It is very important that normalcy must be returned to the international order. We all must strive to establish peace and make it the new normal on this Earth. It can be done through inner peace and real peace. Take an egg that breaks from outside; utilize it, use it, misuse it, or destroy it. Take an egg that breaks, from the inside, a life is born. The peace born from inside is the Inner Peace. It should be cultivated, maintained, and strengthened through training and remembrance of God. A Muslim performing Islamic prayer at home, submitting himself to the will of God will unlock inner peace training himself to establish outer peace. During Islamic prayer, he is away from noises and disturbances, learns to become calm, and concentrates and focuses on the presence of the Almighty God to achieve tranquility and peace. ISLAM means to submit to the will of God; Salaam means peace.
To establish peace, we will have to look at ourselves. As human beings, we’re an interesting creature on this Earth. Astronomers and physicists are exploring the universe and found we’re lost, cut off, and alone in this universe. Our spaceship Earth is moving in this void and emptiness, while we are looking for other species like us in the galaxies and other worlds in the emptiness of outer space. We’ve found no one yet. What we’ve discovered is what makes this emptiness bearable is that we have each other.
We have each other. We are people of different faiths. We believe in the supreme power who has designed this universe.
We have to help each other and remove obstacles preventing us from progressing and moving in the direction of the path that leads and encourages in establishing world peace. We’ve heard many times the expression that we are all in the same boat. No, we are not in the same boat. We are people of different faiths in different boats, but in the same ocean, facing the violent storm, high winds, lightning, thunder, and the fury of the ocean together.
One thing is certain we are together in the same ship – the Earth, our spaceship. We are living in different regions and different countries sharing the same earth. On this Earth bad things are happening; wars and conflicts, people getting killed, persecuted, being driven out of their homes, becoming refugees and some becoming refugees in their own countries.
We are people of faith working to bring peace using inner peace.
As I said earlier, Islam means submitting to the will of God and Salaam means peace. A Muslim is performing Islamic prayer at home, submitting himself to God; standing, kneeling, feeling the presence of God, and reciting verses from the Quran. During prayer the inner peace is brought out.
A Muslim goes to the Mosque, meets other Muslims. There he is standing shoulder to shoulder in line with other Muslims; standing in line means showing discipline; standing shoulder to shoulder showing solidarity, in essence displaying discipline and solidarity. During the congregation prayer, the Imam is reciting verses from the Quran, “God, guide us to the straight path. You reward those who do good deeds, punish those engaged in bad deeds.”
The Imam further recites, “God loves those with trust, those who do good, those who do justice, establish peace, those who are clean and engage in doing good deeds.”
Imam recites further, “God does not love those given to excesses, do mischief on earth, transgressors, arrogant, treacherous ingrate and those who waste resources, disobedient, wrong-doers.”
These are the ingredients for establishing outer peace, bringing out the inner peace through remembrance of God in the form of Islamic prayer; a reminder and a training session. Peace can be restored or peace can be destroyed, and will end up bringing chaos, disturbing the world order.
A Muslim fasts and feels the pain of hunger, starvation, and famine. The other pillar of Islam is paying the Islamic mandatory charity called Zakat and helping those who need help. This is a reminder to do good by using inner peace to establish outward peace in the world. A Muslim by remembering that God loves those who do good and God does not love those who are wrongdoers; he aligns himself in the direction of working for the welfare and improvement of mankind.
Work to make PEACE the new NORMAL in this world. We ALL have looked inside our hearts and found inner Peace and brought it outwards following the commands of our faith.
Each Muslim knows the commands of God; what is good and what is bad. How to live with peace on this planet. Coming together with inner peace, it is the beginning; Staying together, it is progress; and now working together is success.
The top three mandatory Pillars of Islam are PRAYER, FASTING, AND CHARITY. As I already mentioned it; ISLAM means to submit to the will of God; Salaam means peace.
SALAAM AND PEACE.
[Mohammad Yacoob is the former Vice Chairman of Islamic Center of Southern California and former President, Masjid Ul Islam, Inglewood, California. This article is an extract from his speech delivered recently at the Interfaith meeting of PeaceCenter LA, Los Angeles, California]