The Way of Tolerance

the issue of religious authorities was discussed. I asserted that in Islam, the main emphasis lies on ‘spirituality’. During the meeting on the evening of November 3, some people said that Islam is a religion of jihad (in the sense of warfare). Clarifying this point, I said that Islam is a religion of peace. In Islam, war is only defensive and as a last resort when all peaceful measures have failed. The term used for war in Islam is qital, not jihad. Jihad means struggle. Any sincere effort for the cause of religion will be called jihad. Furthermore, war (qital) can only be declared by an established government in defense. No individual, group, or organization can declare war. Someone asked why Prophet Muhammad fought so many battles. I explained that it was related to the context of the time and age, not the teachings of Islam itself. The traditional age was a time marked by religious persecution. Therefore, during that time, every new religion had to go through a phase of violence. Today, we are in an era of freedom. Hence, there is no opportunity for such circumstances to arise in general situations. In the morning meeting of November 4, various people expressed the teachings of their respective religions. When it was my turn, I said I had studied Islam extensively. I found that Islam is based on two fundamental principles: belief in God and being beneficial to humanity. For the first principle, I elaborated on chapter 112 of the Quran: “Say, ‘He is God, the One, God, the Self-sufficient One. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.’” To explain the second principle, I shared a Quranic verse, “Whatever is of use to man remains behind.” (13:17)