Islam—A Culture of Peace

AUGUST 2 Islam—A Culture of Peace The Model World according to Islam, is a world of peace. Islam in itself means a religion of peace. The Qur’an says: And God calls to the home of peace. This is the message of Islam to mankind. It means that ‘Build a world of peace on earth so that you may be granted a world of peace in your eternal life in the Hereafter.’ Now what are the basic elements of building a culture of peace? According to Islam, to be brief, these are three—compassion, forgiveness and respect for all. Let’s take ‘compassion’ first. If you go through the Qur’an and hadith, you will find many verses in the Qur’an and hadith which lay great stress on compassion. For instance, the Prophet of Islam said: O people, be compassionate to others so that you may be granted compassion by God. Thus Islam makes compassion a matter of self-interest for every man, as one’s own future depends on one’s compassionate behaviour to other fellowmen. In this way, Islam motivates us to be compassionate in our dealing with each other. If one wants to receive God’s grace one will have to show compassion to others. Let’s take forgiveness. The Qur’an has to say this in this regard “when they are angered, they forgive.” There are a number of verses in the Qur’an which promote forgiveness. Then there is a hadith. Once a person came to the Prophet and asked him, “O Prophet, give me a master advice by which I may be able to manage all the affairs of my life.” The Prophet replied: “Don’t be angry.” It means that ‘forgive people even at provocation.’ That is, adopt forgiveness as your behaviour at all times. Now let’s take the third principle—Respect for all. There is a very interesting story, recorded by Al-Bukhari in this regard. The Prophet of Islam once saw a funeral procession passing by a street in Madinah. The Prophet was seated at that time. On seeing the funeral the Prophet stood up in respect. At this one of his companions said: ‘O Prophet, it