Page 87 - Non-violence and peace-building

Non-violence and Peace-building in Islam

marked. In the same way, conflicts between Muslims
and others are more intense in places where Muslims
consider themselves secure, numerically as well as
economically.
In the light of the Islamic commandments mentioned
above, all efforts that Muslims have been making to end
inter-communal violence seem completely useless. This
is because these efforts are themselves against divine
commandments. The Quran and the Prophet ordain
that one should apprehend the mischief-makers among
one’s own people in the very first stage itself. But
Muslim leaders get active only when full-blown riots
have broken out and have already wrought widespread
misery and destruction. No one bothers to nip the
problem in the bud by apprehending the culprit when
he is in the initial stages of his devious plans.

When some Muslims start making meaningless
and unreasonable demands on non-Muslims, such
as “Stop ringing bells in your temples when we are
praying”, or “Do not lead your processions in front of
mosques”, and so on, no Muslim stands up to stop such
emotionally-driven Muslims and to tell them to desist
from such behaviour. But when the misdeeds of one
or a few such hot-headed Muslims leads to a violent
reaction from the other side and to deadly destruction,
the entire Muslim leadership is stirred into action, with
each leader competing with the others in screaming and
protesting.
This method is completely opposed to Islamic
teachings. And if a method is opposed to Islamic
teachings, it cannot produce any worthy results in this

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