TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE
We often talk of peace in the context of war. But this is a very narrow and restricted notion of peace. The fact is that peace is deeply linked with the whole of human life. Peace is a complete ideology in itself. Peace is the only religion for both man and the universe. It is the master-key that opens the doors to every success. Peace creates a favourable atmosphere for success in every endeavour. Without peace, no positive action—small or big—is at all possible.
THE GENESIS OF MUSLIM MILITANCY
THE Quran says: 'Do great jihad with the help of the Quran.' (25: 52) ‘Jihad’ refers to the peaceful mission of spreading the ideology of the Quran. The message of the Quran is given in Chapter Jonah in these words: “Wallahu yadu ila dar as-salam.” (10: 25) That is, ‘And God calls to the home of peace.’
Peace is the central theme of the Quran. Where there is peace there is a peaceful mind, and where there is a peaceful mind there is positive thinking. Positive thinking helps in the building of a positive personality. A peaceful society is composed of members who are positive thinking individuals.
If the ideological base of the political interpretation
of Islam is shown to be wrong through rational
argument, the problem of Muslim violence will also
automatically disappear.
Islam has nothing to do with violence. The Islamic target is peace, and peace can be established only by peaceful methods. The Islamic mission referred to in the Quran as dawah ilallah is the peaceful dissemination of the divine message. Jihad refers to the peaceful spirit of this mission, that is, to exert one's utmost effort to spread this peaceful message.
Modern Muslim militancy in the name of jihad is a total distortion of Islam. This phenomenon is a twentieth century concept. Muslim writers such as Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979) of Pakistan and Syed Qutb (1906-1966) of Egypt, provided a political interpretation of Islam. Those influenced by this interpretation tried to establish an Islamic state in Muslim countries. This being the age of communication it spread rapidly throughout the Muslim world.
The aim of establishing such a state began as a literary campaign. Its proponents sought to overthrow existing regimes led by secular Muslims and establish in its place what they called Khilafah or Hukumat-e Ilahiyyah (Divine Rule). They totally failed in this endeavour. They assumed the Muslim masses were on their side and oblivious that the secular Muslim rulers were supported by the West. They developed negative thinking against the West. De-stabilizing the Western world seemed to be the only way to achieve their target. 9/11 was a result of this thinking. Suicide bombings by Muslims throughout the world is also an example of this thinking. The genesis of current Muslim militancy lies squarely in this political interpretation of Islam.
It is imperative to dispel this interpretation and completely eradicate this political thinking from the Muslim mind. We have to provide them the peaceful literature of Islam. Only this can root out the menace of Muslim militancy.
The genesis of present-day Muslim militancy lies in
the political interpretation of Islam.
UNESCO says, ‘Violence begins from the mind.’ The present Muslim militancy begins from the wrong interpretation of Islam. This militancy can be countered by spreading literature that represents the true ideology of Islam based on peace, and put to end Muslim militancy.
Using rational argument, it has to be shown how the political interpretation of Islam is wrong and has no ideological base. This would be the cure to end the scourge of Muslim violence.
Stay Positive
No mistake can close the door to your
achievement, provided that you are able to
keep your thinking positive.