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Before I begin, I must say, Catherine, with that yogurt, I feel so refreshed that I could stay here for hours. I always say that we are all from Adam's family, if you have seen the show. So allow me to say, brothers and sisters one and all, As-salāmu ʿalaykum, and the peace and mercy of God be upon all of you. In the name of Allāh, the Peace, and the Grantor of security. As you heard, I have just a few minutes to share with you, but allow me to share one minute of it with those innocent lives lost in the last few days. At this moment, as we sit here comfortably in security and peace, and God forbid in the days to come in Iraq. If I may ask my Muslim brethren to recite Sūrah al-Fātiḥah, and I ask the rest of the audience for a moment of silence. To be quite honest with you, I find myself speechless to address you today on peace when our government is unfortunately, and in a very unnecessary way, engaged in a very inhuman war, especially without UN support. Nevertheless, as a Muslim scholar, allow me to share with you some concrete information about peace in Islam. Before I start, I raised one question to my colleagues and partners last night as we were having a wonderful dinner in a five-star hotel. I mentioned: can you imagine if this forum was held in Baghdad? How many of us would really participate? I believe I am honest enough to say that I would send an apology and I would not participate. Islam is uncompromisingly a religion of peace and mercy to the world. The word ‘Islām’ is derived from the root ‘peace’, that is, Salām. The essence of this religion is the peaceful submission to the Lord of the world. One of the divine, beautiful attributes of God in Islam is Peace, as-Salām, and He introduces Himself as the source of peace. The testimony of Muslims about God is, I quote, "Bismillāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm" (In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful). The Islamic greetings and salutations provide a peaceful and friendly atmosphere upon meeting by saying, "As-salāmu ʿalaykum," and that is how I started my speech today, which means ‘may peace and mercy be upon you’. The Muslim daily prayer is also concluded with the pronouncement of peace. The night in which the entire Muslim scripture, the Holy Qur’ān, was revealed is regarded by the revelation as the Night of Peace (Laylatu l-Qadr), which is better than one thousand months. That means God proclaims that a peaceful night is worth more than one thousand nights—an average of eighty-three years of life—without peace. In Islam, he who has killed one innocent person is as if he has killed all of humanity. The name of the everlasting paradise where every Muslim is encouraged to reach is the House of Peace (Dāru s-Salām). Thus, if man wishes to make a global paradise on earth, it has to be a house of peace. God commands Muslims to welcome peace with anyone at any time. I quote from the Qur’ān: "Wa in janahū li s-salmi fa jnah lahā" (If they incline to peace, you also incline to it). Recording location: Australia, Sydney, World Peace Forum 2003