The Jamia Millia Islamia university is all set to promote cultural pluralism in the backdrop of the rising intolerance debate in the country. The university’s Department of Islamic Studies has introduced a programme for its undergraduate students to promote “interfaith and co-existence” training through an academic curriculum. Jamia will also conduct the new training programme on other campuses across various cities in the country.
The Department of Islamic Studies at Jamia which has been participating in inter-faith dialogues, has taken the initiative to engage students in practising “tolerance” through a series of workshops and seminars conducted by different religious leaders popular in the country.
The department has drafted a primer for the training programme that consists of various articles written by theological leaders of various religions and cultures. Theology scholars and faith leaders who have agreed to be a part of the curriculum include Swami Agnivesh, J.S. Rajput, Sanjay Ingole, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Syed Mansoor Agha, Ejaz Aslam, Dharminder Singh Ubha, and M.D. Thomas.
The British High Commission is the funding agency of Jamia’s “interfaith and tolerance practices” training programme.
Speaking about the need for such an initiative, Junaid Haris, programme director, said, “We have been witnessing a rise in tolerance and inter-religion debates in India. There is a lot being written on the social media and not all of it is right. While it is important to express your doubts and queries, it is even more important to get the right answers. This is why we have invited religious leaders to train students on how they should be indulging in inter-faith practices. India is a multi-cultural country and if we are able to make our students imbibe this consciousness in their daily lives, we can have a young tolerant force.”
The “interfaith and tolerance practices” training programme in its first tier will be limited to undergraduates only. Jamia will pick 100 eligible students through a selection process who will be able to participate in these workshops which will be conducted only on weekends.
‘We have been witnessing a rise in tolerance and inter-religion debates in India’
Haris said, “We have started with focusing on the undergraduate students because they are at an age which is most exposed to cementing perspectives that live with us for the rest of our lives. The idea is to teach them that apart from faith and worship rituals, people across religions have common basic issues that influence their lives in the same manner. So instead of clashing with each other’s faith, we should be collectively working on our common issues.”
The Department of Islamic Studies at Jamia has started with a curriculum development workshop earlier this week. Apart from the Delhi campus, the department will take this training programme to other universities in Jodhpur, Aligarh, Lucknow and Patiala. In its forthcoming chapters, the training programme will also aim at exploring activities that can help promote inter-faith practices, apart from lectures conducted by religious leaders.
Haris said, “It is easy to make misinformation viral. But if we have capable young minds from different faiths who can look through such misleading data with reason, we can be satisfied in achieving our purpose.”