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New Delhi: The Dalai Lama Tuesday hailed Islam as one of the great religions of the world, saying true jihad was about fighting “negative emotions” within oneself.
Speaking after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) degree from Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university, the Tibetan spiritual leader said that some mischievous elements were bringing a bad name to Islam.
“I defend Islam,” the Dalai Lama said, “we should not generalize Islam due to few mischievous people. Such mischievous people are there among Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and all religions”.
“Islam is one of the very important religions for many centuries, in the past, present and future it is the hope of millions of people,” he said.
“Some Muslims in this country (India) told me genuine Islam practitioner must extend love and compassion to all creatures. If a person creates bloodshed they are not Muslims,” he said adding, “the meaning of jihad is a struggle within ourselves against all negative emotions like anger, hatred, attachment, that creates problem in the society”.
He said though he received similar honour from many universities around the world, he was particularly honoured to receive it from a renowned Islamic institution of higher learning in India.
NEW DELHI: For Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, receiving a honorary doctorate degree from Jamia Millia Islamia, “a university with a Muslim flavour”, was special.
“This degree from a university with Muslim flavour is special as I am committed to religious harmony. Since September 11, I have been defending Islam. For a few misguided people we should not blame a religion. Islam is one of the important religions in the planet, and hope for millions of people,” said the Dalai Lama on Tuesday.
The Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) was conferred on the 14th Dalai Lama by vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung at Jamia`s annual convocation. Union HRD, science and technology and communication and IT minister Kapil Sibal was present.
In a short message, Dalai Lama urged the students to strive towards a peaceful world. He started his speech by requesting those present not to misunderstand him for use of wrong words because “my English is not so good”. “We should not generalize Muslims for a few mischievous followers of Islam. There are mischievous elements in all religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Problems we are facing in the world today are our own creation. To create a harmonious society, we need young people with vision and for that education and moral ethics should go hand in hand,” said Dalai Lama.
Paying tribute to the spiritual leader, Jung deviated from the conventional vice-chancellor`s address and urged those present “to soak in the presence of His Holiness and the values he shares with our ancient land”.
Lauding India`s pluralism, Jung said: “The Jamia envisioned by its founders, was a pioneering teaching institution that would make Muslims full partners in the great project that is Indian pluralism. This pluralism is sometimes simplified into Hindu-Muslim amity. But this is to diminish the grandeur of the pluralist ideal.”
A total of 3,529 degrees and diplomas were awarded to students from various faculties and departments of the university for successful completion of their postgraduate, undergraduate and diploma programmes in the academic session 2008-09. The university also gave 147 gold medals to toppers in different courses and awarded 127 PhD degrees to research scholars.
Sibal said: “On the education front, I forsee that the number of illiterate people will go down by more than 150 million in absolute numbers. Universalisation of primary education will be a reality. Every child will receive school education. The stock of graduates in the country will double to around 100 million. There will be around 1,000 universities of all types with nearly 50,000 colleges. Ten of our institutions/ universities will feature among the top 100 in the world by 2020.”
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2 Responses
Why do you think Pakistan shy away from showing respect to Dalai Lama, when world acknowledges his contribution to mankind? Is it China?
Dalia lama and his 100,000 followers are Bharati stooges. When and if the Dalai Lama stops his political activities on behalf of Bharat, he can get the respect from all countries of the world.
When Dalai Lama shows respect for Pakistan, we can talk.
He is the last Dalai Lama anyway…so its a mute question