Wars are not acts of God
The essence of peace is embedded in us. But due to a misrepresentation of the truth, the evolution of the human animal has been the evolution of violence and power struggle as we destroy ourselves, each other, and the very foundations of our lives.
WHEN wars and violence are waged against governments and nations, it is the citizens who suffer the most. Between Aug 12 to 19, 2007, Opinion Research Business (ORB), an independent British polling agency, conducted a poll on civilian casualties during the war in Iraq and found that 1,220,550 citizens were violently killed.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once said that “war is about killing people”. The former prime minister reiterated that killing people is regarded as a crime in any human society claiming to be civilised. Even if the killing were justified, it would be wrong, it would still be a crime, it would be murder.
No one may take the law into his own hands and execute a person even if that person were a murderer. This explains that depriving someone the right to a peaceful life is a crime against humanity.
The biblical maxim “an eye for an eye” (Matthew 5:38-39; Exodus 21:23-27) is explained further in the Quran (al-Baqarah, verse 178) in relation to the law of equality and law of mercy.
The verse stipulates that it is permitted for the heirs of a murder victim to demand for exact and equivalent retribution (Qisas), but at the same time, mankind is encouraged to accept less compensation than that inflicted upon them, or to forgive altogether.
Islam does not deny man his God given right to seek retribution; but it also promotes forgiveness and acceptance of blood money, not as a mandatory requisite but rather as a good deed that will eventually be rewarded.
This is to prevent mankind from falling into the trap of ‘returning evil for evil’, which will never end.
According to my understanding, if you must take a life for a life, at least there should be some measure of equality.
The killing of the slave of a tribe should not involve a blood feud where many free men would be killed, but the law of mercy with reasonable compensation would be better.
I believe such a principle is meant to save more lives as well as the innocent from suffering the repercussions of retaliation, which leads to more problems.
In this connection, the Quranic verse (al-Maidah 5:35) says: “On that account: We ordained for the children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people.
“And if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them our apostles with clear signs, yet, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.”
This verse was directed to the Jews who rebelled against God, who murdered prophets with a universal message.
The important lesson we can derive from this verse is that the continued promotion of a culture of peace is incumbent upon us all. But how would it be possible to promote peace if our inner selves are not at peace?
The religion guarantees the protection of all life. It is nothing but protection and the divine love, and the divine will of Allah expressed in the form of human existence, and the original purity of the human spirit. The spirit of all life originates from God.
There can be no enemy greater than oneself. Thus, we are back to our discussion that the essence of peace is embedded in us.
Due to a misrepresentation of the truth, the evolution of the human animal has been the evolution of violence and power struggle as we destroy ourselves, each other, and the very foundations of our lives.
Our self-defences have gone awry, and we are rapidly regressing down the road to self-destruction.
The argument is that violence in humanity is inevitable, and the claim that we are governed, without choice, by instinct honed over millions of years.
But to blame the violence of today on animal instinct is a convenient escape from responsibility, denying the very thing that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.
The same creative intelligence endowed by God with the capacity for survival has graced human form with creative spirit, compassion, and the unique power to learn and reason.
But when this creative flow is developed with negative intent, the results are destruction and violence.
At the touch of a button millions of people may die, whole cities may be destroyed, leaving the poison to defile the earth for generations to come. We cannot see and feel the pain of the enemy.
Our hands are clean, not stained by their blood, but the invisible stain on our spirit can never be erased. The enemy is not human, it feels no pain.
The destruction and violence of war, no matter how far we may be removed, is obvious. But within our daily lives there is an insidious violence which is perhaps not quite so obvious, and is just as surely affecting our consciousness and is destroying our world.
The destructive channels taken by the instincts of aggression are reflected in our modern institutions, the negative symbols of our culture.
The complexities of law enforcement agencies and the overflowing penal institutions are indicators of fear and hatred.
Requirements for hospital beds and mental institutions are increasing at an alarming rate as our minds succumb to the pressures of insecurity and the stress caused by modern life.
Sanitation and waste disposal systems are overburdened with waste which cannot be disposed of.
We are burying ourselves and our world under a mountain of garbage, an exchange of abundant natural resources for overwhelming waste.
Driven by greed and thinking selfishness, we have forgotten the beauty of nature’s great economical recycling system. Humanity has become a global parasite.
Robbing the earth of its riches and the lives of other existents, we create poison, an economic dead end. What is the way out?
We are an educated society, but there is a flaw deep within our system of education. Following our example, and following the education they receive, and the standards by which they are judged, our children are overloaded with desire for material success.
In the drive for material security, we have lost the excitement, wonder, and spiritual richness of close communion with nature. We have lost our souls.
Albert Einstein once said “we must inoculate our children against militarism, by educating them in the spirit of pacifism. Our schoolbooks glorify war and conceal its horrors. They indoctrinate children with hatred. I would teach peace rather than war, love rather than hate”.
Therefore, since wars begin in the minds of humanity, it is in the minds of humanity that the defences of peace must be constructed.
