Daily Times

Actor and singer Ali Zafar on Saturday spoke out against the culture of dowry revealing that he did not accept any such thing from in-laws on his wedding.

“I set only one condition for my marriage that I wouldn’t be accepting any gifts, money or dowry from my in-laws, said the Sajna Door singer in his interview to the versatile actor, Noor-ul-Hassan, at the Faisalabad Literary Society.

He laid stress on discarding the dowry culture as its make the society greedy and materialistic. He asked people who matters to speak out openly against dowry.

Ali Zafar believed that weddings ceremonies should be very simple as per the teachings of Islam. “It shocks me a lot that a father spends his lifelong earnings on her daughter’s wedding just to satisfy or please the relatives, daughter’s in-laws and society,” he added.

He stressed “stop thinking that what would people say.” He also crooned Kishore Kumar’s Kuchh Tu Log Kahenge (people will say things; it’s their business to talk).

Ali Zafar believed that weddings ceremonies should be very simple as per the teachings of Islam. ‘It shocks me a lot that a father spends his lifelong earnings on her daughter’s wedding just to satisfy or please the relatives, daughter’s in-laws and society,’ he added

Ali Zafar concluded this discussion, saying that “human-to-human relationships should only be based on love and sincerity.”

In reply to a question about his beautiful wife Ayesha Fazli, Ali Zafar said he was very lucky to have her in his life. “I wished to make her my life partner due to her kindness, empathy and compassion… she never thinks badly of anyone… she is truly an angle and my support,” he said.

The singer also talked about the spiritual connection with the Almighty Allah through Namaz and meditation. Talking about troubles in life, he said that these were the tests from the God.

Talking about our redundant education system, Ali Zafar said that the world was making strides in Artificial Intelligence, and they were still promoting rote learning. He asked students to focus on acquiring skills through education. He said that degrees would become absolute in next 10 to 20 years.

He also said that he had learnt from life that when humans were born they were absolutely pure, but over time they started thinking as their environment moulded them.

Earlier, introducing Ali Zafar to audience, Noorul Hassan said that this boy was from a middle class family; his both parents were university teachers and he never took a single rupee as pocket money from them after his matriculation examinations.

“This boy supported his education and passion for music by making sketches at a five star hotel,” he said.