Islamic Preachers Need to Strengthen the Foundational Islamic Principle of Moderation (Wasatiyyah)
By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, New Age Islam
19 February, 2014
A Welcome Initiative by Moderate Ulema
It
was quite heartening to catch up with a recent story in the mainstream
media detailing the Sufi-oriented organisation, the Pakistan Ulema
Council’s gigantic task of dealing with contemporary issues and methods
incorporated in the sermons of the Muslim clerics and imams.
Recently, the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) has launched a comprehensive
book to provide guidance and sophisticated counselling to the imams,
preachers and other clerics of Islam. Indeed, the book should be seen
as a welcome sign of moving forward and not remaining stagnant to the
obsolete ways of preaching and unnecessarily emotional and fiery
speeches that most of our traditional Ulema and even modern Islamic
preachers and televangelists are accustomed to.
With our prophet’s historical sermon of Hajjatul Wida as an ultimate guide for imams
to deliver Friday sermons, the contents in the book range from
resolving environmental issues to the methods of dealing with moral
problems by applying theological edicts. In a nutshell, the book is an
instructive appeal to present day Ulema to concern themselves with
inter-faith dialogue, inter-sectarian harmony, women’s rights, girls’
education, disassociating jihad with terrorism and other major
contemporary issues to be sagaciously dealt with, in full synergy with
the holy Quran and Prophetic traditions.
At
the very outset of his statement pertaining to the book the PUC Central
Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, a Sufi-minded Pakistani
cleric, says: “mosques and seminaries have a pivotal role to play when
it comes to guiding the public”, therefore, he avers, “the PUC aims to
ensure that the preachers associated with mosques and seminaries keep an
eye on modern-day challenges and problems.” This way, he opines, “a
positive change can be observed in society.”
Muslim Preachers and Their Sorry State of Affairs
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