New Delhi: Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar today appealed to Hindus and Muslims to maintain peace
and harmony after the court verdict on the Ayodhya title suit
to be delivered on September 24.
"People should maintain peace and harmony after the
September 24 verdict. They should restrain themselves from
indulging in any form of communal hatred," Ravi Shankar said
on the sidelines of a function to announce an inter-faith
summit aimed at removing HIV/AIDS related stigma.
Speaking on the issue General Secretary of the
All-India Association of Imams Umair Iiyasi said he has asked
"imams of over five lakh mosques to appeal to Muslims brothers
to maintain peace and not to celebrate or mourn after the
verdict on Friday".
The spiritual leaders along with Head of Zoroastrian
community Ervad M H Bharucha today announced a two-day summit
`Faith in Action 2010` in Bangalore from September 27, where
around 400 religious leaders from communities such as Buddhism
and Christianity will meet to find a sustainable way to fight
against HIV/AIDS and spread awareness to stop spreading of the
virus.
"It is important today that religious leaders come
together on issues like HIV/AIDS... stigma and dogma against
the patients would take a backseat if they come together
because they are successful in mobilising positive social
change," the Art of Living founder Ravi Shankar said.
He said around 300 representatives of various Hindus
sects will attend the summit and they would help in
propagating awareness against HIV/AIDS and related stigma. He
said issues like use of contraceptives and condoms, on which
there are diverse views, will also be discussed.
Supporting Ravi Shankar`s views, Imam Iiyasi said, "We
have five lakh 30 thousand mosques and we will ask imams to
spread awareness to fight HIV/AIDS by teaching them how to
protect themselves from the virus and how to behave with
infected people."
He also advised people to practise yoga as it helps
"body immunity" to fight the HIV and said "yoga is not
unIslamic and any Muslim can practise it."
PTI
