The Role of Faith Communities in Promoting Peace

Assalam o alaikum
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. I would first
like to thank all of you for taking time out of your schedules to
spend this evening with us. Your coming here to this mosque
proves that you are group that is open-minded and willing to join
hands with others in the interest of building bridges of trust and
understanding.
Today, I have been asked to speak briefly about the role of faith
communities in promoting peace.
Peace is a vast subject the biggest malady in society today is lack
of peace. Man has made great material progress yet the end
result, if it was to allow one to achieve complete peace with
oneself and others, has not appeared. If we look in the situation in
our homes, in our relationships with our fellow beings, we find
that far from a sense of satisfaction, it is restlessness that
abounds. Greed is rampant; people are willing, from the individual
to the international level, to usurp the rights of others to fulfil
their own desires. Selfishness and individualism has taken the
place of collective responsibility. There is a degradation in moral
values wherever we look.
If we look to the political machinery and parties in the world, they
have also failed to secure peace. In fact, the current world
situation is precariously similar to the condition of the world
before World War Two. It seems that far from securing peace, the
political parties around the world today are accelerating the world
towards mayhem.
Historically, peace has been associated with religious teachings.
The prophets of God, which are the founders and role-models of
these faiths, have always promoted ethical values and moral
qualities. Truth, justice, fair-play, piety, chastity and all other
noble values have been the domain of religious movements since
their inception. These are values that society is desperately in
need of today.
Today there is growing mistrust among people of different
religions and nations. A simple look at the news today will prove
this point. Mistrust can breed hatred, which disturbs the peace of
many sectors of society. It is not only the responsibility of the
government to ensure that such apprehensions are not allowed to
arise, but on a smaller scale, and on a non-governmental scale,
religions and faith groups should try to spread their teachings
about tolerance and good-will to all regardless of faith, colour or
creed. As those who believe in God, it is first the responsibility of
people of faith to educate their peers about the importance of
peace and how it can be attained.
We believe that Islam is a religion revealed to the Holy Prophet
(sa) by God. The word Islam means peace and obedience.
Therefore, all the teachings of Islam revolve around trying to bring
peace to the people of the world, whether those people are
Muslims or not. It is this universal message of peace and tolerance
for others that must be spread and promoted by everyone if we
wish to achieve peace in our circles.
One may ask how this peace can be attained. The Holy Quran
tells us that true and lasting peace can only be established if one
adheres strictly to the standard of absolute justice. It is when the
standard of absolute justice is not adhered to that breeds
discontent in the hearts and minds of individuals, which can result
in ugly consequences.
In the Holy Quran, one of the attributes of God is Al-Salaam. Al-
Salaam means One who Grants Peace. Despite the differences in
the beliefs of various faiths, all accept that God is the One who
Grants Peace. Therefore, as worshippers of God, we should strive
to adopt this attribute of Allah, and spread peace within our own
circles. This concept of adopting the various attributes of Allah has
been mentioned in the following verse of the Holy Quran:
[2:139] Say, We will adopt the religion of Allah; and
who is better than Allah in teaching religion, and Him
alone do we worship.
So comprehensive is the order to adopt and spread peace in Islam
that the Muslim greeting for others is Al-Salaam o alaikum,
which literally translates as May Peace be Upon You. The Holy
Prophet (sa) of Islam ordered all Muslims to extend this greeting
to both those that they know and those that they dont. Certainly,
this was done to promote peace and goodwill among all members
of society.
I will now touch briefly on various ways religious groups can
establish peace in their own spheres of activity.
Inter-religious peace, or peace and tolerance between people of
different faiths, is something that is necessary to spread peace in
the world. If the members of the different world faiths, which
make up most of the worlds population, are at each others
throats and declare themselves as being the only source of truth,
then how can we ever hope for world-wide peace? Any religion
which hopes to establish peace in the world must acknowledge
the right of other religions to exist and to propagate their
teachings in a peaceful manner. It must acknowledge that all
religions carry certain truths. Islam provides us a teaching which
adopts this principle. Far from being threatened by other faiths,
Islam teaches that all religions have been revealed from God.
Islam teaches us that God created all human beings, and as such,
all of them were entitled to receive guidance from Allah. We
believe that God has continuously revealed himself through his
Prophets to all the people in the world, no matter what continent
or country those people inhabited. The Holy Quran, which is the
holy scripture of all Muslims, mentions 26 prophets of Allah, many
of which have been mentioned in the Old and New Testament.
These include Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Ismael, Jacob, John and
Jesus. The Holy Quran looks upon all of them as true prophets
and righteous men of God, and confirms that they were given
scriptures as well. The Holy Prophet (sa) once declared that there
have been 124 000 prophets which have been sent into the world.
As a Muslim, it is part of our faith to believe in principle the
truthfulness of all of these prophets of Allah. Once someone
accepts the truthfulness of the holy founder and scripture of
another faith, much of the mistrust and apprehensions we would
otherwise have about each other can be lifted.
Another rule that must be adopted in the interest of establishing
peace is that no person should unjustly attack the holy founder of
another faith. To maliciously attack the character of the founder
or holy person of a religion causes great anguish to the followers
of that faith. If left unchecked, such attacks will breed hatred in
the hearts of people for one another, which may very well
manifest itself in riots and violent behaviour. We have recently
seen such acts after a cartoon was published in Denmark
depicting the Holy Prophet (sa) as a terrorist, God forbid. Though
such violent reactions have no place in Islam, the Holy Quran tells
us not to abuse even the false idols of other faiths, because they
out of ignorance will then curse God. This will lead to animosity,
which ruins the peace of society. The sentiments of people of all
faiths should always be respected. Freedom of speech should be
used to reach the truth of matters in a decent and civilized
manner, not as a licence to viciously attack the sentiments of
others.
Islam also teaches that anger and hostility towards someone
should never sway one from adhering to the principles of absolute
justice. Even towards our enemies, those who have wronged us,
we should deal in a just manner. In this regard, the Holy Quran
tells us:
[5:9] O ye who believe! be steadfast in the cause of
Allah, bearing witness in equity; and let not a
peoples enmity incite you to act otherwise than with
justice. Be always just, that is nearer to
righteousness. And fear Allah. Surely, Allah is aware
of what you do.
This teaching was practically implemented by the Holy Prophet
(sa) and his companions. When the Holy Prophet (sa) first made
his claim to prophethood, he and later his followers were severely
persecuted in Mecca. Despite this persecution, many people who
disbelieved in him and actively opposed him, would leave their
valuables in his possession as a trust. They knew that despite their
differences, this was a man of such impeccable character and that
he would never act dishonestly with them.
It is only when we overlook any wrongs and adhere to the
principles of justice that peace can be established.
At this point, some of you may be wondering that if Islam truly
teaches religious tolerance, then why is it that certain Muslim
groups around the world are devoid of these sympathies? Why
do some Muslims promote terrorism and forced conversion to
Islam, among other cruelties? What gives us, the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community, the right to claim that the true teachings of
Islam are peaceful and tolerant? The answer to this is that
whoever attributes violence and cruelty to Islam, whether he is
a Muslim or not, has not understood the religion as it is found in
the Holy Quran and the practice of the Holy Prophet (sa) of
Islam. It is the belief of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community that
whenever people lose their way, God sends a reformer to show
them the path of righteousness. We believe that in this day and
age, God has sent a reformer to show the world the true path to
peace. His name is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. He came as
the prophecied Messiah of Islam and reformer of the entire
world. He claimed that it is Gods will that now through the true
teachings of Islam, the entire world be rejuvenated and that it
recognize its Creator. He emphasized again and again that this
was goal was to be achieved through peaceful propogation and
prayers. He taught that violent jihad against innocents and any
matter of cruelty has no basis in Islam. His interpretation of
Islam therefore, is the one that holds the most merit, and is the
only one which is true to the words of the Quran and the
practice of the Holy Prophet (sa).
Because of the shortage of time, I have only been able to touch on
a few subjects in this regard. Once more, I would like to re-
emphasize that it is not the role of faith communities to stir up
discord amongst the people. Faith groups should show respect to
one anothers teachings and respect each others sentiments. In
the interest of peace, people should look past any wrongs done in
the past and strive to uphold the highest levels of justice in their
dealings with each other. It is only in this way, within our own
circles, can we endeavor to build a more tolerant, peaceful
society.
Once again, I would like to thank our guests for sharing this
evening with us. May Allah bless you all.