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Readers' column
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| A peaceful word for a peaceful world (1)Peace from an Islamic perspective | |
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| By Essadik El Asla-united against islamophobia-Cyprus- 19-11-2006 |
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| Introduction |
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| Under normal circumstances, man goes through life without taking notice of the blessings which he enjoys. He may realize the aspects of security and bliss in his life. However, if any of these blessings, peace, security, bliss…are taken from him, only then does he feel and understand the value of all what he previously enjoyed. Thus, he begins to search for what he has lost, striving to understand its true meaning in his life and endeavoring to regain it. Divine calls were sent through prophets to establish these blessings for the well being of man. The greatest call of god, which he responssiblize all his prophets, is to establish peace among people by any means. Islam, the last religion, comes to complete and assure the noble characteristics of the previous religions. |
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| Moreover, the aim of Islam is to implement the principle of peace among individuals, groups and nations through the prophet Mohammed (PBUH). The first question in order is: Is really Islam a peaceful religion ? |
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| I- Evidence for the peaceful nature of Islam |
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| It is a great source of joy and happiness for Muslims to find believers through the Muslim and non-Muslim world calling for Islam to be the system by which they are ruled and their approach of life. In the midst of these calls, there are other hostile calls which are declared by different enemies of Islam who accuse it of apathy, delusion, terrorism and backwardness. As we can't hear Islam in isolation with terrorism and violence. Returning to a sound belief in Islam as both a religion and a state, Islam is the implementation of peace among people. |
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| First of all, the word "Islam", the name of the religion, is derived from Salam, which means "pure peace" . This seems to be simple, but it is great evidence that peace is the first message of Islam. To continue, "Salam", peace is one of the holly names of God. |
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| In addition, Muslims greet each other non-Muslims saying Salam'alaykoom that is to say, peace upon you, in other words , when you say "Salam'alaykoom" to someone, either a Muslim or not, you explicitly say you are in safe and security of my delusion and craftiness. So, if he replied Alaykoom Assalam, he shares with you the same feelings. |
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| The Quran opens by the phrase "In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate". Mercy and compassion stand as the opposite of violence. In many verses in the Quran, God the Almighty God stresses peace and non-violence, He says, "...and don't kill anyone whose killing Allah has forbidden , except for a just cause" ]al- ISRA:33[. Here, God forbids torture and killing. God, the merciful, also has forbidden killing oneself and considers it a crime against oneself. He, the Almighty, says "and do not kill yourselves, surely Allah has been most merciful to you" [An-nisaa : 29]. |
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| To corroborate, the ultimate mission of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is to establish peace and justice on earth. God says, "we have only sent you as an act of mercy to the worlds». The Almighty God hasn't said we have sent you to Muslims, but to the worlds, all human being and other species. This shows that the Islamic religion has been revealed to the benefit of the whole world regardless of race, color or other religion. There is no preference to one over another except those who are pious. |
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| The Almighty Allah says, "O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another, verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that who are pious». ]Al- Hujurat :13[. |
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| The second reference in Islam, after the holly Quran, is the prophetic tradition. Concerning this issue, Mohammed, the prophet (PBUH) has said "God gives on kindness (leniency, mercy) what he doesn't give on violence". Aishah (May God be pleased with her) reported: The prophet (PBUH) said «Whenever forbearance is added to something, it adorns it, and whenever it is withdrawn from something it leaves it defective" ]Muslim[ . To be soft spoken is such a quality that by virtue of which a man is not only endeared to people but also to God. This shows that the ever mission of Islam is to implement peace and love among people. |
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| Concerning international relations, Islam has always called for dialogue and negotiations, in spite of the gloomy view of non – Muslims towards Islam, as the religion of violence and terrorism, and the disgusting crimes wrongly ascribed to Islam by enemies. The last judgment is that , Islam is a religion of violence and torture. |
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| Let's stop a moment on the wars the prophet (PBUH) has led during thirteen years on tribal agitation and which personify the Islamic non- violence sample. Yassine has said:" the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has led skillfully fifty confrontations offering us the right example of defense without excess or exaggeration. The result was that the number of victims of the whole confrontations was not over nine hundreds men from the two parts. Thirteen years with nine hundreds victims» (Yassine , 2000 , PP.231,232 ). |
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| He has added, "The prisoners were freed by a redemption or without. They were not killed or tortured ". Moreover, the prophet (PBUH), during these wars, prohibited his fighters not to kill women, old men and women and children and not to destroy trees or cause damage to the environment. |
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| Really, there were no chemical weapons that could damage the environment for ages or weapons that can kill millions of people in one minute. What was absent in the merciful heart of the prophet (PBUH) is the pre-Islamic ardor which is motivating the modern foolish violence. The non-use of violence is a principle that doesn't argue with the Islamic law. Then, the defense of the dogma is a sacred principle. |
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| The prophet ordered us to apply leniency and kindness in many of his sayings, as in Muslims. The Messenger of Allah has said «God is clement loves clemency, and he gives on kindness what he doesn't give on violence". The word kindness "Rifq" requires to recall all the notions of the holly Quran and prophetic tradition in addition to the noble and perfect sample represented by the prophet (PBUH). So, the word kindness "Rifq" involves such attitudes as, clemency, tenderness, forgiveness, goodness, offering pardon and sympathy. |
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| More than that, Islam ordered us to deal kindly with non-Muslims. The Almighty God says "Allah doesn't forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who are not against you on account those who deal with equity"]Al Momtahinah:8[ . He also says, "Iif they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and put your trust in God"]Al Anfal :61[ .In an international conference, Sheikh Shaaban was asked about the relation between Muslims and non-Muslims in Muslim world, He answered, "we fight for the freedom of man and the freedom of belief, as we also fight who want to force non- Musilms to converse to Islam. Thus, who want to call them to Islam by force is to demolish God's guarantee " ( Nasih "Ulwan , 2002, P.33). |
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| In the same respect Yassine corroborates "…yes, being human beings , the non-Muslims have the right to get our sympathy and goodness…we are obligated not to harbor feelings of hatred against them as not being Muslims . Especially if they are enemies of Zionism" (Yassine , 2000, P.231). |
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| We all recall how the prophet dealt with a funeral of a Jewish man. One day , the messenger of Allah (PBUH) was sitting with his companions. Then a funeral of a jewish man was passing by the prophet )PBUH(got up respecting the funeral. The companions asked him (PBUH) why he stood up. He answered "Isn't he a human being?" to give us a practical lesson revealing that the honor of men comes from being a human being and not from another thing. The early Muslims did their best to represent these perfect principles to build a world of peace and tolerance. This is the real and final mission of Islam through the messenger of Allah (PBUH).Islam is not as imagined by the west, nor is it as practiced by ignorant Muslims who represent Islam as a religion of violence and torture, there is a big difference between Islam as a pure religion and Muslims who practice it incorrectly. |
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