People the world over are trying to find a solution to terrorism. The authorities are trying to crush the terror menace through legal action; western powers are trying to crush it through warfare; while the reformers are trying to curb it by engaging in condemnation. However these methods are, apparently, proving ineffective. Then what is the solution to terrorism? According to me the present problem of terrorism is based on an ideology and an ideology cannot be countered or killed through legal action or by mere condemnation. We have to develop a counter-ideology to overcome it.
The ideology behind present-day terrorism is that, Islam being a political system, it is the duty of all Muslims to establish Islamic rule in the world. This was not prevalent during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. It is a later innovation which was developed in the last few centuries by a handful of people. Having become widespread in the Muslim world today, it is leading to present-day violence. A large number of Muslims, and especially many easily influenced youth, have become obsessed with this ideology and are trying to establish the political rule of Islam, thinking it to be their ticket to paradise. Having failed to achieve this objective of establishing Islamic rule by the peaceful method, they have started resorting to suicide bombing, the idea being that if we cannot eliminate non-Islamic rule, then let us at least de-stabilize it and pave the way for Islamic rule.
I have studied Islam from its original sources—the Quran and Hadith. I can say with certainty that this political interpretation of Islam is an innovation and the real Islam, as followed by Prophet Muhammad and his early followers, is based upon peace, compassion and tolerance.
Peace is not prevalent in the world as people the world over are acting intolerantly and indulging in acts of violence, saying, "Give us justice and peace will ensue". But when people, ostensibly seeking justice, stoop to violence, peace can never prevail. Peace is always desirable for its own sake, and every other desirable state comes after peace, not along with it. So, the maxim to follow, when peace is the desired state, is:
'Ignore the problems, avail of the opportunities.'
Once people become tolerant and obtain peace for its own sake, what that actually does is open up opportunities—it creates favourable conditions, which enable people to strive for their ideals, eventually attaining justice and other constructive ends. This is the ideology of peace.
By ignoring the problems and availing the opportunities, one can obtain all that he originally was asking for—just by being patient and tolerant. This happens due to the law of nature. When the individual refrains from making a controversial matter into one of prestige, this gives rise to serious thinking. This non-emotional thinking helps him to understand that if he were to walk out of the point of controversy he would find all other paths open to him.
According to me this ideology of peace, based on the original sources of Islam, can counter the ideology of violence. The Prophet Muhammad provides a very clear historical example of this in his method of negotiating the Hudaybiyya peace treaty. On this occasion he brought matters to a successful conclusion by unilaterally accepting all the conditions of his opponents. In this peace treaty, the Prophet had not apparently received justice or his rights. But what was in effect a 10-year no-war pact, gave the Prophet an opportunity to work uninterruptedly on a constructive programme which would otherwise have been impossible. By means of this peaceful non-political programme, the Prophet and his companions were able to consolidate themselves so thoroughly that they had no need to wage war: they were able to take control of Makkah peacefully.
The ideology of peace is the solution to terrorism. It is derived from the seerat of the Prophet. It banishes the notion that there can be anything acceptable about terrorism. Islam is a completely peaceful religion and the Islamic method is a completely peaceful method.
Maulana Waheed uddin Khan
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