Page 105 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd
P. 105
The Age of Peace
I think this term would be more apt with a slight change. That
is, the term should be ‘Muslimophobia’.
Muslims have adopted the culture of violence in the name
of Islam. In this sense the West is right to consider Muslims
to be dangerous. Yet Islam, in itself, is a great blessing from
God for the whole of humanity. But the present Muslims,
due to their wrong interpretation of their own religion, have
misinterpreted Islam as a religion of violence.
Muslimophobia addresses Muslims rather than anyone else.
It is telling Muslims to abandon the wrong interpretation of
Islam and shun the gun and bomb culture, so that people may
be saved from developing misunderstandings about Islam. In
this way, people will be able to have a positive understanding
of God’s blessing which has been sent for them by God in the
form of Islam.
In view of the present situation, the question is, where is
the silver lining? In the modern age Muslim reformers should
focus on the Muslim youth. In his early, formative years, a
person is relatively free from conditioning and is thus in a
position to view things objectively and examine events in
an unbiased manner. Our efforts should begin by trying to
inculcate positive thinking in Muslims while they are still very
young.
The new generation of Muslims is our hope, especially those
who are availing of modern education. Modern education
is helping in their de-conditioning. They are able to see the
world in a more objective way and are developing the ability
to understand things in a more realistic manner. It is these
Muslim youths who are our hope for the future.
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