everything in the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him,
willingly or unwillingly? To Him, they shall all return. (3:83)
This means that God’s desired religion is the religion of peace.
The whole universe is a universe of peace. Similarly, the culture
of peace prevails throughout the animal and vegetable world. It is
desirable that this culture of peace be adopted likewise by man.
Indeed, the objective of Islam is that human beings should adhere to
this peace culture, for a full range of positive activities can blossom
only in a peaceful society.
In this age of modern communications, Muslims all over the
world have been engaging in an armed struggle in the name of
jihad. As a result of the coverage of these negative activities by the
global media, Islam has come to be regarded as a religion of violence
throughout the world.
This is an extremely serious situation. The greatest need of the
hour is to change this negative image of Islam. And it is the global
media which should be used to project the correct image. That is,
a true picture of Islam should be presented so that Islam may be
seen by the people as a religion of peace instead of as a religion of
violence.
Now the time has come for a group of Muslims to make an effort
towards this end, so that God’s religion may be universally accepted
as a religion of peace and mercy, instead of as a religion of hatred
and violence. In present times this great divine mission has yet to be
taken up by any group. Any Muslim group who undertakes this task
will receive God’s blessing and will undoubtedly be held deserving
of His greatest reward in this world as well as in the next. This great
task can be effectively performed only by Muslims who belong to a
place which is already in the eye of the world media. In present times
there are several Muslim majority areas which are so located. But
events have shown that there is only oneMuslim-majority area which
can be truly successful in making this a reality. My estimate of the
situation is that this area is that of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
For various reasons, this region is already in the world news. But, so
far, it features in the world media as representing violent Islam. Now
it is for the people of Kashmir to realize how advantageous their
position is, and make use of it along positive lines, for the image
building of Islam.
This great blessing can be achieved by the people of Kashmir
10
The Dawn Over Kashmir
