THE CULTURE OF PEACE — Teachings of Islam

that the Prophet wrought can, therefore, definitely be termed as a bloodless revolution. The Prophet gave peace the status of a complete and comprehensive way of life. He taught us that violence leads to destruction, while peace leads to construction. He termed patience as the highest form of worship, which means remaining fully established on the way of peace. He termed strife, the disrupting of the peaceful system of Nature, as the biggest crime. He gave complete importance to peace in accordance with the Quranic teaching that equated the killing of a single individual with the slaying of the whole of mankind. The Prophet termed patience as the highest form of worship, which means remaining fully established on the way of peace. The Prophet taught us to greet each other with the greeting Assalamu Alaikum or ‘May peace be upon you!’ This means that our relationships with each other should be based on peace and security. He taught us that success in the Hereafter is the real goal of human activity and struggle in this world. In this way, he uprooted the false belief that the target of our life is worldly progress, which is the basis of all forms of confrontation and violence. He gave humanity this beautiful formula: Become someone who benefits others. And if you cannot benefit others, then at least become harmless as far as they are concerned. He taught us not to consider anyone as our enemy. From him we learnt, too, that if we behave in a good way with our opponents, we will realise that hidden deep within every person we think of as our foe is a potential friend. 4. Jihad, a Peaceful Activity Every word has both a literal as well as a conventional meaning—one that is related to how the word is conventionally used and understood. This is the case with the word ‘jihad’, too. The word ‘jihad’ comes from the root juhd or jahd. The literal connotation of this is exertion with much effort. The word ‘jihad’ is conventionally used for various sorts of exertion or struggle, one of which is war. However, it is used only for a particular and exceptional sort of war, one which is fought in the cause of God to end religious persecution.