An Example of Noble Character

“Reconciliation is better” (Quran, 4:128), but no verse states, “War is better.” Similarly, a hadith states: “Do not wish to meet the enemy; instead, ask God for well-being.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 2966) Nowhere does Islamic teaching encourage the desire for war or the pursuit of battle. This principle is consistently upheld in both the Quran and Hadith. Yet in modern times, there exists a segment among Muslims who claim to follow Islam but, in reality, seem to admire war. They frequently glorify conflict in their speeches and writings. Their intellectual hero is Iqbal, who poetically wrote: “The sword is sharpened by the strength of selfhood—‘There is no god but God.’” However, these individuals are peace-loving when it comes to their own lives. Their approach is: do not engage in war— but talk about it endlessly. They have no intention of risking personal harm, yet they glorify martyrdom and bloodshed. As a result of this double standard, they remain safe, while impressionable Muslims—swayed by their rhetoric—end up paying the price. In Islamic history, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is one of the clearest examples of Islam’s deep commitment to peace. Yet war-inclined thinkers have even tried to derive a prowar message from this event by referencing the Pledge of Ridwan (Bay’at al-Ridwan). They argue that this pledge proves that war was central to Hudaybiyyah. But this interpretation is both unfounded and misleading. Historical and hadith sources make it clear that the Pledge of Ridwan was not a pledge for war—it was a pledge