Sunni congregation to focus on protecting the girl child

MUMBAI: The 24th three-day annual ijtema (congregation) of Sunni Dawat-e-Islami (SDI), a worldwide organization of Sunni Muslims, at Azad Maidan will stress a special focus on the need to protect the girl child.
The event will be held from November 28 to 30.
Among the issues around a dozen scholars and preachers will discuss, the organizers said, protection of girl child, prevention from depression, suicide, drug addiction and misuse of technology figure prominently.Through sessions of discourses and question-answer, scholars will create awareness against several evils that afflict us.
“As religious scholars and preachers, it is our duty to save humanity, especially the young generation, from vices, like drug addiction, which are ruining families. We will also emphasize the need to protect the girl child. Betiyan rahmat hain, zahmat nahin (daughters are boon, not burden) and we will stress this in our speeches and talks,” said Maulana Shakir Noorie, SDI president. He added that the practice of considering males superior to females by a section of Indian society needs to be contested from religious perspective too, and scholars will do that.
The modern modes of communication, despite their invaluable services to society, have left some negative effects on the youth. “Internet and mobile phones are of great importance, but they can be misused by those who have not been properly trained in morality. A few sessions will tackle the issue of how to keep ourselves from the misuse of modern technology,” said Maulana Rizwan Khan, SDI vice-president.
The conference’s first day will be exclusively devoted to women’s issues and the audience will be women alone. Refreshingly, said Khan, this year some woman scholars have been engaged to address the women and guide them on some gender-specific issues. The last day of the meet is expected to see a turnout of around three lakh people, the organizers said.