Muslim Board of Uzbekistan

Reflection of tolerance and solidarity principles in Islam.

12.12.2017 4333 10 min.

Mr. Usmankhan Alimov

Chairman of Muslim Board of Uzbekistan,

Muftiy

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا و ما كنا لنهتدي لو لا أن هدانا الله

و الصلاة و السلام على رسوله الأمين و على آله و أصحابه الأجمعين أما بعد

Assalamu alaykum wa rohmatullohu wa barokatuhu,

Dear guests and participants of the event!

I congratulate you with International Tolerance Day and wish success to the work of this conference.

Our people have always been tolerant and hospitable. When our elder people opened their hands for the prayer, they say: “Oh Allah, bestow wide character and remaining richness on us”. The word combination “wide character” in our saints’ prayers means “tolerance”. From centuries people of different nationalities have lived shoulder to shoulder by helping to make their hardships easy. For this reason, in weddings and funeral ceremonies people of various ethnic groups lived in harmony. Today this tradition is continueing.

Today more than 130 different nationalities and various ethnic groups, 16 religious confessions are living in peace, friendship and harmony. All these people can freely perform their religious ceremonies, follow traditional customs and celebrate their holidays.

For instance, UN special speaker of on religious freedom Ahmad Shahid admitted the works carried out on preservation of peace by saying “Solidarity between nations and ethnic groups that exists in your country is not observed in any other country in the world.”

The main reason for such a harmonic life is the united goal of all religious groups to jointly act for the sake of the development and prosperity of our motherland – Uzbekistan. In this regard, we hold different joint conferences. Greet each other (means various religious groups) with our religious holidays. All our efforts are reflected in our daily lives.

Dear conference participants,

It is obvious that inter-religious tolerance means living in one land in harmony and peace by many nationalities.

Islam has never pressurized other religions in history. Islam has never gone to extremes regarding of different religious groups and ideologies.

Regarding religious tolerance Islam bases on the following,

Firstly, Qur’an says: He prescribed for you the same religion He enjoined upon Noah, and what We inspired to you, and what We enjoined upon Abra-ham, and Moses, and Jesus: “You shall up-hold the religion, and be not divided therein.” As for the idolaters, what you call them to is outrageous to them. Allah chooses to Himself whom He wills, and He guides to Himself whoever repents. (Surah ash-Shura, V-13)

Secondly, all prophets are close friends. There is no advantange between them. We believe them all as the prophets. In Qur’an: Say, “We believe in Allah; and in what was revealed to us; and in what was revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus; and in what was given to the prophets—from their Lord. We make no dis-tinction between any of them, and to Him we surrender.” (Surah Baqara, V-136)

Thirdly, The differences in religion should not bring people to counter each other. On the other hand, they have to coopereate in doing good deeds. In this regard, Qur’an says: And cooperate with one another in virtuous conduct and conscience, and do not cooperate with one another in sin and hostility. (Surah Maida, V-2)

Fourthly, superiority of one man over another man is identified through performed good deeds only: “O people! We created you from a male and a female, and made you races and tribes, that you may know one another. The best among you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous. Allah is All-Knowing, Well-Experienced.” (Surah Hujurot, V-13)

Fifthly, the difference in religion does not prevent from hospitality and doing goodness to blood ties. Qur’an states: Today all good things are made lawful for you. And the food of those given the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them…(Surah al-Ma’idah, V-5).

These are the bases for the tolerance. According to this all muslims are to believe in all prophets, respect and remember them all wih good words, have good relationships with their followers and have good relationships with neighbours.

Prophet Muhammad sollallohu alayhi wasallam had neighbours who followed the Sacred Books. He used to be a good neighbor with them, used to give and receive gifts. When Christian delegation from Ephiopia visited Madina, Muhammad sollallohu alayhi wasallam placed them in a mosque and served them himself. He sollallohu alayhi wasallam said the following “They treated my followers well so I want to treat them well myself”.

Once when Najran Christians came, Muhammad sollallohu alayhi wasallam placed them in a mosque as well and let them perform their prayers inside the mosque. They Christians prayed in one side of the mosque, while muslims prayed on the other side of the same mosque. When they preached about their religion Muhammad sollallohu alayhi wasallam listened to them attentively and presented his own view. These all acts were done with beautiful behavior and kindness.

One of the examples of religious tolerance was during the rulership of Islam when mosques were neighbours with temples. During the Roman Empire Egyption copts were displaced and temples were taken over. When muslims conquered Egypt they returned temples to copts.

Nobody has forgotten Sultan Muhammad Fotih’s great compassion when he occupied Great Patriarch’s Orthodox residence in Constantinopole. He announced that all Christians’ wealth, life, religious freedom, church and Christs were safe. For the Christian leaders Sultan Fotih provided the freedom of solving problems raised in their communities without government intervention. Residents of Constantinopole (nowadays Istanbul) felt the difference between the time of rulership of Byzentinians and Sultan Muhammad Fotih. Muslim ruler even introduced the freedom of establishing government within government for the Roman Patriarch whose followers enjoyed that freedom for the rest 500 years.

One of the examples of religious tolerance is to give the tasks to the person who is the best one to perform it notwithstanding his/her religious belief. For this reason, during the Abbasi period Christian doctors were on Caliph’s attention. For a long time they had been in top managerial positions in Bagdad and Damascus’ medical schools. Christian doctor Ibn Asol was the personal doctor of Muawiyah. Sarjun was his secretary. Marwan was appointed to some state positions and later was promoted as a state secretary. He was very rich and respected. His popularity grew so high that Abdumalik ibn Marwan became the teacher of Abdulaziz. He was a father of that famous Umar ibn Abdulaziz.

Scientific circles of caliphs gathered all scientists regardless of their religious views. There were scientists from all kinds of religions and mazkhabs in the Ma’mun Academy. Ma’mun told them: “Discuss from your knowledge. In order to prevent any type of division do not site from your religious book”.

Scientific meetings of people were also like that. Khalaf ibn Musanno said the following: “We saw ten world known scholars who gathered in one meeting in Basra”.

These kind of examples could be cited a lot. The instructions, that all muslims should follow, underlined in the main sources of Islam and advised by Muhammad sollallohu alayhi wasallam are still being observed these days.

As a conclusion it could be said that the great quality of all humankind is to respect and adore every person just because he/she is a human being notwithstanding their religion, nationality and social status. Taking these all into consideration it is everyone’s obligation to live in tolerance, peace and solidarity.

Wassalamu alaykum wa rohmatullohi wa barokatuh.

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Do you know about the life and activity of Mir Alisher Navoi?

07.02.2025 98783 10 min.

Mir Alisher Navoi was a great poet, thinker, a linguist and a statesman. His full name was Nizomiddin Mir Alisher Navoi. He is the outstanding figure of Uzbek literature, known in the West as Chagatai literature. There is no greater personality than him in the literature of the Turkic peoples. He was a founder of Uzbek literature. Mir Alisher Navoi knew languages. He knew the Arabic, Persian and Turkic languages very well. Mir Alisher Navoi’s contribution to the world civilization is great. We will celebrate his 584^th anniversary widely this year.

He wrote his poems under the pen-names of Navoi (in his poems which were written in the old Uzbek language) and Foni (in his poems which were written in Persian language).

He was born on February 9, 1441 in Herat and spent the main part of his life there. He studied in various educational establishments of Herat, Mashhad and Samarkand (in Ulugbek madrasah). Mir Alisher Navoi's family was close to Timurid's palace. According to the information of great historian Giyasiddin Hondamir, an old poet Mavlona Lutfi met with Mir Alisher Navoi, when he was a child and Mavlona Lutfi appreciated his talent.

Famous poet and thinker Abdurahmon Jomi was the teacher and adviser of Mir Alisher Navoi,

Mir Alisher Navoi had no his own family. He dedicated his life to the science, the young people who studied and trade. He always wanted people to be educated and helped them.

   One of the Timurid's Sulton Husayn Boyqaro took the crown of Herat in 1469, and a new period began in Mir Alisher Navoi's life. In 1469 he was given a title as a stamper and in 1472 as a minister (vazir) of the state by Husayn Boyqaro. Mir Alisher Navoi was famous as a poet and a statesman, he owned a great wealth at that time. During 1480 he built a number of madrasahs, 40 robots (the place where karavan could have a little rest), 17 mosques, 10 honaqohs, 9 bath-houses, 9 bridges, 20 pools in Herat and in other parts of the country for his own money (from his own account). Mir Alisher Navoi was sent to Astrobod as a governor (head) in 1487. Husayn Boyqaro gave a title to Navoi as "Muqarribi hazrati sultoniy (the closest person to sultan)". One of the main features of that title was that who could do state work instead of Husayn Bayqaro.
    The great poet Mir Alisher Navoi died on 3^rd of January in 1441 in Herat. He was buried in Herat (in Afghanistan).
    According to the capacity of Mir Alisher Navoi's "Hamsa" includes the following dostons (plays): "Hayratu-l-abror", "Farhod va Shirin", "Layli va Majnun", "Sab'ai sayyor" and "Saddi Iskandariy". Mir Alisher Navoi Navoi was the first poet who created completed "Hamsa" in Turkic language (the old Uzbek language) and proved that such great work could be written in the Turkic language.
   The problems which are connected with the leader were the main plan in "Sab'ai Sayyor" and "Saddi Iskandariy" which are the parts of "Hamsa". In the tradition of writing Hamsa Mir Alisher Navoi's "Hamsa" is distinguished with its social-political character and being original. Having read Navoi's "Hamsa" Abdurahmon Jomi was impressed and appreciated his work.
   Mir Alisher Navoi's thoughts, the quintessence of philosophical views - tasavvufiy ideas of the last days of his life were described in "Lisonu-t-tayr" .
   During 1491-1498 Mir Alisher Navoi created 4 devons (collection) called "Hazoinu-l-maoniy". The general capacity of it is more than 50000 verses. There were 21 lyric genres in Eastern literature and Navoi used 16 of them in his poems. The collection of his poems in the Persian language is called "Devonu Foni". These two devons include 3150 poems which were written in gazal genre. Mir Alisher Navoi collected his qasidas in Persian and made 2 miscellane as called "Sittai Zaruriya: ("Olti Zarurat") and "Fusuli arbaa" ("Four seasons").
   Mir Alisher Navoi's "Muhokamatu-l-lugatayn" is devoted to the comparative analysis of Turkish and Persian. His tazkira "Majolisun-nafois" was written in the way of literary criticism. His "Mezon ul-avzon" was written about the theory of aruz, "Mufradot" was written about the rules of problems.
   Also he created the works called "Tarixi muluki ajam", "Tarixi anbiyo va hukamo". In the base of his collection called "Munshaot". In memorialistic genre he wrote "Hamsatu-l-mutaxayyirin" ("Besh hayrat") devoting to Abdurahmon Jomi (1494), "Holoti Sayyid Hasan Ardasher"). In Mir Alisher Navoi's nasriy work "Mahbubu-l-qulub" (1500) the social and political thoughts were expressed in high level.
  Mir Alisher Navoi knew languages. He knew the Arabic and Persian languages very well.

His contribution is great in the world civilization. Mir Alisher Navoi’s works are translated into many languages in the world. Throughout his life, Mir Alisher Navoi combined literary works with politics. Being a high-ranking official, he made a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the country; He sponsored the development of science and art, and always strived for peace and harmony.

    Mir Alisher Navoi put forward the global problems with the sufizm in his poetry.
    After the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan Navoi's poems about religion and sufizm are widely studied. Especially from this point of view the objective study of Navoi's poems are increased. The religious poems of Navoi called "Arbain", "Munojot" were adopted firstly. The work "Nasoyimu-l-muhabbat", which includes information about 750 shayxs of tasavvuf was adopted.
   Mir Alisher Navoi left rich literary heritage. The great Uzbek poet, thinker, philosopher, creator is the author of unique works, more than thirty collections of poems, prose works, major poems and scientific. His creativity is great. The volume of his six poems is about 60.000 lines (misra). In 1483-85, Mir Alisher Navoi created the work "Khamsa" ("Five"), which consisted of poems: "Khairat al-Abrar" ("Confusion of the Righteous"), "Farhad va Shirin" ("Farhad and Shirin"), "Leyli va Mazhnun", "Sabai Sayyar" ("Seven Planets"), "Saddi Iskandari" ("Wall of Iskandar"). They were created on the basis of the hamsa tradition - the creation of five (five poems)."Hamsa" Navoi - the first work in the genre of serials, created in the Turkic language. He proves that such a voluminous work can be created in the Turkic language.

There are many manuscripts and printed copies of Mir Alisher Navoi's "Hamsa" in Central Asia 166 manuscripts which were copied during XV-XX centuries, are kept in the fund of manuscripts of the Institute Oriental Languages in the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. In 84 of them all dostons (plays) of pentas are given in it.
254 handwritings of 24 works of Mir Alisher Navoi are kept in the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, in the Institute of Oriental Languages (3rd fund).The list of handwriters who copied the works of Mir Alisher Navoi and some information about them can be a risola.

Although Alisher Navoi passed away many centuries ago, his literary heritage and contributions to the Enlightenment continue to endure. Today, he is celebrated as a national hero in Uzbekistan, and his wise words continue to inspire people.

Used Internet sites

1.ziyuz.uz

2. uzbekistan.travel

3.yandex.uz

4.ziyoratga.uz

Fakhriddin Ernazarov