Islam: A Religion of Peace or Violence? The Evidence in Quran- Part 2
By Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam
09 August 2018
In the first part we saw in the light of the Quranic verses that Allah Almighty dislikes violence and exceeding limits. He approves of war only when there is no way left. The Quran says:
“But (do not fight) those who have allied with a people that between you and them there is a (peace) treaty, or who (losing heart) come to you in such a state that their breasts are afflicted (with this obsession) whether they should fight you or their own people. If Allah had so willed, He (strengthening their hearts) would have given them supremacy over you. Then they would certainly have fought you. So if they keep away from you and do not fight you and send you (a message) for peace, then (in the interest of peace) Allah has left no way open for you (to launch any aggression) against them.” (4:90)
“By this Allah guides those who seek His pleasure to the paths to peace (and security) and takes them out of darkness (of ignorance and disbelief) by His command and leads them to the light (of faith and guidance) and directs them towards the straight road.” (5:15-16)
“What has happened to you (Muslims) that you do not fight in the cause of Allah (for the freedom of the oppressed and the elimination of terrorism against them), whereas those weak, helpless and tyrannized men, women and children who call out (for their freedom): ‘O our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose (affluent and influential) people are oppressors, and appoint for us some guardian from Your presence, and make someone our helper from Your presence’?” (4:75)
“And if they (the combatant or hostile disbelievers) incline to peace and reconciliation, you also incline to it and put your trust in Allah. Surely, He alone is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” (8:61)
These are the Quranic messages to reflect upon. God Almighty Who chose Islam as a Religion (Din) (3:19) and filled it with the message of peace and welfare, prefers peace to war to such an extent that He commands the entire Muslim community through the prophet (peace be upon him) to accept the hands stretched out for peace and tranquillity even if the opponents (enemies) have evil intentions.
This was the spirit behind the treaty of Hudaibiyya. Historians like Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Ibn Khuldoon, Ibn Saad, Ibn Katheer report that when the Prophet (peace be upon him) came to Makka from Madina in 6 Hijri in order to perform Hajj (pilgrimage), he had seventeen hundred devotees in his company who were all ready to sacrifice everything on his word and to fight all enemies, but they were never commanded to wage war. They did not even fight the two hundred riders of the Quraish tribe who had defiantly approached the tent of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
When the Prophet along with his 1700 companions reached Hudaybiyyah, the pagans of Makka did not allow them to enter the city and perform Hajj. The Prophet (peace be upon him) had assessed that entering the city by force or fighting will result into bloodshed. It was this reason he arrived at a pact that he and his companions would not be stopped from performing their Hajj next year and till that time there would be no war waged between the two groups.
Ibn-e-Ishaq and other historians record that most of the seventeen hundred brave devotees that constituted the group of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were not in favour of this peace-pact of Hudaybiyyah. Companions like Hazrat Abu Bakr, Hazrat Umar Farooq, and Hazrat Ali Muraza were clearly against this pact. As per the report mentioned in Ibn-e-Hisham, Hazrat Umar Farooq had even asked the Prophet if he was not the messenger of Allah.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) answered: “I am the Messenger of Allah, but we are the believers and they are the non-believers”. Hazrat Umar then asked as to why they should be so timid in the matter of their faith and why should they not confront the enemy. At this the Prophet answered with great patience:
“I believe in Allah and I am His Messenger. I will never go against the word of Allah” (Ibn-e-Ishaq, Ibn Hisham; Vol 2, p.220)
As such it was the will of Allah that there should be no bloodshed between the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the pagans of Makkah, but instead there should be peace between the two parties. Finally, the companions (peace be upon him) learnt the lesson of peace-treaty from this event. The full scenario is as follows;
In order to carry out the command of the holy Prophet (peace be upon him), Hazrat Ali was asked to record the peace-treaty which began with “Bismilla Hir Rahman Nir Rahim” meaning “In the name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious”. However, the stubborn pagan Suhail bin Amr objected and said that he was not aware of these words. He insisted that “Bi Ismika Allahumma” should be written instead. The Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded Hazrat Ali to write what Suhail wanted. Then Hazrat obeyed.
When the words “Muhammad the messenger of Allah” were written, Suhail raised another objection and said, “Had we accepted you as the Prophet of Allah, we would not have any differences or wars. He proposed that he should have his and his father’s name written in place of those words”.
At this the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked Hazrat Ali to delete the word “the Messenger of Allah”. Hazrat Ali did not want to delete those words. A strange conflict took place between love and duty but the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not let this conflict extend further and deleted the words “the Messenger of Allah” himself and wrote “Muhammad bin Abdullah” instead.
I should not go further into presenting here all the details of this peace-treaty but one important to mention is that many delicate moments occurred during the event of peace-treaty but it was our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) who, for the sake of peace and tranquillity, accepted every demand of Suhail bin Amr.
History records that this peace-treaty was breached by the pagans of Makka. And then the fighting took place. Later on when the Prophet (peace be upon him) entered Makkah, he got this announcement made:
“Those who seek refuge in the house of Abu Sufiyan shall be in peace and those who shall be in the house of Hakam bin Hazam shall remain indoors and shall have peace there.”
The point to note is that the verse 2:191 had been descended down and the Prophet and his companions did not fight all the Mushrikin but only those who breached the peace-treaty and attacked them. Distinguishing between the peaceful Mushrikin and militant Mushrikin was the reason that the Prophet got the following announcement made:
“Those (Mushrikin, pagans) who seek refuge in the house of Abu Sufiyan shall be in peace and those who shall be in the house of Hakam bin Hazam shall remain indoors and shall have peace there”.
The Prophet (peace be upon him), as recorded by Ibn-e-Aseer, made his followers pledge that they would kill none on that day unless someone took up arms and attacked them. When the Prophet entered the precincts of Kaaba and addressed the pagans of Makkah, he forgave all and said, “This is the day of welfare and of keeping bonds”. He did not declare that day alone as the day of welfare and bond keeping. But he addressed the entire humanity when he said,
“O sons of Adam and the men and women of the world all over! Your blood, your properties and your prestige are declared forbidden for ever –they are as sacred to your as are this day and this month in this Baitul Haram.”
That day, the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared the sacredness of human life. Stanley Lane Pole enumerates the tolerance, forgiveness and magnanimity of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in these words;
“Facts are harsh things and it is fact that the day of Muhammad’s greatest triumph over his enemies was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He freely forgave the Quraish all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn they had inflicted on him: he gave amnesty to the whole population of Makka.” (The Prophet and Islam)
S.P. Scott writes:
“His magnanimity and the profound knowledge of human heart which stamped a leader of men, were evidenced by his noble conduct and princely liberation to the Quraish after the conquest of Makkah” (History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, Vol -1, pp 98-99 op.cit. The Arabian Prophet, p-390)
Establishing a basic principle in this connection, the holy Quran says:
“Whoever killed a person (unjustly), except as a punishment for murder or for (spreading) disorder in the land, it would be as if he killed all the people (of society); and whoever (saved him from unjust murder and) made him survive, it would be as if he saved the lives of all the people (of society, i.e., he rescued the collective system of human life). And indeed, Our Messengers came to them with evident signs. Yet, even after that, the majority from amongst these people are certainly those who commit excesses in the land” (5:32)
We should see the intention of Islam from the event of Hudaybiyyah, from provision of security after the conquest of Makkah in the houses of Abu Sufiyan and Hakam bin Hazam. In this age when some militants are seeking to defame Islam, it is our duty to repeatedly spread the message of Quran which take greater interest in establishing peace. The Quran asks the believers to establish peace even when the hostile and combatant enemies incline to peace. Allah says,
“And if they (the combatant or hostile disbelievers) incline to peace and reconciliation, you also incline to it and put your trust in Allah. Surely, He alone is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” (8:61)
The message of Islam is very clear. Yet even after that, we see the militants are committing terrorism and excesses in the land. Leaders of such militants must have or must not have known such message of Islam but one thing we should keep in our mind that today’s common youths are affected by propaganda of such leaders. We therefore should keep on spreading true message of Islam, hoping that our efforts on newageislam.com to fight against radicalisation are bearing positive and effective results. In addition to that, the countries of the world should ensure human rights of Muslims including religious rights, as violation of their human rights might help the militants to brainwash the gullible youth with support of wrong interpretation of Islam to join the militant path and then no effort at reform will bring them back to the path of peace.
Part One of the Article:
Islam: A Religion of Peace or Violence? The Evidence in Quran - Part 1
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/islam-religion-peace-violence-evidence-part-2/d/116083
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