ASK MAULANA

Your Questions Answered

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in a Discussion with an Academic from Sweden
If you were asked to define the essence of Islam, what would you say?

The very word ‘Islam’ tells us the essence of Islam. The root of the word ‘Islam’ is silm, which means peace. And so, the essence of Islam is peace. Many Westerners believe freedom to be the summum bonum, but according to Islam, the summum bonum is peace.

There are many verses in the Quran that stress the importance of peace. For instance, the Quran says as-sulh khair or ‘reconciliation is best’ (4: 128). In another verse, God calls people to the ‘home of peace’, that is, Paradise (10: 25). This is the ideal world that the Quran calls darus-salam, the home of peace (10:25). So, we are required to live in peace and to give peace to others.

Why is this so?
It is because without peace there cannot be any positive activities. Peace is the basis of all kinds of goodness. Without peace, you can’t have positivity, you can’t have positive thinking, you can’t have good relations with others. Nothing that we want in life—in our personal life, in our family life, in our social life—can be achieved without peace. And so, Islam stresses peace.

That said, I should make it clear that in Islam peace is not a matter of belief. Its importance lies in its practical value, the practical purpose it serves. Tawheed and prophethood are matters of belief, but the matter of peace pertains to living in society, so it is a worldly matter. Its importance lies in it being a practical need or method to be followed for leading life in this world.

Islam is based on monotheism, the oneness of God, or tawheed in Arabic. As far as belief is concerned, tawheed is the greatest thing. All Islamic teachings revolve around this belief—that God is one. The oneness of God is the most important thing in Islam. As far as practical life is concerned, you cannot achieve anything without peace. So, for practical purposes, Islam stresses peace, and as far as belief is concerned, Islam is centred on tawheed or the oneness of God.

As per my study, the essence of Islam is God-realization. Man is born as a unique creature. The only thing that is required of him is to discover the reality on his own. Realize truth and live on self-discovered truth: this is ma’rifat. Self-discovered truth is the greatest quality of a believer. Faith is discovery. A discovery has the greatest role to play in the life of a person. It can lead one to become a superman. Without it, one is like an animal. According to the law of nature, discovery is the greatest. According to Islam, it is the discovery of God that is the greatest. This is ma’rifat.

You head the Centre for Peace and Spirituality. What is spirituality, according to you?

I think that peace and spirituality are two faces of the same coin. Peace means external spirituality. Spirituality means inner peace. Peace and spirituality go together. They coexist. Where there is peace, there is spirituality. And where there is spirituality, there is peace. Peace and spirituality are very important for all beings. You are free to choose your beliefs. It’s a personal choice. But in this world, you can’t establish an environment conducive for a better life without peace and spirituality. Religion, in terms of belief, is a personal choice, but when it comes to collective or social life, peace is very important.

Can you list what you regard as the core principles for peacemaking?

In the light of my experience, people are generally obsessed with the notion of justice. But if you insist on justice, you can’t have peace. You must know what the Creation Plan of God is, the reason why you are here in this world. According to this Plan, it is impossible to establish ideal justice in this world. So, you have to be ready to accept something that’s less than ideal. This is the first condition or principle of peace making. People who are obsessed with justice can’t establish peace. It is against the law of nature.

Secondly, one must know that peace is required for the sake of peace. Nothing, including justice and human rights, can be bracketed with peace if you really want peace. In other words, peace must be sought at any cost. Unconditional peace. If you bracket human rights and justice with peace, there won’t be peace.

A third principle is that one must know that peace can only give you opportunities. It can’t give you anything but normalcy and the possibilities to avail existing opportunities in a situation of normalcy. By availing these opportunities that peace opens up you can get all the other things that you want—education, economic advancement, justice, opportunities to engage in dawah work and so on. These things can’t be had directly. They can be had only when there is peace and one makes proper use of available opportunities that peace opens up. Peace opens the doors of such opportunities, and by availing these opportunities, you can secure what you want.

A fourth principle is that you must remember that as an individual you can be idealistic, but when it comes to society, it is impossible to establish idealism. So, in your own life, you can try to adopt idealism, but in terms of society, you have to be pragmatic. You have to adopt pragmatism when it comes to society.

A fifth principle is to be aware that in this world it is impossible to achieve or get all that you want. You simply cannot fulfill all your dreams. It is very important to know that in this world, only less than ideal is possible. Achieving the ideal is impossible. So, you have to be ready to accept what is less than ideal, otherwise there is no peace. The greatest mistake that almost all social reformers have made is that they adopted ideal justice, instead of peace, as their goal. But ideal justice isn’t the right goal really. Why? Because, according to the Creation Plan of God, ideal justice can’t be achieved in this world. It’s simply impossible. Everyone has been given freedom or free-will by God, and you are free to use or misuse this freedom as you like. And since people misuse this freedom, you can’t expect ideal justice in this world. If you try to achieve ideal justice here, you’ll achieve nothing but frustration and tension.

What plans do you have for the future?

My plan is based on the saying of the Prophet “a day will come when the word of God will enter into every home, big and small.” So, this is my goal. I find my goal in the above Hadith—that I have to spread the word of God, calling people towards the home of peace. This is the goal, the Centre for Peace and Spirituality is working for. We’ve translated the Quran into many languages, and with God’s grace, we have many helpers in this mission of conveying God’s message of peace and salvation in different parts of the world.