Non-Violence and Peace-Building in Islam

will present yourself as ‘innocent’ and stupidly go about blaming and cursing others for your plight. 15 Reflections on Communal Riots T he issue that has received the greatest attention from Indian Muslim leaders is communal riots—violence between religious communities. Every time a riot breaks out in which Muslims are involved, Muslim writers and speakers are stirred into action. They deliver impassioned speeches on the subject. They issue statements condemning the violence. They set up relief funds. A veritable storm of activity is set in motion in the wake of riots. If all that had to be done to respond to this violence is what Muslims have been doing all along, then this sort of work has already been undertaken, and on such a vast scale that by now such violence should have firmly ended once and for all. But the reality is just the opposite. The failure of all the efforts that Muslims have hitherto made to put a permanent end to riots very clearly shows that these efforts are definitely not the solution to the problem. Had they been the desired solution, the last several decades, throughout which such efforts have consistently been made, would have sufficed for the issue of communal violence to be solved for good.