by Kwabena Osman

In the Eastern hemisphere, in the last few days, the city of Mosul, Iraq, the last major strong hold of the terrorist group Daesh (aka ISIS) is on the brink of falling. This group, although they claim to be Muslims, has terrorized the world and has caused the death of more Muslims than any other faith. With the wishful thinking of forming a Caliphate without divine help, they, for a while succeeded in causing disorder and blood shed. Their legacy will be that of disdain and hatred from every noble minded person on earth. The Prophet of Islam was right in describing them as “the worst creatures under the canopy of the earth” more than fourteen hundred years ago.

Around the same time in the Western hemisphere, in Ottawa, Canada the true Khalifa of Islam, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is leading a campaign for peace, justice, service to humanity, and universal human rights. His Holiness met with the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. He was also the guest of honor at the Canadian parliament and delivered a key note address in a dinner organized in his honor.

In this address the Khalifa of Islam said, “In this age, when the fear of Islam is on the increase in much of the world, let me reassure all of you that Islam is not what you commonly see or hear portrayed in the media…The literal meaning of the word Islam is peace, love and harmony and all of its teaching are based on these noble values. However, unfortunately, it cannot be denied that there are some Muslim groups whose beliefs and action are in total contrast to this and in complete violation of Islam’s teachings.” He went on to explain the true teachings of Islam.

The Quran teaches that there shall be no compulsion in religion (2:286). This and other verses in the Quran clearly prohibit Muslims, whether as individuals or groups, to compel anyone to join their faith. Prophet Muhammad himself was told by God that his task was only to convey the message (42:49) and whether the people accept his message or not lies on God Himself.

The Khalifa touched on pressing issues facing the world today, including climate change, global economic uncertainty and the increasing lack of peace and security in much of the world, all of which he says are the results of unjust policies, inequality and lack of balance. He mentioned that, in his view, the lack of peace in the world is the most critical issue facing us in the world today and it is very regretful that the Muslim countries are the center of such instability and disorder even though their religion has given unparalleled teachings of how to establish and maintain peace. He supported the later point with verses of the Quran (49:10, 23:9, 5:9)

In talking about the cause of unrest in most parts of the world he narrated that the Muslim nations can’t be blamed entirely for this situation because major powers in the world have contributed to this issue by selling deadly ammunition to the Muslim countries and other third world countries who use them to kill each other and by extension terrorize people of other nations. He cited the well published report of Amnesty International in December 2015 which states that decades of reckless arms trading has contributed to the terrorism conducted by Daesh. The report further states that majority of the weapons used by this deviant group was purchased from the United States and Russia.

The religious leader further mentioned that it is well known that Muslim countries do not have sophisticated arms factories that could produce the state of the arts weapons used in the middle east and so the vast majority of the weaponry been used in the middle east are being imported from abroad. If the major powers cease to trade arms and ensure that other supply lines are cut off to these unstable governments, rebels and terrorist groups, such conflicts could be brought to a swift conclusion.

The Khalifa emphasized to the audience that the root cause of all these problems are injustice, inequality and lack of fairness. He advised the leaders of the major powers not to consider their vested interest when dealing with people of other nations but should act with justice and fairness.

Light and darkness are not alike. Truth will always prevail and falsehood will vanish. While the man-made Caliph and his associates run and hide from the very weapons they use to terrorize people, the true Khalifa of Islam, with divine help, goes around calling the world to peace, love and respect of all humans.