World Peace- The Islamic Methodology
By QasimI just got back from a conference, one of many being held around the UK organised by the IFE (Islamic Forum Europe). I just thought I’d post because of the surprisingly big impact it’s had on me thats ‘re-inspired me’, if you like, to correct certain aspects of practising Islam alongside my everyday life. The talk was given by Jamal Badawi, one of my favourite Muslim lecturers, and focused mainly on how Muslims living in the West should act on trying to attain peace, not just on a global political scale but on a local community scale, and also on finding peace within themselves.
On a global scale he talked about how world events took a toll on how others view Muslims, and how this reflects badly on the religion. Indeed, its only by showing people that Islam doesn’t promote acts of terror, that Islam doesn’t promote treating women badly etc, that will remind people that the Muslims they’ve read in the news about are possibly not Muslims at all at heart, and are not perfect human beings. He talked about the scorn we get when we talk about Islam being at the forefront of the solution to global peace. Peace is possibly the biggest strand that Islam stands for! So this reflected on how the Muslim community at large don’t seem to be reflecting Islam in a positive manner. On a local scale he reiterated the huge importance of good relations with neighbours. Just made me think of how powerful simple things like giving up your train seat, even smiling can mean more to a person than in if he sat and listened to you for one hour talking about your religion. Much of the time it is actions that tend to shape what people think of you, not words.
On an individual level, the message he gave was that if you believe in God, you know deep down you’ll only be content with yourself, you’ll only find peace with yourself once you know that you are worshipping God the way you should be, giving him the respect he deserves.
I guess this personal fact held special relevance to me because I’ve always found it a struggle to fuse the two main aspects of my life, my religion and the English culture I live together. I’ve always been sort of torn between the two, switching modes as and when appropriate. As a result I’ve often found I am unhappy with what I’ve been unable to achieve both socially, in work, and ofcourse in practising Islam due to this, and this only lead to a depressing downward spiral which can only get worse because mentally, you can’t find the single stance you want to live life by. I’ve learnt that life is a give-give situation. You give God all you can, and he gives you happiness as a reward. (A reward-as if paradise isnt enough! 
) That’s why this talk really held out for me as truly inspirational.
Another vital point- Jihad is an ACT OF PEACE! Jihad, in the combative context, means to defend your lands and religion from onslaught, to gain peace. Maybe if people started realising this, they could start deciphering the good cases of Jihad from the bad. Maybe America would realise their presence in Iraq isn’t good for anyone!
I hope this article affects others who need it the way it affected me insha’Allah 
. (God willing)
April 10th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
It’s really good to see that these talks are inspiring to you as well as many other Muslims who are somewhat stuck between, as you said, the world we are living in and the religion we are following. I’ve always seen Islam as the perfect balance. There isn’t anything in Islam that stops you from doing anything positive, and there isn’t anything that will obstruct you from gaining the best there is to gain in this world. Looking on Islam as a way of life rather then as a religion really makes it so much easier because Islam isn’t a set of rules, it’s more like a state of being. Of being good, friendly, neighbourly, kind, modest and truthful. Islam itself comes from the word peace and submission how can you ever separate it from such terms? The character of a Muslim should make us distinguishable from others in a positive light, and that is what we learn so strongly from the life of the Prophet Muhammed
.
I also attended a ‘Radical Middle Way’ event in Manchester not too long ago and Alhamdullilah it was also very good. I think that the facilities are in place - we just need to motivate the rest of the Muslims into this light.
I just saw your update - I am amazed that people are still using terms such as ‘Jihadist’ and ‘Islamist’, ‘Fundamentalist’ and ‘Extremist’ to describe Muslims. I am really shocked to see that even though people know what they mean (like you said about Jihad), they still keep using the media to enforce this brainwashing of ‘Terrorist = Jihadist = Muslim’ mentality which has really affected the way people view Muslims today.
November 12th, 2006 at 1:19 am
[...] Well, I wrote this article a while ago for Usayd Networks, but its such an important issue I thought I’d re-post it. I just got back from a conference, one of many being held around the UK organised by the IFE (Islamic Forum Europe). I just thought I’d post because of the surprisingly big impact it’s had on me thats ‘re-inspired me’, if you like, to correct certain aspects of practising Islam alongside my everyday life. The talk was given by Jamal Badawi, one of my favourite Muslim lecturers, and focused mainly on how Muslims living in the West should act on trying to attain peace, not just on a global political scale but on a local community scale, and also on finding peace within themselves. [...]