The Power of Peace

What are the advantages of non-violent activism over violent activism? These are listed here in brief: 1. According to the Quran, each human being is endowed with two faculties: the ego, which is called nafs ammara (The Quran, 12:53) in the Quran and the conscience, which is called nafs lawwama (The Quran, 75:2). Violent methods arouse people’s egos, which inevitably results in some form of destruction. Conversely, non-violent activism awakens people’s consciences, which results in introspection in the people concerned. This brings about miraculous results, and, in the words of the Quran, the enemy becomes “your dearest friend.” (The Quran, 41:34) 2. One great benefit of the non-violent method is that people’s time is not wasted. In this way they have the occasion to exploit the opportunities existing in the prevailing circumstances to the ultimate extent. We find this in the case of the no war pact of Hudaybiya. This peace treaty made it possible for the energies of the believers to be expended in peaceful constructive activities rather than being wasted in armed confrontation. (Seerah ibn Khathir, Vol. 3, p. 324) 3. One tremendous harm resulting from violent activism is the breaking of social traditions in order to launch such movements, whereas the great benefit of non-violent activism is that it can be continued without any disruption of tradition. 4. Violent activism ultimately destroys the existing system, for the replacement of one system by another is not possible by this means. On the contrary, through non-violent methods it becomes possible to gradually replace one system with another. That is why movements based on violence end up by bringing about one political coup or another. True revolution cannot result from any movement launched on the basis of violence. Success Through the Non-violent Method All great successes or victories in the first phase of Islam and in the succeeding period were achieved by the non-violent method. Here we refer to some of these victories. 1. The first thirteen-year period of the prophethood is called the Makkah period. The method of non-­violence, or pacifism, was adopted in the full sense in this phase. Many issues which presented themselves in Makkah could easily have led to confrontations. But the Prophet of Islam, avoiding all such issues, confined himself totally to the sphere of the peaceful propagation of ‘the word of God’. It was as a result of this policy that dawah work in this period could be effectively performed. One of the many benefits of this 13-year dawah work was that in this age all the best individuals who influenced Islamic history were brought into the fold of Islam, for instance, Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman, Ali, etc. 2. When the Makkan leaders wanted to wage war against him, the Prophet, declining to