Chief Imam prays for peace to souls of jawans who lost their life in Pulwama attack

Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 15

Chief Imam of the All India Imam Organisation (Bharat) (AIIO) Dr Umer Ahmed Ilyasi led a Friday prayer and delivered a “sermon” for peace of souls to jawans who lost their lives in terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, and for strength to their family members.

The religious gathering at the Copernicus Mosque —headquarters of AIIO — was well-attended by judicial officers among others.

In his hour-long sermon, Dr Ilyasi issued an appeal to all the heads of the mosques in Jammu and Kashmir, especially those affiliated to AIIO, to take the lead to enlightening people of the state about the true message of Islam — which he said is “peace, regeneration and service, among other transcendental values”.

The terrorists are trying to sully the image of Islam by indulging in barbarity, death and destruction, and taking out lives which are against the tenets of the religion, he said.

“Allah had sent Prophet Mohammad in this world with an over-arching message to spread the values of peace,” he said.  

Out of 486 major mosques in Jammu and Kashmir, 376 of them are affiliated to AIIO, he said.

“It is especially incumbent upon the Imams based in the Valley to come on the front foot and take up cudgels against terrorism and the ideologies of radicalism and misapplication of the pious word ‘Jehad’ propagated by it.”

“Jehad is a practice undertaken for catharsis, for self-purification, and resolve to work for the universal values and humanity,” he said.

“But the terrorists are taking out lives of innocent people through bomb blasts and utter barbarities,” Dr Ilyasi added.

He appealed to spiritual leaders of all faiths in the country to join hands to eradicate terrorism.

He cautioned the terror organisations, especially ISIS, and the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba operating form Pakistan, to come out of their delusion of garnering support of Indian Muslims.

“For me and the Indian Muslims, the country comes first,” he said amidst appreciation by the congregation.

He said he would soon visit Jammu and Kashmir and camp in the Valley to mobilise spiritual leaders of Islam to build opinion against terrorism.

The Chief Imam had hit headlines last Diwali when he responded to a challenge of Laskhar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed by going to Wagah border and raising slogans against him and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, and Pakistan for exporting terrorism to India.