By Muslim Mirror News
Asansol (West Bengal) : “To seek knowledge is a sacred duty, it is obligatory on every Muslim(Male and Female). The first word revealed of the Quran was IQRA (meaning TO READ! Seek knowledge! Educate yourselves! Be educated)”.And ignoring own rights is okay but ignoring a sacred duty is considered a SIN in Islam. These are the words which were shared by Dr. Shakeel Ahmed Samdani, senior professor of Law in Aligarh Muslim University. He further said that UN Charter and International conventions declare that education is the basic right of a person but Islam says that acquiring knowledge is the duty of Muslim. It means that a right can be sacrificed but a duty is to be performed. Islam is more concerned about education than any other document in the world.
Prof. Samdani also stated that Islam has given women more rights than any other religion. The concept of women’s right was first declared by Islam. He continued on this stating how Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w) delivers the revelations he received from almighty God to both men and women, without any discrimination. He also said that women have the same moral obligations and are entitled to the same general rights as men in guarding chastity, integrity, personal honor and respect etc. He reminded the audience that nowhere in Islamic law does it say that women are forbidden from seeking employment and Islam does not confine women to household duties. A Muslim women can do everything which is permitted by Shariat. Instead, Muslim women have participated in various occupations and had a major impact on societal progress from the time of our beloved Prophet. While highlighting the contribution of Prophet’s beloved wife Hazrat Ayesha (RA) he said that about 2300 traditions are attributed to her and due to her efforts many problems of the women were solved by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). After the demise of Prophet she lead the Islamic world intellectually and academically for decades.
Prof. Samdani also highlighted various achievements and caliber of Muslim students in different domain across the globe and appealed all the Muslims to forget their differences and come together to work for the development of society and our country.In his speech he also mentioned Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, whosingle-handedly, led the Muslims of the Subcontinent towards a modern Muslim identity and asked our society to take the same path in order to combat the existing resistance towards education in our Islamic society.
The annual function was a huge success and was filled with Islamic culture and traditions. Students of Iqra Public School recited para’s from Quran with translations in Urdu and English. There were several stage performances by the students including a drama to explain the Five Pillars of Islam andvoice against Female Foeticide. It also had other stage performances on the songs “Allah hi Allah kiya karo”, “Kayamat Aane wali hai”, “Ibadat Karo”, “Lab pe aati hai dua” , “Bam bam bole” and “Faryad”
The program was started by the Qur’anic recitation from Hafiz Abdur Rehman and followed by the speech from Director of IQRA public school Md. Islam Khan, who shared his very useful experience about the importance of knowledge and how we have divided knowledge into Din and Duniya.
Wasim Akhtar Khan, who is a senior manager in an IT company, also shared his thoughts and explained how important seeking knowledge is declared in Quran and by our beloved Prophet. He added that the best weapon one can have is knowledge, as with gun we can eliminate the people and might win the battle but with knowledge we can win the hearts of people and eliminate the evil battles from its root. Dr. Alaudin Ansari, Principal of Iqra Public School addressed the guests
The annual function helped everyone share their experiences with auspicious presence of honorable dignitaries such as Tabassum Ara (Deputy Mayor of Asansol), Mir Hashim (Mayor In Council), Jasim Ahmed (Director D.G.M.S), Md. Neyazi (Dy. Director of D.G.M.S), Syed Md Afroz Shareef Imam (Hajj Committee), Md Arshad Ali (Gen. Secretary – Gausia Education Society), Wasim Akhtar Khan (Project Delivery Manager – Ongraph Technologies Pvt Ltd) and Sajjad Ahmed Khan (Nuclear Science and Technology Student from Amity University).
The program was conducted by Imtiaz Ansari and finally the program was concluded by thankful notation of Md. Islam Khan.