Is Peace
Possible through Religions? Today’s burning problem is the universal
establishment of peace in the world. Is peace possible through Religions? If
the answer is yes….then the question arises: why there is unrest in the world
among people of different faiths? Why there is violence in the name of
Religion? Why do people fight in the name of Religion when Religions preach
Peace? If Religions are meant for humanity what has made man mad? If The Vedas
or The Quran, or The Bible or the Kalpa Sutra or The Pentateuch or Torah or The
Avesta or The Dhamma Pada teaches Peace, why there is violence in the name of
Religions? What has gone wrong with all these Religions that the followers are
at daggers drawn and are ready to kill one another and have become not human
but monsters? Where does the loathsome canker lie?
The loathsome
canker lies at the misunderstanding of the Religious messages. The Religion is
for the uplift of mankind. It has come into being for the good of human being
then how can Religion teach violence? It is we the greedy, the selfish and the
egocentric people who have made Religion a means for our avarice. This
acquisitiveness has led us to use the Religion for our selfish ends, and hence
there are problems in the world.
Religions
teach us to be free from avarice but we are greedy.
Religions
teach us to be egoless but we are full of arrogance.
Religions
teach us to be tolerant but we are intolerant.
Religions
teach us to be free to adhere to any faith, but we propagate mine is right.
Thus we have
gone against Religions. We are NOT taking Religion for what it REALLY is and
hence there are problems in the world, and hence there is unrest in the world,
and hence there is violence in the name of Religion in the world. The true
spirit of Hinduism does not lie in distributing arms to the people or arsonning
the innocent missionaries of Charity, but the true spirit lies in the
magnanimity of the Vedas and the Upanishads that teach the concept of
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, (The Universe is one Family).
Similarly the
true spirit of Islam does not lie in attacking the Akshardham or bombing the
Parliament and crashing down the World Trade Centre. The True Islam lies in
following the basic principles ordained by Allah for the welfare of the
Humanity. The true spirit lies in following the Path of the Prophet and right
understanding of The Qu’ran and the Hadith.The True spirit of Christianity does
not lie to have an eye upon other’s wealth but it lies in loving thy neighbour
more than thy self. There is an urgent need of the day to be a True Hindu or a
True Muslim or a True Christian or a Jew or a Jain or a Buddhist or a Sikh. The
Christianity that teaches to love thy neighbour more than thyself can surely
help bring about Peace in the world as much as the Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam of the
Hinduism or Asalamo Alaykum of Islam (i.e. I wish thy safety and security the
words for greetings) or Ahimsa of Jainism. The only condition is to take the
Religions into their true Spirit.
The Religion
if followed in its true spirit can bring about peace in the world but Ritualism
or rather ritual oriented Religion does not help to bring about peace in the
world. The Religious rituals or traditions make man bigot or fanatic. Each word
of a Religious scripture must be taken into its true sense and need be
understood and interpreted with reference to context and I dare say if there is
an urgent need to reinterpret it in the interest of Humanity, it must be
reinterpreted. If the need arises to interpret any Religious Scripture in the
interest of Humanity, I would favour a new Semantics for Religion. The world’s
Intellectual Community need prepare this New Semantics of Religions and put
before the people at large to save the humanity. (Allusion towards the
interpretation of Jihad)
Needless to
say that down from the oldest Vedic Religion to the latest Bahaism, all
Religions teach Peace, love, Brotherhood and compassion. The Qu’ran teaches as
much love, compassion, brotherhood, kindness, and peace as The Vedas,
Upanishads, The Bhagwad-Gita, The Bible and the other sacred scriptures of the
world Religions. The teachings and the practices of Prophet Mohammed show us
that he taught equality, love, kindness, and generosity towards all.
Islam and
Peace: The very word Islam means Peace and surrender to the will of Allah. The
followers of Islam therefore Muslims are none but the angels of peace. Islam
does not have any place for those who have deviated from the right path. In
this context I would like to remind the Quranic verse in which it is prayed to
Allah to show the right path of those upon whom the mercy of Allah was bestowed
and not of those who have deviated from the right path. (Sura AL-Fatiha
Qu’ran.)
Islam can
help to spread and establish universal peace because Islam believes in:
1. Equality
2. Justice
3. Love
4. Compassion
5. Tolerance
6. Humanity
7.
Brotherhood
8. Free from
Avarice (Lower instincts)
9. Free from
Greed and Ego
If all these
principles are taken into their true spirit, there shall be Peace…Peace and
only Peace. All Religions do teach these Principles but Religions are NOT taken
for what they REALLY are. IF Religions are taken for what they REALLY are there
will be universal Peace.
If we see the
history of Islamic Mysticism or Sufism we come across numerous Saints who have
taught universal love and brotherhood. These saints have not only taught the
principles of love, brotherhood and non-violence from their own religion but
they had rather interwoven the principles from almost all religions of the
world. They never felt any discrimination between this religion and that
religion. They regularly held Samas (Musical Religious Meetings), in which
people of all religions could take part to sing hymns in praise of the Lord.
The Sufis from Hallaj Mansoor to Moinuddin Chisti and from Rabia to Rumi or
from Baba Farid to Anwar Kazi or Pir Inayatkhan taught message of universal
love and brotherhood. The Muslim poets either Persian Urdu or Hindi always
talked about peace and prosperity and altruism among people without any
distinction of caste creed or religion. If we talk about the Indian poets and
Saints, Kazi Anwar has interwoven in his poems the love for Lord Krishna as
much as a Gujarati poet Dayaram had filled in his poetry. We find the devotion
of Mira in the love poems of Rumi and the Bhajans of Anwar Kazi. All these Sufi
saints and poets have shown us the path to realize God or the Supreme Reality.
The teachings
of all these Sufi saints and poets must be added to school curriculum so that
the children can develop a sense of respect towards all Religions and imbibe
the teachings of the great Saints that all religions ultimately lead to the
same goal,and all Religions are for the uplift of mankind.
Peace is
possible through Religions only when:
1. Religion
is taken into its true spirit.
2. Tolerance
towards all Religions must be cultivated.
3. Respect
and regards for all Religions is taught as school curriculum.
4. Principles
of Equality, Justice, Love, Compassion, brotherhood among the people of
different faiths and the stories related to such principles from different
Religions must be high lighted and spread to people enmasse.
5. The
persons spreading hatred among people of different faiths in the name of
Religion must be stopped and there must be a backing of the state. The
intellectuals must come forward to ward-off such evil doers.
6. Instead of
conferences and seminars in the closed rooms the intellectuals need come out in
the open sky and merge with the people and make them aware of the reality.
7. False
propaganda against any Religion will be stopped.
8. Spread
love and brotherhood among people, stop hatred, odium and xenophobia.
9. Where
there are doubts and controversies regarding the interpretation of the
Religious Texts (such as the case of Jihad), a reinterpretation need be agreed
upon by the intellectuals and a New Semantics of Religion need be put forward.
10. When
Religion shall not be used for personal selfish gains.
- Intaj Malek
Link -
Painting by Stojan Milanov
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