Principles of Sufism is a quarterly column with inspirational words of wisdom from the Executive Editor of Sufism: An Inquiry, Seyedeh Dr. Nahid Angha.

Infinite Are the Rules of Existence
From Vol. 10, No. 1

When We Need More Prayers
From Vol. 9, No. 4

Murid
From Vol. 5, No. 1

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Religion and Non-Violence: Conflict Resolution

From Vol. 8, No. 3

What can religions do in the twenty-first century to resolve conflicts non-violently, rather than to perpetuate them or enable them to continue?

When we talk about religion, we refer to faith that relates us. It binds us together in its simplest, most common title. People may have different faiths and religions, and they may practice differently and even their individual faiths may be different from one another at timesÑbut the common title of faith brings us together into one group: people of faith.

Faith brings us together now and it also brings people of the past and present together, for faith refers to people of many religious backgrounds; it covers a great domain. Faith has tremendous power. It has moved mountains and it moves us. Every individual person of faith will be inspired and excited by faith; the gathering of many such individuals creates the most influential movements, historically and politically, positively and negatively.

Such an influential power and motivating agent that can create peace, love and fulfill humanityÕs highest aspirations, can also be misused. We have seen the effect of this sharp, double-edged sword from the very beginning of human creation.

The role of religion in creating war and the destruction of humanity cannot be denied. This sharp instrument has fallen into the hands of politicians, has played a terrible role in human bloodshed and has become a major participant in human oppression and the destruction of human lives.

From the beginning of time, manipulators of the human family have used religion to enslave people. History has shown us horrible wars and destruction as a result of the misuse of religion. The name of religion has been invoked to cover every form of barbarism. Nations have taken religion to destroy each other and some nations have destroyed themselves by their own religions. This sharp, double-edged tool offers love, understanding, compassion and a relationship with God, on one hand, but on the other hand, on a social and political level, religion has, all too often, been a tool for manipulation.

There are several factors that have given the twentieth century the title of the bloodiest century in history. One factor is the great increase in the population and other factors involve economics and technology.

The titanic machinery of technology has pushed ever onward, heedless of human values. It needs nourishment, thus it will destroy every natural resource that it can harness to continue its progress and concentrate human power into the hands of a few. All the while technology has created its own justification for faith in technology has now, to a great extent, displaced faith in God. . .

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