The Power of Peace is Greater than the Power of Violence

violent clashes between the Prophet and his opponents, and the situation remained unsettled. However, the Prophet wisely managed to conclude a peace agreement, which has come down in history as the Hudaybiyyah Agreement (628 AD). This was a no-war pact between the two parties. Consequent upon the pact, the Prophet found ample opportunities to further his mission by engaging in peaceful activity. The result proved to be miraculous: within just a few years, the whole of Arabia had accepted his ideology. The American writer Michael H. Hart acknowledges the Prophet Muhammad as the supremely successful man in history.1 But, what was the secret of this supreme success? It was certainly ‘peace’. By dint of wise planning, the Prophet established peace in Arabia, and this allowed him and his companions to avail of the opportunities that were subsequently opened up. His miraculous success was due to this peaceful strategy. The general policy of the Prophet is given in this Hadith: ‘Whenever the Prophet had to choose between the two, he always opted for the easier course of action over the harder course of action.’2 Here, the easier course of action means the peaceful course and the harder course of action is the violent course. It was this policy followed by the Prophet that made him supremely successful.