Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: An international seminar on religious tolerance was held at Allama Iqbal Open University.
Chief Justice of the Federal Sharia Court, Dr. Syed Muhammad Anwar was the chief guest. Addressing the audience, he said that Islam is the religion of tolerance, peace, and humanity and all the prophets have taught love, tolerance, forgiveness, and justice.
“Our constitution has given the right to religious freedom to minorities and people of all religions living here in Pakistan,” he said.
He further said that intolerance is far from Islam and far from the Constitution of Pakistan and the rights of minorities are the responsibility of our state, therefore, all the democratic and government institutions need to take care of minorities.
This seminar was jointly organized by the AIOU’s Department of Islamic Thought, History and Culture, Faculty of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Board of Bright Future society, and Implementation Minority Rights Forum, Pakistan.
The speakers stressed the need to promote tolerance, forgiveness, love, brotherhood, inter-faith harmony, and national unity and said that the promotion of peace and tolerance in Pakistan is the guarantee of a peaceful future for our generations.
Dr. Mohyuddin Hashmi, a faculty member of AIOU, said that we have completely forgotten the most important lesson of diversity. He said that despite the natural differences, the Holy Quran orders Muslims to Stay united instead of dividing.
He added that Allama Iqbal Open University had recently organized an international conference on interfaith harmony. He said that AIOU has also established the Department of Interfaith Studies, which is offering a BS program in interfaith studies, while we are about to start M.Phil and Ph.D. programs soon. Dr. Zia Ul Haq said that we need to establish an atmosphere of tolerance and brotherhood.
He congratulated the Vice Chancellor, of AIOU, Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum on organizing different events for the promotion of religious harmony.
