The Culture of Peace

The Culture of Peace In ancient times, long before the rise of modern forms of governance, people were protected by fellow members of their respective tribes. According to tribal custom and tradition, it was the duty of the tribe to protect its members against other tribes. In those days, this served as a protecting power for the prophets, too. Thus, the Prophet Muhammad received such protection from Abu Talib, head of the Banu Hashim clan. Even though Abu Talib did not accept Islam, in accordance with tribal tradition he continued to protect the Prophet from his opponents. In the present age, the tribal system has, of course, disappeared. But the role of protective power that it once performed is now played by the secular system based on the modern conception of the state. This system now provides believers, including those engaged in dawah or inviting people to God’s path, the same sort of protection. The modern secular state gives all its citizens the guarantee that they can follow, preach and propagate the religion of their choice. No one can obstruct them from doing so, provided, of course, they do not engage in violence. The protective shield that guarded the prophets in the past was based on the tribal system. It was a tribal protection mechanism, not a specifically Islamic one. Yet, despite this, the prophets accepted it. Likewise, in today’s world, the protection that Muslims enjoy is a secular one, and not a specifically Islamic one. In accordance with the practice of the prophets, Muslims must accept this protective mechanism and engage in peaceful dawah work. However, Muslim ‘leaders’ of the entire world branded secularism as ‘irreligiousness’ (la-deeniyat) and unleashed a verbal as well as physical war against it. In this way, they unnecessarily turned into enemies of secularism. Thereby, they left unused the valuable protection that the secular system provided them. Mercy for Humanity Addressing the Prophet Muhammad, God says in the Quran: