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


COMMUNAL EGOS AND INTERCOMMUNITY CONFLICT

A FATHER who was very strict constantly scolded his children even on small issues. No one had ever heard him speaking kindly with them. His children were so terrified of him that they did not have the courage to even open their mouths in front of him. As soon as he entered the house, they would fall silent and run away.

One day, the man climbed up to the terrace of his house. When he got there, he saw, to his shock, one of his sons perched high up on an electric pole. The boy’s kite had got stuck on the electrical wire and he was trying to get it down by climbing the pole. As soon as the boy saw his father, he was terrified. But, instead of shouting at the boy as he normally did, the man spoke to him very gently.

“Son, what are you doing there?” he asked. Then, very lovingly, he requested the boy to slowly get down the pole.

Later, the man related this incident to somebody, explaining, “I smiled and spoke in a very gentle manner with my son because I feared that if at that delicate moment I scolded him, he would fall down and injure himself. This delicate situation compelled me to speak to him sweetly, contrary to my habit.”

This example has valuable lessons, not just at the individual level but also at the social level. It applies to entire communities too, just as it does to individuals. If you are conscious of the sensitiveness of a situation and are careful and concerned about it, your awareness, care and concern will compel you to exercise tolerance, rather than to get agitated and angry. It will impel you to avoid confrontation, and in this way you will be able to move ahead. Instead of getting stuck in a debate about who is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, you will focus on trying to solve the problem you are confronted with.

If however, you are not conscious of the delicateness of the situation you are confronted with, you will start screaming at seeing your son perched atop an electric pole, as it were, even if this means that because of this he will fall down and break his bones.

The whole of human history testifies to the fact that if a person is sincere about something, his approach and behaviour will be different, totally contrary to that of a non-serious person. Only a sincere person will be willing to realize the significance of the issues he is faced with.

Only such a person will be able to properly appreciate the delicateness of a situation that he finds himself in. In contrast, an insincere man will refuse to accept any evidence or argument that does not suit his way of thinking. He will use every means to rebut this evidence, raising all sorts of unrelated and irrelevant debates in order to obfuscate matters. If someone convincingly answers his arguments, he will set off a new debate, simply in order to refuse to change his stance. Such a person is unwilling and unable to see things as they are.


It is only their own egos that instigate and provoke some Muslims against other people, people who they should be inviting to God instead.

Some days before, a small inter-communal riot had erupted in a town. Based on the experience about such issues the Muslim community was advised to act with patience.

But the men said, “In our town, Muslims did not do anything provocative. It was people from the other community who unnecessarily started fighting with us.”

On further enquiry the following truth came to light. A temple and a mosque were adjacent in this town. When the loudspeaker in the mosque announced the call to prayer, the bells of the temple rang. Just as the call to prayer was heard by everyone in that area the sound of the bells could be heard inside the mosque. But the people from the mosque objected to the ringing of the bells and when it was not complied with, the riots took place out of anger.

In this episode the pertinent question is, what Shariah rule is it to insist that during the Muslim prayer-time a non-Muslim should not ring a bell in his place of worship? Such a thing is mentioned neither in the Quran nor in the Hadith. Neither have any of our scholars of Muslim jurisprudence made any such claim. In fact, not a single Muslim ruler ever issued a command that when it is time for the Muslims to pray, non-Muslims cannot play their trumpets or ring their bells in their places of worship. This being the case, why should one get so agitated about this matter? If someone rings a bell, he has a right to do so just like you are using your right to call others for prayer on a loudspeaker. This explanation was not accepted by the people.

In India, most communal riots are triggered off by such small incidents. What is the reason for this? When the Islamic Shariah has not ordered us to stop non-Muslim processions passing by our mosques with their music and singing, and when it has not commanded us to prohibit nonMuslims from ringing bells in front of our places of worship, why do Muslims want to do so?

The reason for this is entirely communal, not religious. As a result of the politics of a hundred or more years, Muslims have turned such things into a supposed symbol of their communal honour. They have made them a question of their honour. If a non-Muslim procession playing music passes by their mosque, they take it as a personal insult. And if they manage to stop the procession, they imagine they have boosted their community’s prestige.


An insincere man will refuse to accept any evidence or argument that does not suit his way of thinking. He will use every means to rebut this evidence, raising all sorts of unrelated and irrelevant debates in order to obfuscate matters.

This is an entirely un-Islamic approach. God and His Prophet certainly do not prescribe this. It is only their own egos that instigate some Muslims to behave in this manner. Their egos want to provoke them against other people, people who Muslims should be inviting to God. These Muslims’ egos stoke the fires of communal hatred and make sure that they can never relate to others as Muslims should, because when Muslims and others are divided by intense suspicion and hatred, the task of dawah—inviting others to God—which Muslims should engage in, can never happen. Needless to say, far from being rewarded by God for stoking communal conflict, it is very much possible that by giving their communal foolishness a so-called ‘Islamic’ label, such Muslims will be punished by God.