Rethink your duties in pluralistic society: Ansari to Muslims

Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Monday asked the Muslim community to introspect into its duties and rights in a pluralistic society, without being dependent on "concessions and largesse" for achieving goals.

Ansari said, "we have to accept that there are certain contradictions within Muslim society which cannot be resolved by being "evasive".

He was addressing a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University's Kennedy Auditorium.

Diverging from his written speech at the inaugural function of the Prof KA Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies, the Vice-President urged the Muslim community to "introspect into its duties and rights in a pluralistic society."

He urged the Muslim community in general and AMU fraternity in particular, to understand "what is our due right in this society. At the same time we should not depend upon concessions and largesse for achieving our goals."

Referring to the Centre for Quranic Studies, Ansari said, "this Centre can provide a platform for serving as a vital institutional link with similar centres all over the world."

Ansari expressed the hope that this Centre would serve a very meaningful goal as a catalytic agent for spreading the message of essential teachings of Islam which were focused on "peace and harmony between different peoples of the world."

Earlier, welcoming the Vice-President, the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Retired Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah said the Centre would play a key role in helping people of the world to understand that the essential ethos of the Quran was "justice and compassion for all human beings."

Shah said the above Centre would provide an opportunity to the AMU to "forge an understanding worldwide with similar institutions in spreading the message of Universal brotherhood and peace."

Shah recalled that the founding father of the AMU, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was "a strong opponent of the religious bigotry."

Shah said, "the centre would help us in nurturing links between different people which will help in strengthening the natural fabric and lead to a better understanding of Indo-Islamic culture."

In his address, the Vice-President said, "Aligarh Muslim University, which is a centre of higher learning had a specific role to play in the study of civilization of Islam".

Ansari said the AMU only can do justice to this obligation if it adheres to the "global standard of excellence".

The AMU community cannot escape its responsibility "by measuring its standards in terms of inputs and outputs".

He expressed certain reservations as regards the performance of the AMU community in living up to certain basic principles of Islam, which were based in letter and spirit on the need for understanding Islam "in the context of our times".

He said that the Aligarh had no choice but to strive for "excellence, discipline and punctuality". This is the only way that the AMU could live up to the expectations and aspirations of its founding fathers.