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What might you say to such people? How do you speak to them? I respond with questions. What is
violence for? What purpose is served? What consequences does violence carry with itself? Why do
these people reach for violence as if it were the only tool in the box? What problem are they trying to
solve? Are there not a million more creative and interesting ways to solve problems? The reality is
that violence is the tool of the unthinking. The resort to violence is a particularly unintelligent and
unimaginative way to deal with matters. We should challenge ourselves to imagine ways in which we
can solve problems and improve the situation of Muslims in the world through means other than
violence. Ultimately, even those who think that violence is serving some purpose need to look at the
effects of violence and realize that it only destroys.
Do you need more ideas? Look around yourself. Who looks like he or she is fearful or hungry,
weak or humbled by life? Find out what they do. Understand whether they represent a unique case, or
if they represent a class of people. If they are a solitary case, see how you can help them. If they
represent a class of people, think about what system you can design to address their problem.
If you want to take responsibility, use what you have to support artists, writers, thinkers,
filmmakers. Go out and be an artist, writer, thinker, or filmmaker. The Muslim world needs to reflect
upon itself. The way for us to take responsibility is to go out into the world and do, take action, make
the first move forward.
When you bear responsibility you raise your head, your mind is focused, and you sense a certain
kind of dignity—the dignity that you should feel as a complete human being.
I want you to notice that there are at least two kinds of responsibility that I am referring to here.
The first kind of responsibility is the responsibility you take for your own actions. And to take
responsibility for your own actions, I believe you must first take responsibility for your own beliefs.
This is the second type of responsibility.
This is a big demand. It is not easy to look at your beliefs and think through them. I believe you can
do it. It is difficult, as words and ideas are slippery and can easily slide out of your control. This is
why a lifelong search for knowledge through order and meaning are vital.
You may be certain of your beliefs about something today, only to wake up tomorrow wondering
what it was that you believed in the first place. To admit this in today’s environment is risky. Few
people admit to having doubts about their own beliefs. Trust me, it is entirely normal to wonder if you
got it right—about anything, let alone religious matters.
Sometimes our beliefs are dealt a blow by a personal tragedy, or by a catastrophic and
incomprehensible event. We wonder what it is all for, or what it is all about. Some of the greatest
scholars of Islam, highly respected today, went through periods of confusion and doubt. Al-Ghazali is
an example. He was born in the eleventh century in Persia and has been hugely influential in Islamic
thought. His works are treasured today as pearls of wisdom. But he withdrew from society for a
decade because he was doubtful about many things. He seemed to have experienced a spiritual crisis.
We may not know much about the doubts he had, but the fact that he was unsure and even fearful is
clear. The outcome of his period of doubt and self-imposed isolation was that this scholar of