ASK MAULANA

ASK MAULANA Your Questions Answered You have written so many books before on Islam and peace. Why did you feel the need for yet another book on the subject—The Age of Peace? It is right that I have already written many articles and books on the subject of peace, but these writings are mostly in reference to Islam. Since quite some time, the idea that Islam is a religion of violence has become widespread. I therefore wrote extensively on Islam and peace to dispel the prevalent notion about the religion of Islam. For example, the term ‘jihad’ was taken to mean military action. Through my writings, I have explained that jihad truly means a peaceful ideological struggle. The focus of the present book is not on Islam, but on the present age. The fighting that had happened during the time of the Prophet of Islam was due to the age factor. That is, the advent of Islam was in the tribal age. And, the culture of the tribal age is that of war and violence. Through my study, I realized that several changes have come about in the modern age. Whatever was earlier attainable through military power can now be attained with greater success through peaceful means. Therefore, no reason remains to indulge in fighting and war. This was the incentive behind the title of the book as The Age of Peace. What new points have you highlighted in this book that you had not addressed in your previous books on Islam and peace? In this book, I have written in detail on the concept of de-monopolization, expounded in the second chapter, which I had not dealt with in my earlier writings. Although the word ‘de-monopolization’ exists in the dictionary, it has been given a reduced definition. I have defined de-monopolization in a new way in my book. I have shown that in the modern age, the word ‘de-monopolization’ has acquired a comprehensive connotation and we can say that the present age is an age of de-monopolization. In previous ages, might was considered to be most important—it was said ‘might is right’. A landlord, a political ruler or a person possessing any kind of power was believed to be in a position in which he could do anything. Such people had monopoly over things. But in today’s age,