THE CULTURE OF PEACE — Teachings of Islam

and war. All the statements of the Quran are, directly or indirectly, related to peace. The very first phrase in the Quran is: Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim, which means, ‘In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful.’ In other words, the highest attribute of the God who has sent this book is mercy, and this book is an expression of this attribute of His mercy. All the verses of the Quran are, directly or indirectly, based on peace. There are 6,666 verses in the Quran. Of these, hardly 40 are about commandments of qital or war — in other words, less than 1 per cent. In fact, they amount to just around 0.6 per cent of the total number of verses. The culture of the cosmos is a ‘culture of peace’. Those who regard the Quran as God’s Book can be considered to be momins or true believers only when, abiding by the teachings of the Quran, they become fully and completely peace-loving. Under no conditions whatsoever should they take to the path of violence. In this regard, one needs to stress the need for people to distinguish between Islam, on one hand, and Muslims, on the other. They must not label the actions or behaviour of Muslims as ‘Islamic’. The fact is that the behaviour of Muslims must be judged on the basis of Islam; and not Islam sought to be understood on the basis of Muslim behaviour. Islam is an ideology. A person can be truly considered to be a Muslim only if he follows the teachings of Islam. Those who do not follow Islam’s teachings do not have anything to do with Islam, even if they claim to be its champions. Peace versus Violence Peace is a well-planned effort or action, while violence is a passiondriven, aggressive action. A peace-loving person thinks first and then acts. On the contrary, a violence-loving person first acts and then thinks, if at all. Peaceful action is based on hope, in the beginning as well as at the end, while violent action is based on false hopes in the beginning and frustration in the end. A peace-loving person is established in truth. A violence-loving person is established in falsehood. Peace and positive constructive work go hand-in-hand, while violence is wholly destructive. Peace ends in