THE WORD OF GOD

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in a Discussion with an Academic From Sweden You say that the essence of Islam is peace. But how is it that there are hardly any democracies among the numerous Muslim countries, and that in many such countries there is no peace? There’s so much violence happening there. One needs to distinguish between ideology and practice; between Islam and Muslims’ attitudes and behaviour. Muslim countries are not truly Islamic. The sources of Islam are only two—the Quran and the practice or Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam. You need to evaluate Muslims on the criterion of the Quran and Sunnah. Islam acknowledges democracy and was the first to introduce democratic ideology. The Quran talks of a system based on mutual consultation, or shura, the basis of democracy. But present-day Muslims are a degenerated community. They don’t follow Islam according to the Quran and shura. Instead, they follow their own cultural traditions and what they perceive as their own interests. So, as I said, one needs to distinguish between Islam and Muslims. Muslims should be judged or gauged according to Islamic teachings, and not vice versa. According to you, what is the root cause of conflict between people? Conflict arises from competing interests. This world is based on competition. God has given us freedom. Human freewill is basic to God’s Creation Plan. Due to this freedom there is competition between people, clashes based on perceptions of selfinterest. There have always been conflicts between people. You can’t totally eliminate it. It simply isn’t possible, because people have their own desires, their own perceptions of self-interest, and of course, freewill. All these are interwoven in human nature, and human nature can’t be changed. Being based on human nature, it is natural that there will be conflict between people. ASK MAULANA Your Questions Answered