SPIRIT OF ISLAM FEBRUARY 2018

17 Spirit of Islam Issue 62 February 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. GOING AGAINST THE CREATION PLAN S UBSCRIBING to the notion that violence is a viable method of gaining one’s ends and then launching a violent course of action are against the creation plan of God. Neither the concept nor the deeds stemming therefrom are in accord with the divine scheme of things. That is why the violent way is destined not to produce any good results and serves no end save that of destruction. If a farmer has a fertile piece of land, he can grow crops in abundance. But this will be possible only if he follows an appropriate method which is in consonance with nature. If however, he mindlessly starts pelting his fields with stones or dropping bombs on them, he will never be able to harvest the desired crops. In spite of being the owner of fertile acres, he will be no better off than one who has not a square yard of land to his name. The same is true of human life. Human life flourishes in an atmosphere of peace, but is destroyed in an atmosphere of violence. Violence is the outcome of differences between people. One who believes in violent methods considers differences as evil or an obstacle in his path. For this reason, he becomes bent on obliterating evil, for he thinks that he can achieve his objective only when he has removed the differences between himself and others. This is a great misunderstanding, for differences are not man-made. They are ordained by the Creator Himself, and are an essential part of nature. And something which is an essential part of nature cannot be brought to an end. We can only accept nature. Eliminating it is beyond our power. When one group is annihilated in the name of differences,