TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE
We often talk of peace in the context of war. But this is a very narrow and restricted notion of peace. Peace is deeply linked with the entirety 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 possible.
PEACE VERSUS VIOLENCE
THE Quran is, without doubt, a book of peace. It is not a book of violence and war. All the statements of the Quran are, directly or indirectly related to peace. The very first phrase in the Quran is: ‘In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful’. In other words, one of the attributes of the God who has sent this Book is mercy, and this Book is an expression of this attribute of His mercy.
There are more than 6000 verses in the Quran. Of these hardly 40 verses are about commandments of war, which means less than 1%, and these too were revealed in the context of a war like culture which was already prevalent in the society at the time the Prophet was commanded to convey the message.
Those who regard the Quran as the book of God can be considered to be true believers only when, abiding by the teachings of the Quran, they become fully and completely peace-loving. On no condition whatsoever should they take to the path of violence.
The fact is that behaviour of Muslims must be judged on the basis of Islam. Islam should not be sought to be understood on the basis of the Muslims' behaviour.
In this regard, one needs to stress the need for people to distinguish between Islam, on the one hand, and Muslims, on the other. They must not label all the actions or behaviour of Muslims as ‘Islamic’. The fact is that behaviour of Muslims must be judged on the basis of Islam. Islam should not be sought to be understood on the basis of the Muslims’ behaviour. Islam is an ideology. A person can be truly considered to be a Muslim only if he follows the teachings of Islam. Those who do not follow Islamic teachings do not have anything to do with Islam, even if they claim to be its champions.
In the light of the above facts, one can construct the following qualities of a peace loving person in comparison with a person inclined towards violence:
A peace-loving person first thinks and then acts. In contrast, a violence inclined person first acts and then thinks.
A peace-loving person is well-grounded in truth. A violent person stands on falsehood. Peace and positive constructive work go hand-inhand, while violence is wholly destructive.
A peace-loving person lives in the love of others, while a violence loving person lives in the hatred of others.
A peace loving person overlooks problems and takes advantage of the available opportunities, while a person inclined towards violence ignores the available opportunities and gets entangled in a pointless battle with problems.
Peace results from well-planned effort or action, while violence is a passion-driven aggressive action. Peaceful action is based on hope, at the beginning as well as at the end, while violent action is based on false hope at the beginning and frustration in the end. The path of peace cultivates a garden blooming with flowers, while the path of violence creates a thorny jungle of hatred and enmity. Peace ends in success, and violence in utter failure. Peaceful action abides by the law, while violent action is lawless.
History is witness to the fact that whenever anyone has attained any success, it has only been after adopting the method of reconciliation.
In peace, one fulfills the obligations one owes to God as well as those one owes to God’s creation, including other human beings. Violence, on the other hand, is a violation of the rights of God as well as the rights of people. If peace is heaven, then violence in comparison is hell. Choosing peace is making the right choice. On the other hand, if one chooses war, it proves that he has failed in the test of making a correct choice.
In this world, there are many things that are not desirable, but they exist for the purpose of testing us. Such things are there so that people should avoid them and thereby prove that they can distinguish between good and bad. The same principle holds for war, too. War is something that is possible for people to resort to, but the right thing for human beings to do is to desist from it.
In the ancient past, considering the prevailing conditions, permission was given for defensive war. This permission was in accordance with the law of necessity. But, in the changed conditions of today, this necessity no longer exists. And that is why there is now no need at all for war.
RECONCILIATION IS BEST
The Quran describes a particular natural law in the following words:
‘Reconciliation is best’ (4: 128).
In the event of a conflict between two parties, they can engage in violent confrontation. But there is another method they can choose: to immediately come to an agreement and end their conflict. This is what reconciliation is about.
It is very rare for this sort of reconciliation to be equally in accordance with the desires of both parties. In most cases, this reconciliation happens on a unilateral basis. That is to say, one of the two parties sets aside its desires and agrees to settle the dispute according to the desires of the other party.
Those who regard the Quran as the book of God can be considered to be true believers only when, abiding by the teachings of the Quran, they become fully and completely peace-loving.
Why is this sort of unilateral reconciliation taken to be best? The reason for this is because a situation of conflict calls a halt to constructive activity. The benefit of agreeing to reconciliation is that one is spared the need to waste one’s time, strength and resources on useless confrontation and so can focus on constructive efforts instead. A course of action that is opposed to reconciliation is always and inevitably a course that leads to destruction. The method of reconciliation is always, and in every case, a beneficial one.
A peace-loving person is wellgrounded in truth. A violence inclined person stands on falsehood.
History is witness to the fact that whenever anyone has attained any success, it has only been after adopting the method of reconciliation. Not a single person has ever achieved any real success through confrontation and fighting. The importance of reconciliation lies in the fact that it provides an opportunity to fully exercise one’s right to use the available opportunities. On the other hand, the path of confrontation leads one to waste one’s energies in trying to destroy others, as a result of which one can engage in no constructive work whatsoever. The secret of success lies in establishing and developing oneself and definitely not in the destruction of hypothetical enemies.