Page 107 - Non-violence and peace-building

Non-violence and Peace-building in Islam

During this period, while negotiations were
on, the Quraysh continued with their efforts
in different ways to provoke Muslims to start a
fight, but the Companions all through exercised
great self-restraint as directed by their leader and
refused to fall into any trap. Once, a group of
around 50 stealthily approached the camp of
Muslims in the night and started pelting stones.
The Companions of the Prophet, who had
already been cautioned against reacting to such
provocations, kept their cool and rounded up
them all and produced them before the Prophet,
who simply let them go.
The article discussed in detail this spirit that informed
the Hudaybiyah Treaty. It explained that because the
Muslims did not get provoked despite the provocative
situation, it enabled Islam to be victorious over Arabia.

Interestingly, this very same Muslim paper which
published this article has been consistently advocating
precisely the opposite approach on the question of
relations between Muslims and others in India. It has
for long been instigating Muslims to get worked up in
the wake of provocations. For instance, with regard to
the Bhiwandi and Mumbai riots in 1984 (discussed in
the previous chapter), it wrote that Mr. Bal Thackeray
had insulted the Prophet and that, in reaction to this,
Mr. A.R. Khan, a Muslim Member of the state Legislative
Assembly (MLA), took out an angry demonstration and
that some Muslims garlanded an effigy of Mr. Thackeray
with worn-out slippers.
The paper accepted that this was not an appropriate

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