Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman and Na-tional Paigham-e-Aman Committee (NPAC) Co-ordinator Hafiz Muham-mad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi on Friday said Muslims considered sacrificing their lives for their religion and homeland an honour, adding that martyrdom was their aspiration and they were not afraid of it. Addressing the Friday congregation regarding Hajj guide-lines at Grand Jamia Mosque Bahria Town Lahore, he said religious scholar Maulana Idrees, who taught Hadith, was martyred last week only be-cause he spoke about the Quran, Sunnah, peace and Pakistan. “If this is a crime, then we will continue committing it because martyrdom is aspiration,” he said, adding that religious leaders could not re-main silent while in-nocent Muslims, chil-dren and women were being killed. our
Referring to recent terrorism incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkh-wa, Tahir Ashrafi termed them an at-tack on Pakistan and alleged that hostile elpeople in Afghanistan to target innocent citizens in Pakistan. He said cowardly en-emies could only at tack unarmed and in-nocent people as they feared confronting the armed forces.
Tahir Ashrafi said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had played an important role in pre-venting a third world war and added that Pakistan also contrib-uted towards improv-ing relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Highlighting the importance of Hajj, he urged financially capable Muslims to
immediately make the intention to per form Hajj, saying severe warnings had been mentioned for those who avoided pilgrimage despite having the means. He appreciated the facil-ities provided by the Saudi government for pilgrims and advised intending pilgrims to strictly strictly follow Saudi laws and regulations, avoid sectarian de-bates and devote max-imum time to worship during Hajj.
He said the govern ment of Pakistan had made excellent Hajj arrangements last year and expressed
hope that similar ar-rangements would be ensured this year as well. Ashrafi said Hajj taught patience, perseverance and sac-rifice, urging young pilgrims to respect elders and give them priority in trans-port and other facili-ties. He also warned. against performing Hajj without official permission, saying it could damage the country’s reputation. and create difficulties for families. He said Pakistan was among the countries award-ed last year for making excellent Hajj arrangements.
