By TCN News,
Aligarh : Dr Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Judge, Supreme Court of Pakistan (Shariah Appellate Bench) has said the Muslims cannot regain their lost status in the world so long as they remain hostage to the terms of engagement with humanity defined by others. “This state of mind has pushed the Muslims into a barren, thankless cycle of mutual phobia, hostility and skepticism towards the rest of humanity,” he said.
Dr Al-Ghazali was delivering the keynote address at a two day International Conference on the ‘Intellectual Crisis of the Muslim Ummah: Revisiting the Past Patterns of Thought’ organized by the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India (CEPECAMI), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
A group photograph of participants of International Conference on Intellectual Crisis in Muslims
The present intellectual crisis and confusion is a consequence of the moral failure of those who have been placed at the position of leadership in the Muslim community, he said, a release said.
The post-colonial leaders of the Muslim world have not recognized Ummah as their reference point, he said adding, “They do profess faith in Islam but do not define their role from the perspective of the Ummah.”
Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, the AMU Vice Chancellor, in his presidential address, said every crisis is an opportunity. For the last two decades, Islamic countries have been rocked by war, internecine squabbles and social and potential unrest.
Gen Shah said the weakening of Islam has created an ideological vacuum. “Most of the 20th century was wasted in simply maintaining the bipolar imbalance. Today one % of the world population has taken control of 99% of the world resources, leaving the rest of the humanity to poverty. This is a very unjust situation,” he added.
The AMU Vice Chancellor pointed out that “we must not allow the gap of knowledge with the West to widen any more. The answer is quest for knowledge, or education, especially of women. We cannot leave 50% of our population, unproductive.” He said as mentioned in the media release.
Earlier, welcoming the guests, Professor Rashid Shaaz, director of the CEPECAMI, said it was for the first time in the history of AMU that Muslim scholars and intellectual from all over the world have gathered to discuss and deliberate the century long modern history of Muslim intellectualism. He said that the conference is aimed at highlighting issues and problems that have created an intellectual crisis in Muslims, as a result of which Muslims have become an enemy to their own interests.
Sheikh Dr Kamal el-Helbawy, former international spokesperson of the Muslim Brotherhood, London; Dr Mike Ghouse, World Muslim Congress, USA; Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, noted Shia scholar; Swami Lakshmishankaracharya, founder chairman, Hindu Muslim Jan Ekta Manch; Professor Israr Ahmad, International Islamic University of Malaysia; M Ashraf Haidari, deputy chief de Mission, Embassy of Afghanistan and Brigadier S Ahmad Ali, pro-Vice Chancellor, AMU also expressed their views.
Mohammad Qasim, a student of the Bridge Course presented a Charter of Islamic Unity, the release added.