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. PEACE VERSUS VIOLENCE T HE Quran is, without doubt, a book of peace. It is not a book of violence and war. All the statements of the Quran are, directly or indirectly related to peace. The very first phrase in the Quran is: ‘In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful’. In other words, one of the attributes of the God who has sent this Book is mercy, and this Book is an expression of this attribute of His mercy. There are more than 6000 verses in the Quran. Of these hardly 40 verses are about commandments of war, which means less than 1%, and these too were revealed in the context of a war like culture which was already prevalent in the society at the time the Prophet was commanded to convey the message. Those who regard the Quran as the book of God can be considered to be true believers only when, abiding by the teachings of the Quran, they become fully and completely peace-loving. On no condition whatsoever should they take to the path of violence. In this regard, one needs to stress the need for people to distinguish between Islam, on the one hand, and Muslims, on the other. They must not label all the actions or behaviour of Muslims as ‘Islamic’. The fact is that behaviour of Muslims must be judged on the basis of Islam. Islam should not be sought to be understood on the basis of the Muslims’ behaviour. Islam is an ideology. A person can be truly considered to be a Muslim only The fact is that behaviour of Muslims must be judged on the basis of Islam. Islam should not be sought to be understood on the basis of the Muslims' behaviour.