Islam gives a message of freedom to the human race, but we still live in an age of ignorance, eminent scholar Justice (r) Dr Javed Iqbal said at the Government College University (GCU) on Wednesday.
| As far as I can see, Islam has always been the antithesis of freedom, by definition. Islam, recall, means "submission"... |
Dr Iqbal addressed the GCU students and faculty members at the Bokhari Auditorium on ‘Ideological Foundations of Pakistan’ under the auspices of the Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society. A press statement by GCU quoted him, saying that Pakistanis had the potential to invent and innovate, and they needed to explore their latent faculty. He said that sectarianism, monarchy, extremism, mullaism [theocracy] and peers [pirs] were the major causes of the Muslim civilisation’s deterioration, as anarchy turned citizens into subjects, mullaism closed the doors of ijtihad [reinterpretation] and innovation, and peers compelled people to worship graves.
| You might also add that lacking the freedom to change religions is the ultimate restriction on freedom of thought. |
He said that the creation of Pakistan was not meant for a specific Muslim sect but for every Muslim of the Subcontinent, and its prime objectives were to make it a model Muslim state.
| And, lo, that's precisely what it's become, the very epitome of the Muslim state. |
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