ASK MAULANA

As per my study, the essence of Islam is God-realization. Man is born as a unique creature. The only thing that is required of him is to discover the reality on his own. Realize truth and live on self-discovered truth: this is ma’rifat. Self-discovered truth is the greatest quality of a believer. Faith is discovery. A discovery has the greatest role to play in the life of a person. It can lead one to become a superman. Without it, one is like an animal. According to the law of nature, discovery is the greatest. According to Islam, it is the discovery of God that is the greatest. This is ma’rifat. You head the Centre for Peace and Spirituality. What is spirituality, according to you? I think that peace and spirituality are two faces of the same coin. Peace means external spirituality. Spirituality means inner peace. Peace and spirituality go together. They coexist. Where there is peace, there is spirituality. And where there is spirituality, there is peace. Peace and spirituality are very important for all beings. You are free to choose your beliefs. It’s a personal choice. But in this world, you can’t establish an environment conducive for a better life without peace and spirituality. Religion, in terms of belief, is a personal choice, but when it comes to collective or social life, peace is very important. Can you list what you regard as the core principles for peacemaking? In the light of my experience, people are generally obsessed with the notion of justice. But if you insist on justice, you can’t have peace. You must know what the Creation Plan of God is, the reason why you are here in this world. According to this Plan, it is impossible to establish ideal justice in this world. So, you have to be ready to accept something that’s less than ideal. This is the first condition or principle of peace making. People who are obsessed with justice can’t establish peace. It is against the law of nature. Secondly, one must know that peace is required for the sake of peace. Nothing, including justice and human rights, can be bracketed with peace if you really want peace. In other words, peace must be sought at any cost. Unconditional peace. If you bracket human rights and justice with peace, there won’t be peace. A third principle is that one must know that peace can only give you opportunities. It can’t give you anything but normalcy and the possibilities to avail existing opportunities in a situation of normalcy. By availing these opportunities that peace opens up you can get all the other things that you want—education, economic advancement,