Issues of Ijtihad

of exhortation, one should completely stay away from political confrontation. It is very important to keep this distinction in mind. Whenever people launch movements to practically confront their rulers and make plans to oust them from power in the name of ‘reform’, it inevitably creates a violent atmosphere in society. However, if people abstain from such politics of conflict and remain satisfied just with verbal exhortation, peace will always prevail and society will not degenerate into a jungle of violence. Peaceful Means are Better A hadith recorded in the Sahih al-Bukhari sheds light on a very important Islamic teaching. According to this tradition, whenever the Prophet had to choose between two methods with regard to any matter, he would always choose the easier one. (Sahih Al Bukhari, Hadith No. 3560; Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2327; Abu Dawud, Hadith No. 4785; Ibn Majah, Hadith No. 1984; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 24549) If you view this choice of the easier option in the context of violent versus peaceful methods, it would be true to say that whenever the Prophet was faced with any issue, he chose peaceful, and not violent, methods to deal with it. This is because violent methods are definitely difficult, while peaceful methods are certainly easy.