A Message for Our Time — Page 13
13 A Beacon of Peace administered in Madinah. I am not suggesting that in today’s world there should be a myriad of different laws that exist for dif- ferent communities living in the same society; rather, my point is simply that our leading priority should always be to establish peace in society, by upholding universal human values and by promoting morality and justice at all levels of society. To explain further, the Holy Quran and the Prophet of Islam sas have made it categorically clear that there should be no form of compulsion in matters of religion. Every individual should have the right to choose whatever path he or she wishes to walk upon. Belief is, and should always remain, a matter for one’s heart and one’s mind. At the same time, Islam teaches that, irrespective of differences of religion or belief, every citizen has a duty to remain peaceful and to ensure that he or she does not take any action that threat- ens the well-being of society. Islam states that all people should be law-abiding and loyal citizens of the state and work towards its progress and development. Hence, if any of you harbour reserva- tions about this new mosque and fear it will be used by Muslims to plot and scheme against the rest of society or to incite hatred, let me reassure you that there is no need for any such anxiety or concern. Rest assured that from this building, only a message of love, affection, and brotherhood will shine forth. In this regard, I would like to briefly explain what the purposes of a mosque are. The primary objective of a mosque is to enable Muslims to join together, with a spirit of mutual love and unity, to worship the One God, in the way He has taught. At the same time, the second core objective of a mosque is to be a centre for serving mankind. Every worshipper has a profound responsibility to fulfil the rights of all other members of society. Consequently,