Peace central message of Islam: Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri

Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri, president of MQI’s Supreme Council, has said that the essential message of every divine religion including Islam is the establishment and promotion of peace and harmony. It is an unfortunate fact that a handful of extremists have used the fair name of religion, Islam, to promote their nefarious agenda. It is also equally regrettable and unfortunate that the blame has come to be laid at the doors of Islam for the proliferation of terrorist and extremist tendencies in the world. At a time when there is all the more need of engagement and interfaith dialogue among religions, civilizations and communities, such an attitude does not serve the cause of peace. What is more is that we are allowing our prejudices and biases to stand in the way of objective appraisal.

Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that it was wrong to resort to stereotyping and profiling of Islam by invoking the isolated actions of a few misguided elements. ‘The instances of extremism and terrorism in some parts of the Muslim world represent a clash between the forces of moderation and extremism. A small minority of bigots cannot dictate their agenda and impose their version of Islam on the peaceful majority of Muslims,’ he added.

Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that the message of Islam is peace, tranquility and unity. The word 'Islam', takes its origin from saluma (safety) or silm (peace). Etymologically and literally the word 'Islam' means 'peace, tranquility and harmony'. The word 'Imaan' can be rendered into or more clearly it means 'faith'. Every religion is based on faith. Faith is known as Imaan in Islamic terminology. Imaan has its own root-word and that is amn. Amn again means 'peace, tranquility and harmony'. The difference between Islam and Imaan can be explained in the sense that there is a faith to be believed in and there is practical order to be practiced. The faith is known as Imaan and the practical order is known as Islam.

Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri expressed these views while delivering keynote speeches during his visit of Europe. He said that it is important to take a holistic view of the entire phenomenon of extremism and understand its genesis in relation to social, economic and intellectual contexts. ‘Terrorism is a culmination of an evolutionary process and the strategy to eradicate it should be comprehensive aimed at addressing the root causes,’ he commented. Sahibzada Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri held that there is a battle of ideas between exclusive and inclusive ideologies. To be able to defeat terrorism and extremism, the proponents of this hate ideology need to be exposed through recourse to original text of the Holy Quran, Hadith and commentaries of jurists. He said that Islam negates and condemns all manifestations and forms of terrorism. A true Islamic state, by definition, is a peaceful state with zero tolerance level for terrorism and extremism. Islam is the first faith which gave constitutional protection to the rights of minorities and women in an Islamic state.

He said that Minhaj-ul-Quran International is playing the role of a bridge between the Muslims and non-Muslims. It is trying to remove misconceptions and misunderstandings about Islam. The recently launched Fatwa (religious decree) by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri represents the first frontal attack on the so-called perverted ideology of terrorists and exposes the fallacy of their arguments they have been using to justify their otherwise reprehensible actions.

Given the enormous challenges posed to the peace of world, it is high time peace-loving people and leaders of all faiths formed partnerships and initiated joint struggle for promotion of peace, harmony and interfaith dialogue for a better tomorrow. ‘It is time to review our conduct and act collectively once and for all for the establishment of peace in the world,’ he concluded.