ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday stressed reviving the culture of the glorious Muslim era where religion and science did not enter a conflict and which also emphasised the ijtihad (reasoning) to find solutions to the emerging challenges.
He was addressing at the inauguration of academic blocks at Al Qadir University in Sohawa town of Islamabad.
The prime minister said a strong faith and moral character was a blessing of the Almighty that guided a person to choose the righteous path.
He said the youth today was facing confusion in the era of social media that provided unhindered access to western culture. However, he said since restrictions could not be imposed on the flow of information, it was important to give “informed choices” to youth by telling them about right and wrong.
To any future incident of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) committed in the world, he said he would encourage the nation to rather demonstrate an “intellectual and reasoned response”.
He regretted that calling someone Kafir (non-believer) on the difference of opinion on religious beliefs was a dangerous trend that needed to be shunned through intellectual debates.
Khan mentioned that his government introduced the single national curriculum (SNC) to end the unjustified three parallel education systems — English medium, Urdu medium and seminaries — that resulted in the creation of ideologically different streams of youth in the society.
He said the objective for the establishment of the Rehmatul-lil-Aalameen Authority by the government was to promote the message of Islam in a manner that could be understandable to a common man.
He expressed satisfaction over the pace of Al Qadir University in carrying out academic work in a short span and emphasised conducting research on the golden era of Muslims where its leaders, scholars, and scientists ruled the world.
Khan said universities had a great role to play in this regard and expressed confidence that Al Qadir University would revive the norms of research and healthy debates.
He mentioned that Iqbal’s concept of Shaheen (falcon) related to a determined nation with the courage to break the shackles of mental slavery to attain progress.
He said Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam and stressed that without following the Seerat of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.), real prosperity could not be achieved.
He, however, pointed out the majority of the nation, despite being staunch Muslims, had still not instilled the teachings of the prophet in their practical lives.
He said Islam’s first socio-welfare state of Medina focused on self-accountability and high morals.
Even today, he said, becoming a great nation required a strong moral character with a belief in truth and socio-justice equality for all.
Khan said all saints of the sub-continent — Bulleh Shah, Nizamuddin Auliya, Ali Hujwiri, Fariduddin Ganjshakar — propagated the message of the prophet that focused on the love for humanity.
He said four qualities contributed to a good leader, including truthfulness, justice, courage, and selflessness.
He criticised the previous governments whose leaders looted the public money. He recalled that at a recent event held in Islamabad, an absconder leader was invited to speak as chief guest, which he termed a “height of moral decline”.
The moral fabric of a nation gets ruined if it stops recognizing corruption and dishonesty as evils, he added.
Khan said he wanted the nation to attain a “moral renaissance” and raise leaders from within having a high moral character in line with the seerat of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
He said the work on the Prime Minister House university was about to start after necessary formalities were carried out since 2018 which would turn into a top technological institute.
Later, the prime minister took a round of different academic blocks of the university and interacted with the faculty.
