THE SECRET OF UNITY — Agree to Disagree

‘Don’t be angry’, he meant, ‘Don’t be angry, even when provoked’. This is the true spirit of Islam. Negative reaction or negative thinking is un-Islamic. The word Islam itself has a connotation of peace. Because, the root word of Islam is silm, which means peace. So, Islam is a religion of peace. ‘Don’t be angry, even when provoked’. This is the true spirit of Islam. Negative reaction or negative thinking is un-Islamic. There are many stories of the Prophet having engaged in war. The fact, however, is that the Prophet never engaged in war, except sometimes when he was compelled, he engaged in skirmishes. They were small skirmishes, and not wars. All the so called battles or wars were actually skirmishes, because they lasted for only one day. According to scholars’ definition, it requires six days to call an act a war. The minimum period of war is six days. In the life of the Prophet there was no full-fledged war, only skirmishes. What is the reason behind this? The reason is that Islam has a great mission. The mission is to make people aware of the Creation Plan of God. That is, to tell people why God created man, what is the right path and the wrong path; what is pre-death period and post-death; what is the successful way of life; how can one find entry into Paradise; what is salvation, etc. All these questions are very important. The only mission of the Prophet is to make people aware of these issues. There is no need for fighting in order to do this. Islam wants peace so that it may complete its mission. Such a mission cann be carried out only in peace and normalcy. If there is hate, violence and war, one cannot perform this mission. So, the only concern of Islam and the Prophet of Islam was to make people aware of the Creation Plan of God. This is not conversion; rather it is only dawah, or conveying the message to all mankind. Conversion is not Islam’s goal. Only conveying of the message of Islam is the goal, that is, telling others what is the purpose of life, what is Paradise and how to enter Paradise. This is a peaceful mission, and can be carried out only in a normal situation. All Muslims who are engaged in war; it is their own concern, not Islamic concern. Muslims are not doing jihad, they are actually engaged in