On 30 April, 2015, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan was awarded the Sayyidina Imam Al Hasan Ibn Ali Peace Award at the Second Annual Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, held at Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Shaikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Chairman of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, presented Maulana the award at the closing session of the three-day conference. The peace award was given in acknowledgement of the Maulana’s decades-long efforts for promoting world peace. On the occasion, Shaykh Bin Bayyah said that 90-year old Maulana Wahiduddin Khan had worked tirelessly for over seventy years for the cause of establishing peace and promoting a culture of goodwill and tolerance across the world.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s Keynote Address at the 2nd Annual Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies
Bismillahi-r-rahmani-r-rahim
(In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful)
Rabbi-shrah li sadri wa yassirli amri wa-hlul uqdatan min lisani yafqahu qawli (My Lord! Open up my heart, and make my task easy for me. Loosen the knot in my tongue, so that they may understand my speech)
Distinguished guests, Brother Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, and Islamic scholars, We are here to discuss a very serious problem—how to promote peace in Muslim societies. There is no doubt at all that this is a very important issue. At the same time, I would say that mere condemnation of violence is not enough. The problem is an intellectual one. A section of Muslims are misguided into engaging in terrorism and we need to remove their misconceptions. Only then will it be possible for peace to prevail.
The Right, Peaceful Interpretation of Islam
According to a well-known dictum, ‘Violence begins in the mind’. So, is the case with peace. Peace, too, begins in the mind. Hence, we need a peaceful ideology, the right ideology. Only then can we hope that the Muslims who have wrongly taken to terrorism in the name of Islam will change their minds.
The sources of Islam—the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet—tell us that Islam is a religion of peace. The Prophet of Islam started his mission in 610 CE in Makkah. What was his method of preaching? He used to visit gatherings of people and say to them: Ya ayyuhan-nas qulu la ilaha illallah tuflihu (“O people! Say, ‘There is no god but God’ and you will be successful”). This is the ideology of Islam. It is based on tawhid, the oneness of God.
Whenever the Prophet had to choose between two options, he would always opt for the easier one [not the harder one].
Aisha, wife of the Prophet says of him: “Whenever the Prophet had to choose between two options, he would always opt for the easier one [not the harder one].” (Bukhari)
Now, what is the easier option, and what is the harder one?
An easier option is the peaceful method, while a harder option is violence. The Prophet always opted for the peaceful method. This was his practice.
These two—tawhid or the oneness of God, and peace—are the two basic principles of Islam. We need to make people aware of this.
It is an undeniable fact that due to wrong interpretations of Islam, some sections of our society are today engaged in hate and violence.
During a visit to America, I was invited to speak at a church. After the talk, a Christian scholar asked, “In the Bible, there is a beautiful teaching, to ‘love your enemies’. Can you cite any such teaching from the Quran as well?”
I could read this gentleman’s mind, at the back of which was lurking the misunderstanding that Islam teaches hate for others. His mind had probably been shaped by media reports of Muslims engaging in violence in various parts of the world, and so he might have been led to believe that there must be some intellectual basis for this in the Quran.
I replied to him, saying, “It is a fact that some Muslims are indeed engaged in violence. But this is not based on Islamic teachings. The Quran says: ‘Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend’ (41: 34). It means to do good in return for bad deeds and you will see that your enemy has become your dearest friend.”
I explained that this is a law of nature. According to this law, people should be categorized not as friends and enemies, but rather as friends and potential friends. Every person is our friend—either an actual friend or a potential friend. Turn your potential friend into an actual friend by doing good to him, and you will discover that everyone is your friend!
It is an undeniable fact that due to wrong interpretations of Islam, some sections of our society are today engaged in hate and violence.
This is the Islamic teaching on the matter. It is based on friendship, harmony, peace, love, and compassion.
Dawah Work: The Greatest Target
Here, I wish to add an important point. If you want to make people peaceful, you will have to give them a target to fulfil. Giving them an ideology is good, but that alone will not work. We have to give them a target. And what is that target? It is dawah work, the work of inviting people to God. It is to communicate the word of God to others.
We at the Centre for Peace and Spirituality, have prepared translations of the Quran in various languages, and many people in different countries are engaged in distributing these, as well as other literature on Islam and peace. Our young volunteers across the globe are engaged in dawah work. We have set specific targets for them to achieve. They distribute literature, interact with people and engage in dawah work in different ways. Earlier these people were living in negativity, in hate, but now they are living in love and compassion.
If we want people to be peaceful, we will have to help them change their minds. At the same time, it is also necessary to give them a purpose, a task, a target.
There are numerous Quranic verses and Hadith reports telling us that the Quran was sent for the whole of humankind. For instance, the Prophet of Islam said: “No house on earth—big or small—will remain but God’s word shall enter into it.” (Musnad Ahmad)
It means that in the Divine Plan, this book, this message of God, must reach all of humankind. This work needed some resources and technology, which were not available in the 7th century. Now, however, everything is available. Today, there is openness and modern methods of communication and publishing, and so on. All that we need to perform the task of conveying the message of the Quran to people is available.
According to the Divine Plan, we have to spread this word of God to the whole of humankind. This is our target. This means that we must prepare translations of the Quran in every major language and spread them throughout the world to reach every human being. As mentioned earlier, if we want people to live in peace, we need to give them a target, and this is the greatest target.
People should be categorized not as friends and enemies, but rather as friends and potential friends.
It is a fact that we have the preserved book of God, the Quran. We have the Sunnah (practice and teachings of the Prophet). The Quran and the Sunnah are the only sources of Truth, Truth with a capital ‘T’. It is our belief that everyone is born as a seeker. Everyone wants to discover the Truth with a capital ‘T’, but only the Quran and the Sunnah are sources of this Truth. Thus, the Quran and Sunnah need to be conveyed to every person across the world.
If our youth have this target, it will create a great enthusiasm, a great sense of mission and purpose in them. When they are motivated by such a target, they will abandon all hatred and violence.
Two-Point Formula
To reiterate, the problem of terrorism is extremely serious, and the way out is a two-point formula. First, we need to help people engaged in terrorism to realise that Islam is a religion of peace, a religion of compassion, a religion of blessing. This can be done through literature and other means. Then, we have to set them a target. Without a target, a theory or an ideology will not work. And the best and biggest target is dawah work, conveying the message of the Quran to people across the world. This is the greatest mission. Muslims are dayees, those who invite people to God. The greatest mission of Muslims is shahadah ala an-nas (bearing witness to the truth before humankind), that is, dawah ilallah (calling people to God).
It is a mission that earns eternal Paradise for those who sincerely engage in it.
Political Interpretation of Islam
If we want to make the people engaged in terrorism to give up violence and become peaceful, we must change their minds. We will have to give them an alternative ideology. In the first half of the 20th century, Muslims were living in a sense of loss—a loss of political power. At this time, few thinkers emerged who propagated a political interpretation of Islam. This appealed to the mind-set of many Muslims who keenly felt the loss of Muslim political power. And so, they accepted this interpretation of Islam very easily. Today, many Muslims are obsessed with this interpretation. The real problem is this political interpretation of Islam.
The advocates of the political interpretation of Islam wanted to establish Islamic rule or Muslim rule all over the world. Finding the seats of political power already occupied by others, they set about trying to unseat them. This led to violence and terrorism.
From Living in a Sense of Loss to Living in a Sense of Gain
The political interpretation of Islam is the root of all this violence in the name of Islam that Muslims are today engaged in. And the only reason why it became so widely acceptable was that Muslims were living in a sense of loss. Given this, it is imperative that we provide them with a sense of gain. We have to help them realise that Islam is a faith that leads one to Paradise, and so in every situation a Muslim can live in a sense of gain. The Prophet of Islam lived in every situation in a sense of gain, not in a sense of loss.
Calling people to God is a mission that earns eternal Paradise for those who sincerely engage in it.
This is the solution to the problem of terrorism. We need to present the right interpretation of Islam to people. In addition, we need to provide them with a target, a goal—which is dawah work. Then, I believe, the problem of terrorism in the name of Islam will be solved.
Thank you!
