First Lady Bushra Bibi inaugurates sufism centre, e-library

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister's wife Bushra Imran Saturday inaugurated the Shaikh Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili Research Hub for promotion of Sufism, science and technology in the country during a solemn ceremony here at the Punjab Sports Board (PSB) E-Library building at Nishter Park Sports Complex.

Sheikh Abul Hasan Ash-Shadhili Sufism, Science & Technology Research Centre is going to be established at new campus of Government College University Lahore located at Kala Shah Kaku.

The initiative comes from Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and the Department of Higher Education upon the vision and special interest of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife Mrs Bushra Imran.

A briefing on the centre was given to Mrs Bushra Imran by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi, said a GCU press release issued here on Saturday.

The modern Ash-Shadhili research centre for religious, social and scientific disciplines would be linked with all the leading libraries and universities of the world, and its digital resources would be remotely accessible to millions of students across Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Nadeem Mahboob, Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab, gave the credit of establishing research centre to the vision and special attention of the First Lady Bushra Imran. He said the academic bloc of the research centre would be established at the New Campus of GCU Lahore in Kala Shah Kaku at a cost of Rs100 million. He said the libraries established in various districts of Punjab would be linked with this research centre in coming days.

Vice Chancellor Prof Zaidi said the centre will conduct research in the Islamic philosophy, Sufism, spirituality, comparative study of Sufism and mystic traditions besides providing a platform for inter-religious studies and interfaith dialogues at national and international level.

Prof Zaidi explained that the centre would serve as a platform for advanced learning and research on the philosophical doctrines of the great Islamic philosophers. He added special courses including on Islamic philosophy, Sufism and comparative religions would be introduced for BS (Hons), MPhil and PhD classes.

The VC announced that the centre would benefit from the Rehmat-ul-lil Aalmeen (PBUH) Scholarships for MPhil/PhD national and international students doing research on divinity, Sufism, and spirituality. He said 3,000 physical books, 13 million e-books, 150 million e-thesis and 78 global e-journals would be available to this centre.

The center has been named after Shaikh Abul Hassan Ash Shadhili, the 13th century Moroccan Islamic scholar and Sufi, who founded the Shadhili Sufi Order. He dedicated all his life to the service of religion, Islam and mysticism.

The naming of the research center after the renowned Islamic Sufi is meant to promote religious harmony, tolerance and love for knowledge in the region.

Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani, Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Nadeem Mehboob, Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairman (PHEC) Dr Fazal Ahmed Khalid, Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Vice Chancellor Dr Bushra Mirza, Government College University (GCU) Lahore VC Dr Asghar Zaidi, Maulana Raghib Naeemi, Special Assistant to the PM Dr Shahbaz Gill, religious scholars and women parliamentarians attended the ceremony.

Secretary Sports Punjab Fuad Hashim, in his welcome address, hailed Prime Minister Imran Khana and Bushra Imran for their vision of reviving the past glory of Muslims.

The E-Library would serve as a research hub in future after its inauguration by the First Lady. He said research had been the hallmark of Muslim scholars in the past and the Shadhili Research Hub was an effort to introduce the young generations to the works of Ulema, as Islam and Islamic thought spread throughout the world by the Ulema rather than through the sword.

The Secretary Sports said the research hub had been linked with different institutions, including the GCU, LCWU, Jamia Naeemia, and other educational institutions, besides Child Protection Bureau, social welfare institutions and prisons.

LCWU VC Dr Bushra Mirza lauded Bushra Imran for her services to the poor strata of society through the establishment of shelter homes and free food centers, besides taking care of the orphans in the country. Her vision of promoting Islamic research principles in Sufism would go a long way in reviving the glorious past of the Muslims, she added.

Secretary PHED Nadeem Mehboob said mysticism was spiritual heritage of the Muslims, which spanned over centuries.

He said Rahnumai Markaz portal would provide educational as well as human resource management services, as all the universities had been geo-tagged through the web-portal.

Bushra Imran also launched the Rahnumai Markaz portal of the PHEC, which would provide counseling to the students across the province, besides guidance on admissions to different colleges and universities.

She also witnessed a ceremony to ink a memorandum of understanding among GCU, LCWU, Jamia Naeemia and Auqaf Research Center, under which they would jointly pursue modern research through the Shaikh Abul Hassan Ash Shadhili Research Hub.

Bushra Imran also planted a sapling at the Shaikh Abul Hassan Ash Shadhili Research Hub as part of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Clean and Green Pakistan drive.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Shibli Faraz Saturday termed the inauguration of Sufism, Science and Technology Research Centre by First Lady Bushra Bibi, is a unique blend of spirituality, science and technology.

In a tweet, the federal minister stated that it will not only encourage research in this field but also help elaborate inter-connectivity in the respective disciplines.