Afghanistan Times
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AT-KABUL: Amid deteriorating security situation and intolerance, to build social, inter and intra-regional harmony the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) on Wednesday organized a two-day symposium on Sufism in Kabul.
This year’s symposium theme was, “Merging Sufism, literature and Security Studies”, based on Herat`s history of political Sufism. The symposium was attended by teachers and authors from different parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, India and the United States. They discussed and exchanged views on cultural, political, security and economic issues.
The director general of the AISS, Dr. Davood Moradian, said the symposium is aimed to find ways to overcome insecurity in Afghanistan and in the region through Sufism and gnostic.
Emphasizing on importance of Sufism to combat terrorism and extremism, he said the region, especially Afghanistan, is facing multiple challenges. “We have failed to find a good solution to the problems including insecurity. Seeking ways through gnostic and Sufism in order to overcome the existing challenges in the country will be the main point of discussion in the symposium,” he added.
Those who are carrying out suicide attacks and stoning women are the people who are facing internal challenges and lost peace of mind. They are far away from the peaceful ways that the Sufism had told us about, he noted.
He said: “We do not have peace because we cannot find peace inside ourselves. Through, gnostic and Sufism we can find peace inside and create social and regional harmony.”
The AISS’s director general said that media outlets, schools and universities are good sources to preach gnostic and Sufism, and urge people to accept and respect each other. He went on to say that discrimination is one of the reasons responsible for violence, adding that gnostic is against discrimination and it motivates people to accept each other and build social harmony.
Ali Amiri, a lecturer at the Ibn-e-Sina University, said that it is imperative at this critical juncture to introduce gnostic and Sufism to the people and then use the two as a solution to the outstanding challenges.
He said the Sufism should be used according to the current situation.
Commending the AISS for organizing the symposium on the issues of significance, the former chairman of Tajikistan’s Senate, Askar Hakimi, termed it a positive step towards reaching peace in the region.
