TOWARDS GLOBAL 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. POLITICAL EXTREMISM AND ISLAM T HE Quran teaches us not to be extremist in our religion. Its exact words are: ‘People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your religion.’ (4: 171) We also learn from a saying of Prophet Muhammad that extremist tendencies have always been the chief reason for religious groups going astray. That is why the Prophet once observed: ‘’Sedulously refrain from extremism, for previous communities were destroyed only because of their extremist tendencies in religious matters”. Ghulu, meaning extremism, is engendered in a religious community when it goes into a state of decline, and this, in fact, is a sign of its degeneration. There is a tradition of Prophet Muhammad which forewarns his followers of the rot that has set in. He said that all those evils which had arisen in previous communities would also arise in his own community on a greater scale. To make his meaning clear, he said: “Where previous communities were divided into 72 sects Muslims will be divided into 73 sects.” There are innumerable cases of ideological extremism in Islamic history. But we also find among Muslims another kind of extremism Although there are many actions which in form appear to be morally acceptable, it is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches real importance.