Page 62 - Non-violence and peace-building

Responding to Provocation through Patience

given to them at once, and the problem was amicably
solved.
Consider another instance of how patience and
avoidance of confrontation can prevent an unpleasant
situation from degenerating into violence between
communities. Many years ago, a group of non-Muslim
men were found slaughtering a pig in the bushes behind
the Hadi Hasan Hall in the campus of the Aligarh Muslim
University. It appeared that they planned to throw the
flesh of the pig in the university campus, in the hope
that this would instigate Muslims and that this would
then lead to communal riots in the university area. It so
happened, however, that some Muslim students spotted
what these men were up to. They at once informed the
university authorities, who, in turn, called the police.
The police rushed to the scene and arrested the men.
In this way, because the local Muslims responded to a
provocative situation in a wise manner, without taking
to confrontation and violence, Aligarh was spared the
threat of being rocked by communal riots.

These instances show how conspiracies can be
defused and rendered ineffective by responding to them
through wisdom, rather than through confrontation.
They illustrate how even when there is every possibility
of a communal riot breaking out, it can be completely
avoided if people act wisely. No matter how sensitive a
situation may get, it contains within itself the possibility
of being peacefully resolved. The necessary condition
for this is patience. No matter how unfavourable a
situation may be, the wise response is to avoid getting
agitated. If you lose your patience and get worked up,

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