in improving the socio-economic condition of Muslims. He urged the youth to learn worldly and spiritual education together and use it for serving mankind and revive Sufi ideology of love, peace and harmony.

Peer Syed Tanveer Hashmi said that the love of friends of Almighty Allah has great significance in Islamic teachings and the love of Awliya is planted in hearts of people by Almighty Allah through His angels. He mentioned traditions of Prophet (peace be upon him) which state that on the Day of Judgment, Awliya would be seated on minarets of spiritual light.

Pointing out factors that are damaging the unity of Ummah , he said that extremism and narrow minded attitude among some scholars has caused great damage to the image of Islam and have caused educated youth to turn away from religion. He pointed out with examples that differences have existed in the past among great scholars of Ahlus Sunnah but they accepted the valid fiqhi differences with an open mind. He also mentioned the importance of loving Ahlul Bayt (family of the Prophet (peace be upon him)) as they are touchstone to measure true faith. He asked audience to combine love and obedience and asked them to implement the teachings of Ghous-e-Aazam (RA) practically in their lives and asked them to offer prayers regularly.

Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri sent a special audio message congratulating the organizers of this grand conference.

Maulana Habib Ahmed Hussaini, (Director Dawah and propagation of MQII) spoke about the importance of unity and mentioned that Quran tells us that believers are brothers and we should make peace between them. He stated that world is a place of test and enemies would try to cause division but we need to stay steadfast and committed to the cause of Islam. He reiterated that if we fight amongst ourselves then we would fail in the fight with the enemy. He referred to the unhealthy competition for status and positions among mosques/ madrassahs and scholars.

One of the hadith states that enemies of Muslims would gain mastery over Muslims in spite of Muslims being large in numbers and pointed out that we are seeing this in our lifetime. He narrated traditions of the Prophet peace be upon him) which state that the connection among believers is like that of single body and believers are like bricks supporting one another.

He mentioned three important aspects of life of Ghaus-e-Aazam (RA):

1. Education : First work done by Ghaus-e-Aazam was that he setup a madrassah to teach people. He used to teach 13 subjects daily which included Quranic sciences, Hadith sciences, medicine, philosophy, and logic. His university had 400 branches in various countries including Syria, Sudan, and Iran etc. His university graduated more than 3000 yearly (including females scholars).
2. Service of Mankind: He started various social welfare schemes for the benefit of poor.
3. Morality and Manners (Husn e Akhlaq): He taught his disciples about the importance of good behaviour with the whole of creation.

He further stated that in the current age, Minhaj-ul-Quran is fulfilling all the three functions and is spreading the message of love, peace and harmony towards entire mankind.

Obaidullah Khan Aazmi (ex-MP) said that the reason for downfall is the distancing of Muslims from the teachings of Islam. He reiterated that unity of Muslims depends on revival of our education system. Qur'an calls us to read in the name of Allah, in other words Qur'an commands to blend learning with spirituality and the problems we are seeing in the world exit because people are learning without any connection with spirituality.

Shaykh Hashim-ud-Din Gilani spoke about exalted status of Ghaus-e-Aazam and stated that just as Prophet (peace be upon him) has special status among other prophets, Ghaus-e-Aazam (RA) has special status among the awliya. He appreciated the great love of Indians for Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA) and asked them to remain steadfast on that love. He narrated incidents of Indian followers of Ghaus-e-Aazam (RA).

Reiterating importance of loving Awliya he pointed out incident in Surah Al Kahf which mentions Awliya who took shelter in cave for 309 years and the dog who followed the Awliya is also mentioned in the Qur'an because of his attachment to the awliya of Kahf.

He complimented the service of Minhaj-ul-Quran in serving Islam across the globe and thanked the Minhaj-ul-Quran India team for their efforts.

The Book "Al Fuyuzat al-Muhammadiya" by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri which has Awraad and Wazaif was launched by Shaykh Hashim-ud-Din Gilani on this occasion.

The event concluded with Salam and Dua by Shaykh Hashim-ud-Din Gilani.