TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

Failure to establish peace is because almost all the scholars have bracketed one word peace along with certain irrelevant factors. Their concept of real peace is one in which there is no injustice, inequality and violence of any kind. Let us take the analogy of the soil giving us foodstuff without which we cannot exist. In order to derive food from the soil, according to the law of nature, we have to first acquire fertile land and then prepare it for the cultivation of crops. The same is true of peace. Peace is like ‘social soil’, by cultivating which we can receive the fruits of social justice. Just as it is not possible to derive food directly from the soil, similarly we cannot derive social justice directly from peace. The law of nature maintains that peace can be attained only on a unilateral and not on a bilateral basis. This means that first of all we have to abandon confrontational methods such as political activism, protestbased activism and human rights activism. This kind of unilateralism will establish normalcy, which will lead to peace and peace will open the door to all kinds of opportunities. By wise planning we can achieve the desired goals of social justice and human rights. Since peace can be attained only on a unilateral basis, this may be called a 'peace strategy'. A historic example is the Hudaibiya Treaty entered into by the Prophet of Islam in 628 AD. This entailed the Prophet having to agree to all of the conditions demanded by his opponents. Such concessions may have seemed demeaning to his compatriots at the time, but the main feature of the treaty was that it guaranteed a lengthy period in which no war could be waged. In essence, it amounted to a ten-year no-war pact, which gave the Prophet and his Companions ample opportunities to spread the message of Islam far and wide. This great success story serves as a model to develop a successful strategy for achieving the desired goal. Peace can only be established on a unilateral basis without confrontation. To establish social justice and human rights, it becomes a bilateral issue. We have to fight other groups which we think are responsible for injustice and the violation of human rights. If we start our journey towards this goal, it is bound to lead to confrontation with existing groups. Instead of reaching the desired goal, people will Peace for the sake of social justice is not a practicable formula. The only workable formula is peace for the sake of normalcy.