With war clouds continuing to hover over West Asia, Kashmir’s chief preacher Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has called for restraint and said India, with its legacy of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of ‘Ahimsa’, can play a constructive role in encouraging dialogue and preventing further escalation of the conflict.
In a two-page letter addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Mirwaiz also cautioned against allowing the conflict to become another source of division within the Muslim community, urging the followers to stand together against sectarianism and political rivalries.
“It was a privilege to meet and interact with Your Excellency during your visit to New Delhi. At this grave and uncertain moment, I particularly valued your emphasis that humanity must remain at the centre of our collective pursuit of peace,” he said in his letter to the Iranian president.
The letter was handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
The Iranian president was in India to attend the BRICS summit. During his stay in the capital, the visiting dignitary met many intellectuals and scholars, including the Mirwaiz. Later, a delegation led by the Mirwaiz, along with Aga Syed Hassan and Molvi Imran Raza Ansari, met Araghchi.
The Mirwaiz expressed solidarity with the people of Iran and voiced concern over the mounting humanitarian crisis in the region, including the continuing devastation in Palestine and instability in Lebanon.
He broadened his appeal beyond religious or regional considerations, stressing that concern for human suffering must extend to everyone.
“Our concern must extend beyond Muslims alone. Human dignity has no sect or nationality. Every innocent life is precious,” he said, urging the international community to remain “on the side of justice, humanity and peace”.
The former separatist leader said the grave challenges facing the world could not be resolved through ever-widening wars and called for dialogue and negotiations to address conflicts.
“India, with its legacy of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence), can also play a constructive role in encouraging restraint, engagement and diplomacy. The grave challenges facing our world cannot be settled through ever-widening wars. Confrontation will only aggravate them; ultimately they must be addressed through dialogue and negotiation,” the Mirwaiz said.
Calling for wisdom and statesmanship, he said war only multiplies human suffering.
“My prayer is that this difficult moment does not lead to further widening of conflict, but instead awakens the conscience of the international community and the Muslim world alike. May Allah preserve the unity of the Ummah, protect us from sectarian discord, and guide all of humanity towards justice, reconciliation and lasting peace,” he said.
He said Muslims across the world were already facing “Islamophobia and uncertainty” and warned that “sectarian differences and political rivalries must not be permitted to further weaken us”.
Quoting a Quranic verse, he said Muslim unity did not require agreement on every political or theological question. “Rather, differences should not overcome our fundamental bonds of faith, brotherhood and shared humanity.”
He called for Muslims to stand together against sectarianism and against attempts to transform political conflicts into divisions within the ‘Ummah’ (Muslim community).
The Mirwaiz also presented a small walnut-wood replica of Srinagar’s historic Jama Masjid to the Iranian President and said the gift carried a significance beyond the object itself.
“For centuries, the Jama Masjid has stood at the heart of the religious and spiritual life of the people of Kashmir,” he wrote, adding that its pulpit had consistently sought to promote faith, brotherhood and the wider responsibilities of the Muslim Ummah.
Highlighting centuries-old relations between Kashmir and Iran, the Mirwaiz said Persian scholarship, literature, art and spirituality had left “a deep imprint upon Kashmiri civilisation”.
He described these as bonds between peoples that had survived changing political circumstances and generations.
The Mirwaiz also recalled the visit of Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei to Kashmir in the years following the Islamic Revolution, when he addressed the Friday congregation at Jama Masjid in the presence of the Mirwaiz’s late father, Mirwaiz Moulvi Mohammad Farooq.
Khamenei’s message on that occasion focused on “the Holy Quran, brotherhood and Shia-Sunni unity”, he said, adding that the memory of the visit remained alive more than four decades later.
