Page 73 - Non-violence and peace-building

Non-violence and Peace-building in Islam

together some of their students and formed a hockey
team. They told them, “You are not to play this match
in order to win. Rather, you must play so that you lose!”
The intention was to deliberately allow the university
team to win and make them heroes, and in this way get
a chance to win their hearts.

The match was held on the appointed day. As per their
plan, the team of students from the Islamic institution
played very badly, thus allowing the university team to
win. Then, as previously decided, the university team
was feted about and lionized, and in different ways
the members of the team were sought to be appeased.
They were given handsome prizes and were treated like
heroes.
The university students wanted to show off their claim
of being superior, and the folks at the Islamic institution
made every effort to satisfy this urge of theirs. And so,
the problem that had beset the Islamic institution for
several years was automatically resolved. From then on,
the university students stopped troubling the students
of the institution.

This is a remarkable instance of how to win over
one’s opponents. But the question arises as to why some
people who in personal matters choose to solve their
disputes by trying to win their opponents’ hearts act in
a completely contradictory manner when it comes to
their community at large—by urging frenzied emotional
outburst and confrontation against other communities.
The reason for this is that such people view disputes
that involve their personal interests from the point of

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