By TCN news,
Mumbai: The felicitation ceremony of a programme organized by the Students Islamic Organization (SIO) today ended at Vidyarthi Bhavan Churchgate with high fervor to promote inter-faith dialogue among the multi religious people of India.
Speaking at this occasion SIO State Secretary Anwar Shaikh said, “All religions must come forward to promote inter-faith understanding”. He added, “Unfortunately today Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the world, as well as in India. The stereotyping of Islam as violent and intolerant has created many tensions globally. The Muslims and non-Muslims who co-existed as peaceful neighbors throughout centuries are today skeptical about each other.
The recent criminalization and communalization of politics, the rampant stereotyping and propaganda has created huge gaps in the hearts of Muslims and Non-Muslims. Islam which literally means peace has been equated with terrorism. The end result is that today majority of naive common citizens of India have developed the wrong image of Islam.”
SIO Mumbai launched a month long campaign “Connecting hearts Upholding Humanity” wherein series of Islamic knowledge tests were conducted across different locations in Mumbai on January 6 in order to give a very basic understanding Islamic faith and remove misconceptions.
Rohit S. Yadav, a student from a Rajiv Gandhi College has topped this examination and Yadav Pooja Inder of RJ College and Vidya Khapre of Yashwant Rao University secured second and third position respectively.
Expressing his views Rohit said, “This was a great opportunity for me to learn about the great religion of Islam and also clear my misconceptions.” He stressed that those who got this opportunity should also educate others regarding this.
Vidya Khapre said, “It’s the need of the hour for us to live together and understand each other”
Prizes were also given to the 100 top students out of more than 600 students who registered for the test. It was a great spectacle to see how the students belonging to multiple faiths came forward and took part in this inter-faith collusion.
Renowned social activist from Ahmednagar Dr Rafiq Parnerkar was the chief guest for this occasion. In his presidential speech he stressed the urgent need to stabilize communal harmony and appreciated SIO’s initiative for promoting interfaith dialogue.