My extremely respected Dr.

Ameer Liaquat Hussain, At the outset, I fully realize that your time is extremely precious and I would not try to encroach upon your invaluable time unnecessarily and, therefore, would endeavour to keep my suggestion as concise as possible. However, please forgive me for being little lengthy given that the topic is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, widespread and critical. I am a Pakistani living abroad since many years. I remain very disturbed, uncomfortable and sometimes in deep pain when I see the plight of Muslims across the globe due to misunderstanding, conflicts and to some extent hatred among Muslims due to difference of opinion on religious matters among Muslim scholars representing different school of thoughts. This situation naturally trickles down to the individuals which can be witnessed everywhere unfortunately and do not need elaboration. I am sure each Muslim heart is sad, broken and in deep pain and agony seeing this situation. We might be held accountable before Allah for not contributing to rectify this situation to the extent of our authority and influence. I believe that masses are disheartened and misled despite their pure intention to obey the commandments of Allah since they dont have adequate religious knowledge and in the absence of single source of religious knowledge (diversified interpretations by scholars) they find it hard to practice with a degree of certainty and conviction. There are many personalities/organizations who have devoted their lives to the service of Islam and to facilitate people in achieving the real objective of their lives. Undoubtedly, your sacrifice and contribution is significant in this direction. Your sincere lectures and charismatic presentation has been source of revolutionary changes in the lives of numerous people who have transformed their lives completely whereby from extremely disastrous stage they attained astonishing level of righteousness. Through this communication, I intend to highlight the aspect that, in my opinion, did not attract the befitting attention though definitely responsible people managing and administering various Islamic organizations are fully aware and are equally concerned. In particular, what drove me to approach you with utmost hope and conviction is your vision as I understand to create harmony, love and affection in place of misunderstanding, uncalled for difference and hatred prevailing among Muslims representing various school of thoughts. Your vision vividly demonstrates your firm resolve to help the people of the entire world to come to the straight path that leads to the pleasure of Allah. I must praise you for setting this realistic vision despite the fact that it poses massive challenges given that around 80% of the current global population which roughly comes to 5 Billion people is not Muslim. Furthermore, those categorized as Muslim, most of them either do not practice Islam, in letter and spirit, or are not considered as following Islam in line with commandments of Allah in the eyes of other Muslim and therefore sometimes they are not considered to be right at least in the perception of other school of thoughts. Hence, mathematically, if I say 1 out of 100 is securing passing marks, I would probably be exaggerating the ground reality. This is really a mounting and uphill task to translate this vision into reality. None of us want to fail and cannot afford to incur the displeasure of Allah but the existing ground reality seems to be leading us towards complete failure on an average every day approximately 400,000 people leave this world. It is, therefore, inevitable that someone comes forward and takes the lead to rectify the situation before it is too late. You would agree that to deal with this challenge concerted and organized efforts are required and prior to this our house needs to be brought in order so as to strengthen the foundation that guarantees the best outcome. Accordingly, it is high time to leave no stone unturned in minimizing the differences among Muslims

representing various school of thoughts, if cannot be eliminated completely, so solid platform is established to achieve this highly challenging vision. You have the visionary leadership and access to the religious scholars representing various schools of thought and therefore in a position to perform this task effectively and efficiently capitalizing on the immense potential and influence that Allah has blessed you with. As I stated above, when I see the plight of Muslim segregated into many sects and school of thoughts, I want to cry, although I am not very pious Muslim like you but only a normal practicing Muslim. These differences, on the one hand, are source of disappointment and discomfort among the Muslim, consequently, people like me, who are in massive number, remain confused as to who is right and who is wrong. On the other hand, causing very damaging barriers and obstacles in the way of potential Muslims intending to embrace Islam. Undoubtedly, Our beloved Prophet life is a model and a source of inspiration and guidance for us who brought those people to the right path who were in complete darkness and suffering from countless shortcomings to the extent that they were worshiping idols. I am, therefore, fully convinced that todays Muslim scholars, with right vision and firm resolve, benefitting from Quran and Sunnah of Prophet can definitely address the challenges of today which are comparatively far lesser in intensity. Just to kick-start the process, with my limited knowledge, I tried to analyze the situation and found the following challenges: Identification of differences it is important to indentify the challenges as due to disinformation there are many difference that are highlighted do not exist at all. Or if they exist, they are exaggerated. Categorization of differences Differences need to be categorized such as permissible, mild, moderate, critical for prioritization and expeditious resolution. Resolution of differences - your organization has many sections and departments. You may kindly like to constitute a department for this primary purpose.

Although, I know nothing and my suggestion is like showing a lamp to the sun. With your permission, may I suggest that the FIRST AND IMMEDIATE task that can be assigned to this department should be: To initiate dialogues with the office bearers of other sects / school of thoughts with a view to: o o o Identify differences Categorize differences Prioritize differences for resolution as all differences are not alike and even some differences are permissible.

Based on the outcome of these deliberation, this department should develop book(s) which reflect CONSENSUS MATERIAL having concurrence of all schools of thought and will not contain any material where there are fundamental and unacceptable differences. In this way, we will have books and other material that all Muslims could use without any confusion and fear of being misguided. I understand there are majority of matters where all Muslim school of thoughts have unanimity of views. I know this is not an easy task but need to be done perpetually given plight of Muslims. The development of this document will immediately attract the following benefits: Constitutes excellent beginning in the direction of great services to the Muslims who desperately want to practice without confusion send extremely positive message to potential Muslims remove the impression that our ever expanding differences can not even be minimized and curtailed.

Create harmony among masses at the grass root level and improve understanding at the leadership representing different school of thoughts. Definitely put on hold the damage as it will change the current environment which reflects negative image of Islam and Muslims which results in uncalled for chaos and disorder. Eliminate automatically those who conspire and intentionally spread disinformation to divide and create hatred among Muslims. Last but not the least, it will not only provide platform to minimize the differences but also serve as solid foundation to create long term brotherhood among Muslim and therefore would constitute practical demonstration and realization of your vision.

May Allah Almighty bless us with the wisdom and strength to strive in the direction that earns us the pleasure of Allah and pave way for our success in this world and in the hereafter - Ameen.