Page 96 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Case of Present-Day Muslims

Muslim literature of later days, directly or indirectly,
projects this concept in a major way. And it is a concept which
has been revived in modern times with even greater emphasis
by two Muslim thinkers, the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb (1906 –
1966) in the Arab world and the Pakistani Sayyid Abul Ala
Maududi (1903 – 1979) in the non-Arab world. It is this concept,
popularized in the present century, which has ultimately led to
terrorism in the name of jihad.

The present-day Muslim militants have adopted a self-
styled concept of jihad, that is, to establish divine rule in
the world, and have chosen to give their militancy religious
justification by calling it jihad.

‘Jihad’ literally means ‘utmost struggle’. The true
interpretation of this word is ‘a peaceful struggle for the
dissemination of the message of God to mankind’.

The present-day Muslim militants have adopted a self-styled
concept of jihad, that is, to establish divine rule in the world,
and have chosen to give their militancy religious justification
by calling it jihad. This is why the present Muslim militancy
has gained so much ground. In other words, its proponents
look upon it and project it as ‘justified’ militancy, or militancy
based on ideology. To discharge this ‘duty’ they have – by
their way of it – given legitimacy to all forms of violence, even
suicide bombing.
Now the question is: how to tackle this militancy? The
answer is that it requires a counter-ideology. The militants
have purportedly legitimized their militancy by applying
to it a wrong and misleading interpretation of the religious
scriptures. We have to delegitimize it by replacing the wrong
interpretation with the right interpretation. No other strategy
will work.

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