Interfaith Meelad Event 2023

14th October 2023, Mumbai

An interfaith meet held on Saturday night appealed to people to look up to Prophet Mohammed(peace be upon him)'s ways in conducting themselves and work to revive the culture of knowledge. Titled 'Meelad Conference', the meet was organised by Minhaj Interfaith & Welfare Foundation at Memonwada, Bhindi Bazaar.

Among the speakers were Dr. Arshad ul Qadri, Mufti Umair Qasmi,Dr. Swami Vedatmavesh, Shakir Shaikh, Fareed Khan,Qari Samiulla Qadri ,Kazim Malik, Dr. Laxman Sharma and Madhav Barwe. The chief guest of the event was local MLA Amin Patel.Asad Naeem saab (MQII CEC Chief coordinator) and Zubair Ahmed (VP, MIWF) were organizers of the event.Maulana Anis Ashrafi anchored the whole program.

Lakshman Sharma and Madhav Barwe recited their naats(poems in praise of Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him)) while other speakers made speeches.Attendees expressed deep appreciation for the caliber of poets and the diversity of themes.Qari Samiulla Qadri from Minhaj ul Quran Karnataka recited Quran and mesmerised the audience with recitations of Quranic verses in different forms of qirat.It was a spiritually enriching experience for all participants and attendees.

Farid Khan (President - Urdu Karawan) said the central idea of such Meelad gatherings is that people from different faiths come together. Otherwise in other Meelad gatherings, we call only Muslims and they hear about the Prophet(peace be upon him). The idea was to spread the message of the Prophet in other faiths, too. So that people of other faiths talk about him .He further stated that Love is an amazing thing as it has no boundaries and it crosses barriers of religion ,caste , creed and national borders.He said that ,"We had the distinction of hosting event on Naat recitation where the poems were recited only by Non-Muslim poets."He lauded the works of Shaykh ul Islam Dr. Tahir ul Qadri who has raised the banner of love and compassion through his speeches and books in an environment which was filled with hatred and enmity for followers of people from different faiths or even a different sect.

Speaking on the need of reading religious scriptures Dr. Swami Vedatmaveshji stated that unfortunately the general masses don't read Vedas and other ancient scriptures which have the message of peace for humanity and unity. He said that one of the attributes of God mentioned in ancient scriptures is Shanti(Peace) and if we have peace within us we will be able to spread peace outside.He stated that the crux of all religious teachings is that the demonic forces of arrogance, pride and hatred that reside in every human being should be conquered with power of love and compassion.

Quoting the Vedic text of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" he stated that Whole humanity is a family and if we see suffering in others we should feel this pain as we are the members of same family.Shakir Shaikh from Jamat e Islami,Hind stated that Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) is an ideal for whole of humanity in all aspects of life.He quoted Tukaram Maharaj's poems in which he described the message of Prophet(peace be upon him) as a beacon of light for humanity as it taught about equality and respect for all human beings.

Delivering the keynote speech Dr. Arshad ul Qadri , a PHD scholar from Minhaj ul Quran Kashmir stated , "The thing that Prophet(peace be upon him) focussed during most part of 63 years of his worldly life was the culture of knowledge and tarbiya and both of them are in decline today's age in spite of advancement of technology.He said that there are two types of representatives of faith in our time - one group stresses the importance of preserving life and the other group emphasises on destruction of life.

If we read the Prophetic teachings it will be abundantly clear that the true religion is with the group that talks of preserving life and not with the group that emphasises on destruction.He pointed out that with the advent of social media and gadgets people have stopped reading the actual sources of knowledge of religion and this is causing confusion in youth as they take their religion from unauthentic sources. " He also gave an introduction to a book titled "Relation of Muslims and Non- Muslims by Shaykh ul Islam Dr. Tahir ul Qadri and said that it can solve many of the doubts about Interfaith relations.

Christ Church school principal Graham Heiden stated that human beings are the best creation of God and the best aspect of human beings is good education and high morals.He urged all communities to give special importance to girl education.

Mufti Umair Qasmi said that," In India we live in a multi religious and multi-cultural environment and our condition is similar to state of Madina when Prophet(peace be upon him) entered it.In this environment , Constitution of Madina was formulated by Prophet (peace be upon him) and all tribes and followers of different religions agreed on it And accepted it as a common ground for co-existence.In India we have constitution as a common ground of agreement between followers of different religions and we should follow it." He further stated that we need to respect differences of opinions in order to unite.

Lecturer and motivational speaker Kazim Malik said that the Farewell sermon of Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) was a charter of humanity as it mentioned that there is no superiority on the basis of colour, ethnicity or race but the virtue of Taqwa. He also stated that We need to stand on the side of the oppressed against injustice even though the oppressed might be practitioners of different faiths.

MLA Amin Patel saab gave a vote of Thanks and presented a bouquet to all the guests.

The Book - "Relations of Muslims and Non Muslims" authored by Shaykh ul Islam Dr. Tahir ul Qadri was launched in the presence of esteemed guests and the event concluded with prayers for peace.