I was in Scotland attending a ‘New Year Dinner’ at Dundee and Glasgow and I addressed the audience about the ‘Critical Need For Peace’. Of course at the New Year we make resolutions as we make a new start, one of those should be to want world peace, especially seeing the worrying direction the world is moving in, a direction which is affecting all of us. I am sure we all want peace in the world, but maybe given up hope of it being attained. But we should never give up our efforts to promote peace and justice, and I am sure you all share our desire for true and lasting peace to be established in the world
The warnings of these days have been spoken by every prophet, as they refer to the ‘Latter Days’ and how terrible that time will be. I think the greatest example of this is found in the Holy Bible, in Matthew 24, verses 6-7
“And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and epidemic diseases and earthquakes in diverse places.”
Of course wars have been throughout history, but they were limited to one country against another. But we have been shocked to see two great world wars happen.
Nations has joined forces and fought other nations. I don’t believe that anyone could question the fulfilment of these words, whether they believe in God or not.
Again we have always seen famines, diseases and earthquakes happening, but these days, with the T.V. and internet, we know of these disasters, even sometimes before people living in that country know about it.
Every day we are bombarded with terrible news of tragic disasters happening, which no one can prevent from happening and we have seen the results of those disasters. We hear of diseases like AIDS and other viruses, spreading all over the world. Even in England recently we had an earthquake. Not on the scale of some of the disasters, but they are happening there as well.
All the signs of the ‘Latter Days’ that was predicted – are being fulfilled.
We are facing a time of unprecedented tribulations and troubles, in our planet and our lives. But despite this, the current situation prevailing in the world indicates that despite the fact that we understand that there will be another world war is coming, the entire world will be affected by this fallout, nevertheless, we are slowly moving towards it.
Of course, some people will blame religion, but actually religion is the prevention not the cause.
There will always be people who misuse religion and try to justify their evilness by saying they are doing it for God, but God has never promoted such a message. No prophet of God has ever told their followers that God wants them to fight to spread their religion. The reality is that God wants love, peace and unity. This is His real message.
But how can I say that religion is the prevention, because this is another problem of the ‘Latter Days’, that mankind will have moved further and further away from God and do not feel that God or His religion as the answer. Instead mankind has turned to materialism and running after that, instead of God. The world has become a global community where everything is shared, communication and travel has become much easier. In this era we believe ourselves to be extremely advanced and civilised, we don’t want to be bogged down by God’s rules and regulations. We believe we do not need God or His religion. Instead we want to follow our own rules and decide what is good for our progress and betterment. But the rejection of God hasn’t solved anything, instead it has pushed us nearer to disaster.
We need to reflect and pay attention to the urgent need of the time and contemplate how we can save ourselves and others from devastation and destruction. After all, in the state of war, no country or region is safe. But what can we do and how can religion help?
For the attainment of real peace, first we need to develop it within ourselves.
We believe that all true religions are from the One God and they have always been promoting peace, this has been their fundamental role, to develop man’s relationship with His Maker and to follow God’s teachings which would lead to peace within one’s self and peace with those around you.
Islam is an Arabic word which means: Obedience and Peace.
Islam therefore means complete submission to the will of God and to be at peace with all of God’s creation. In other words, the fundamental purpose of Islam is:
to bring mankind back to its Creator and to improve the quality of human relationships.
Islam provides a complete code of life and its teachings explain in detail how to live in peace and develop a close relationship with the Allah, the One God, our Creator.
The main source of Islamic teachings are the Holy Qur’an – Word of Allah and the Ahadith – Sayings and doings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
That being the case, then we come back to the original statement, that why then, religion today has been portrayed as the reason there is no peace in the world that it promotes hate and terrorism rather than peace? Especially Islam, which we are claiming to be the ‘universal religion for all mankind’? and the answer is that sadly man is not following God’s teachings or developing his relationship with His Maker. Instead he is using God’s religions as excuses for extremism, violence and terror!
Therefore it is important that if religion is going to be used to promote world peace, then we must follow the teachings of God and submit to His Will. God has always taught to ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ or as the Holy Prophet of Islam taught
“None of you is a true believer unless he likes for others that which he likes for himself”
If we follow these simple teachings then you would create a peaceful society.
The role of religions in establishing a peaceful society has always been to first bring mankind back to the worship of the One God. To achieve this the religion needs to make it clear who is the One God? so that we will be motivated to worship the One God.
This is one of the beauties of Islam that makes it a universal religion as the Holy Qur’an, the book of Allah, gives the names and descriptions of the One God, so that it is clear who were are worshipping. In the Holy Qur’an there are 99 names of Allah which gives various different attributes of the One God, for instance He is Ar-Rahman (The Most Gracious),through His Grace He has given us life and everything needed to survive, food, water, air etc. and through His Grace He keeps providing fresh food, water etc. as He is Ar-Razzaq (The Best Provider) and An-Nasir (The best Helper). Likewise He is Al-Wadood (The Most Loving) and Ar-Raheem (The most Merciful) and Al-Ghafoor (The most Forgiving), that through His love, mercy and forgiveness, man has always a chance to repent and change their ways.
When we understand the attributes of God, then we can identify with Him and strive to win His Nearness and Blessings. It is only when we fully submit to Allah, the One God, that we can attain true inner peace as our direction in life changes and instead of allowing our greed and selfishness to overcome us, ‘gimme this and that’, ‘I want this and that’, through the submission to Allah, we instead think ‘if I do this, will Allah be pleased with me’?
Therefore instead of pleasing our ego, we strive to please God and our direction has changed as we put God before ourselves and everything. This is in fact what the word Muslim means – to submit ourselves to God and it is for this reason that all the Prophets of God, from Adam to Jesus, have all been called Muslims in the Holy Qur’an as they have all submitted to God. What better example of having inner peace, than looking at the example of the prophets? They ran after winning the pleasure of Allah not the worldly pleasures and found peace and contentment in whatever they had. That is real inner peace, when you are content with what you have and not trying to constantly run after something better. That is where peace begins. First you must have peace between you and your Maker, before you can strive to have peace in your family, society and International society. This, we believe is your purpose in life, to worship the One God and submit to His Will.
So how can we attain National Peace? which is the first step to World Peace. The teachings of Islam guide us on how to establish national peace. Those who are given authority have a responsibility and a trust. That trust must be discharged with absolute justice and that government should be carried out in consultation with the people.
The Holy Qur’an says:
“Verily, Allah commands you to make over the trusts to those entitled to them, and that, when you judge between men, you judge with justice. And surely excellent is that with which Allah admonishes you! Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” Chapter 4, verse 59
Islam teaches that those who are given authority over you, you should give the fullest co-operation and obedience and not to rebel against them.
The next verse goes on to say:
“O ye who believe! obey Allah, and obey His Messenger and those who are in authority among you…” Chapter 4, verse 60
Obedience cuts at the root of all kinds of rebellion and anarchy and by laying absolute emphasis on this, the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, laid the foundation for national peace.
For the attainment of World Peace, the Holy Qur’an guides us to the settlement of international disputes, the following verse of the Holy Qur’an states:
“And if two parties of believers fight against each other, make peace between them; then if after that one of them transgresses against the other, fight the party that transgresses until it returns to the command of Allah. Then if it returns, make peace between them with equity, and act justly. Verily, Allah loves the just.”Chapter 49, verse 10
This verse serves as an excellent model for the whole world.
Islam forbids aggression but urges us to fight if failure to fight, jeopardises peace and promotes war. This is the teaching on which peace can ultimately be built and this is the teaching on which the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, based his practice.
The Holy Qur’an was sent as a gift to mankind, and its teachings are filled with love, tolerance and respect. It is through such attributes that we can achieve peace, an objective that our present Spiritual Leader, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has repeatedly emphasised whenever he visits a Country or opens a Mosque etc.:
“The world needs peace, love and brotherhood. The world needs an end to wars. Instead of walls of hatred being erected we need peace to prevail and for this to occur people of all faiths must join together.”
It is our duty, as Muslims, to become instrumental in establishing the peace in the world which our Beloved Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, pined for so much.
May Allah enable us to keep striving for World Peace and strive to Worship the One God and follow His teachings properly, Ameen.