JEDDAH, 5 November 2005 — Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed (Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar), a prominent Islamic scholar from south India, has called upon Muslims to spread the message of Islam through tolerance and setting a good example to other communities.
“Islam has spread through tolerance and humility of its followers and not through terrorism,” Sheikh Aboobacker, general secretary of Sunni Scholars Organization of India, told Arab News during his recent visit to the Kingdom.
“It was the humility and nobility of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his followers that attracted people to Islam,” he said. “This was the main reason for the propagation of Islam all over the world.”
Sheikh Aboobacker spoke about the tremendous role played by devout Muslims such as Khaja Moeenuddin Chisti and Qutbuddin Baktiyar Kaaki Al-Dahlawi in disseminating the message of Islam in India.
He said the Markazu Ssaqafathi Ssunniyya (Sunni Cultural Center) in Calicut, run by his organization, has been providing Islamic and secular education to more than 8,000 students including 1,600 orphans. They are studying Qur’an, Fiqh, arts, science and technology at the organization’s different institutes.
“We have students from different parts of India including Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa,” he said. Some 25,000 students have so far completed their education from our institutions, he added.
The organization runs 21 institutions. Among them are separate orphanages for both boys and girls, a Shariah college, a Hifzul Qur’an college, an arts college, a boarding madrassa, two English medium schools and intermediate and secondary schools (boys & girls) and a first class hospital in Poonur.
According to Sheikh Aboobacker, the center requires 125,000 Indian rupees to meet its daily expenditures. It is collected through donations and charities, he said.
He spoke of his organization’s plans to establish an orphanage and an English-medium school in Kashmir with the support of the government. “We have already got a piece of land to build these institutions,” he said.
Sheikh Aboobacker, who was here for Umrah after his visit to the United Arab Emirates where he was a state guest, urged Muslims to use modern information technology to spread the message of Islam and counter anti-Islam campaigns.
