READY TO SIMPLIFY VISA PROCESS, ROUHANI TELLS INDIA
HYDERABAD: In a rare gesture, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is a senior Shia cleric too, on Friday visited the historic Makkah Masjid, a Sunni mosque, to offer prayers and called for unity among Muslims across the world.
Addressing the congregation after Friday prayers, he said unity among Shias, Sunnis and other Islamic denominations was the only solution to the problems faced by the Muslim world.
In his 30-minute public speech in Persian, said to be the first by a any country’s leader in this mosque, Rouhani urged Muslims to treat all human beings with love and affection in the true spirit of Islam.
On the second day of his threeday visit to India, he joined common worshippers in offering prayers at the 17th century mosque, noting that Friday prayers symbolise the unity among Muslims as they come together to pray. Accompanied by ministers and senior officials, Rouhani offered ‘namaz’ in the first row. Before that he sat through the sermons delivered in Arabic by Moulana Rizwan Qureshi, Imam of the mosque. Reciting verses from Quran, Rouhani said Prophet Mohammad was sent as the model for mankind to follow.
“If Islam is presented before the world in true sense, then the whole world will love this religion,” he said.
Rouhani said if Muslims were facing problems in different parts of the world today, it was because they had distanced themselves from real teachings of Islam.
“If there is violence and conflicts in some Islamic countries, it is because we have not guided the younger generation towards Islam and its true meaning,” he said.