By BABAR R. CHAUDHRY

Founder ‘Arrahman-Arraheem.com'

Another visible symptom of people suffering from extremism is that they force their concepts and beliefs on others because they consider themselves to be right and others wrong. This is another kind of extremism because there is no concept of force in Islam. Our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) preached and practiced the Quran and the commandments of Allah. He inspired people through his character and lead by example. He never forced anyone, even when people threw stones at him, put obstacles in his path and used bad words for him. Despite all this, he never gave up his mission. Instead, he displayed forgiveness, care, and love and shared the peace , which he got through the revelations. This eradicated extremism prevailing at that time and people began to listen and follow him.

We must understand that Islam is the religion of the Creator, who is all-powerful and can do anything Himself or can force others to do what He likes. Yet He chooses not to use force but wants submission voluntarily after analysis and reason. Islam therefore never talks about using force. Allah says in Surah Al-Baqara, Ayat 256: “ La Iqrah fid-Deen ” meaning that there is no compulsion in Deen-e-Islam. Allah has given us a choice and He has commanded us not to force on anyone to make him follow Islam.

Another manifestation of Extremism is when one acquires only religious knowledge and ignores worldly education. This unfortunately makes such people view and understand things in only a certain way and they remain out of touch with the rest of the people living in the world.

On the other side there are those people who possess only worldly knowledge and may be successful professionals such as doctors, engineers or businessmen. They have no knowledge or interest about Deen . Their practice of Deen is restricted to Friday prayers and fasting in Ramadan. As soon as the fast and prayers are over their religion is over. These people have no concept or essence of their Deen . This is another extreme!

As much as there is a need for religious people to acquire worldly knowledge to become moderate, there is also the need of the hour that educated people acquire religious knowledge so that they too become moderate.