The meaning of the word Islam is peace. Another
meaning is obedience. To achieve peace in personal and societal life through
obedience to the Creator is the principle proposed by Islam. Upholding moral
values, ethics and maintaining discipline in personal life and thus in the
society is very much essential in order to establish peace and justice in the
world. People should dedicate themselves to achieve this goal.
While a group of people work towards this aim, it
is quite natural that those rulers, intermediaries who live upon exploiting the
people through injustice and immoral means in the society will stand against
them and oppose their movement. To protect their evil interests, they will
instigate the ignorant masses and turn them against those good souls by
spreading lies and false propaganda. They will use all possible means to
oppress those good people and their followers in order to wipe them out of
their country.
In such a situation, how should the people of the
mission to establish peace work to achieve their goal?
A study of history of the messengers of God,
particularly the life history of the last messenger Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),
reveals us certain important and wise steps to be followed by the aspirants to
establish peace on earth which can never be ignored.
The messengers of God were sent to different
parts of the world at different periods of time. They found their respective
nations living in turmoil amidst superstitions in the name of religions, idol
worship, tribal wars, treachery, injustice, enmity,
exploitation, immorality etc. under the influence of Satan. They admonished the people against the evils they
were committing to their own selves and against each other. They warned the
oppressors and exploiters, against the excesses they were committing on others
with punishment of God. Also they gave good tidings to those who do good.
The messengers reformed the people gradually by
reminding them about the oneness of mankind and oneness of God and their
answerability to Him. They freed their respective people from superstitions.
They taught the people to directly worship God without formalities and
intermediaries. As a result of this they started ignoring the intermediaries
and ruling class who were exploiting them in the name of religion. Realising
the harm done to their selfish interests, the exploiters extensively oppressed
the messengers and their followers to force them to stop their movement. They
also instigated the ignorant masses against those good souls. They faced
killings, social boycott, tortures and other oppressions.
REFORMATION
PROCESS
The
main mission of messengers of God was to reform the people by reminding them
three basic truths which they often forget under the influence of Satan.
1. Oneness of mankind: The whole mankind is one which has originated from one
couple. All human beings, irrespective of their race, color, nation, tribe,
language etc belong to the same family.
2. Oneness of God:The universe and its contents are created, cherished and
sustained by God Almighty and He is One and the only One. Man has to live in
obedience to Him. Strictly He alone deserves our worship. Attributing godhood
to anything else other than Him is a major sin as it negatively affects the
God-consciousness and thus leads to dissemination of sins in the society.
3. Answerability to God: The present temporary world is for
testing man of his obedience to God and thus man is answerable to God for his
deeds. One day the whole world will be destroyed and the Day of Judgment will
be established. The obedient will be rewarded with paradise of eternal bliss
and the disobedient will be punished in hell fire.
Along with the above
teachings the prophets taught people acts of worship like prayer, giving alms,
fasting etc. to keep them steadfast in the religion. They lived among them, freely mingling
with them and stood as role models for their respective nations. Thus they
demonstrated how to establish dharma on earth by following God's
guidance.
LESSONS FROM PROPHETS
When we
study the life incidents of the prophets as mentioned in the Holy Quran and the
traditions of the last messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) we can learn
some important lessons which are applicable at all the times. If we adopt them
sincerely we can restore peace in the world.
Some of
the important lessons from the history of messengers of God for those
people or groups who are keen to work for establishing peace on earth can be
briefed as follows:
11. Strengthen
your own belief in God and the life hereafter by gaining more knowledge and
reasoning. Practice yourself first the obedience to God (ie. in arabic Islam)
with steadfastness.
2. Maintain close relationship with God
almighty and seek his help through patience and prayers. One can gain
closeness to God by prayer, remembrance of God, fasting etc.
3.
Reform people by reminding them the above facts of life in a gentle and
compassionate way. Stand with them in their distress.
4.
Understand that the opposition, threats and oppression from the exploiters
of people will naturally arise once the people start reforming.
5. Maintain
patience and perseverance against the oppression keeping in mind we are
observed by our Lord who is going to reward us with Paradise.
6. Seek
guidance through His revelations and the tradition of the messenger of God.
7. Do
not treat fellow human beings as enemies even if they show enmity towards us.
The real enemy is the Satan who influences them.
8. Way
to establish peace on earth is not by elimination of people but by reformation
of them.
9. Do
not disturb the reformation process by expressing your anger or impatience
against the acts of the ignorant masses and the oppressors.
10. If
practicing Islam becomes difficult at any place where preaching is carried out,
then emigrate to a place where you can practice at ease. But never retaliate to
the oppressors
11. Do
not forget the fact that Islam is the reformation policy for human beings and
any one, irrespective of his race, color, country, tribe, language etc., can
adopt this policy to reform himself.
12. Those who join this movement should
never alienate themselves as a separate sect and treat others as their enemies.
