“Iran has no problem with Saudia Arabia. We are fighting the US and the Isreal.” This was stated by a norted religious scholar from Iran, Mehdi Maseali while addressing a one day conference titled` Bridging the gap: An initiative aimed at intersect unity, promotion of religious tourism and cultural ties between Iran and Kashmir. The conference was organised by a noted NGO Ehsaas International here today.
Mehdi said if we assure US that Iranian missiles would not go beyond Saudi Arabian borders, then there will be no problem. “But they know that our missiles can go upto Isreal,” he said.
Mehdi, author of several books said the Muslims should be able to live together. “We have to understand the meaning of Islamic unity,” he said adding “it does not mean that we have to fight with everybody else. Religion should not use religion for sectarian clashes.”
Noted columnist Maroof Shah urged the people not to live in history. “When we live in history we cannot move forward. For intersect unity, we have to live in the present and respect each other. There should be scope for discussions. We must respect other peoples’ opinions.”
Civil society activists, Shakeel Qalander traced the historic connections between Iran and Kashmir. “We call Muslims of other sectys as kafirs. But the non-Mulims alone call us Muslims,’ he said adding the Muslims have to give up this attitude otherwise they will perish,.
Another Sunni scholar from Gulistan province of Iran, Ramin Ghuurchaei said Sunnis form the second largest religious group in Iran. “There is absolute freedom and we, the Sunni Muslims have no problems. We pray in our mosques,. We also go for congregational Friday prayers in around 1700 mosques in our province,” he said.
He said Quran calls for peace and co-existance.
Earlier, former Chief Information Commissioner, GR Sofi addressed the conference. He said there was no reason for Muslims to fight for each other. He called for patience for Muslims.
Senior Journalist Zahir-ud-Din said the towering personality of Hazrat Ali (RA) needs to be understood. “Ali the great is the personality whose love can bind Shias and Sunnis together,” he said.
Others who spoke include, Bashir Nadvi from Athrout, Dr Masooma, Syed Ishfaq Bukhari, RJ Nasir Ali Khan, Rashid Maqbool Journalist and others.
The Chief Guest Justice Muzaffar Husain Attar stressed need for human values. “We are all humans and must respect humanity. “Allah has not created only Muslims. He has created others as well,” he said.