Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday was conferred an honorary doctorate by Jamia Millia University here.
Delivering his first lecture after being awarded honorary degree following the clearance given by the ministry of external affairs, the Dalai Lama hailed Islam as a great religion.
Vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung awarded the degree to the Dalai Lama in the presence of human resource development minister Kapil Sibal and students and teachers. “I feel highly honoured to get this degree from an Islamic university in India,” he said.
Clearance of proposal to confer honorary degree to the Dalai Lama was delayed as the news was doing the rounds that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was scheduled to visit India around the same time.
“Islam is one of the important religions of the world. It is the hope of millions of people,” he said, adding that some anti-social elements were bringing a bad name to Islam. “I got this degree without (undertaking) study. It is sometime good. Without much effort, I received various degrees from many universities,” he said in a lighter vein.