Peace in Islamic philosophy

This article is part of the series:
Islam

As in other religions, peace is a basic concept in Islamic thought. The Arabic term "Islam" itself (إسلام) is usually translated as "submission"; submission of desires to the will of God. It comes from the term aslama, which means "to surrender" or "resign oneself".[1]

The Arabic word salaam (سلام) ("peace") has the same root as the word Islam.[2] One Islamic interpretation is that individual personal peace is attained by utterly submitting to Allah. The greeting "As-Salaamu alaykum", favoured by Muslims, has the literal meaning "Peace be upon you".[2] Muhammad is reported to have said once, "Mankind are the dependents, or family of God, and the most beloved of them to God are those who are the most excellent to His dependents." "Not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." Great Muslim scholars of prophetic tradition such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Sharafuddin al Nawawi have said [3] that the words ‘his brother’ mean any person irrespective of faith.

Contents

Concept of Islamic Peace

Islam is a monotheistic religion and according to the Quran all people are children of Adam. Satan is considered the enemy of humanity, causing enmity among all people. The series of prophets and messengers coming from God throughout the ages is to call the people again towards their innate identity of love and friendship. The good life according to Islam is in submitting to God and in worshiping Him as The Creator and The Master and to recognize the innate nature of man. The individual who will recognize his true nature on which every person is created will be able to live together in society with peace and affection to each other. In his Last Sermon, the Prophet Muhammad admonished believers:

Jeffrey Wattles holds that the compassion appears in the following statements attributed to Muhammad:[4]

Rules for Peace

Islamic tradition dictates that prophets were sent by God to every nation. In Islam, only Muhammad was sent finally to convey God's message to the whole world, whereas other prophets were sent to convey their messages to a specific group of people or nation. So the ideal nationhood in Islam is beyond all boundaries and differences. Prophet Muhammad is the final messenger according to Islam and his nation or ummah is called Ummat e Muhammad (nation of Muhammad).

The establishment of ummah (the Islamic community) on earth based on the rules of shariah is the ultimate goal of Islam according to the jurisprudential approach.[9] The ummah is not confined to any particular geography, or limited to any specific race; rather it consists of all believers throughout the world from whatever background, language, creed, history or geography. Unlike race, language, history and other such involuntary criteria in nationhood, where the individual has no choice and nationalism and patriotism ask for allegiance to a particular nation and state not chosen by him/her, ummah arms the individual by allowing a choice to be made by him/her in joining or rejecting it. It is therefore a conscious and informed choice that establishes ummah and allegiance to it rather than non-voluntary factors as in nationhood.

Peace between Muslim and non-Muslim countries

According to all four recognized schools of Sunni jurisprudence (Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafii), war against the infidels goes on in perpetuity, until "all chaos ceases, and all religion belongs to Allah" (Quran 8:39). Islamic law prohibits a peace treaty between a Muslim country and a non-Muslim country because the ultimate goal of Islam is to conquer the world for Allah. An armistice, called hudna between a Muslim country and a non-Muslim country is permissible for a period required to prepare for a war. Encyclopaedia of Islam states:

"The duty of the jihad exists as long as the universal domination of Islam has not been attained. Peace with non-Muslim nations is, therefore, a provisional state of affairs only; the chance of circumstances alone can justify it temporarily. Furthermore there can be no question of genuine peace treaties with these nations; only truces, whose duration ought not, in principle, to exceed ten years, are authorized. But even such truces are precarious, inasmuch as they can, before they expire, be repudiated unilaterally should it appear more profitable for Islam to resume the conflict."[10][11]

Internationally renowned Muslim historian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) wrote:

"In the Muslim community, jihad is a religious duty because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force. The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the jihad was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense. But Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations."[12][13]

Professor Moshe Sharon teaches Islamic History at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He wrote:

"Peace in Islam can exist only within the Islamic world; peace can only be between Moslem and Moslem. With the non-Moslem world or non-Moslem opponents, there can be only one solution - a cease fire until Moslems can gain more power. It is an eternal war until the end of days. Peace can only come if the Islamic side wins. The two civilizations can only have periods of cease-fires."[14]

Bassam Tibi is a political scientist, Professor of International Relations, and a Muslim. He wrote:

"At its core, Islam is a religious mission to all humanity. Muslims are religiously obliged to disseminate the Islamic faith throughout the world. “We have sent you forth to all mankind” (Q. 34:28). If non-Muslims submit to conversion or subjugation, this call (da’wa) can be pursued peacefully. If they do not, Muslims are obliged to wage war against them. In Islam, peace requires that non-Muslims submit to the call of Islam, either by converting or by accepting the status of a religious minority (dhimmi) and paying the imposed poll tax, jizya. World peace, the final stage of the da’wa, is reached only with the conversion or submission of all mankind to Islam....Muslims believe that expansion through war is not aggression but a fulfillment of the Qur’anic command to spread Islam as a way to peace. The resort to force to disseminate Islam is not war (harb), a word that is used only to describe the use of force by non-Muslims. Islamic wars are not hurub (the plural of harb) but rather futuhat, acts of “opening” the world to Islam and expressing Islamic jihad. Relations between dar al-Islam, the home of peace, and dar al-harb, the world of unbelievers, nevertheless take place in a state of war, according to the Qur’an and to the authoritative commentaries of Islamic jurists. Unbelievers who stand in the way, creating obstacles for the da’wa, are blamed for this state of war, for the da’wa can be pursued peacefully if others submit to it. In other words, those who resist Islam cause wars and are responsible for them. Only when Muslim power is weak is “temporary truce” (hudna) allowed (Islamic jurists differ on the definition of “temporary”)."[15][16][17][18]

Koran 2:190 Footnote, King Fahd Complex translation, says:

“Jihad is holy fighting in Allah’s Cause with full force of numbers and weaponry. It is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars. By Jihad Islam is established, Allah’s Word is made superior (which means only Allah has the right to be worshiped), and Islam is propagated. By abandoning Jihad (may Allah protect us from that) Islam is destroyed and Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim. He who tries to escape from this duty, or does not in his innermost heart wish to fulfill this duty, dies as a hypocrite.”

Imam al-Ghazzali (d. 1111), the greatest Sufi master, Islamic intellectual, and revivalist of Islam, who is considered the second-greatest Muslim after Prophet Muhammad, wrote of Jihad:

"One must go on Jihad at least once a year… One may use a catapult against them when they are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One may set fire on them and/or drown them… One may cut down their trees… One must destroy their useful book (Bible, Torah etc.). Jihadists may take as booty whatever they decide…"[19]

Importance of Peace

One of the terms meaning peace and peacemaking in Arabic, sulh, which is used in the Quran, is also the root of the word islah denoting development and improvement. This term is used to refer to peacemaking. Peacemakers are agents of good and those who breach it are elements of corruption and sin. It is therefore observed that peace and peacemaking are seen in Islamic tradition as part and parcel of human development. In Islam peace and making peace are seen as Godly acts worthy of praise and reward.[20] . In Islam peace is advocated as a divine quality to be pursued in order to achieve the state of felicity that we were in paradise, man's former dwelling [21][22].

Peace and Justice

Justice, as outlined in the Quran, refers to balance and is the foundation upon which creation stands. "

Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph after the Prophet, has an incisive definition of justice. He considers justice to be the placement of everything in their proper order. The issue of proportionality and relativeness is thus an indispensable part of justice.[23]

Quran states in chapter Al Maidah :O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

Peace based on justice, therefore, would mean a balanced, fair and tranquil state of affairs, where all concerned would enjoy their due rights and protection. Muhammad is reported to have said once, "

"Mankind are the family of God, and the most beloved of them to God are those who are the most excellent to His family." "Not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."

Great Muslim scholars of prophetic tradition such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Sharafuddin al Nawawi have said [3] that the words ‘his brother’ mean any person irrespective of faith.

House of Peace

The ideal society, according to the Qur’an is Dar as-Salam, literally, "the house of peace" of which it intones: And Allah invites to the 'abode of peace' and guides whom He pleases into the right path.[24] The establishment of abode of peace on earth means the establish peace in everyday lives, at all levels. This includes personal, social, state and international levels.

According to Islam there will be an era in which justice, plenty, abundance, well-being, security, peace, and brotherhood will prevail among humanity, and one in which people will experience love, self-sacrifice, tolerance, compassion, mercy, and loyalty. In his sayings, our Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, says that this blessed period will be experienced through the mediation of the Mahdi, who will come in the end times to save the world form chaos, injustice, and moral collapse. He will eradicate godless ideologies and bring an end to the prevailing injustice. Moreover, he will make religion like it was in the days of our Prophet, cause the Qur'an's moral teachings to prevail among humanity, and establish peace and well-being throughout the world.[25]

Eschatology

Main articles: Islamic eschatology and Islamic view of Jesus

Muslims believe that Jesus invited the Children of Israel to follow the true path and showed them many miracles. He is the Messiah and, as the Qur'an says, he is the "word of God" . Together with his return to earth in his second coming he will be the best judge among all people on earth. The lack of understanding between Christians and Muslims, who believe in the same God, share the same moral values and, as the Qur'an says, are closer to one another in love than all other people, will be repaired and these two greatest of the world's religious communities will be united. The members of the world's third monotheistic religion, the Jews, will also accept Jesus as their true Messiah and find their way to the true religion.[26]

So by the return of Jesus, religion will defeat the atheistic philosophies and pagan beliefs with intellectual means; the world will be saved from wars, conflicts, racial and ethnic hostility, cruelty and injustice. Humanity will enter a "Golden Age" of peace, happiness and well-being.[27]

See also

External links

List of articles, conferance and journal links that promotes interfaith dialogue

Prof David Capes

Prof David Capes

References

  1. ^ L. Gardet; J. Jomier. "Islam". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. ; "Lane's lexicon" (PDF). http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000137.pdf. 
  2. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. "Islam". Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Islam. Retrieved 2007-11-22. 
  3. ^ a b Fath al-Bari and sharh sahih bukhari by Imam Al Nawawi
  4. ^ Jeffrey Wattles, The Golden Rule (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) 4, 191-192, Questia, 24 July 2007
  5. ^ Qur’an (Surah 83, "The Unjust," vv. 1-4)
    Wattles (191)
    Rost, H.T.D. The Golden Rule: A Universal Ethic, 100. Oxford, 1986
  6. ^ Qur’an (Surah 59, "Exile," vv. 9)
    Wattles (192)
    Rost (100)
  7. ^ An-Nawawi's Forty Hadith 13 (p. 56)
    Wattles (191)
    Rost (100)
  8. ^ a b c Sukhanan-i-Muhammad (Teheran, 1938) [English Title: Conversations of Muhammad]
    Wattles (192)
    Rost (100)
    Donaldson Dwight M. 1963. Studies in Muslim Ethics, p.82. London: S.P.C.K
  9. ^ Shari’ati, Ali, Ummah va Emamat [The Ummah and Its Leadership], Tehran:
  10. ^ "War and Peace - and Deceit - in Islam". Pajamas Media. 2009-02-12. http://www.meforum.org/2066/war-and-peace-and-deceit-in-islam. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
  11. ^ "Encyclopaedia of Islam Online". BRILL. 2007. http://www.brill.nl/publications/online-resources/encyclopaedia-islam-online. Retrieved October 2008. 
  12. ^ Ibn Khaldun, The Muqadimmah. An Introduction to History, Franz Rosenthal, trans. (New York: Pantheon, 1958), vol. 1, p. 473.
  13. ^ "How Taqiyya Alters Islam's Rules of War". Middle East Quarterly. Winter 2010. http://www.meforum.org/2538/taqiyya-islam-rules-of-war. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
  14. ^ "THE AGENDA OF ISLAM - A WAR BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS". Faith Freedom. 2003-12-24. http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/MosheSharon40214%20.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
  15. ^ B. Tibi, "War and Peace in Islam", The Ethics of War and Peace: Religious and Secular Perspectives, ed. T. Nardin, pp. 129-131
  16. ^ "Islam is a Peaceful Religion". http://www.studytoanswer.net. http://www.studytoanswer.net/myths_ch7.html. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  17. ^ "War and Peace in Islam". http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/cameron/ui312/protected/War_Peace_Islam.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  18. ^ "War and Peace in Islam". http://www.scribd.com/doc/62216611/War-and-Peace-in-Islam-By-Bassam-Tibi. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
  19. ^ "Jihadist or Not?". International Analyst Network. 2008-03-07. http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=1816. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
  20. ^ Al-Naim, Abdullahi Ahmed, Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990.
  21. ^ Sahih Bukhari
  22. ^ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pzP0aK3pYbUJ:quran.com/98+quran+adn+eden+paradise&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
  23. ^ See Motahhari, Morteza, Adl e Elahi [Divine Justice], Tehran: Sadra Publications, 1982, pp. 59-67.
  24. ^ Qur'an 10:25; Lewis, Bernard, The Crisis of Islam, 2001 Chapter 2
  25. ^ Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi `Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, 23, 34, 50, 44.
  26. ^ The Muslim Jesus
  27. ^ Islamic concept of jesus
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