SPIRIT OF ISLAM MARCH 2O18

28 Spirit of Islam Issue 63 March 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. JIHAD A PERUSAL of the Quran followed by a study of latter-day Muslim history will reveal a blatant contradiction between the two— that of principle and practice. Where recent developments in some Muslim countries bespeak the culture of war, the Quran on the contrary, is imbued with the spirit of tolerance. Its culture is not that of war, but of mercy. At the very beginning of the Quran, the first invocation reads: “In the name of God, the most Merciful, the most Beneficent". Throughout the Quran, God’s name is thus invoked no less than 113 times. Moreover, the Quran states that the prophets were sent to the world as a mercy to the people. (21: 107) The word ‘Jihad’ has nowhere been used in the Quran to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather, to mean ‘struggle’. The action most consistently called for in the Quran is the exercise of patience. Yet today, the Muslim Mujahideen under favourable conditions have equated ‘God is Great’ with ‘War is Great’. For them, the greatest reward is to be able to wield a rifle. In the light of the ongoing conflict, we must ask why so great a contradiction has arisen between the principles of Islam and the practices of Muslims? There are two reasons which have contributed to this, one is historical exigency and the other is the political interpretation of Islam.