By Ammar Abdullah
GOMBAK, 6 December 2017- Taking the immigrants and refugee issue towards a more positive and larger context could help solve this humanitarian crisis, according to Prof. Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, a history professor from University of Delhi.
œTaking the issues of dissemination of knowledge and Islamic cultures by these peoples is a positive context and crucially needed to be debated, he said.
Prof. Saiyid Zaheer highlighted the issue in his keynote address entitled “Migration, Refugees and the Dissemination of Knowledge: Expansion of ˜Islamic Culture and the ˜Migrant Elites”, at the commencement of the conference yesterday (5 December).
œThese people arriving from various cities and towns have brought the elements of ˜Islamic culture with them. Due to their presence, a number of maktab and madrasah were established in these towns and other centres to cater for the need of emerging Muslim population, he added.
The three-day International Conference on Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Issues and Shifting Paradigms (ICMR2017) is currently being held with one goal in mind – to solve and end this crisis worldwide.
œThe world is making efforts to provide them with humanitarian aid, not trying to solve or end the crisis, Prof. Zaheer said.
He emphasised that the human suffering goes on due to the helplessness of the world bodies in disciplining its members beyond the lip service.
This conference with 16 sessions altogether will deliberate on paper presentations with highlights on these issues as a theme. Among the panelists are academicians from countries in Asia such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Conference held from 5 until 7 December at the Senate Hall, is organised by the Department of History and Civilisation, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences.***