TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

This Age of Ideological War in the name of Islam still continues, in the 21st century. The devastating attacks of 9/11, when some Muslim youths killed themselves and destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York, are just one manifestation of this age of ideological war. Here the question arises as to why, despite its utter failure in achieving its goals, the popularity of the ideology based on the political interpretation of Islam has not come to an end in the same way as the popularity of some other ideologies, such as Communism, was ended when they proved to be impractical. Why is it that the ideology based on the political interpretation of Islam continues even now even though it has proven itself to have failed in practice? The reason for this is the proponents of the political interpretation of Islam have made this out to be, allegedly, a cardinal tenet of Islamic faith or belief. In ancient times, war always took place for worldly purposes, such as disputes over territory. But the rise of Democracy and the formation of the United Nations made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for one country to conquer and control for long another country’s territory. And so, the Age of Political War came to an end. Likewise, the two World Wars proved that class conflict as a fundamental feature of humankind was only a hypothesis and that the ideology that was based on this hypothesis was not a practicable one. As a result of this, the Comintern (Communist International), which sought to promote class conflict all across the globe, ended, and along with it the theory of class war. According to the proponents of the political interpretation of Islam, Islam is a ‘complete system’, in the sense of an alternative socio-political system. But they go even further than this and claim that the issue of a Muslim’s eternal salvation depends on this ‘system’. They argue that a person’s success in the Hereafter depends on his role in establishing this ‘system’ in this world. They claim that if a person strives to establish Islam as a ‘complete system’ on Earth, he will get eternal Paradise in the Hereafter after death, while if he does not make such efforts, he will face eternal Hell. Hence, according to the ideologues of the political interpretation of Islam, Muslims have just two choices: either they realize the goal of the global ‘Islamic system’ in practice or else they keep up with their confrontation and conflict until they achieve this goal. According to them, a third option is simply impossible. This means according to the political interpretation of Islam, the issue is fundamentally an ideological one. Their opponents may wage war against them and kill them, but after that, those of them who survive