The Power of Peace

even if the ruler is evil and a tyrant.” (Sharh an Nawawi, Vol. 12, p. 229) This injunction of the Prophet of Islam, as made clear above, was based on extremely important considerations. The truth is that in the first phase (and in later phases as well) a large number of academic, dawah and reform works outside the political field, had to be performed. Without this, the very history of Islam would have remained incomplete, for if the religious scholars had engaged themselves in confrontation with the political institutions, all these constructive activities could never have been carried out. Therefore, the Prophet of Islam gave express commands to avoid political confrontation with the rulers at the slightest pretext. This avoidance served as a guarantee that all the constructive activities outside the field of politics would continue uninterruptedly. In every society two parallel systems exist side by side—one political and the other nonpolitical. The latter governs a variety of institutions, which function independently of politics. According to the scheme of Islam, the non-political system established at the social level has to be always kept stable; all believers are expected to do their utmost to ensure that despite changes, rot or corruption in the political set-up, Islam should be firmly established on a nonpolitical basis. The Command of War in Islam Certain verses of the Quran give the command to do battle (The Quran, 22:39). Here are a few points on this subject that we learn from our study of the Quran. 1. The first point is that to initiate aggression or armed confrontation is absolutely forbidden for Muslims. That is why the Quran clearly states: Fight in the cause of God those who fight against you, but do not transgress (The Quran, 2:190). 2. Islam allows only a defensive war. That is, when aggression is resorted to by others, Muslims may engage in war only in self-defense. The initiation of hostilities is not permitted for Muslims. Combat may be engaged in only when “they (the opponents) were the first to commence hostilities against you.” (The Quran, 9:13) Furthermore, even in the face of aggression, Muslims are not immediately to wage a defensive war. Instead they are to employ all possible means to prevent a carnage from taking place. They are to resort to fighting only when it becomes totally unavoidable. All the battles that took place during the life of the Prophet provide practical examples of this principle. For instance, during the campaign of Ahzab, the Prophet attempted to avoid the battle by digging a trench, and thus successfully averted war. If, on the occasion of Hunain, the Prophet had to engage in battle, it was because it had become inevitable. 3. There was another kind of war, according to the Quran, which was temporarily desirable. That was the struggle to end religious persecution (fitna) (The Quran, 2:193). In this verse ‘fitna refers to that coercive system which reaches the extremes of religious persecution. Prevalent all over the world in ancient times, this system had effectively closed the