World needs spring of Islam: Jamaat-e-Islami chief

Hyderabad: The world needs another "spring of Islam" to bring it out of the darkness and remove the ills plaguing it in all spheres of life, said Jamaat-e-Islami Hind president Moulana Jalaluddin Umri.

Inaugurating a three-day `Spring of Islam` conference here Friday, he contended that Islam alone can offer solutions to the problems that humanity is facing as it is the natural way of life. Referring to corruption scandals, moral degradation, injustice, inequality and exploitation, Umri said it was only on the basis of Islamic ideology that an ideal society can be created. Arguing how the holy Koran brought a spring 1,450 years ago when the world was in "total darkness", he said there was need for today`s world to revert to its real creator. "Why this spring should not come? People say the wheel of time has moved or things which worked then do not necessarily work today. Allah`s deen (way of life) is forever. Just as you can`t change the way sun and moon revolve, you can`t change His deen. Not even a small dot has changed since Koran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed," said the Jamaat chief. "People say we should have freedom. Koran says we respect freedom. Islam is the true way. You are free to accept it or not. There is no compulsion. Can there be a greater ideology of freedom than this? Allah said if you accept and follow, you will succeed in this world and the hereafter. In fact, your test lies in whether you follow it or not," he told a huge gathering of men and women at Nizam College Grounds. Referring to the Delhi gang-rape, he said the issue was dominating the country today but hundreds of such incidents have happened earlier. "We have removed ethics and morality from our curriculum. Laws should be made but we should first make people obey the laws. Islam exhorts its follower to live a pious life, instills fear of Allah in him and leaves no scope for such incidents by strictly prohibiting fornication, either by force or by consent," he said. Referring to changes in some countries, he said the Jamaat backs efforts that will be good for those countries, the Muslim community and the world at large. "We don`t support them because we have any relations with them," he clarified. Khaja Arifuddin, president, Jamaat-e-Islami, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, said India needed a spring of Islam as this is a country of gentle, God-fearing and religious people. He pointed out how against the backdrop of the Delhi gang-rape incident, people are speaking out against western culture and saying it was destroying Indian moral values. "Some opposition leaders who till recently used to brand Muslims as fundamentalists are now saying that rapists be punished publicly. This is spring of Islam," he said. Khalid Mubashir-ul-Zafar, president of Jamaat-e-Islami`s Hyderabad unit said the conference comprised 18 sessions including special sessions for women, students, children, professionals and physically handicapped. There will be a film festival, `mushaira` and an exhibition where the artists will highlight Islamic activity. IANS