President seeks Ulema’s role to promote tolerance, brotherhood

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Sunday called upon the Ulema and religious scholars to play a proactive role in promoting ethical values, tolerance, brotherhood and religious co- existence in society.
The president emphasised that Ulema and religious scholars should preach against the curses of corruption and bribery in their sermons and speeches in the light of Islamic teachings. The president expressed these views during a sitting with Ulema and religious scholars on the topic “Lack of Ethical values and Corruption” at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, said a press release.
He said, in view of the current scenario, it was the national responsibility of religious scholars and Mashaikhs to emphasise upon the importance of unity, forbearance and religious harmony in the country. The president said that dark forces were bent upon denting the unity and fabric of society through their hideous designs and underscored the urgency to collectively defeat negative mindsets, adding that religious scholars could play an important role in this regard.
He stressed that it was the duty of the Ulema to propagate inter-faith harmony in the country. The moral values had weakened over the years and social evils like greed, bribery and corruption gained grounds, he observed, and called upon the clerics to reverse the tide in the light of Islamic guidelines.
He reiterated that the government was committed to weed out the disease of corruption from the country. A number of noted Ulema and scholars who were present included Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, Maulana Raghib Hassan Naeemi, Mufti Athar Naeemi, Maulana Mufti Sher Khan, Maulana Zia ul Haq Naqashbani, Pir Syed Naqeeb ur Rehman, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Qadri, Maulana Ahmed Ali Qasuri, Mufti Muhammad Kareem Khan, Khawaja Pir Ghulam Qutab Din, Pir Ahmad Fazeel Khan, Maulana Jehangir Mehmood, Mufti Rafi Usmani, Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, Qari Roohullah Madni, Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhri, Mulana Muhammad Salfi, Alama Ibtisam Ilahi Zaheer, Alama Talib Johri, Maulana Syed Shahenshah Hussain Naqvi, Qazi Syed Niaz Hussain Naqvi, Alama Nauman Saqib Akbar and Dr Hafiz Ehsan ul Haq.