SPIRIT OF ISLAM JUNE 2O18

17 Spirit of Islam Issue 66 June 2018 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. TERRORISM: A GRAVE THREAT T ERRORISM is one of the gravest threats the world is facing today. The tragedy and irony of it is that most acts of armed violence by groups or individuals are being carried out in the name of religion, especially Islam. Any terrorist or any individual can fulfil a given mission properly only when he is ideologically convinced of its validity. Ideology provides man with the necessary inspiration. Without an ideology, he fails to summon the requisite energy and enthusiasm so vital to the success of any struggle. This is as true of terrorism as it is of any other field of human endeavour. Some countries are engaged in crushing terrorism in the name of Islam through military action, but that alone will not suffice to eliminate this phenomenon. Apart from often being armed to their teeth, today’s terrorists are consumed by the ideology of their cause. So, engaging them is not simply an issue of gun versus gun. It has to be an issue of ideology versus ideology. Violence always begins in the mind; it needs to be uprooted therefore, from the mind itself. We have to find an ideology of peace with which to confront the ideology of violence; without that there will be no end to the violence. Terrorists are people of a different breed; their ultimate goal is not necessarily victory. Death too is a desired goal. According to their self-devised ideology they believe that if they die in a militant