Leadership Paradigm and Leadership for tomorrow

Written by: Wafa fatima Isfahany
Picture credits: Sooch photography

It was a pleasure to see all kinds of students come together and attend a seminar on Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS); such a brilliant religious personality. This session being the third of its kind saw a large audience, young and old males, females, teachers, and students. The registrar, Ali Zaheer, in his opening notes of the seminar complimented Ms. Mehnaz Fatima on her consistent efforts and congratulated the student organizers for putting together such an event. The chief guest for the seminar was Dr. Sayeed Ghani - Associate Dean of Computer Science

The event began with a beautiful tilawat-e-Quran by a student Usman, which was followed by an even more beautiful and heart-warming naat recited by student Imran Hemani. I, for one, did not want the naat recitation to come to an end. After several formalities, pleasantries and a poetry recital by Mr. Shabih Haider, the event officially commenced.

Zakirah Sarwat Askari of the Shii’i Asnashari delivered the first of the three speeches, her pure urdu and soft tone filled the air with grace. Her lecture on Imam Hussain revolved around the personality himself and the auspiciousness of the Event of Karbala. She talked about the nobility, piety and sincerity of the seventy-two companions of Imam Hussain (RA), how such a small force had such a great impact on humanity and how this revolution was much needed in a time when there was widespread corruption in the name of Islam. The influence of Imam Hussain on Mahatma Gandhi was touched upon several times and the fact that he took with him seventy-two companions was duly noted.

Zakirah Sarwat Askari’s lecture was followed by Agha Shabbir Maisami’s lecture, another Shi’ite scholar. This too tended to revolve around the Leadership Paradigm. However, his lecture seemed to be rather at odds with the topic itself, focusing more on questioning one’s beliefs and ideology, seeking answers, the influence of the West; ideas of sectarianism, and little or no mention of how the great event of Karbala averted the threat to humanity. There was an inkling of tension between the scholars and some subtle remarks turned the air rather sour.

Next guest appearance was of the much awaited Professor Noman-ul-Haq who swayed the audience completely with his powerful and heavily accented Persian recitation and the equally inspiring explanations. He recited Ghalib, Allama Iqbal, the famous lines by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and many other poets. With the help of his charming poetic recitations, he graced the topic. An eye opening lecture on why the personality is celebrated far and wide. I had been very excited and very eager to attend the lecture, having been told by countless students just how brilliant Professor Noman-ul-Haq is and needless to say, I saw his brilliance with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.

I would have been rather disillusioned had it not been for the last lecture. Dr. Noman-ul-Haq left the podium leaving us wanting more. Over all, the lectures were rather off topic and not what the students had in mind although; in themselves the lectures were very informative and eye-opening. There is a dire need for such seminars and I hope I get to see many more such seminars at IBA in future.