Louder Please - And Thank You
How utterly refreshing. What a peace-of-mind restorative. The very idea that an Islamic cleric sees it as his personal mission, an imperative of grand proportions and need to extend himself for the purpose of attempting to undo the damage among young Muslims that extremist jihadists have done, is a sign of hope for the future. Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri is obviously one extremely special individual.Dr. Qadri sees a mission to divert young Muslims from the clutches of international jihad, to turn them away from violence in favour of peace and trust in the finer, more elevated message of a religion that most of its adherents believe is one of peace and acceptance of others as equals. He addresses a thousand young Muslims at a time, inveighing against the evil of subverting the honour of Islam to a vehicle for the delivery of death.
He tells them in a voice of authoritative judgement: "Islam is not a religion of seclusion, it is not a religion of detachment. Any killer of a non-Muslim citizen, he will go to hell. Those who are committing terroristic acts from Pakistan and Afghanistan and claiming it is jihad they do not know what jihad is. It is forbidden. There will not be janna (paradise) for them", he preaches to his audience.
Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri addresses Muslims during Al Hidayah, a youth camp at Warwick University in Coventry, central England, August 9, 2009. Qadri's message is about moderation, peace, inclusion and understanding. Photograph taken on August 9, 2009." class="DL-main-photo" width="610" height="384">
Dr. Qadri, born in Pakistan, now living in Canada, 58 years of age, was formerly a cleric in Pakistan and was associated with former (assassinated) Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He is a fervent believer in teaching the young to reject fundamentalist Islamism; believing that intelligence can be provoked to reject extremism.
He is a scholar of world-wide renown, of Sufism, with a focus on spirituality and moderation. He has written hundreds of books on Islamic scholarship. What better place for this cleric to deliver his message than to the offspring of Pakistani emigrants who have settled in Britain and who comprise a large immigrant population, from among whom conscripts to global jihad have surfaced.
He addresses thousands of young British-Pakistani Muslims at a spiritual retreat, for both girls and boys, infusing them with a sense of an Islam vastly different from the one preached about in many British mosques. "We need to prepare them mentally and academically, intellectually and spiritually, against extremist tendencies and radical and terrorist attitudes. We need to provide them with an awakening of the true picture of Islam", he states.
And refreshingly, Dr. Qadri focuses on equality for women within Islam. "There's no discrimination here. It makes you feel like a stronger believer, a stronger person", exulted one of the young women attending the spiritual camp. Like Canada's other Islamic reformer, Tarek Fatah, another Pakistan-born Canadian whose mission of defending his Islam, and espousing the cause of equality for women within Islam, so does Dr. Qadri.
But he is under no illusions about the task before him. Knowing full well that despite his efforts, successful as they may be, the struggle to convince the young to reject fanaticism is a long and hard one. He is intent on communicating his message, but acknowledges too the inevitable damage that is done by a relative few disruptive, violent and determined terror-delivering jihadists. (Whose support, nonetheless, is large among British Muslims.)
But he appears on the record to deplore militant jihadism, and detesting it for corrupting his religion, he battles it and finds fulfilment in steering the impressionable young in the right direction. That is likely a function of his brand of Islam; Sufism, tinged with mysticism and the honour that resides with a peaceful determination. Here's hoping that his word and his intent and his mission will spread.
To counteract the damning evil constructed by fanatical Islamists.
Labels: Human Relations, Religion, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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