Peace Resolution - Presented by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

Dated: 27 April 2016

The wave of terrorism has engulfed Pakistan, in particular, and the whole world, in general. The menace of extremism and terrorism has plagued the entire human society, taking a heavy toll on innocent people every day. This wave of terrorism is, in fact, a continuation of the tribulation of the Kharijites. The Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) explicitly acquainted the Umma with all the aspects, features and details of this monstrous evil. We have to strive collectively with perfect unity and one accord to eliminate the plague and protect our country and people from the peril; the earlier, the better. The safety and survival of human society depends upon total emancipation from extremism and terrorism. The Creator of the universe is the most compassionate and ever-merciful to His creation while Muhammad, the final Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him), is an embodiment of mercy and compassion who Almighty Allah raised as mercy for all the worlds. Therefore, how it be possible that his followers will slaughter each other? All such activities are contrary to his teachings and cannot be considered as the teachings of Islam. Thus, every member of the Muslim Umma needs to be an epitome of moderation, tolerance, compassion and mercy.

The forces of peace and harmony need to launch a practical struggle with well-coordinated planning to get rid of the tribulation of extremism and terrorism. This is a common goal of the whole of humanity. We put forth this peace resolution to make this international struggle a great success and urge all the peace-loving people to pledge and demand the implementation of all its items and enable the whole of humanity to unite against the menace to guarantee the world peace.

Islam, a religion of love, abhors violence. It gives a message of brotherhood and peace to all societies and nations and urges the whole humanity to uphold the banner of mutual love, respect, and justice.
Islam is a religion dedicated to service of humanity. In Islam, love and service of the whole humanity has been regarded as worship. Therefore, there is a dire need of promoting Islamic teachings of love and egalitarianism.
We strongly condemn and reject terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations.
All human beings are equal and we should treat all of them fairly in a tolerant, just and equal manner. According to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an, no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab except piety.
We strongly condemn linguistic, regional and sectarian prejudices and make a resolve to struggle for social justice and equality.
All provisions of National Action Plan (NAP) given by the Government of Pakistan should be implemented for elimination of terrorism. Parliament should immediately convene its joint session to formulate national policy against terrorism. Legislation free of ambiguity should be enacted and its implementation should be ensured. Furthermore, operation Zarb-e-Azb must continue until the complete elimination of terrorism and tribulation of Kharijites.
Passing statements in favour of terrorists and provision of any facilitation, shelter and support to them should be declared as non-bailable offence and strict punishment should be prescribed for it.
Roots of terrorism lie in sectarianism, extremism and ‘takfiriyyat’. Fatwas declaring other Muslims as infidels should be banned and strict punishment should be prescribed for it.
The judges of anti-terrorism courts should give verdicts against terrorists in the same bold and fearless manner in which they hand down punishment to other criminals in other cases. Terrorists should be punished in days, not months and years and implementation of their punishments should be ensured.
Hurdles in the way of military courts should immediately be removed so that they could decide cases of terrorism and bring the terrorists and hardened criminals to justice.
Reforms in curriculum and system of religious seminaries should be ensured and a national monitoring cell should be constituted for their curriculum, which should be responsible to identify extremist thoughts in syllabi of religious institutions and weed it out. All religious seminaries should be asked to get their curriculum reviewed by this cell and there should be complete ban on teaching of any other curriculum except the one approved by the monitoring cell.
Zarb-e-Ilm should immediately be announced to flush out terrorism from society and Islamic Curriculum on Peace and Counter-Terrorism designed by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri should be taught in religious seminaries and other educational institutions.
Such a forum should be set up at the official level as should review funding going to religious seminaries and organizations very minutely. Complete ban should be imposed on direct funding to these seminaries, parties and organizations on sectarian, organization or institutional grounds. A pool should be set up for aid coming from the Islamic countries on the pattern of scholarships provided by the western countries from where funds could be issued on the bases of equality.
Publication and distribution of literature responsible for propagation of extremism, sectarianism and terrorism should be banned altogether.
Blasphemy of all Prophets including the Holy Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) cannot be termed as freedom of expression at all. It is a sheer violation of rights of the followers of all religions in the light of teachings of religions and international laws.
Factors such as poverty, economic inequality, unemployment and exploitation support the forces of terrorism and extremism to dig deep. Effective but immediate steps should be taken for development of backward areas. Provision of quality education and health facilities in such areas can help.
The organizations and parties having extremist thoughts and ideologies should be banned and they should not be allowed to reappear and work under changed names. The leaders and personalities promoting hatred and extremism should also be banned and they should not be allowed to work in any manner. Legislation should be carried out and those violating such laws should be proceeded against in the ant-terrorism courts.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) is the greatest ambassador of peace in the history of mankind. He always preferred peace and promoted it. He abstained from waging a war to every possible extent because wars do not solve problems. We demand to propagate the Prophet’s teachings of peace and love and condemn all actions that are meant to put the world in the pit of war.
Emphasis has been placed on all categories of al-Jihad al-Akbar at individual level, whereas lawful war can be launched at the state level after sufficient conditions have been found to exist. There should be no permission for militant activities at individual or organizational level. The elements that are spreading mischief in the name of jihad should be crushed mercilessly because those defaming Islam deserve no concession.
There are manifest Islamic teachings of peaceful co-existence with non-Muslims. Therefore, we condemn every kind of excess against non-Muslim and demand of the government to set up an effective system for protection of non-Muslims so that economic, social, political and legal exploitation of the less privileged sections of society could end.
We also demand of all the governments of the world that they should protect their minority communities against hatred, violence, lack of tolerance and nationalism.
It is also our demand that patronage of terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations should be eliminated at official level.
Discrimination in international laws and attitudes should be done away with to pave the way for equality.
We demand immediate enforcement of provisions of this resolution of peace and pledge to abide by them in letter and spirit. We also announce to become part of this worldwide mission of love and peace.