International legislation needed to stop anti-faith actions: Religious Scholars

Minhaj-ul-Quran Ulema Council celebrated Friday as the day of ‘Azmat-e-Mustafa’ (peace and blessings be upon him) across the country including Lahore. Religious scholars delivered Friday sermons on the topics of ‘Seerat-un-Nabi (peace and blessings be upon him) and the importance of protecting the honour of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). After offering Friday prayer peaceful marches were organized to highlight the ‘Azmat-e-Rasool (peace and blessings be upon him)’ in Multan, Bhakkar, Karachi, Faisalabad and other cities of Pakistan.

The followers of Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) expressed their deep love and respect for their beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by offering Durood loudly. Religious scholars organized peaceful walks on the appeal of Minhaj-ul-Quran Ulema Council against the blasphemous content on social media in different mosques including Jamay al-Minhaj Model Town, Jamia Masjid Lal Mohni road, Jamia Siddiqia Chungi Amar Sidhu, Jamia Umme Jamal Ashraf, Minhaj Islamic Center Rizwan Garden, Jamay Mahboob Siddiqui, and others.

The participants of these demonstrations manifested their utmost devotion to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by raising the slogans. While addressing the gathering in Model Town Lahore, Sahibzada Faiz-ur-Rahman said that Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri had given counter narrative for the elimination of terrorism to the people of Pakistan and Muslim Ummah. He said that founder and chairman of MQI had written more than 37 books related to terrorism and in addition to these he issued Fatwa against terrorism in 2010 and prepared a comprehensive syllabus for this. He further added that it is the biggest service to Islam to save the youth from the increasing extremism.

Sahibzada Faiz-ur-Rehman Durrani warned that enemy wanted to violate our spiritual, religious and intellectual sensitivities as well as our territorial integrity. He remarked that it was the obligation of religious scholars to provide intellectual guidance to the youth. He told the audience that the circulation of blasphemous content on social media was the organized crime rather than individual mischief. He advised the youth to be equipped with the knowledge, research and arguments to response befittingly to the blasphemous content on social media.

Allama Syed Farhat Hussain Shah said while addressing the congregation at Jamia Siddiqia Ferozpur that the circulation of desecrating material on social media was the violation of United Nation Charter and human rights. The miscreants must be booked under the anti-terrorism laws. The UN member countries must be communicated diplomatically that the world community must come forward to punish and discourage those who want to spread extremism and conflict between religions.

While addressing the gathering in Jamia Umme Ashraf, the central president Allama Imdadullah Qadri suggested that there must be strict legislation prohibiting sacrilegious material on social media. Allama Mir Asif Akbar advised the Muslims to stop the use of such sites and not to highlight such content by sharing the blasphemous material.

Allama Muhammad Latif asked the rulers of Muslim countries including Pakistan’s while delivering Friday sermon to express their passion of faith by presenting united and consensus based approach on the platform of OIC against blasphemous material and thus protect the religious sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims from being desecrated.