THE SECRET OF UNITY — Agree to Disagree

summum bonum. Freedom has some negative points, but peace has no negative points. This reality has been stated in the Quran in these words: “Peace is the greater good” (THE QURAN 4: 128), or peace is the best or peace is the summum bonum. I know that there are some Muslims who are engaged in violence. However, they are not following Islam. You have to differentiate between Islam and Muslims. You have to judge Muslims in the light of Islamic teachings, not vice versa. Thus, Muslims are not representatives of Islam. If you want to know what Islam is, you have to see its text; that is, the Quran and Sunnah, and not the Muslim practice. Peace is the culture of the whole universe. If you read the Seerah or the life of the Prophet of Islam, you will find that the whole life of the Prophet was based on peace. The Prophet never engaged in violence. I will give some examples. There were many excuses or reasons for the Prophet to take to violence; however, he refrained from doing so. The Prophet of Islam was born in 570 AD. He started his mission in 610 AD in Makkah. As we know, the Kabah is the holiest place in Islam. At the time the Prophet started his mission, there were 360 idols in the Kabah. The Kabah was built by Prophet Abraham, but after some centuries, the Arabs became idol-worshippers and placed many idols in the premises of the Kabah. The Prophet of Islam was the Prophet of tawheed, he was a monotheist. That is, his main message was that God is one. The Prophet, however, never reacted against these idols and remained in Makkah with this situation for thirteen years. He simply tried to make people aware of the reality of tawheed, that is, monotheism. Peaceful persuasion or peaceful dawah work was the culture of the Prophet at that time. The Prophet knew that his reaction would lead to violence, violence to war, and hence there would be no peace. Thus, all opportunities to perform dawah work would get jeopardized. So, the Prophet tolerated the presence of idols in the Kabah. Then, the Makkan people turned hostile to the Prophet and decided to kill him. However he never went to war with them. The Prophet instead migrated from Makkah to Madinah. This was also an act of peace. At that time there were two options before the Prophet: either engage in war or migrate from Makkah. The Prophet opted for migration; he left Makkah and settled in Madinah.