The Green Party of the provincial assembly, Hamburg organised a special function on 14th June 2011 at the historic Hamburg Town Hall—the seat of government of Hamburg—under the title “inter-religious dialogue”, in honour of Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(aba), Khalifatul Masih V, Head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim community,who was invited by the Green Party of Germany to deliver the keynote address.
“All the distinguished guests, Assalamo ‘Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahe Wa Barakatohu – peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.
First of all I would like to thank all of you, especially our chief host, for inviting me today to say a few words to you. By doing so, you have demonstrated your openheartedness and broadminded nature.
This gesture proves that irrespective of differences of nationality, religion and viewpoints, you believe in the betterment of human values for all mankind. And today it pleases me to hear from respected Professor Wolfram Weisse that you have formed the Academy of World Religions for bringing different nations and religions together. I pray that Allah gives you success in this.
I would like to say that today the world is in grave need of such an enlightened approach. We, who are members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at, also practice and preach such an approach and we always abide by these principles, which is the reason why we constantly raise the slogan of ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’.
As a basic principle we believe that there is certainly no harm in having differences of opinion and religion. With reference to religion itself, I would say here that religion is a personal matter for every individual to decide for himself. No one has any right to interfere in this process. It is the right of every person to follow their religion according to their own personal beliefs and in a way they desire. They should be able express their religious beliefs and rituals freely and openly and should be able to inform others of their own religious beliefs without any apprehension.
From time to time, some people and certain groups, particularly in the West, become fearful when they hear the view that people should be completely free to practice and preach their religion. In particular, when the religion of Islam is being discussed, this fear and panic increases dramatically…“
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Islam
It is really heartening to note that some sections of the public in Europe are still open-minded and tolerant. When glancing through newspaper comments one might get the idea that intolerance is overwhelming. I am very happy to read this post.