THE CULTURE OF PEACE — Part VI Teachings of Islam

Accordingly, the leader went home and studied both sets of documents. And in a few days time he gave a decision that was wholly in favour of the Muslim man. If the Muslim man had reacted to the crowd by grabbing his gun and firing, it would certainly have provoked the angry demonstrators’ egotism, or nafs-e ammara. And then things would have gone totally against him. But by using wisdom and reasonableness instead of a gun, he awakened their conscience, or nafs-e lawwama. And when the conscience awakens, its decision is always in favour of justice. It never decides in favour of oppression and injustice. Victory Can Also Be Defeat Pyrrhus was a Greek king who lived in the third century B.C. He fought the Romans and was victorious over them. But in the course of this war, his army and the entire economy of his kingdom were badly devastated. It was a superficial victory for Pyrrhus, but, from the point of view of its results, it was synonymous with defeat. On the basis of this historical incident, the phrase ‘Pyrrhic victory’ came into being. It refers to what seems, on the face of it, to be a victory, but what in reality is a complete defeat. The way to protect yourself in society is to become a good neighbour for the people around you. If you examine the history of war in general, it will not be an exaggeration to say that most victories turn out to be ‘Pyrrhic victories’. Every victor has to necessarily face two types of loss—one, destruction of life and property, and the other, a burning hatred in the heart of the defeated party. No victor can escape these two losses. If there is at all any difference in this regard, it is that some victors have to face these losses at once, while others have to contend with them at a later stage. This question of loss is connected only with the use of violent methods. The question of peaceful methods is entirely different. Peaceful methods lead only, and always, to victory and nothing else. There is no question of defeat at all as far as the choice of these methods is concerned, so much so that even if the result of using peaceful methods appears in the form of what seems to be a defeat, it is still actually a victory. This is because by using peaceful means one may lose a war but one does not