No legislation against spirit and teachings of Islam, says Ashrafi

LAHORE: The Special Aide to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East, Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, has categorically said that neither any law is being legislated nor will be accepted against the ideology of Pakistan and the teachings of Islam.

Addressing a meeting of scholars and Ulema of different religious schools of thought who announced to join Pakistan Ulema Council on Friday, he asked them to come forward for promoting unity and harmony in the society. He said the country's image was being tarnished by fake news that a legislation was on the anvil to block conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. The special aide to the PM said that Islam neither allows forcible conversion nor obstructs anyone from willfully embracing the religion. Tahir Ashrafi said that when the bill in question came to the ministry, the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri stopped it while strongly opposing its legislation. He reiterated there has been no further movement on the issue and a formal explanation has also been issued by Federal Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri. Inshallah, the incumbent government will do anything that is against the Qur'an and Sunnah, he said.

He said during the last few days, a lot of fuss was created over the single national curriculum. Ashrafi said extremists are opposing the uniform curriculum that teaches the youth about Islam, so they cannot be misled by extremists or terrorists. The purpose of making Quran and Sunnah mandatory in the curriculum is to enable the youth understand the message on the own, cutting down any chance of them being misled, said Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi. He said teaching Quran to children and the addition of the title of 'Khatim-un-Nabiyyin' to the name of Rasoolullah (S.A.W) is a great achievement of the incumbent government

Ashrafi, who also Chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), said that no system of faith has ever given so many rights to women as given by Islam. He said some people are campaigning against Hijab, which is followed by millions in line with the Islamic teachings. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan's announcement to create a state on the pattern of Madinah is a step in the right direction. He said today those opposing the ideology of Imran Khan have only raised slogans of Nizam-e-Mustafa since Independence without taking any practical action to enforce it.