FROM WAR TO PEACE

FROM WAR TO PEACE rulers. They distorted the meaning of fighting against fitnah, turning it into a goal of political expansion. They waged wars around the world to extend Muslim dominance. This expansion of the command was also a deviation. The Quran gave the Muslim Ummah a universal mission in an ideological sense, which was to serve as witnesses over mankind by disseminating God’s message, not by imposing political authority on people. The Prophet expressed this by saying, “God has sent me to all people, so convey my message on my behalf.” (Sirah Ibn Hisham, Vol. 2, p. 607) From this perspective, the primary task of Muslims in later times was to convey God’s message to humanity, not to engage in the pursuit of political power. 3. The third and most intense deviation took place in modern times. Some Muslim thinkers offered a socalled revolutionary interpretation of this Quranic verse. They artificially stretched the meaning of the verse to mean “fighting to implement Islamic laws.” According to them, Muslims of every era are obligated to wage war against rulers to enforce Islamic rulings. This expansion of qital al-fitnah was a harmful deviation. It falsely planted the idea in Muslims’ minds that establishing an Islamic government everywhere is their religious obligation. As a result, violent acts claiming to be jihad began to proliferate. Some Muslims, armed with guns and