Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Muhammad Ijazul Haq Saturday declared in clear terms that no religious seminaries were involved in spreading terrorism and ruled out the possibility of any dictated action against religious institutions.
| "Nope. None of 'em. Bastions of sweet reason, every one!" |
The Minister debunked the rumors hinting at any possible change in the curricula and action against the Madrassas in the country. Ijazul Haq told that he belonged to a religious family while his late father late President General Muhammad Ziaul Haq, was known for his love for religion and this was the only asset which he inherited from his late illustrious father.
That’s funny, since his father is probably the man most responsible for the state Pakistan is in. At least he seems to acknowledge how corrupt and incompetant his father was.
Therefore, he feels duty bound to counter malicious propaganda against the religious institutions. He told in unambiguous terms that he would prefer to quit the Ministry instead of yielding to any pressure aimed at curbing the role of the religious institutions. He strongly defended the role of these institutions in the spread of religion Islam besides providing education on the contemporary disciplines of knowledge to millions of students free of cost.
| Contemporary disciplines like explosives handling, weapons cleaning, and how to wrap a turban... |
Muhammad Ijazul Haq said President General Pervez Musharraf is also appreciative of the positive role of these institutions where religious as well as modern education is imparted to the students. About the hue and cry over change in curricula, he denounced the impression that it was done at the behest of USA.
However, he admitted some follies in the printing of books, which have been lifted from the markets for reprinting. These mistakes in the printing of textbooks, were made inadvertently, he elaborated. He strongly dispelled the impression the chapter about concept of Jihad has been removed from the textbooks and questioned the credibility of the critics in this regard.
| "I mean, if you ain't gonna have jihad, why have textbooks?" |
The Federal Curricula Board, he said, has also the representation of MMA on it. He recalled that in fact conspiracy against religion Islam started from 1986 when former US State Secretary Henry Kissinger in his article and Samuel P Hitington in his book "The Clash of Civilization" declared Islam as the main threat to Christianity.
| I think they said it was a threat to the world, not just to Christianity... |
He said, today allover the World, Muslims are targeted as terrorists while in reality, the hidden hands behind the high profile terrorism cases, were not Muslims but other vested forces.
| He means Zionists. Or maybe Bilderbergers. Anybody but Muslims, who're a peaceable, industrious lot... |
The time will unveil the conspiracy behind the 9/11 incident as well, he elaborated. The Muslims, he said, could benefit from the teachings and sayings of last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) if they followed it in letter and spirit. The root cause of our fall in the present era is just because of the overlooking of the set principles of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), he added. |