Spirit of Islam, Dec 2015

Peace on its own does not bring justice. Justice is not necessarily an element of peace. TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE We often talk of peace in the context of war. But this is a very narrow and restricted notion of peace. Peace is deeply linked with the entirety of human life. Peace is a complete ideology in itself. Peace is the only religion for both-man and the universe. It is the master-key that opens the doors to every success. Peace creates a favourable atmosphere for success in every endeavour. Without peace, no positive action—small or big—is possible. THE IDEOLOGY OF PEACE IN ISLAM S CHOLARS have defined peace thus: “Peace is the absence of war.” This definition is absolutely correct. Peace in fact means the absence of a situation of war or violence. However, some hold this definition of peace to be inadequate. They say that justice should accompany peace; that peace devoid of justice is no peace. But setting such a condition for the attainment of peace is impractical. Peace on its own does not bring justice. Justice is not necessarily an element of peace. Peace in actual fact, opens up opportunities. It creates favourable conditions to strive for justice and other constructive ends. Peace is always desirable for its own sake. Everything else comes after peace, not along with peace. The case of Japan is a concrete example of the success of this formula. A peace policy always serves as a peace ‘bomb’, in the sense that it conquers the enemy without any bloodshed. History shows that the peace bomb has always proved to be mightier than the violence bomb. A peace ‘bomb’ means life and progress, whereas a violence bomb means death and destruction. Peace enhances creativity, whereas violence does the very opposite. The power of a peace ‘bomb’ is based on love, while that of a violence bomb is based on hatred.