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. THE GREATEST EVIL OF HISTORY W AR is not a new phenomenon. It has always been a part of human history. In the very first generation of man, fighting broke out between Adam’s two sons and, as a result, Abel was killed by his brother Cain. Fighting has continued since then in every group and nation. However we learn from history that every period of conflict has its end. Conflict has always had a limited span. There is no battle which has raged indefinitely; even the First and Second World Wars were fought for limited periods of time. But the case of the Muslim community appears to be totally different. We learn from history that once a battle is waged in the Muslim ummah it has continued. In this respect, Muslims have become an exceptional community. A deeper analysis of this matter shows that the reason for this is a justification having been found for violence. That is, violence has been legitimized by misinterpretation of religious law. Since, sacred law is unchangeable, the violence which is held justified by it allows no room for revision. What is this ‘justified violence’? It is the perpetration of violence in the name of Islamic jihad. In Muslim history, all battles were fought in the name of jihad. And the traditional concept of Islamic jihad is that success awaits one in either of the two situations: in the case of victory as well as defeat. If they are victorious, Muslims who engage in jihad gain in worldly terms and in the case of defeat and death, they become martyrs and go straight to Paradise.