THE CULTURE OF PEACE — Part V Teachings of Islam

from them. One must distinguish between the politics of exhortation and confrontation. Using the legitimate right of exhortation, one should completely stay away from political confrontation. It is very important to keep this distinction in mind. Whenever people launch movements to practically confront their rulers and make plans to push them out of power in the name of ‘reform’, it inevitably creates a violent atmosphere in society. However, if people abstain from such conflictual politics and remain satisfied just with verbal exhortation, peace will always prevail and society will not degenerate into a jungle of violence. Peaceful Means Are Better A Hadith report recorded in the Sahih al-Bukhari sheds light on a very important Islamic teaching. According to this report, whenever the Prophet had to choose between two methods with regard to any matter, he would always choose the easier one. The power of peace is both more effective and beneficial than the power of violence. If you view this choice of the easier option in the context of violent versus peaceful methods, then it would be true to say that whenever the Prophet was faced with any matter, then he chose peaceful, and not violent, methods to deal with it. However, this is not simply a matter of ease versus difficulty. Rather, it means that peaceful methods are always efficacious, while violent methods are always ineffective. Instead of solving a given problem, violent methods only further exacerbate it and make it seem even more complicated. In this regard, what the Hadith report referred to above means by difficult method is a method through which it is difficult to achieve one’s goal. Compared to this, by easy method is meant a method through which it is easy and certain to attain one’s goal. Flexibility, Not Stiffness A Hadith report (Sahih Muslim) likens a momin, a true worshipper of God, to a soft plant, which, whenever it is faced with a gust of wind, bends accordingly. And when the gust goes away, the plant once again stands up. In this way, it saves itself from troubles and difficulties. According