Page 1 of 5 SPEECH BY H. H. NAWAB MOHAMMED ABDUL ALI, PRINCE OF ARCOT, CHENNAI, INDIA - ON ISLAM FOR PEACE & HARMONY IN MULTI-CULTURAL SOCIETY, AT THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND ON 9 TH SEPTEMBER, 2013. With the name of the Almighty Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, do we begin, and with His name do we end. And praise is to The Lord for His abundance blessings being showered upon us. Address: Assalamu-alaikum (may peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon you). As a scion of an old and historic family of South India, I extend to you my most warm, hearty and respectful greetings. At the outset, let me thank The Almighty Allah for having given me an opportunity to visit your ancient country, Thailand, in the august presence of many eminent audience. I am immensely thankful to His Excellency the Ambassador of Thailand to India, Mr. Pisan Manawapat for having extended an invitation to me to visit Thailand, and speak on a very important subject, under the theme Islam for Peace and Harmony in Multi-Cultural Society. I will be failing in my duty if I do not express my sincere thanks to my esteemed brother, His Excellency the Consul General of Thailand in Southern India, Mr. Chanchai Charanvatnakit for all his efforts in using his good offices in making my visit to Thailand a grand success. My itinerary prepared by the Consulate General of Thailand, in Chennai, from where I come from, is so tight schedule from morning till night for four days of my stay in Bangkok, The Consul General, Mr. Chanchai is a gentleman to the core. He is a simple and humble lovable person by nature, and above all he is down to the earth. The
Page 2 of 5 Consul General and his better-half, Madam Rashinida Chanchai, are a wonderful couple of the same calibre. I am happy to share the platform today on the topic Islam for Peace and Harmony in Multi-Cultural Society. Now regarding today s topic, Islam means peace. Let me quote a Verse from glorious Quran from Chapter 49, Verse No. 13, which describes the Islamic concept of Universal Brotherhood, brotherhood based on humanity in the best way. Its meaning is: O humankind, we have created you from a single pair from male and female, and have divided you in to nations and tribes, so that you shall recognize each other, not that you should despise each other, and the most honoured in the sight of Allah is the person who has Taqwa (God consciousness) and Allah is all knowing, full of knowledge and well acquainted with all things. The Noble Quran says in Chapter 5, verse 32 If anyone kills a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, it is as though he has killed the whole nation all the people. And if any person saves a life, it is as though he has saved the whole of human kind all then people. The Noble Quran has various laws of moral conduct, so that peace will prevail among humanity. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in the speech of his farewell Haj pilgrimage, There is only One God, our Creator, and no Arab is superior to a non-arab, nor is a non-arab superior to an Arab; a white is not superior to a black nor a black is over the white. The only criteria for superiority is Taqwa (God consciousness) it is righteousness, it is piety. Irrespective of which race you belong to, whichever colour you have, that does not make you superior. In the sight of Almighty Allah, all are equal. Only if you are more pious, more God conscious, more righteous, can you be superior. It is high time, that we should sort out differentiation based on race or colour and we should strongly discouraged it. For it is not possible for God to differentiate His own creations, on the basis of colour of birth. Therefore, I call upon the people of all faiths to counter intellectually all such attempts at sowing
Page 3 of 5 seeds of disharmony in the Multi-Cultural Society. Just as our Creator is one, we all must realize from the depth of our hearts that humanity is also one. Islam is a religion of peace in the fullest sense of the word. The root word of Islam is 'Silm', which means peace. So the spirit of Islam is the spirit of peace. The first verse of the Quran breathes the spirit of peace; it reads: "In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate." This verse is repeated in the Quran no less than 114 times. It shows the great importance Islam attaches to such values as Mercy and Compassion. One of God's names, according to the Quran, is As-Salaam, which means Peace. Moreover, the Quran states that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind. According to Islam, peace is not simply an absence of war. Peace opens doors to all kinds of opportunities which are present in any given situation. It is only in a peaceful situation that planned activities are possible. According to Islam, peace is the rule and war is only an exception. Even in defensive war we have to analyse its result; if the result is doubtful, we should avoid war. Acts of aggression are not enough for us to rush into war. We have to assess the whole situation and adopt a policy of avoidance when war is not certain to achieve a positive result. In order for peace to prevail, the human brotherhood to prevail in the world, it has to have a moral code; it has to has a moral law, which helps in Universal Brotherhood prevailing throughout the world, throughout the Universe. Islam says that if you sleep with full stomach when your neighbour is hungry, then you are not a good Muslim. It says, a perfect Muslim is one from whom mankind is safe. It says kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever has no kindness has no faith. I am sure that my talk would help in strengthening ties and pave the way for a better understanding among all people and religious communities in the world.
Page 4 of 5 I earnestly appeal to people, irrespective of caste, creed or religion to know and understand the religious believes, values and feelings of the people of other faiths, and it is very essential for the purpose of promoting Peace and Harmony and better understanding to live together in this world, as children of One God. This will go a long way to spread correct knowledge about history, traditions and culture of all religions. In my country, India, we have many religions, languages, cultures, traditions and practices. We have Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrian, Islam and many more. They all acknowledge the commonalities in our believe system. Being a follower of Islam and a devote Muslim; I strongly believe that my religion Islam preaches Peace and Universal Brotherhood. Islam strongly condemns terrorism, violence or bloodshed in the name of religion. Islam is practical and scientific religion. It is the same One God, who commissioned many Prophets, including Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them), to spread the common message of Oneness of God and peace to the entire mankind. Referring to various conflicts facing the world, the long history of tolerance and compassions should prevail in making for a better tomorrow. I wish to frank and feel sorry to say that large members of Muslims in different parts of the world have come under cruel pressure. Innocent people have been, and or been killed, in unjust wars waged against their nations. Some elements among the powerful seem to take a special interest in causing them much hardship and spreading bigotry and prejudice against them. Religion should not be a means to an end, as I refer to the rising religious fundamentalism in the world. Religious leaders of various faiths in the world have a long way to go, especially in the socio-political front, and they should speak to the people without fear or favour on every occasion. I regret that the concept of the education was restricted to just acquiring degrees and certificates and no attempt was being made to ensure decency and dignity in public and private life. The demolition of worship places, destroying
Page 5 of 5 religious books and lynching missionaries reflected poorly on the education, not only in our country, and also in the many parts of the world. I repeat, Islam is not at all a religion of terrorism, which has been misunderstood. Islam preaches peace, harmony, tolerance and universal brotherhood like any other religion. Islam is being misunderstood as religion of violence and bloodshed. Let me give you an example. If a driver, who is driving a car, meets with an accident by crashing the car to a lamp-post, due to negligent driving. Will you blame the driver or the car company? Obviously, you will blame the driver and not the car company. Likewise, just because of some handful antisocial elements, the religion should not be labeled as religion of terrorism. We all together should strongly condemn terrorism in any form. Islam and Christianity have similarities in many aspects. Islam is the only Non-Christian religion, which makes it an article of faith to believe in Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) and accepts him as one of the greatest Messengers of God. As a matter of fact, the mother of Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), Mary (peace be upon her), has been honoured in the Noble Qur an with a chapter in her name, called Maryam. It is the same God who commissioned both Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them) to spread the common message of oneness of God and peace to the entire mankind, including all other Prophets mentioned in the Glorious Qur an and Holy Bible. I have great respect to the religion, Buddhism. It is one of oldest religions in the world. The Buddhist community are devoted and peace loving people. To say about: Thailand, people, culture and traditions. I conclude my address by praying to Almighty God to keep us all under His special care and protection at all times. Let us all live together to serve the humanity without hurting or killing each other. Thank you ladies and gentleman for your patient hearing. God bless you all.