In his introductory remarks former head of Deptt. of Philosophy, AMU, Prof. Mohammad Muqim introduced the IOS Aligarh Chapter, which he heads. He also made some comments on “peace” and “progress,” trying to put them in a proper logical and philosophical perspective.
 

The Chairman of IOS, Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam, in his address introduced the year-long IOS Silver Jubilee celebrations under which 14 seminars were to be held at different locations in India under the broad theme of “Knowledge, Peace and Development.” Twelve of them (including this seminar) had already been organised on sub-themes emanating from the above.
 

Regarding “Peace and Progress: Role of Religions” he raised four issues and asked the audience and participants to mull over them. The following were the points raised:

1. All religions should strive for moral leadership of the world, offer an alternative model of life to the rampant consumerism and pursuit of power which characterises the Western-dominated modernity.
2. The gap among religions keeps growing, a systemic bias and prejudice has been increasing, mistrust among different religions has been accelerated.
3. The endemic problem is the tendency to “play to the gallery”, so to speak, among leaders of religions being engaged more in posturing rather than real conversation or dialogue.
4. Another fundamental problem is intellectuals from different religions (especially Muslims) either living in the West, or educated from the West, are no longer marginal outcasts or outside spectators in the central debates of the times, i.e.,
   
   
   a) Religious issues and wider human concerns
   b) Equality and untouchability
   c) Poverty and unlimited affluence
   d) Understanding religious history and current political problems
   e) Creation of wealth and income and equitable distribution of it
   f) Shackle of slavery and exploitation and emancipation from it.

In his inaugural address Sheikh Gamaluddin Mohammad Kotb, head of the Fatwa Committee of al-Azhar, Egypt and a member of IIIT Washington, said that in Islam “one of the names of God is al-Salam (Peace). It is not without reason that Islam derives from the same word that means peace, and the name of the final abode in heaven is Darus-Salam (home of peace).
 

He congratulated IOS for its efforts to bring peace between religions and thanked Dr Alam for his taking the trouble to organise the seminar in collaboration with Faculty of Theology, AMU. He quoted a Hadith that says, “One who does not thank humans does not thank God.”

In his address Dr Mustafa Hussein Sairfi from Doha, Qatar, said that no progress was possible without peace and no peace was possible in a stagnant society. Peace is the key idea in Islam. Quoting scripture he said peace lay in the remembrance of God. He referred to the Islamic precept that the “entire creation is God’s family.” Peace must prevail in the family.
 

Justice, economic and social, and freedom of thought and action, speech and expression, were vital for peace, he asserted.

Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said “peace and progress are central to Islam”. Ideas of racial supremacy, inequality and injustice, he said, undermined peace.
 

Church leader Dr M D Thomas said peace was known by many names: Salam, Shalom, Shanti, Aman, etc. “People have different ideas of peace: it is absence of war, inner (personal) tranquility, tolerance and, even inaction. Some take it as a personal state of mind, others relate it to God. Yet others see it in the way human affairs are transacted. Peace, in fact, is life,” he remarked.
 

He said peace had to be a holistic, a forward movement on all sides––material progress, spiritual enlightenment, personal tranquility and social peace, peace within nations and between nations. Religion, he said, helped it, and quoted Pope John Paul XXIII, “We have to look for things that unite people, not things that divide them.”

Jain guru Swami Dharmanand a congratulated the IOS for holding such a meaningful seminar with the collaboration of Faculty of Theology, AMU. He said the 20th century had witnessed a great deal of material progress, to the effect that today millions of people lived the life of kings of earlier ages. Yet, the 20th century had also witnessed two World Wars that killed millions of people.
 

“Wars are born in the minds of men, and it is the mind that must be at peace with itself to prevent wars”, he asserted. Among the enemies of peace were “growing consumerism and loss of control over ourselves, as well as inequity.”

Discipline, the Swamiji said, would lead to internal peace and wide access to education, jobs and health services would provide external peace.

Buddhist intellectual and director of Tibet House in Delhi, Genshe Dorji Damdul, said that there was no mind-body dichotomy about peace or progress. “The mind experiences peace and progress through the body. Mind and matter together constitute material and spiritual progress.”
 

Lack of harmony between the two led to conflict and suffering and in harmony dissolved all pain. He said it was a dynamic process that had to be happily accepted.

“The world is like a single living body today, each part dependent on the other. Such interdependence leads us to care for each other. In this scenario divisions and differences are bound to occur. The role of religion is to make us appreciate and celebrate that diversity,” he philosophised.

In his address Swami Sarwananda Sarswati congratulated the IOS for presenting “such a beautiful bouquet of flowers of all religions” at the seminar. He said there was a simple mantra for peace: “Remove hatred from amongst us and peace will follow.”
 

The chief Guest K Rahman Khan, Deputy Speaker of Rajya Sabha, said lack of interaction among faiths bred suspicion and conflict. “No religion teaches violence. It is lack of dialogue that promotes animosity.”
 

He pleaded for greater equality and justice as these were the foundations on which peace stood.

Day II
Business Session I

In the first business session Jain intellectual Dr Reeta Bagchi spoke on “The Role of Jainism in Shaping Global Ethics for Peace and Progress.” She emphasised the role of non-violence and non-possession in establishing a climate conducive for peace and progress.
 

The presidium consisted of Prof. Sudip K. Jain and Swami Omkar Chaitanya. The session was anchored by Dr Touqueer Alam Falahi.

Prof. M M Verma, speaking on “Islam and Other Religions: Inter-relatedness for Peace and Progress” said, from his study of Islamic scriptures he had come to the conclusion that it accepted religious diversity. “Islam accepts that God sent 124,000 propehts to the different areas of the earth at different times. That showed Islam recognised and celebrated diversity, he asserted.
 

Dr Raziul Islam Nadvi said that among Muslim ulema there were two opposite opinions currently on attacking non-combatants and acquiring nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. To one group “the two are absolutely haraam (prohibited), while to the other they are permissible in rare circumstances.”
 

Former Dean Faculty of Theology, AMU, Prof. Farman Hussain was of the opinion that religion had often been the cause of conflict. Diversity of sects and interpretations within Islam had led to great strife.
 

“Religion has not always been a source of peace,” he asserted. “Israeli aggression against Palestinians and America’s war against Muslim countries are driven by religious differences,” he opined. Prof. Hussain pleaded for a better understanding of religion.

Associate Professor of Sociology at Agra University, Dr Mohammad Arshad, presented a sociological understanding of religion in the framework of Durkheim’s, Marx’s and Weber’s theories of religion.

A Turkish scholar from Banaras Hindu University, Cemil (Jamil) Kutluturk, presented a paper on “Peace and Non-Violence: Islamic and Gandhian Perspective.”

In his presidential remarks Swami Omkar Chaitanya said that religion had become a source of confusion instead of enlightenment “because we have not understood it.”
 

Business Session II

Dr Ambreen Jamali said “peace is the central theme of Islam: as the word draws from salam (peace).”

Dr Latif Hussain Kazmi spoke on “Islam on Peace, Human Equality and Racial Harmony” and emphasised justice and equality, tolerance and goodwill.

Prof. Sudeep Jain said mere material progress was not enough and it had to be augmented with spiritual growth as well. Acceptance of, and agreement to do, one’s duty towards others was essential for peace, he opined.
 

Prof. Tejinder Singh Lamba, a member of the session’s presidium, chose to spoke, not on war or peace, but on “just war”, which often preceded peace.

A war against aggression, “as waged by Guru Tegh Bahadur, is a just war.” Martyrdom was part of a just war, which was fought not merely to end suffering but to advance the cause of justice, he asserted.
 

This session was anchored by Dr Muhibbul Haque of Deptt. of Political Science, AMU.

Business Session III

In his paper on “Islam ka Nazariya-e-Amn w Traqqi” (Islam’s concept of peace and progress) Dr Ehsanullah Fahd examined the issues in the light of writings of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi and Syed Qutb.
 

Dr Shaista Parveen in her paper on “Hindu Mazhab mein Amn ka Tasawwur” (The concept of peace in Hindu religion) extensively quoted Hindu scriptures to indicate that “shanti (peace) is a core value in Hinduism.”
 

Dr Muhibbul Haque’s paper was on the “Deconstruction of the Contemporary Discourse on Terrorism: A Pre-requisite for Peace and Prosperity.”

Condensing the paper (for shortage of time) into some major points, he said that the Western powers did not want a clear-cut definition of terrorism. That is why all efforts at a consensus on the definition of “terrorism” going on in the UN since 1970s had failed to produce any result.
 

The present Western discourse on terrorism, he said, was “actor-centric.” In this scheme of things the acts of terror of individuals and private groups only were regarded as terror while the acts of state terror were ignored.

He referred to Samuel P. Huntington’s remark, “You cannot have true friends without having true enemies”, and made the point that the current Western discourse on terrorism branded the violent acts of enemies as terrorism while the violent acts of friends were seen differently.

This discourse on terrorism, Dr Haque said, was caught in a “definitional dilemma.” Facile descriptions like “Catholic feudalism” and “Protestant capitalism” had their equivalents in the Western discourse on terror as well: “Islamic terror” and “Islamo-fascism”, for instance.

The penchant for labelling ended up maligning a particular religious group trying to resist occupation and misappropriation of its natural resources, Dr Haque asserted, and asked for correction of the discourse wedded to Western hegemonic agenda.

Prof. Salahuddin Qureishi talked on “Socio-economic and Environmental Aspects of Religion vis-a-vis Civilisation.” He said, “Civilisation is the product of religion through the establishment of norms like morality, social organisation, perseverance...”. He lamented the decline of moral values as indicated by the falling sex ratio in India.
 

Church leader Dr Dominic Emanuel said, “Peace in Christianity hinges on justice”, as God is just. Thus, justice should not only be done, but seen to be done. Like justice and peace, progress too is part of the Christian vision as “Christianity has allowed the use of free thinking”, a basic pre-requisite for progress.
 

Dr Emanuel said the right to have a dissenting opinion, recognised in Christianity, led to independent thinking, which helped Christian nations progress. The habit of organising and investing intellectual, material and spiritual resources led to progress. Those who were not capable of it did not progress, he concluded.

Dr Obaidullah Fahd’s paper was on “Sectarianism and Peace-building Process: A Case History of Syed M. Ashraf Kachochavi.” He said growing sectarianism among Muslims (in this case, Sunni Muslims) was not a good omen for peace among them.
 

Prof. Yasin Mazhar Siddiqui said progress was possible only in a situation of peace. Humans, he elaborated, possessed both animal and angelic traits. Islam sought to suppress the animal side and sharpen the angelic aspects, which among other things, helped peace.
 

Islam did not want peace for Muslims alone, but for everyone, he said. After the conquest of Makkah no one was coerced to accept Islam and social justice was ensured, which led to growth of art and culture, he explained.

Dr Sameena Khan, associate professor of English, AMU, talked about the affinity between religion and literature.

“Like religion, literature sensitises us to the suffering of others.” Putting things into a feminist perspective, she said that a re-reading of texts from the side of women was required to correct our understanding of women’s creativity and their role in keeping the world peaceful and happy.
 

For instance, by asking Adam to eat the forebidden fruit, Eve was not initiating sex but starting creativity. Women with their writing and film-making (besides other forms of creativity) had established a higher standard of morality and quality of life. She mentioned Meera Bai, Qurratulain Hyder, Arundhati Roy, Teesta Setalvad and several others – women from different times and climes, writing in different genres and languages – who had created so much value.

She mentioned Nargis in the film Mother India, a young widow representing the highest values of the motherland. Her character represented great fortitude, integrity, sacrifice and foregiveness. Of her two sons one becomes an engineer who heralds progress, the other she kills for trying to rape the daughter of the man who had tried to molest her.

Women’s writing, she said, had the power to move and change societies. For instance, she quoted Pakistani author Qaisra Shahrnaz’s novel The Holy Woman. It is on the theme of “Shahzadi Ibadat,” young women “married to the Quran” in Pakistan’s tribal areas. This custom had been used as a cunning device by landlords to prevent the marriage of their daughters and forestall the division of their lands. After the publication of this novel Pakistan government moved to curb the practice.

She recited the poem of an Israeli poet, Ida Ahroni, a woman. The poem says, “Peace is a woman and a mother / How do you say peace is a woman? / I met her...” The woman, Peace, happens to be a mother mourning her children slain in Hiroshima, Bosnia, Israel Palestine...

Business Session IV-V

In this combined session Syed Atiqur Rahim talked on Islam’s way of establishing peace while Komal J B Singh presented the salient features of Sikhism.
 

Ms Singh said simran (self-realisation) and seva (selfless service) were crucial to the faith. Sikhism envisages a casteless society, religious tolerance, living truthfully “rather than just believing in truth”, charity, providing food and shelter to the needy. The four doors of Harmandir Sahab, she said, represented four great religions. The institution of offering food and shelter to everyone had some interesting aspects to it. When Emperor Akbar visited Golden Temple he too was offered food from the langar.

Faizan Kabir Qasmi spoke on the role of religion in promoting harmony, which led to peace.

In his presidential address Prof. Masood Ahmad, Dean Faculty of Science, AMU, said Islam looked at humans as vice-regents of God on earth. This high position made it incumbent on humans to run the affairs of the world with a great sense of responsibility. Religion, he said, gives “a moral order which integrates society for harmony, peace and progress.”
 

Valedictory Session

This session was chaired by Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam and the introductory remarks were made by Prof. Saud Alam Qasmi.
 

Special guest Prof. Abdul Haq Ansari, former Ameer Jamaat Islami Hind, observed that humans were made khalifah (vice-regent) of God, a position of great honour and greater responsibility. That, he said, demanded holistic progress.
 

In his valedictory address Dr Mustafa Hussein Saifi congratulated IOS on the completion of 25 years in promotion of knowledge and peace. “The people here should convey this message of peace to others who are not here,” he said.

He said that Islam did not spread through violence as alleged by some people. “The Quran says all humans are from Adam and Eve.” Being the children of a single pair of parents people must learn to accommodate each other and live in peace, he concluded.
 

Prof. Naqvi said that the seminar had left an enduring impact. He pleaded for the establishment of “an Interfaith and Intrafaith Dialogue Centre” at Aligarh by the IOS.

In his presidential address Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam said that the two-day seminar had provided him with a great learning experience. He said he would think of establishing an IOS Centre for Interfaith Dialogue at Aligarh if he got enough local support.

He said, “The IOS does not belong to Dr Manzoor Alam. It belongs to all of you, the entire nation, especially the youth.”

In that vien he asked the young people to work for change, change for a better, more equitable and prosperous order.

Prof. Saud Alam Qasmi proposed a vote of thanks.

The following were honoured during the two-day proceedings:
 

1. Dr. M.D. Thomas
   National Director, Commission for Religious Harmony, New Delhi
2. Rev Dr. Dominic Emanuel SVD
   Spokesperson & Director, Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, New Delhi
3. Swami Dharmananda
   Director, Adhyatma Sadhana Kendra, New Delhi
4. Prof B S Sindhu
   Former Professor Department of Religious studies Punjab University Chandigarh
5. Mr. Geshe Dorji Damdul
   Director, Tibet House (Culture Centre for HH Dalai Lama), New Delhi
6. H.H. Swami Sarvanand Saraswati
   Maha Shakti Peeth, New Delhi
7. Dr. M.M. Verma
   President, Interfaith Foundation for India, New Delhi
8. Dr. M. Abdul Haq Ansari
   Former, Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, New Delhi
9. Dr. Amanullah Khan
   Renowned Surgeon, Aligarh
10. Prof. I.H. Siddiqui
    Former Chariman, Department of History, AMU, Aligarh
11. Mr. Mohammed Muquim
    Chairman, Deptt. of Philosphy, AMU, Aligarh and Coordinator, IOS Aligarh Chapter
12. Prof. Syed Ali Mohammad Naqvi
    Department to Shia Theology, AMU, Aligarh
13. Prof. M. Saud Alam Qasmi
    Department of Sunni Theology, AMU, Aligarh