ISLAM AND PEACE

(A little essay, references in the end)

ISLAM AND PEACE

Whenever one wishes to speak about Islam as a religion of peace, the question

naturally springs to mind that whereas there are so many religions in the world such

as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., when it comes to finding out

whether Islam is a religion of peace, why should Islam be the odd one out? 

One reason for this is that a few years after the beginning of Islam, anti-Islamic

powers began a propaganda that Islam is a religion of extremism and violence and

wants to compel others into belief by means of the sword. This, of course, is

incorrect. In the beginning, the Muslims of Makkah suffered persecution but they

remained silent. Finally, they migrated to Madinah but there too the disbelievers

hounded the Muslims and forced upon them a battle to which I will revert later. The

proof against those opponents who allege that Islam was spread by the sword is that

although the disbelievers of Makkah raised all sorts of objections, yet history stands

witness to the fact that the people of Makkah themselves never complained that the

Muslims had used the sword against the disbelievers to compel them to change their

faith.

Secondly, what has given Islam a bad name is an ugly and awful image of extremism

presented, whether knowingly or unwittingly, by some Muslim groups and o rganisations, and these groups unfortunately had

personal vested interests. 

In order to see a religion’s beauties or its defects, justice

requires that you should make its teachings or its holy

scripture the anvil by which to judge it, otherwise

everyone would accuse every other faith willy-nilly. For

instance, the teaching of Christianity, according to the Holy Bible is,

‘But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone

strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other

also.’

(Matthew: 5:39) 

But, in Bosnia or Iraq or other countries, America and the
other Western powers, resorted or are resorting to
aggression. If, however, we say that the Christian teaching
is that if anyone raises his head against you, you should use
all your might to trample it to death, this would be a grave
injustice. In the same way, to find out the true teachings of
Islam, we would have to study the Holy Qur’an and see
what it says and not base it on the actions of some Muslims
who have forgotten the teachings of the Holy Qur’ a n


 let us first see what the Holy Qur’an commands
us to do in order to establish peace. God Almighty says in
the Holy Qur’ a n ,
 

Whosoever killed a person – unless it be for killing a

person or for creating disorder in the land – it shall be

as if he had killed all mankind.

(Al Maidah, Ch.5: v. 33)

Explaining this verse,
     ‘ A person who kills a person unfairly or who kills
someone who had neither rebelled, nor became a source
of violating peace amongst the people nor created
disorder in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of
mankind. In other words to kill a person without any
cause is, according to God A l m i g h t y, like the murder of
the entire human race. It is obvious from this verse, how
big a sin it is to take the life of another person without
reason. ,
(Lecture Chashma-e-Ma’rifat pp 23-24)

Thus, this is the beautiful teaching of Islam that the
unlawful killing or the shedding of innocent blood of
someone is like the killing of the entire human race, that
is to say, the taking of a single life is like the massacre of
thousands of innocent lives. Now, everyone can very well
imagine what kind of sentence would be passed on
someone who is found guilty of the taking of thousands of
innocent lives. So this is the beautiful teaching given to us
by God Almighty in the Holy Qur’an. Whosoever acts

against this, acts against the teachings of Islam

 I shall briefly explain some of the countless examples of
kindness we find in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa)
and how concerned he was about the condition of his people.

If someone is kind to some person and wants to see his or her
betterment, then the person will try his best to do something for
him or her. The Holy Prophet( s a ) was so kind and anxious for his
people and prayed for them even though they believed in so many
gods that it is beyond our imagination. God Almighty has
promised that He would most surely punish those who associate
others with God. Now, this thought that God Almighty would
never forgive one who associates partners with God, used to make
the Holy Prophet( s a ) restless so much so that he would bow down
repeatedly in prayers. He had a burning passion in his heart for the
reformation of his people that he had become weary with worry
for his people. Finally, God Almighty had to tell him not to grieve
himself to death for sorrow after them (Ch.18:v.7) and that his
mission was only to give them the message. We can judge his
prayers from the following Tradition.

The Holy Prophet(sa) prayed for his enemies:

'O Allah! Guide my people because they know not (do not

know the truth)'

So this was the anxiety in him for kindness and for humanity. He

never said that he was going to compel them into belief by use

of the sword but in fact refrained from any malediction or

uttering any curse that an evil befalls his enemy.

‘The pagans of Makkah exiled the Holy Prophet(sa) from Makkah and gave him no respite in Madinah but whenever he met them, the Holy Prophet( s a ) dealt with gracious kindness towards them. After the migration of the Holy Prophet(sa) to Madinah, the people of Makkah had to suffer a severe drought so much so that they had to live on dead meat and bones. Then in utter helplessness, Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Makkans, had to approach the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa) and said: “O Muhammad! You command treating one’s own relatives well. Your people are dying. Pray to your God in our favour (that this famine passes away) and it begins to rain lest your people perish.” To bring Abu Sufyan down to earth, the Holy Prophet(sa) remarked that you are very brave and courageous that despite the transgression by the Makkans, you demand a prayer on their behalf. But the Holy Prophet(sa) did not refuse to pray because he was mercy personified and he could have never wished that his people should perish. Then the people observed that his hands went up in prayers immediately and the Holy Prophet’s prayers for an end to the famine and the heavens to open up was duly accepted. It rained so much that the days of ease and abundance returned for the Quraish of Makkah. But, at the same time, their denial and opposition grew rapidly.’ (Bukhari: Kitabul Tafseer Sura Al-Rum lidukhan)

Now after this who can say that he gave a teaching of extremism

and terrorism and after this anyone says that Islam is not a religion of peace, it would be a grave injustice.

ref:Lecture By Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad atba at  UNIVERSITE D’ABOMEY- CALAVI COTONOU, BENIN,