Allama Sadiq Qureshi, deputy Amir of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, has said that attacks on the shrines of Sayyedna Zainab (RA) and Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed (RA) in Syria are great tragedies of the Muslim world. He said that such incidents undermined the attitudes and notions of unity by further deepening the divisions among the Muslims. He said that these holy personages always imparted the lesson of love and peace because these values defined what Islam is. He said that the Friends of Allah work for welfare of humanity solely for Allah’s pleasure.

Allama Sadiq Qureshi expressed these views while addressing a big Friday congregation in Lahore yesterday. Mir Muhammad Asif Akbar, Maulana Muhammad Usman Sialvi and Allama Muhammad Hussain Azad were also present on the occasion.

Allama Qureshi said that though political Islam passed through ebb and flow many a time, spiritual Islam continued to flourish and enlighten the people by answering questions of their hearts and minds. He said that those who took on spiritualism had little understanding of Islamic teachings, for mysticism and spiritualism were directly linked to the Holy Quran and Sunna and did not constitute an aberration or a parallel religion as some critics seemed to propagate. He made it categorically clear that mysticism and spiritualism, which did not draw from the Holy Quran and Sunna, was nothing but atheism.

Allama Qureshi said that the teachings of the Friends of Allah and saints could be understood in the light of teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunna as there exists a direct link between them since the former flew from the latter. He said that Allah Almighty has mentioned His Friends and Saints in abundance in the Holy Quran.