TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

and glory—qualities such as benevolence, universality of approach (that is looking at all human beings as God’s family), positive thinking, keeping abreast of changing times, realistic thinking, acknowledgement of others, fostering the dawah spirit, giving importance to the value of peace and objective thinking. The greatest harm done by political extremism is that it deters Muslims from emerging from the shell of the past. This is the cause of their failure to understand the present. In the past, war was something which decided the fate of communities. But in modern times, peaceful resources have become much more powerful. Yet, Muslims seem to be unaware of these resources. In the past, economy was based on agriculture. Now it is based on industry. Electronic communications just did not exist in the past, whereas today, communications have become one of the greatest strengths of mankind. But Muslims are blissfully unaware of all these developments. That is why they have not been able to take advantage of the blessings of the modern age. Moreover in the past, all resources were in the hands of the king, but today is the age of institutions. It has become possible in modern times for any community which so desires to build up a parallel empire by establishing institutions. The violent jihad, prevalent in modern times, dates back to 1799. There has been a 200-year-long jihad without any positive result, and with no real movement directed as yet at reassessment of values, aims or objectives. The reason lies in the Muslims’ lack of awareness. Today, the greatest task is to remedy this shortcoming, without which there is no possibility of any positive change. About seventy years ago, a book was published titled Our Decline: Its Causes and Remedies. The author concluded that the reason for Muslim backwardness lay in abandoning jihad. He quoted an Arabic couplet in support: “I refrained from taking part in war, so that I might live. But I did not find in it life. Life was for those who went ahead and waged the war.” This point has been made repeatedly by Muslim leaders over the last two centuries. The result has been that this militant ideology has spread among Muslims all over the world. The Jihadi model has become the The communication of the religious message is the responsibility of Muslims, while the protection of their worldly interests rests with God.