The Religion of Peace

The Religion of Peace sake of dawah. By using peaceful methods all that Islam wants can be achieved. A Hadith A Companion of the Prophet reported that the Prophet once narrated in a sermon many things that would happen from his time till the Day of Judgment. In this sermon, he strongly forbade his ummah from engaging in political rebellion. He said that even if they considered their rulers to be oppressors, and even if the latter whipped them on their backs and looted their wealth, they must still obey them. After this, the Prophet spoke about rulers among his people who would mislead, adding that when the sword entered among his people (ummah), it would stay until Judgment Day. If this hadith is studied in the light of similar traditions, one learns that the Prophet was very strongly against violent action in political matters, and advised peaceful action. This is because once violence becomes an established tradition, it becomes exceedingly difficult to eliminate it. There are several hadith in which the Prophet clearly forbade revolt against rulers. On this basis, Islamic scholars unanimously agree that it is forbidden or haram to revolt against an established government on any pretext. On the one hand, Islam completely forbids violent political action against rulers. Moreover, the Prophet is said to have remarked, as a hadith report (contained in the collections of atTirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Ahmad and al-Nasai) relates, that the best jihad is for one to speak a word of truth in front of an oppressive ruler. If one ponders on these hadith reports, one learns that even if a ruler appears to be oppressive, the maximum extent to which one is permitted to go is only to verbally express one’s opinion, but not to engage in agitational politics against him or to try to destroy him. In other words, in Islam only peaceful struggle is permitted. Violent struggle is not legitimate in Islam, no matter what the conditions. There are no grounds whatsoever for engaging in it.