President General Pervez Musharraf, highlighting the importance of following the religion in letter and spirit to revive past glory and Islamic renaissance, has urged Ulema and scholars to play their due role in projecting the real and true image of Islam.
Addressing the inaugural session of National Seerat Conference organised by Ministry of Religious Affairs at National Library auditorium in connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday celebrations of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) here on Sunday. The President underlined that justice, tolerance and moderation lie at the core of Islamic teachings.
"Islam teaches us the lesson of tolerance, brotherhood, endurance and fortitude to live with harmony," he said. He said some elements have hijacked Islam who are against enlightened and moderate aspect of the religion and were misguiding the people and creating unrest in the Ummah.
President Musharraf said Islam suffers from misperceptions due to a lack of understanding of its true essence and spirit of the great religion and added that actions of an extremist minority reinforce these misperceptions in the outside world.
The President said: "Islam, no doubt, is a dynamic and progressive religion and stands for welfare and betterment of the people." He said: "The world perceives us on the basis of our actions and deeds, so we have to demonstrate with our actions that we are a tolerant and progressive people."
The President said the people should prepare themselves to listen to the ideas and thinking of others and accept good and positive thinking. Referring to sectarianism in the society and division of Muslims into different sects, the President said, "When we are not even ready to accept and talk with Muslims belonging to different sects, then it is not possible that we can have harmony with other religions."