The Culture of Peace

The Culture of Peace but, rather, an expression of the law of nature. Thinking of the act as an enemy’s conspiracy inculcates a violent approach. In contrast, if one takes it to be a result of the laws of nature, one will nurture a way of thinking that can lead one to take wise measures to avoid falling prey to such conspiracies—just as a wise man does not demonstrate against the rain, but, rather, builds a roof over his house to save himself from getting wet. No Extremism The Quran tells us: Do not go to extremes in your religion. (4:171) The same point is made in a hadith, according to which the Prophet declared, ‘You should restrain yourselves from committing excesses (ghulu) in religion. The previous communities were destroyed due to their having gone to extremes in religion.’ This hadith is recorded in the collections of al-Nasai and Ibn Majah, and in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. Extremism in every matter is wrong. It is the very antithesis of the essential spirit of religion. Ghulu can easily escalate into violence and confrontation. Those who have fallen prey to the psychological malady of ghulu refuse to accept moderation. They regard peace and moderation as being less than ideal, and that is why they are very easily attracted to violence. And it is always in the name of attaining their goal that they take to violent methods. The opposite of ghulu or extremism is moderation. If you are moderate in your thinking, you will think in terms of peace. You will use only peaceful means in all you do. Moderation and peace are closely interlinked. Where there is moderation, there will also be peace. Likewise, where there is peace, there will be moderation. In contrast, the ghulu-psyche always leads one towards extremism. And extremism very easily turns into violence and