LAHORE - The genie of terrorism can be bottled only by implementing madressah reforms and promoting interfaith harmony, says Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Ahle Hadith who has been working on this subject for the last nine years or so.
To him, leading religious scholars, government and non-government organisations and the media can play a pivotal role to de-radicalise the society and restore peace in Pakistan.
Khamosh has been working on the subjects of madressah reforms and religious harmony for almost a decade from a non-political front: the Peace and Education Foundation (PEF). In an interview with The Nation, he said that his organisation had so for trained 13,000 teachers of different seminaries of all schools of thought- Brelvi, Deobandi, Ahlehadith and Shia. The only criteria for a person to get job in a madressah, he said, was a nine-year religious education, Darse Nizami. This approach, he added, must be changed now.
“A teacher of a madressah should have been aware of child psychology. He must possess basic knowledge of science and social science subjects.” For religious harmony, he said, PEF was working on three dimensions: identification of areas mostly hit by religious hatred and counselling of prayers leaders (Imams the mosques) and religious clerics in those localities; holding seminars and workshops for common public; and the publication and distribution of anti-hate material. “We tell the prayer leaders and clerics to be proud on their own sect and do not criticise the other’s.”
The PEF, he said, had published a book under title Amn, Taleem and Ikhlaq (Peace, Education and Ethics) for students and teachers of Madaris. He said PEF had organised more than 200 programmes for promotion of religious harmony in Muzaffargarh, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagr, Noshehra, Mardan, Malakand Agency and Karachi.
A combined six-month certification course for universities students of MA Islamic Studies and Madaris students of final year of Darse Nizami was a separate project of the PEF. The certification course, he said, was organised in International Islamic University, Hazara University Abbat Abad and Karachi University.
He further informed that he has been working closely with Dr Qibla Ayaz, the current head of Islamic Ideology Council and former vice-chancellor of Peshawar University, Professor Abdul Ghani of F.C College University and Dr Azhar Hussain, a US based religious scholar to accomplish his mission.
Khamosh is founding chairman of Muslim Christian Federation International while Bishop Samual Azariah and Joseph Francis are Federation’s president and general secretary respectively. The Federation, he said, was actively working for inter-faith harmony.
When asked what is the prominence of his organisation in presence of Muthida Majlise Amal and Milli Yakjehti Council as the both organisations are platform of scholars represents different schools, he said MMA and MYC have had the political agenda and but his organisation had nothing to do with politics.
He worked with PPP’s late chairperson Benazir Bhuttoo in different political movements and said Mohtarma was very serious in introducing reforms in religious seminaries. Had she been alive, he said, madressah reforms would have been introduced much earlier.
Mr Khamosh is perhaps the only Ahlehadith/Wahabi scholar of Pakistan who openly criticise Saudi government policies towards Muslim world.
For him, Iran was also equally responsible for unrest in Muslim countries.
“The problem with Iran is that it is inclined towards extension and still seeks influence from Kisra regime.”, he said.