War and Peace in Islam

The present world is so structured that conflicts inevitably take place between individuals. On such occasions, Islam tells us not to allow the conflict to escalate to the point of a violent confrontation. The Quran calls this a policy of patience and avoidance. As a permanent principle, it says: ‘Reconciliation is best.’ (4:128) That is, at the time of mutual conflict, reconciliation should be resorted to, in order to end the conflict, which is far better in its result. This is for the simple reason that, by adopting the path of conciliation we can find opportunities to prevent our energy from being wasted in confrontational actions and to devote all this energy to constructive activities. It is this advantage of the conciliatory course that, the Prophet of Islam addressed his followers thus: “You should not desire confrontation with the enemy; you should ask God for peace.” There is a verse in the Quran that says: “Whenever they kindle the fire of war, God puts it out.” (5:64) This verse shows us clearly the actual spirit of Islam regarding war and peace. For various reasons people enter the arena of battle. This is an exigency of the system prevailing in the world based on the principle of competition. It is the task of the believers, that when others ignite the flame of war, they should cool the fire by adopting the strategy of unilateral goodness. That is to say, the strategy of the believers should not be that of war, but of avoidance. What one has to do, on the one hand, is to safeguard one’s interests without going so far as to wage war; on the other hand, there is the responsibility of being the messengers of peace. We should be advocates of peace and not advocates of war. It was in this spirit of Islam that, when the Prophet came into power in Madinah, he did not start waging war in order to force people to surrender to him. Instead, he negotiated with