TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

thinking. The political and cultural separatism that they advocate is a major barrier to conveying the message of God. Separatism, both political and cultural, is wrong. Islam does not enjoin these kinds of separatist policies. This politics of separation is a sin, not a virtue. Due to this, Muslims are being deprived of God’s help. Their activities are proving to be counterproductive as they are against the Divine scheme of things. How does one account for this marked tendency for Muslim separatism across the world? Sometimes it takes the form of wanting a separate, Muslim-only or Muslim-majority country. When this is not possible, it takes the form of Muslim ghettoism, with Muslims wanting to live in exclusive Muslim-only spaces, to have social interaction limited to themselves as far as possible, to send their children to Muslim-only schools, to make friends only with Muslims. What is the reason for this? The answer to this is in the modern age, Muslims have developed a flawed concept of identity, and wish to preserve this so-called identity. They have become extremely identity-conscious. This unnatural identity-consciousness is creating Muslim ghettos everywhere: ghetto country, ghetto colony, ghetto institutions, ghetto society, etc. The contemporary Muslim separatism is a new phenomenon. It has nothing to do with Islam. Muslims adopted a political policy during the 19th and 20th centuries that was un-Islamic and unrealistic and this naturally failed. This failure has led to a defeatist mentality among Muslims and has given rise to the phenomenon of Muslim ghettoism. Unlike what some Muslims may believe, there is no sanction for this in Islam. You cannot find a single reference for this in the Quran or Hadith. You cannot find any example of this kind of politics in the biographies of the Prophet or in the accounts of the lives of the Prophet’s Companions. Some Muslims think that this sort of ghetto and separatist thinking, whether cultural or political, is justified in the name of the unity of the global Muslim community and Muslim brotherhood. But this is false. In fact, this kind of separatism has created more differences among Muslims themselves. o According to Islam, the political system is a matter of social conditions. It is quite un-Islamic to launch a movement to establish a political system based on some self-styled model.