“The world is returning & reverting to religion and God to quench the thirst of the soul”, observed Mohd. Azharuddin, President, Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO). He was addressing the participants of the workshop on Neo-Spirituality held at the Abul Lais Hall, SIO Headquarters, New Delhi.

Mohd. Azharuddin said that spirituality is becoming the order of the day for the young as well as the old as individuals desire to live a stress-free and healthy life. “Share with the world the Islamic way of life to make this world a better place”, he stressed. He pointed, “A worldview forms the foundations of your activity and we need a new social world order for a just world”. Inspiring the participants to focus on research, the President said, “The world recognizes you only when you serve a lifetime on a specific field and yield the desired results”.

The workshop was organized to seek an insight into the Neo-spiritual movements in India. Shahnawaz Ali Rehan, pursuing research in comparative religion at the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), introduced the ‘Doctrines of Neo-Spiritual Movements’ and also elaborated on ‘Social fabrication of India’. Sadatullah Hussaini, Member, Central Advisory Council – Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), highlighted the ‘Social and political reasons for the rise of Neo Spiritual Movements and its influence on Society’.

Rahul Gautam, Incharge, Delhi region for Art of Living spoke about the work and contributions of the ‘Art of Living’ while interacting with the participants of the workshop. Dr. Abdul Haq Ansari, Professor Emeritus and Director, Islamic Academy, Aligarh presented on ‘Gurus and the Islamic concept of Prophethood’. Dr. Mohd. Rafat, Professor, JMI guided the students on ‘How to Conduct Research Works on Neo Spiritual Movements in India’.

Maulana Mohd. Farooq Khan, eminent Islamic scholar and writer, elaborated on the ‘Islamic concept of Spirituality and Worship’. In his deliberation, Maulana Farooq, discussed the concepts of spirituality and methods of worship in Islam & other religions. Earlier, Maulana Abdus Salaam Madani, Asst. Secretary, JIH initiated the workshop with the Quranic discourse.

A participant from Mumbai, Kamran Baig presented a book review of the book, ‘The World of Gurus’ written by Vishal Mangalwadi. The workshop was attended by selected students from the cross sections of the society across the country.