Page:Five Pillars of Islam (IA fivepillarsofisl00kamauoft).djvu/8

 crime. Usurpation, theft, fraud are only different forms of unfair means which we use to convert "thine" into "mine" in a wrong way. Let us enlarge our view-point and study the act of a whole nation in this light. We should find that the real aim of all wars and international rivalries lies in the motive of the rapacity of one to dispossess the other of a tempting prize, which may be a large piece of unexploited land, some trading interest, or any other similar object. How ever insignificant this source of temptation, the devastation and bloodshed which results from them is often appalling. Consequently the first concern of an institution aiming at the establishment of peace in the world should, in the first place, be to attempt most seriously to solve this problem of "thine and mine." For where we find this motive of "thine and mine" in its abnormal aspects giving rise to quarrels and wars, we find it also the fountainhead of all our good activities. It is both a blessing and a curse, and the way how it might only be the former, and