Islam and world peace

The Ahmadiyya Community of Islam, a Muslim community with a missionary vocation, was founded in India in 1989 and has dedicated its 100-something years of existence to spreading the values of peace, tolerance and brotherhood that characterise authentic Islamic religious teaching throughout the world.    

Our motto is "love for all, hate for none" and with this conviction our community has spread to 210 countries in the world where it counts almost two hundred million faithful. 

According to the Koran, God has sent prophets to all peoples to establish peace, tranquillity. We consider ourselves as the Buddha was a prophet of God. God says in the Koran: "Indeed, We have sent you with the truth as a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And there was no nation but that there had passed within it a warner." (C.35: Al Fatir:25)

Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.(C. 5: Al-Maida: 70) 

All prophets are the same. The Koran states: "We make no distinction between any of His messengers."

One of the Holy Prophet of Islam's companions got into a rather passionate argument with a fanatical follower of the Prophet Jonah of the whale. Both sides claimed in the debate that their prophet completely outdid the other in excellence. It seems that the Muslim contender hurt the sensitivity of the follower of Jonah with his arguments. The follower addressed the Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings on him, and made his complaint against the Muslim with whom he was debating. Addressing the community at large, the Prophet expressed the following words in an instructive spirit: "One should not say that I am better than Jonah (i.e. Yunus) bin Matta."

On another occasion the same thing had happened with a Jew. Both asserted and contradicted respectively the relative superiority of their spiritual leaders. In the same way, it was the non-Muslim contender who considered it fair to express his complaint about the behaviour of the Muslim adversary. The Holy Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him, responded with his usual prudence and humility, teaching the Muslim the same lesson of courtesy and decency, by admonishing: “Do not declare that I am superior to Moses” (Bukhari: ibid.)

This is essential for the establishment of inter-religious peace. The holy prophet Muhammad Saw said: "All prophets are brothers".  

It must also be borne in mind that no religion with a universal message can even momentarily think of using force to proclaim its message. The sword can win territories, but not hearts. Force can bend heads, but not minds. Islam strictly forbids the use of force for the propagation of His message and affirmation in the Holy Qur'an: "There should be no compulsion in religion." (2:257) 

Islam also considers that freedom of expression is vital for the dissemination of the message, as well as for the restoration of human dignity, as religion is not worthy of consideration if it does not restore human dignity. Today, freedom and emancipation are two important slogans that are influencing the world in different ways to a greater or lesser extent. There is no doubt that man is increasingly aware of the importance and value of freedom. The need for emancipation is felt everywhere. Emancipation from the yoke of foreign rule, dictatorship, corrupt democracy, ignorance, superstition and so on.  

As the Buddha explained; "Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love".

In conclusion, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement of Islam explains a fundamental principle of Islam in his latest book entitled " A Message of Peace ": "Islam is this holy and peaceful religion that has never attacked the founder of any other community or religion". And the Qur'an is this distinguished book, which laid the foundation of peace among nations and has recognized the prophets of each of them. Only the Holy Koran, among the writings of the whole world, can proudly say that it teaches the following doctrine concerning humanity: "We believe in all the prophets of the world, and we make no distinction between them"... Let them name another holy book containing such an affirmation and such a teaching for peace! The Holy Koran does not restrict the goodness of God to any one race. It recognises all the prophets of the house of Israel...as well as all the prophets who came into the world wherever they were, whether in India or Persia or in any other country. He does not accuse any of them of being liars or impostors; on the contrary, he maintains that all countries, all peoples, were visited by prophets, thus laying the foundation stone towards the building of world peace. But it is distressing to see how all nations insult this same Prophet of peace, and look down on him with contempt. "This principle of mutual respect, especially with regard to the prophets and the holy figures of all the world's religions, will play a major role in creating a climate of peace and tolerance". 

We conclude by saying that it is our aim to make our motto "Love for all, hate for none" a reality. 

Kaleem Ahmed. Theologian and Imam of the Baitur Rahman Mosque