BAHAWALPUR, Jul 07 (APP):The Department of World Religions and Interfaith Harmony, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur here on Friday held a rally to strongly condemn the burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden. The rally was led by the Dean Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies Prof. Dr. Sheikh Shafiq ur Rahman. He said that we as Muslims and institutions strongly condemn such incidents.
Addressing the participants, head of the Department of Word Religions and Interfaith Harmony Dr. Shajila Kausar said that a peaceful walk was taken out on the instructions of Vice Chancellor Engr Prof Dr Athar Mehboob with the aim of registering our protest against this heinous act on international forums
.
She said that Islam can undoubtedly be called the architect of knowledge and the Holy Quran the guarantor of peace. Desecration of religious books, whether they belong to any religion, is prohibited in Islamic Sharia. Other religious communities including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs should also come forward and strongly condemn this incident, she added.
Prof. Dr. Moazzam Jamil, Registrar of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur also termed the incident as sad and said that it was against the Freedom of expression act to allow this kind of practice. Therefore, this illegal decision of the Sweden court should be strongly condemned, he said.
Dr. Raheela Khalid Qureshi, Head Department of Arabic said, Islam has always protected the rights of minorities. Islamic Sharia allows all minorities to perform their religious rituals. Therefore, when such incidents happen on the part of the people of the West, there is a wave of anger in all Islamic societies. On this occasion, Rizwan Majeed, the Treasurer of the University, said that Islam teaches humanity. The incident of burning the Holy Quran in Sweden on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha is a heartbreaking act that cannot be condemned as much as it is, he expressed.
In this special walk, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Amjad, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Muhammad Imran Chairman of the Department of Islamic Studies, Dr. Zia ur Rehman Head Department of Quranic Studies, Dr. Abdul Ghaffar Head Department of Jurisprudence and Shariah, Dr. Waqar Aslam Head Department of Information Security, Gibran Jamshed Head Department of Law, Dr. Ariba Khan Head Department of Islamic Banking and Finance, Dr. Syed Javed Iqbal, Head Department of Leadership Management, Quranic Students Club, teachers, students, administrative officers and employees of other departments of the University were also present.