Peace: The Summum Bonum

major role in the spread of Islam. The Sufis, as is well known, did not make any use of force; they were simply spiritual guides. Often quoted in arguments are the wars and fights with the Byzantine and Persian Empire during the reign of the rightly guided caliphs. I have addressed this in great detail in my book, The Prophet of Peace (Penguin publication). Once the tribal communities started accepting Islam and pledging their allegiance to the caliphs, the then superpowers (Byzantine and Persia) felt a sense of threat and declared war on the Muslim community. In their defence, Muslims had to fight back. In those days, the territory of the vanquished was merged with the territory of the victors. But the inhabitants of the newly merged territories were never forcefully converted to Islam. An example of this can be seen when Umar ibn al-Khattab (the second Muslim caliph) entered the city of Jerusalem. The Patriarch of the city, Sophronius, offered Umar to say his prayers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but Umar declined the offer. Upon being enquired, Umar said that he had declined so that later on Muslims do not claim their right on the land saying that their caliph had prayed there, and thus take away from the Christians what was rightfully theirs. In doing so, the caliph Umar demonstrated the Islamic teachings of well-wishing, co-existence and peace for all mankind. How did the Kashmiri freedom movement change from being political to a religious one? A t the time of Sheikh Abdullah, when the movement of Kashmir began, it was not a religious issue. Later, certain Muslim groups got involved and falsely gave a religious colour to the issue and misled the public to fight and establish a so-called Nizam-e-Mustafa (or Islamic Sharia). In this way, the Kashmiri movement turned into a religious one. What is Islam’s view on revenge? I slam teaches forgiveness over revenge. According to Quranic teachings, revenge is not a solution. Revenge only increases the problem. A chapter in the Quran entitled Al-Nahl (Bees) gives practical advice on this point. It says: If you want to retaliate, retaliate to the same degree as the injury done to you. But if you are patient, it is better to be so. (Quran 16:126) In other words, if one has been wronged and responds with patience and forgiveness, this behaviour holds more value in the eyes of God and may even serve as atonement for one’s sins. Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at