Chapter One

Peace and Islam while peace inevitably leads to additional benefits. This is why Islam stresses the avoidance of war and confrontation to the maximum possible extent. It commands its followers to establish peace at all costs. Clarification of a Misunderstanding There are some verses in the Quran about which there is considerable misunderstanding. For instance, the verse which says, ‘Slay them wherever you find them’ (2:191). On the basis of such verses, the impression has been formed that Islam is a religion of war. This, however, is a baseless view. Verses of this sort are restricted in their application and concern only to those people who had unilaterally launched a military attack on the followers of Islam. They are not a general Islamic commandment. This point can be better understood if we keep in mind the fact that the Quran was not revealed all at once, in the form of a book. Rather, it was revealed in installments, over a period of 23 years, in accordance with prevailing conditions. If this period of 23 years is divided on the basis of peace and war, then some 20 years of this period were years of peace, while only around three years were a time of war. The Quranic verses about war were revealed in this three-year period. Besides these verses, the other verses, which were revealed over a period of 20 years, were all related to peaceful teachings—to matters such as intuitive knowledge of God, worship, morals, justice, and so on. This way of categorizing the commandments of the Quran is a natural one. This sort of categorization can be done with regard to the scriptures of other religions, too. Take, for instance, the holy book of Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita. There are many teachings in the Gita that have to do with wisdom and morals. In addition, the Gita also talks about war. In the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna to go ahead and participate in war. Now, this certainly does not mean that those who believe in the Gita will be waging war all the time. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi drew his philosophy