In August/September 2015, we members of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality went on a two-week trip to the USA at the invitation of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to attend its convention in Chicago. Besides Chicago, we visited Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and New York.

With God’s grace, I got to speak at different venues and to meet people from different walks of life and backgrounds. At the ISNA convention, I stressed upon one point in particular: that today we are living in the ‘Age of Peace’. The Age of Peace is the title of my latest book, released during this trip at the ISNA convention as well as at the United States Institute of Peace, a centre set up by the US Congress to promote peaceful methods of conflict-resolution.

I cited a Hadith (words of the Prophet), full of wisdom, in relation to the age of peace that we are living in today. The Prophet is reported to have said: wise is he who understands the age in which he lives.

Wise is he who understands the age in which he lives.

This Hadith reflects the importance of something crucial—the need for wise planning. A solid understanding and appreciation of the conditions of the times can aid in wise planning. It is about availing the opportunities afforded by the age in which we live. If we have no idea about the conditions of our times, we will lose out badly.

In my address at the ISNA convention, I stressed that one special characteristic of our contemporary age is freedom; the kind the world never enjoyed before. A major reason was that in earlier ages much of the world was under monarchy, with only the monarch enjoying total freedom. But today we live in an age of democracy where each individual has the inalienable right to be free. When the Prophet was in Makkah, the early Muslims were prevented from praying at the Kabah. Today there is no such restriction. You—Muslims and everyone else—can pray anywhere in the world and none can stop you. Isn’t that amazing! The Prophet and his Companions faced opposition when they wanted to worship at the Kabah, and today Muslims are free to build mosques in every country and worship there. This is the freedom that we now enjoy.

If we want to understand today’s age as per the message of the Hadith, we need to keep in mind the basic feature of this age—freedom. And what is freedom? Basically, it is the power to choose—to avail and make use of opportunities. This is an age of opportunities.

Wise planning involves recognising these myriad opportunities in various fields—business, social work, education and inviting people to God—and using the freedom we have been blessed with, to avail of these opportunities. There is but one restriction—one may not harm or trouble anyone else. As long as one does not harm others, there will be no obstacle to avail the many opportunities that abound today.

Let me cite a story to illustrate this point. When America won independence from Britain, an American man, overjoyed at the news, stepped out into the streets to celebrate. In his joy, he waved his hands about, and by mistake, struck a passer-by on the nose. The angry passer-by asked him why he had hit him. The man said “We’ve won freedom, and I’m now free! I was exercising my freedom!” The second man replied, “Yes, you are free, but your freedom ends where my nose begins!”

A solid understanding and appreciation of the conditions of the times can aid in wise planning.

In my address, I related this story and talked of 9/11, the destruction of the twin towers in New York. This crime was like hitting the ‘industrial nose’ of America, and totally unacceptable. You cannot avail of existing opportunities by abusing freedom—hurt, damage and kill others. You will have to ensure you don’t hit other people’s ‘noses’ if you are to enjoy the freedom to avail the many opportunities that have opened up. If you want progress, you will have to stop violence, suicide-bombing, gun-culture and the bomb-culture.

The peaceful functioning of the ISNA validates this point. They are doing work in the field of social service. They have established a ‘social empire’, as it were, in America. And why and how has it been able to do so? Surely not by hitting anyone else’s ‘nose’. Without resorting to violence it has achieved so much in the field of social service. This reflects the wisdom referred to in the Hadith—the need to understand the age in which one lives and the demands of that age.

The 10,000 odd audience was quick to appreciate this point. We distributed peace-related literature among them, including my latest books, The Age of Peace and Quranic Wisdom.

Close to the Chicago airport, Muslims of Turkish origin have established a large institution—the Turkish-American Society (TAS). It is associated with the well-known Turkish Muslim scholar, Ustad Fethullah Gulen. Our visit to the centre was a great experience. Interacting with the people at the centre, I commented on the remarkable movement led by Ustad Gulen that had spawned an ‘educational empire’—hundreds of high-quality schools across the world, in more than a hundred countries! I also remarked that the Turks had established the Ottoman Caliphate that lasted for a long time but conditions in the wake of the First World War led to its collapse. The Turkish nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is credited with single-handedly destroying it. Having studied the issue, I believe that the Ottoman Caliphate ended not by the actions of any single individual. Rather, it was the demand of the times, the requirement of the age that this should happen.

If earlier people tried to establish political empires, often at a very heavy cost, today we can establish non-political ‘empires’ where the sky is the limit!

How and why do I say this? By the early 20th century, political empires across the world were fast crumbling. Earlier it had been possible to establish political empires and that’s how there was the British empire, the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire. Keeping with the changing conditions and demands of the times, Ustad Gulen had clearly focused his attention on non-political work—on promoting education. He caught hold of the root, as it were, education being an issue of the utmost importance. He helped set up a large number of quality schools across countries. Interestingly, he did not talk about establishing universities. Nothing happens through universities unless the schools that feed the universities are good. You need good schools that provide quality education and moral training. And that’s what Ustad Gulen stressed on.

As I reflect on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s declaration abolishing the Ottoman Caliphate, I realise this was not an individual’s announcement. Mustafa Kemal articulated the voice of the new age, telling us that the age of political empires was out for good.

The early 20th century witnessed the end of political empires. Mustafa Kemal laid the foundation by introducing democracy and later Ustad Gulen built a rugged education system on this base. Ustad Gulen has shown that opportunities to progress will still remain—in the non- political sphere. In fact, we have more opportunities than before! If earlier people tried to establish political empires, often at a very heavy cost, today we can establish non-political ‘empires’ where the sky is the limit! we can establish them all across the world! we need no army or war for that.

It is amazing that the Turks had established a vast political empire which ended in the early 20th century and then set about establishing a non- political educational ‘empire’! God selected them to tell the world not to lament the passing of an age, but recognize the new opportunities and adapt to it.

The ISNA has established a ‘social service empire’ in America and Ustad Gulen an ‘educational empire’—all using peaceful means. I told people I met in America that we at the Centre for Peace and Spirituality are trying to establish a ‘dawah empire’, calling all people across the world to God. Given the immense opportunities, this empire’ is surely possible today.

Muslims must reflect deeply on the Hadith referred to above and understand its contemporary relevance and deep wisdom. From this Hadith I understand that though times may change, opportunities never cease. The passing of one age doesn’t mean all is lost. Instead, understand the conditions and demands of the new age, discover the opportunities and adapt.

The Quran is the basis of our mission. We have published translations of the Quran in several languages. We have brought out supportive literature to help people interpret the Quran to suit our contemporary times.

We are truly blessed with the freedom to work in a vast range of spheres. We are free to establish a ‘social service empire’, an ‘educational empire’, a ‘dawah empire’, all in the non-political fields. If we truly understand and appreciate the significance of this, we will not fall prey to despair or waste time in protest and complaint. Resorting to violence will lead to destruction of oneself and others in suicide-bombing, the gun-culture and the bomb-culture. It is futile because opportunities to progress are abundant, and there is freedom to avail them. In my interactions in America, I repeatedly stressed this point.

One morning, I thought to myself, “While in America, my friends and I travelled more than 30,000 kilometres in just 15 days, doing dawah work!” What a blessing it is to visit so many distant places in such a short time! This is what I call a ‘dawah empire’—not based in some fort or castle. It is peaceful effort. We met many people—Christians, Muslims,Hindus and others, and engaged in conveying the message with them. There were no obstructions whatsoever. I was indeed touched! Here I was, an Indian coming to America and engaging in inviting people to God, and none stopped me; truly amazing! Compare this with the times of the Prophet Muhammad and other prophets. They faced stiff opposition to their work. One can engage in such work without any opposition, the only condition being to be free from hate and complaint against anyone. The origin of every evil is complaint. Complaint leads to hate; hate leads to enmity; and enmity leads to violence, to war, to suicide-bombing, to the gun-culture and the bomb-culture. And the result is destruction.

The Quran is the basis of our mission. We have published translations of the Quran in several languages. We have brought out supportive literature to help people interpret the Quran to suit our contemporary times. Our recent book The Age of Peace, must be made available to many more people. Learning through reading is a Quranic principle.

The origin of every evil is complaint. Complaint leads to hate; hate leads to enmity; and enmity leads to violence.

In the Quran, God says: ‘Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by the pen’ (96: 3-4). Earlier people wrote by hand, and that took much time and effort. As a student in the madrasa, I copied an entire Arabic course book by hand! Today the printing press and the Internet can produce and disseminate books at the touch of a button, and on a massive scale. No matter what your background or educational qualifications, you can devote yourself fully to dawah work. This is such a mobile age! People are constantly moving and you interact with many people every day. Keep the peace literature with you and distribute it to people you meet, an easy way to do this work. We should be grateful to God for all these blessings.

Wherever I travel, including our recent trip to America, I see people searching for a message that addresses their minds, their innate nature, their spirituality—a message that has nothing to do with political wrangling and conflict, and free of hate. Only God can satisfy this inner thirst. And that indicates the importance of inviting people to God.

The 20th century witnessed several ‘social movements’. But all of them somewhere got stuck in politics. And where politics appears, protest, complaint and hate inevitably raise their ugly heads. These traits are not innate to human beings as God’s creation. Rather, they are fomented by ambitious, power-hungry leaders.

Understand the conditions and demands of the new age, discover the opportunities and adapt.

Today people are thirsty for peace, spirituality, positivity. An entire century went by filled with political hate talk. People want an end to such politics, hate and violence. They are looking for what their innate nature wants. I see this everywhere. If the 20th century was an age of hate, politics and confrontation, our age is—or can be—truly ‘The Age of Peace’.