Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said the Muslims unfortunately suffered from mental slavery around the world due to colonialism adding that mental slavery was far more dangerous than the physical slavery.

He said this while inaugurating the academic blocks at Al Qadir University in Sohawa known as a cradle of knowledge on science and Sufism. The prime minister emphasized speaking the truth and dispensing justice.

“Speaking truth was a quality of Holy Prophet (PBUH) before he was appointed a Messenger,” he said. Imran Khan said he had always aimed at creating institutions in Pakistan that would implement Islam in its true spirit.

The prime minister spoke out against the Western culture, saying Pakistan’s youth was confused about it in today’s world. He said young Pakistanis studied the Western culture and were misled by it, saying that its progress lured many into copying it. The premier urged universities to research on the disastrous effects that Western culture was having on family life, and spoke out about how pornographic material was widely available on smartphones these days. He said universities were important as they can help people make “informed choices” that will help people make smarter and better choices.

He said four qualities contributed to a good leader, including truthfulness, justice, courage, and selflessness.

He criticized the previous governments whose leaders looted the public money when came to power. He recalled that at a recent event held in Islamabad, an absconder leader was invited to speak as chief guest, which he termed a ‘height of moral decline’.

The moral fabric of a nation gets ruined if it stops recognizing corruption and dishonesty as evils, he added. Khan said he wanted the nation to attain a “moral renaissance” and raise leaders from within having a high moral character in line with the Seerat of the Prophet (PBUH). He said the work on the Prime Minister House University was about to start after necessary formalities were carried out in the last three-and-a-half years, which he said would turn into a top technological institute.

Imran emphasized the need for reviving the culture of glorious Muslim era where religion and science did not come into conflict, and that also emphasised on the ‘Ijtehad’ (reasoning) to find solutions to the emerging challenges.

The prime minister said a strong faith and moral character was a blessing of the Almighty that guided a person to choose the righteous path, reports APP.

He said today’s youth was facing confusion in the era of social media that provided unhindered access to western culture. However, he said that since restrictions could not be imposed on the flow of information, it was important to give “informed choices” to the youth by telling them about right and wrong.

To any future incident of blasphemy against the Prophet (PBUH) committed in the world, Imran said he would encourage the nation to rather demonstrate an “intellectual and reasoned response”. He regretted that calling someone Kaafir (infidel) on difference of opinion on religious beliefs was a dangerous trend that needed to be shunned through intellectual debates.

The prime minister mentioned that his government introduced the singular national curriculum to end the unjustified three parallel education systems, i.e, English medium, Urdu medium and madrassas that was resulting in creation of ideologically different streams of youth in the society. He said the objective for establishment of Rehmatul lil Alameen Authority by the government was to promote the message of Islam in a manner that could be understandable to a common man. He expressed satisfaction over the pace of Al Qadir University in carrying out academic work in a short span and emphasized conducting research on the golden era of Muslims where its leaders, scholars, and scientists ruled the world.

Imran Khan said universities had a great role to play in this regard and expressed confidence that Al Qadir University would revive the norms of research and healthy debates. He mentioned that Iqbal’s concept of ‘Shaheen’ (falcon) related to a determined nation with the courage to break the shackles of mental slavery to attain progress.