Prophet Muhammad was the messenger of global peace: Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya

Mangaluru, Nov 28: Swami Lakshmi Shankaracharya, founder of the Hindu-Muslim Jan Ekta Manch, today said that the Prophet Muhammad had dedicated his entire life for the establishment of the peace in the world through divine message.

The seer was addressing a symposium on ‘Reforms in society in the light of Prophet Muhammad’s teachings’ organized at Town Hall, here, as part of a month-long campaign being carried out by the Karnataka state unit of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind under the theme ‘Prophet Muhammad, the greatest guide for the mankind’.

Swami, who was once a staunch critic of Islam, said that it was a blunder to associate any religion, especially Islam with terrorism. “There is idealism in Islam and not terrorism,” he said adding that peace and unity was central to all religions but the problem was people did not study their own scriptures properly.

He pointed out that Islam not just prescribes acts of worship like offering namaz, but also mandates its followers to do only good things and establish peace.

“Muhammad was the messenger of global peace. His ultimate aim was to establish peace in the world. The wars in which he participated was also fought for the establishment of the peace,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event Swami recalled that he too had associated Islam with terrorism for long due to ignorance. He had even written a book titled ‘The History of Islamic Terrorism’, linking Quranic verses with violence. Things changed when he was assigned to write a book, ‘America in Danger Because of Islam’. He read a book on the Prophet brought out by the JIH and realized that he had read earlier read the Quranic verses out of context.

JIH national Moulana Muhammad Iqbal Mulla inaugurated the programme. Dr CP Habeeb Rehman, chairman of Unity Health Complex presided over. Novelist K Veerabhadrappa, journalist B M Haneef, and Mangalore University’s Prof B Shivaram Shetty among others spoke on the occasion.