According to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, the modern age has seen major positive advancements in technology, resource management, communication and globalization. Along with these positive aspects certain negative features such as materialism, negativity, hatred, and violence have also shown their ugly faces. Simple acts of negativism at an individual level or acts of violence at a group level have started governing the lives of a multitude of people in societies, cultures, nations and even religions. We, therefore, believe that establishing peace at a global level has, therefore, become the top priority, not only because it is the best social condition in which to make positive achievements, but also because, ultimately, it is a crucial factor for human survival. In fact no excuse justifies the use of violence, in individual or collective life. The question that arises is what is the practical formula for achieving peace?

What is the Ideology of Peace?

People the world over are indulging in acts of violence in the name of justice, saying that, Give us justice and peace will ensue. This is the problem the world over. What is the solution? Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, deriving the ideology of peace from the Islamic Scriptures, says justice does not come along with peace. When people are indulging in acts of violence in the name of justice, peace will not prevail. This is because nothing productive can take place in an environment of violence. Peace is always desirable for its own sake. Everything else comes after peace, not along with peace. What peace actually does is to open up opportunities - it creates favourable conditions that enable people to strive. When people avail of the opportunities thus created, they eventually obtain justice and other constructive ends. So the formula for establishing peace is:

"Ignore the problems and avail the opportunities."

He has presented this ideology in many of his books such as Islam and Peace, True Jihad, Manifesto of Peace, Non-violence and Islam and Ideology of Peace. The following is an excerpt from the Ideology of Peace:

There are some who call this kind of peace negative. They say peace has no value unless justice accompanies it. ... "Peace with justice" is their watchword. This shows a lack of realism in their thinking. The truth is that justice does not directly follow on from a state of peace. The aim of establishing peace is, in fact, to open up opportunities for the achievement of justice, rather than the actual bringing of justice into being. Peace, of course, is a highly desirable state of being because, once it is established, everyone has the opportunity to make plans, and then achieve whatever he wants. But those who insist on the prior condition of justice going hand in hand with peace will find neither peace nor justice....

Excerpts from Ideology of Peace by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The Price of Establishing World Peace is 'Tolerance'

We cannot have anything in this world without paying for it. Everything has its price and this is particularly true of peace. If we want peace, we should be ready to pay for it or stand deprived of it. So what is the price of peace? It is simply tolerance. We live in a world of differences, and these differences cannot be eliminated. Therefore, we have only two options before us: To either adopt the policy of tolerance or intolerance. While the latter leads to violence, the former ensures peace. Where there is tolerance there is peace, and where there is intolerance, there is war and violence. Tolerance is the only universal formula for peace, and this same formula may be successfully applied to one's family life, social life, as well as at the international or the global level.

Peace requires us to foster a culture of tolerance, for intolerance can lead only to war. Even the United Nations prescribed to this, while proclaiming 1995 the 'Year of Tolerance'. The following are pertinent extracts from a statement made by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):

"The ability to be tolerant of the actions, beliefs and opinions of others is a major factor in promoting world peace. Amidst the resurgence of ethnic conflicts, discrimination against minorities and xenophobia directed against refugees and asylum-seekers, tolerance is the only way forward".

"It is said, racism and religious fanaticism in many countries had led to many forms of discrimination and the intimidation of those who held contrary views. Violence against and intimidation of authors, journalists and others who exercise their freedom of expression, were also on the increase along with political movements that seek to make particular groups responsible for social ills such as crime and unemployment. Intolerance is one of the greatest challenges we face on the threshold of the 21st century",

"Intolerance is both an ethnic and political problem. It is a rejection of the differences between individuals and between cultures. When intolerance becomes organized or institutionalized, it destroys democratic principles and poses a threat to world peace."

So, by using the practical formula, 'Ignore the problems and avail the opportunities' and by being tolerant towards others, we can usher in an era of peace in the world.