[Javed Ahmed Ghamidi] I have declared this to be a mission of my life that
the tradition of research be kept alive in the Deen
and accordingly we must arrange for the education and training of Muslims.
This is the prescription for success
that you educate your children
and educate your coming generations
that this religion, which we profess belief in
it isn't merely a creed to be blindly followed
It has its own intellectual foundations.
Its own set of reasoning.
And it can present itself in the form of reasoned argument
I often express it in this way,
it is the academic study of the Deen
which needs to be established as a tradition for the coming generations.
[Hassan Ilyas] Teaching the Deen in a scholarly way means that
blind faith be displaced by reason.
that blind following may give way to Research.
And argument and evidence rule over mere opinion.
[Ghamidi] These institutions have been established with this deliberate purpose.
When I had laid the foundation stone for Al-Mawrid,
it was with this same objective.
And now that this Center has been set up, it is with the same objective,
that people's education and training be arranged for at all levels
For Children. For Adults.
For those people among us who wish to become scholars of the Deen,
even for them, there must be an endeavor to instill this capacity of discernment,
this capacity to approach the study of Islam from a research-oriented viewpoint,
that they can study the various sciences of Islam.
That they can study the rich scholarly legacy that we have inherited.
This is that very thing which you cannot help but acquire, I believe,
if you wish to keep your posterity steadfast on Islam.
We live in an Age of Freedom. And an Age of Reasoning
When it comes to our children's questions about religion or religious concepts,
in this age, we can't silence them.
It is incumbent upon us to answer them and convince them
with reasoning and the power of our argument.
The old division of East and West has now been erased.
We can no longer keep our children away from newer kinds of thoughts,
or stop them from being influenced by various new ideas.
There is only one way.
That we present the positive teachings of the Quran to the world,
with its own arguments and reasons,
and Praise be to God,
Allah's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet (Peace be on Him)
has the strength, the force
that it can defend it by itself.
If the collective life of Muslims is to continue to stay alive,
then it has only one course of action.
And that is to achieve a level of greatness in Knowledge and Ethics.
And this is possibly only when you try to understand in a scholarly manner
your being, your personality, your culture your tradition, and your religion,
and do a thorough intellectual appraisal of your own individual self,
and know, that your greatest honor, is your moral being.
If you manage to cultivate this, in fact, to take it to an exalted level,
and as a community, you have been able to achieve excellence,
when it comes to knowledge, then you will excel at a worldly level as well.
In this institution, all people, whatever their, religion, race, ethnicity, or creed
they are all welcomed.
Their religious education and intellectual development is the locus of our efforts.
We have created such programs, created such syllabi, that all who come here
can explore their faith, and consciously be able to discover belief for themselves.
My hope for this institution is that by transcending all kinds of prejudice
it makes the desire for Knowledge through high quality of research and literature
and their facilitation its real objective.
Overcoming all kinds of prejudice, of the past and the present and all others,
they be set aside, and as true servants of Knowledge,
this Institution be welcoming for people, where they are taught, and trained.
In all its decisions, whether it is about choosing instructors, or making syllabi,
this same principle must drive it, that no prejudice be allowed to fester,
Knowledge, the way it is, the way it ought to be, will be conveyed to the people.
With reasoning and evidence, so that its real objective is always at the forefront.
And that real objective is to know a thing as it is, in its essence,
and not to supply post-hoc justifications for one's own prejudicial beliefs.
Therefore, we must all move ahead.
Contribute our share in the service of God's religion.
And support this effort to protect the future of our posterity.
This endeavor can only move forward with your help.
I expect from people that they recognize the importance of education and teaching
for the collective flourishing of the Muslims.
And will help institutions like these, generously, in whichever way they can.