TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

There is much talk today—as before—about peace and pacifism. That we need an ideology of peace is something every sensible person acknowledges. But where is that practical ideology of peace? People often say, “We must have peace. War is such a bad thing.” True, but for this we need a workable ideology of peace, one that will effectively rule out any and every justification to resort to war. People think injustice leads to war, and that, therefore, those denied justice should first be given justice for peace to prevail. This is a flawed concept. You may think you have given justice to someone, but he may not think he has received his just due. And so, he will remain dissatisfied and disgruntled and can easily take to violence.This demand for ‘just peace’ cannot work. It can never result in peace. The only way to establish peace is to work for peace for its own sake, unconditionally, and not link it with justice or human rights or anything else. Agreeing unilaterally to peace will open doors to many opportunities to progress. Availing these opportunities, one can obtain all those things including justice. This is the only workable formula for peace and also the formula that Islam recommends. Islam is an ideology of peace and presents this eminently workable formula for peace, yet strangely, Muslims have failed to understand this or convey it to others. The Prophet and his companions embodied the Islamic model of peace, but soon after their time, derailment set in among Muslims, so much so that even today Muslims are engaged in violence, which they have wrongly named as ‘jihad’. According to a Hadith (words of the prophet) report, the Prophet Muhammad said that in the later period, a group among his ummah (followers) would consume wine. When asked why they would do so (when God has expressly forbidden it), the Prophet said that these people would give a new name to wine and declare it lawful. (Al-Darimi) That is what some Muslims have done in the case of terrorism, too. They have sought to declare terrorism as legitimate by calling it ‘jihad’ and making it permissible. This is a case of repackaging something unlawful as lawful by giving it a fictitious name. But killing Osama the individual did not put an end to the ‘Osama phenomenon’. Osama is dead, but his ideology is still alive, and acts of terror continue.