FROM MAULANA’S DESK
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi.
THE DOHA PACT
FEBRUARY 29, 2020 witnessed a breakthrough event. After a war that did not seem to end, the US finally decided to leave Afghanistan. In a landmark peace deal known as the Doha Pact, the US and NATO forces agreed to withdraw their military from Afghanistan in 14-months’ period provided the Taliban uphold the deal. American military intervention in Afghanistan lasted for about 19 years. The US invaded Afghanistan weeks after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre. More than 2400 US troops and more than 150,000 Afghans have been killed in this conflict. In the process, the US spent about two trillion dollars, almost 1000 times more than Afghanistan’s GDP.
The present-day so-called Islamic terrorism is the result of an ideology. An ideology can only be countered with another ideology. Muslim militancy has arisen from a political interpretation of Islam. The need now is to present Islam as it is, without the interpolation or interpretation of later thinkers. In the wake of the rise and spread of Communism, the US countered it by presenting the ideology of Capitalism. The market was flooded with anti-communist literature.
This approach proved successful in the long run. Now, Communism in a very distorted form is restricted to just a handful of countries. The challenge of Muslim militancy should also have been faced with an ideology of peace. The US, confident over its great military prowess, entered Afghanistan, only to suffer loss after loss.
The Doha Pact is a reiteration that the age of war is long gone. Even if you are a superpower, you cannot endure the use of violence as a strategy. With the advent of modern-day, advanced and lethal equipment of warfare, war has become destructive for all sides. In the words of Jake Fulton, “There are no winners of war, only survivors.” The Doha Pact is one of the most important events of recent times. It is a glaring example that shows that violence as a means to achieve an end is counterproductive. No one, not even a superpower, can afford war. The only way to resolve conflict is through peaceful negotiations. The strategy of peace is the only viable formula for conflict-resolution in this world. A US citizen working for wounded veterans put it aptly, “Peace in any way, shape or form is a good thing.” (The Times of India, March 1, 2020)
The peace-loving person first thinks and then acts. The violent person first acts and then thinks. There is hope in peaceful action from start to finish. In violent action, however, there are false hopes to begin with, which are soon followed by frustration.
Peace is the result of planned action, while violence is purely an aggressive response to any kind of provocation. The peace-loving person first thinks and then acts. The violent person first acts and then thinks. There is hope in peaceful action from start to finish. In violent action, however, there are false hopes to begin with, which are soon followed by frustration. Islam is a religion of nature. It advocates peace at all times. The Quran says, “reconciliation is best” (4: 128). Why is reconciliation taken to be ‘best’? It is because a situation of conflict halts constructive activity.
The benefit of agreeing to reconciliation is that one is thereby spared the need to waste one’s time, strength and resources on useless confrontation, so that one can focus on constructive efforts instead. A course of action that is opposed to reconciliation is always and inevitably a course leading to destruction. The Prophet of Islam is reported to have said, “God is gentle and He loves gentleness. He rewards for gentleness what is not granted for harshness and He does not reward anything else like it.” (Sahih Muslim). God loves kindness and gentleness in all matters, so we should manifest these qualities even when we face abuse and cruelty.
It is now better late than never for both parties concerned, especially for Afghanistan. Afghanistan should now utilize this period of respite to rebuild their war-torn and ravaged nation.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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Follow Maulana at http://www.speakingtree.in (The Times of India)