Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din

“ We should find that the real aim of all wars and international rivalries lies in the motive of the rapacity of one to dispossess the other of a tempting prize, which may be a large piece of unexploited land, some trading interest, or any other similar object. How ever insignificant this source of temptation, the devastation and bloodshed which results from them is often appalling. Consequently the first concern of an institution aiming at the establishment of peace in the world should, in the first place, be to attempt most seriously to solve this problem of "thine and mine." ”

“ A true religion would create in us a spirit which if on the one hand would induce us to be ever-active in winning riches of life, it on the other would also make us ready to part with them in making others happy. ”

“ Islam gives due weight to human nature when it attempts to solve those difficulties which hamper the growth of any useful institution in the world. Accordingly, if we desire to secure peace, we must in the first place contemplate those circumstances which destroy it. Wars, private or national rivalries, and crimes are but the synonyms of disorder and the absence of peace. ”

“ Man is a worshipping animal. He has always adored the Unseen, and has ever been ready to give up everything near and dear to him to please the Deity. Islam has on the one hand, therefore, prescribed a course of discipline under which a Muslim would learn to give up his time, his wealth, his eatables and drinks, and his family and country attachments in the way of God, and on the other hand the religion of God impresses on the minds of its votaries that the cause of Allah is another name for the cause of humanity. ”

“ But the solidarity of this whole begins to be a little shaken when this passion for "thine and mine" begins to find expression, however feebly in their little acts and words. This is the beginning of what causes disintegration in the midst not only of family, but a larger social unit as well, viz., a nation or a community, and its still larger prototype the whole human race. The wars of one nation against another only represent on a very large scale the petty jealousy between one member of a family against another. The self-same motive of "thine and mine" being responsible everywhere. ”

“ Next in the upward scale is our need for conjugal life. We are animals, though rational, and our natural state of life after we are grown up demands a reasonable satisfaction of our human instincts which directs us to find in a conjugal life the best form of a happy and contented life; as a necessary corollary to the last mentioned is our need of finding means to successfully bring up our children and to provide all that is necessary for their future happiness in life. The last great object of our attachment and devotion is our nation and the country to which we belong. ”

“ To deprive people of the fruits of their honest labour would not only be unnatural and preposterous, but freeze as well the very spirit of energy and bring the wheel of civilization to immobility. The world would be more prosperous and peaceful, too, if all were allowed to reap fully the benefits of their work, with a strong sense created in them to part voluntarily with their earnings in relief of distress and misery. This will chasten the evil aspect of the spirit of "thine and mine" into a blessing. ”

“ Islam, as it literally signifies, is a religion of peace, and through these above-noted five principles it has tried to establish peace in the world and the hereafter, which only can be the goal of a religion from God. ”

“ All of these more or less directly move our activities in life, and become useful or harmful to other fellow men according to the degree and interest with which they are served. The passion for our country as for instance, which we designate patriotism, has always been the cause of immense blood-spilling and ruin when it began to work beyond the limit of self-determination. ”

“ It should definitely direct how this peace is to be made and the peace-making psychology created. That this highly personal motive "thine and mine" be allowed to work within desirable limits, and a rule of actual practice be brought into existence, it is desirable that practical ways be suggested which would regulate the activities of human life. Instead of bringing about equilibrium in the possession of individuals by means of force, it would be much better to inspire them with the spirit of charity and self-sacrifice. ”

“ The harm lies in his attachment to these interests to such a degree as would lead him to trample on the rights of others. A religion under which the rich man is confronted with the insuperable difficulty of making the camel pass through the eye of the needle before he can enter the kingdom of heaven has never appealed to humanity. It would cause inertia and lethargy as it did in the days of the Middle Ages. We need a religion from God which may create the happy mean and save us from the disasters of going to extremes. ”

“ Let it not follow from this that the love of one's self, one's belongings, one's wife and children, and of one's country, are nothing but evil. Far from it. On the other hand, man being a social creature depends for his well-ordered and progressive existence on these essential main-springs of his activities. ”

“ The prime need of the world is not the ideal in its abstract form, but it is, on the other hand, the laying down of such practical rules and guidances—a course of life-discipline which may enable us to read abstract ideas in the terms of actualities. ”

“ If these holy, selfless, and pious activities so many times a day become the regular course of my life, it would not be a difficult thing for me to spend my time to help the happiness of others at the cost of my own business. ”

“ In reality Islam has, through its rational teachings, induced its votaries not only to abandon what is unlawful to them, but even to give up what otherwise rightfully belongs to them in the hope that it may tend to the welfare and happiness of others. For one who has become accustomed under the inspiration of Islam to take such a view of his relations to. ”

“ Next to time come those means which satisfy our physical hunger: the provisions which sustain life, and keep the vigour of life alive in us. After these are the needs of our body in the way of apparel. ”

“ Pass your eye down all the 90 per cent, of the crimes which darken our society, and you will surely find a cure for all of them in the simple expression spoken by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, who says: "If people would become responsible as to the right use of what lies between their lips and their legs, I stand responsible for their entry into Paradise." Islam prescribes the cure for this in fasting ”

“ The last named is called "zakát," the expenditure of which is not permissible to the payer himself. The "zakát," has to be paid into a fund under the supervision of a committee, who make use of it for eight different purposes as laid down in the Qur-án in this wise:—
"Alms are only for the poor and the needy, and the officials (appointed over) them, and those whose hearts are made to incline to truth and the ransoming of captives, and those in debt and in the way of Allah: an ordinance from Allah, and Allah is Knowing, Wise". ”

“ Likewise one has every right to enjoy the company and society of one's wife, but when he gives it up within prescribed time during the month of Ramadzan, without any compulsion, he truly has developed his character to the extent of not even casting a lustful glance on any other woman in ordinary times. ”

“ Every Muslim is expected to take stock of his savings once a year, and has to disburse 21⁄2 per cent., of this as "alms." Charity takes two different forms in Islam. One sort is optional and the other compulsory. ”

“ The provisions of old age pensions, parish relief measures and other similar means of saving indigent members of a society from the ravages of poverty and want, are but replicas of Islamic provisions of poor law. ”

“ Candidly speaking, if what we find in the New Testament be taken as a genuine record of Jesus, his compatriots were not to be blamed too much if they could not see their way to endorse the visionary view of the dreamer. Leave apart others ”

“ At some distance from the Holy Temple of the Lord all pilgrims have to divest themselves of their ordinary apparel and to don a uniform which is same for all. One sheet covers the upper body and the other the legs ”