The Basis of Pakistan

SANA, "Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria Int. Conference held at IIUI" South asian News Agency - Islamabad, Pakistan
Saturday, January 31st, 2009

The International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in collaboration with Archaeological & Historical Association of Pakistan held an international conference to highlight the Historic Spiritual role of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria (RA) on Friday, 30th January 2009 at its Faisal Mosque Campus Auditorium.

Makdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs was the Chief Guest, Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President IIUI and Ambassadors of Italy, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and High Commissioners of Australia and Bangladesh spoke on the role and services of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria (RA). More than 700 delegates including Luminaries of Islamabad and a large number of students of IIUI attended the conference.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is also the Sajjadah Nasheen of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria (RA) Astana, said that he had come to the Conference not as the Foreign Minister but in the capacity of a Faqir of Astana-e-Zakria. He emphasized the importance of Sufism which is true face of Islam propagating love tolerance, mutual co-existence and peace. He was of the view that Islam is an inclusive religion encompassing other cultures, religions and cults.

This message was propagated by all the Sufi Saints of the Sub-Continent, particularly Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria (RA) who was conspicuous amongst the galaxy of the Saints as he combined harmoniously the religious aspect with the temporal one.

About 800 years ago Hazrat Bahauddin Zakria (RA) established a residential university in Multan wherein thousands of students from all over the Muslim world came to learn religious as well as secular knowledge. He underscored the message of peace initiated by the Sufi Saints and said that Pakistan was in the grip of terrorism intolerance and fanaticism which is tarnishing Pakistan’s image all over the world.

He opined that it is the duty of every Muslim particularly the teachers and the students that the message of peace and love, the true spirit of Islam, should be spread throughout Pakistan and abroad to vindicate our heritage of tolerance and mutual co-existence. This is how the message of Sufi Saints can be revived to help ameliorate the difficulties faced by Pakistan in particular and the Muslim world at large.

Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, while welcoming the guests acknowledged that in the past due to unknown reasons, the University did not pay adequate attention to cultivate and spread the spirit of Sufism amongst the educational fraternity. He, however, underscored the importance of study of Sufism from various aspects and asked the faculty members to encourage students for research and doctoral theses on salient features of Sufism and famous Sufi saints of the subcontinent and central Asia

The Ambassador of Italy, Vincenzo Prati, very emphatically pronounced that Sufism is the basis of Pakistan and therefore should be promoted not only domestically but also on International level for which he offered his services wherever required.

Yasmeen Murshid, High Commissioner for Bangladesh highlighted the role of Sufi Saints in spreading of Islam in the Subcontinent in general and that of Hazrat Shah Jalal in particular for bringing the light of Islam to Bangladesh.

Oybek A. Usmanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Madad Ali, Ambassador of Azerbaijan, mentioned the old and close links between the saints of Pakistan and those of Central Asia. They were of the view that many of the Sufi Saints in Pakistan either came from Central Asia or they were educated in the famous Madrassahs of Samarkand, Bukhara and other seminaries of the region.

Dr. Ghazanfar Mehdi, Professor Abdul Jabbar Shakir, Professor Fateh Mohammad Malik, Professor Shamim Zaidi, Professor Samina Yasmeen and Hashim Abro also spoke on the occasion. Fateha was offered for the departed soul of renowned historian Dr. Ahmad Hassan Dani.

[Picture: IIUI/Mirza Shahid. Visit the Conference Report at the IIUI http://www.iiu.edu.pk/].