Page 17 - Spirit of Islam-May'17

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.

THE GREATEST EVIL OF HISTORY

AR is not a new phenomenon. It has always been a part of
human history. In the very first generation of man, fighting
Wbroke out between Adam’s two sons and, as a result, Abel was
killed by his brother Cain. Fighting has continued since then in every
group and nation. However we learn from history that every period of
conflict has its end. Conflict has always had a limited span. There is no
battle which has raged indefinitely; even the First and Second World
Wars were fought for limited periods of time.
But the case of the Muslim community appears to be totally different.
We learn from history that once a battle is waged in the Muslim ummah
it has continued. In this respect, Muslims have become an exceptional
community. A deeper analysis of this matter shows that the reason for
this is a justification having been found for violence. That is, violence
has been legitimized by misinterpretation of religious law. Since, sacred
law is unchangeable, the violence which is held justified by it allows no
room for revision.
What is this ‘justified violence’? It is the perpetration of violence in
the name of Islamic jihad. In Muslim history, all battles were fought in
the name of jihad. And the traditional concept of Islamic jihad is that
success awaits one in either of the two situations: in the case of victory
as well as defeat. If they are victorious, Muslims who engage in jihad
gain in worldly terms and in the case of defeat and death, they become
martyrs and go straight to Paradise.

Spirit of Islam Issue 53 May 2017 15