The Only Means to Achieve Lasting Peace

Allah is as-Salam. As-salam means, roughly, the same as the English word peace, but with overtones of soundness, well being, unimpairedness, security and safety. Allah says of Himself, "He is Allah, other than Whom there is no god. He is the sovereign, the Holy, the Peace," (Q 59:23) and greets us with the words, "Peace – such is the greeting from the All-Compassionate Sustainer."(Q 36:58)

Our basic working premise concerning the subject of peace: Allah is by nature of His Being – Peace – there is no other place to get it from.

Our basic insight concerning world peace: any power, any system, any ideology, any organized or centrally controlled religion is by nature oppressive and usurping of the Divine Prerogative, regardless of either the doctrine upon which it is founded or the sincerity of its devotees. Any attempt, political, economic, military, scientific, philosophical or religious, to re-establish a world of knowledge ('ilm), justice ('adl) and mercy (rahmah) in the period stretching between the time of the death of Muhammad, the last prophet, upon whom be blessings and peace, and the appearance of al-Mahdi is ineluctably doomed to fail.

Our basic insight concerning individual, familial and communal peace: the Prophet said, "You will not have secure faith ('iman) until you love one another and have mercy on those who live upon the earth." He also said, "He who has no mercy will receive none."

Our recommendation is to seek peace where — and only where — it can be found. We believe, based on direct experience, that anything else is a waste of time.

- Sheikh Nooruddeen Durkee

What are we Teaching our Children?

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.

- Anonymous

Revealing the Hidden Treasure

... Man is the goal of creation. He has come into this world to display those Attributes of God that are reflected within himself, or in other words, to play his own part in revealing the Hidden Treasure. At the same time he is being tested: Does he remember the Covenant of Alast? Does he understand and acknowledge that he is displaying God's Treasure, not his own? The idea of the Covenant thus combines the purely metaphysical perspective of the manifestation and theophany of God's Attributes with the more religious and moral perspective of man's awareness and responsibility of his duties toward his Creator.

(Commentary by William C. Chittick, p. 69)

Inclusion not Exclusion

There is story about a Shaykh who was invited to give a talk at a Christian Church about Islam and Christianity. So he went, and they all had a grand time. The good Shaykh spoke eloquently about Jesus, accentuating his positive attributes instead of dwelling on the Trinity.
When the Christian Minister offered to come and give a talk at the Mosque, the good Shaykh thought about it for a moment and then said, "no, that would not be a good idea."
"Why not?" asked the Minister.
"Can you say that you love Muhammad?"
The Minister said, "no, we love Jesus."
The Shaykh said, "it is because you don't love our Master that you cannnot come and speak to us."

As the Shaykh said, "Inclusion, not exclusion."

- From "Kirk" (Abdul-Kareem)