TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

Rightfully speaking, in Islam, jihad in the sense of qital, or war, is undertaken only in defence. Since defence is a matter only for the state, it takes place infrequently. All those Muslim activists who are engaged in war in the name of Islam are “non-state actors”. No established Muslim state is involved in this act. The nature of this present violence is itself un-Islamic. It is an accepted principle of Islam that, ‘To declare war is the prerogative of an established state.’ According to this principle, all those Muslim mujahideen who are engaged in war have no justification to do so in Islam. Such people must unilaterally and unconditionally abandon all their violent activities and adopt totally peaceful activities. In present times, in particular, there is no possibility of such wars. Now, according to modern universal norms, man has been left no option but that of peace. The battles waged by Muslims in later times have not been in defence of their country, but—according to their own claim—have been engaged in, in order to eradicate tyranny and establish justice. This is without doubt a war of their own innovation. No where in the Quran or the Hadith have Muslims been commanded to resort to war for the purposes of eradicating oppression and establishing justice. The fact is that this concept of ‘justified war’—actually, a wrongful war—has been developed on the basis of a wrong interpretation of the Islamic scriptures, both the Quran and the Hadith. The worst form of this actually unjustified war is that which, in the beginning, is directed against other nations, but, in its second phase, develops into infighting amongst Muslims. The reason is that when combatants see that they have derived nothing positive from war, they think that there must be some conspiracy against them to explain why their efforts have become futile. They even come to regard the people of their own community as conspirators, and imply that their failure is due to their machinations, and, this said, they direct their animosity at their own community. The fact is that this concept of 'justified war'—actually, a wrongful war—has been developed on the basis of a wrong interpretation of the Islamic scriptures, both the Quran and the Hadith.