Non-Violence and Peace-Building in Islam

wrongness is not something to be debated about. All that needs to be considered in such matters is how to find a realistic solution to the problem. When the Hudaybiyah Treaty between Muslims and the Quraysh was being written up, the Prophet told the person who was penning the document, “Write that this is what Muhammad, the Prophet of God, has decided”. But the representative of the Quraysh, Suhayl ibn Amr, protested against this, insisting that the document should mention the Prophet simply as ‘Muhammad ibn Abdullah’ (‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’), because the Quraysh did not accept him as a prophet. And so, in response, the Prophet told the man who was writing the document to mention him simply as ‘Muhammad ibn Abdullah’. Had the Prophet made the matter into a question of right versus wrong, he would never have accepted this demand. But he did not make this an issue of right and wrong. Rather, he saw only its practical aspect. Since at that time there was, in practical terms, no other solution, he agreed to leave out the words ‘Prophet of God’ and to have himself referred to in the Treaty document simply as ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’. The issue of communal violence and its solution is similar to this in an important sense. In accordance with the above-mentioned sunnah or practice of the Prophet, it is incumbent on Muslims not to make the issue of communal violence a dispute over of ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’. Instead, the only thing they should consider is what the practical solution of the issue is and then adopt it. If Muslims do not stop seeing the issue in terms of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, their attitude will only indicate their particular mindset, rather than their devotion to the Truth. Devotion to the Truth lies in adopting the sunnah or practice of the Prophet of God, and not in any other approach or method. Today, Muslims everywhere are engaged in fighting, even on petty matters, and in this way are destroying themselves. They imagine that in