War and Peace in Islam

the Prophet received the first revelation, he called the people of Makkah and informed them that he had been sent to give them news about what would happen after death. In the same way, when he entered Madinah, he exhorted the people of the town to save themselves from hell-fire. The Quran and the Prophet’s life clearly indicate that the real and basic aim of Islam is the transformation of people’s minds. This is the beginning of the Islamic mission as well as its finale. But there are all sorts of people in the world, and, according to the Creation Plan of God itself, everyone has full freedom. On the basis of this freedom, some people opposed the Prophet. Some even went to the extent of doing battle with him, seeking to destroy his mission. It was because of this that the Prophet and his Companions had to take up arms in their defense, as a temporary measure. Accordingly, one can rightly say that in Islam peace has the status of being the general rule, while war is just an exception. The life of the Prophet Muhammad as a prophet extended over a period of 23 years. In this period, the Quran was revealed in installments over time according to the prevailing conditions. The revelation of one section of the Quran extended over a period of some 20 years, and another section over a period of around three years. The verses revealed in the 20-year period all relate to peaceful teachings—for instance, worship, ethics, justice, humaneness, and so on. As far as the war-related verses are concerned, they were revealed only in the three-year period, when the followers of Islam were faced with armed aggression. There are 114 chapters in the Quran, and more than 6000 verses. Of these verses, only some 40 relate, directly or indirectly, to war or qital: in terms of proportion, less than 1 per cent. . In the same way, the Bhagavad Gita contains many moral and wise teachings. But, along with this, the Gita also relates that Krishna insisted that Arjuna should go ahead and fight in war. It is obvious that these statements in the Gita are an exception,