Chapter One

Peace and Islam No matter what the conditions, it is improper and impermissible for non-state actors, including both individuals and groups, to adopt violent methods. If an individual or group has grounds for complaint, there are only two legitimate courses that can be adopted. One is to seek to resolve the problem using peaceful means. The other is to leave the matter with the courts or the government so that it can be solved according to the law. Today, the media often uses the term ‘Islamic terrorism’. This term is definitely wrong, because Islam has no link with terrorism. The actual culprit in this regard is not the media, however, but, rather, those Muslims who give the media the opportunity to report their actions as exemplifying what the media choose to characterize them as. These days, Muslim non-state actors have triggered off violent conflicts and wars in various parts of the world. It is beyond dispute that all these wars are about Muslim worldly concerns— conflicts for the sake of power and pelf or Muslim communal or national interests. But the Muslims who are behind these violent movements have given them the name of ‘Islamic jihad’. Now, obviously, the task of the media is to report events and analyze the reasons behind them. The media then attributes these violent activities to Islam in precisely the same manner as many Muslims themselves do. Obviously, when these Muslims give their own violence an ‘Islamic’ label, the media, too, will do the same. The media cannot be expected to call it by some other name. Today, this conduct on the part of Muslims has given Islam a bad name. As a result, the image of Islam across the world has been greatly distorted, with Islam, contrary to reality, now coming to be thought of as a religion of hatred and violence, not as a religion of peace and humanity. There is only one way in which Islam can be rid of this bad image: and that is if Muslims stop giving their communal or national conflicts an ‘Islamic’ label. They must attribute all their actions to their community, not to Islam, so that whatever they do can be seen for what it truly is—actions linked to their community, and not Islamic or religious actions as such.