Page 43 - Non-violence and peace-building

Non-violence and Peace-building in Islam

Take, for instance, the case of a riot that broke out
several years ago in a town in western India. This is a
quite typical case. The riot would definitely not have
happened had Muslims adopted the method of conflict-
avoidance mentioned above.
The riot started when some non-Muslims burst
crackers while Muslims were praying in a mosque
located in a non-Muslim dominated locality. Because
this happened just outside a mosque, the Muslims took
it to be absolutely intolerable. They got very agitated.
Finally, this resulted in a deadly riot.

According to the Quran, what they should have
instead done was to simply avoid reacting to the
provocation and refrain from confrontation.
Thirdly, the need to abstain from ignorant prejudice
and fanaticism. In the context of the Treaty of
Hudaybiyah, the Quran (48:26) relates that when the
Prophet’s opponents displayed their ignorant prejudice
against the Muslims, the believers did not respond in
the same way. Rather, they remained established in
God-consciousness. It was because the believers did
not behave as their opponents did that the Treaty of
Hudaybiyah was possible. God termed this treaty as a
‘clear victory’. Two years after this treaty, the whole of
Arabia came under the sway of Islam.

If Muslims were to act according to this above-
mentioned Quranic verse, all of a sudden their history
would take a completely different turn. It would also
put a complete end to communal violence. In many
cases, communal riots break out because, in the face of

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