TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

they demanded that the phrase ‘Muhammad, the Prophet of God’ be replaced by ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’. The Prophet’s companion Ali, who was writing the treaty on paper, was not ready to do this. Then, the Prophet erased these words with his own hands and agreed to write ‘Muhammad, son of Abdullah’. This peace treaty of Hudaibiya was another brilliant instance of the Prophet’s management of problems. There are no hard-and-fast rules for managing problems. It is dependent on the situation, requires discernment and an open mind while choosing the course of action. With wisdom determine what needs acceptance or rejection in order to avoid confrontation. Scholars generally define peace as the absence of war. Peace is a positive term, so why give it a negative definition? The right definition of peace must have a positive content which is the presence of opportunities. So, a more comprehensive definition of peace is: a state of the absence of war and the presence of opportunities. When peace is established, opportunities will emerge. Availing these can lead to growth and progress. That is what happened in the wake of the Hudaibiya no-war treaty. It led to increased, peaceful interaction between Muslims and others, enabling them to learn about Islam. In a mere two years, a large number of people entered the fold of Islam, and when the Prophet marched towards Makkah 10,000 companions accompanied him. This event was predicted in the Bible. ‘He came with ten thousands of saints’ (Deuteronomy 33: 2), the Bible says. This is the miracle of peace. The Prophet then sent letters to the rulers of lands adjacent to Arabia and dispatched envoys to different tribes in Arabia to convey the message of Islam. Entire tribes embraced Islam, another miracle of peace. In this way, the Prophet provided a model and an ideology of peace. Following this he established some very important principles to maintain peace, two of which are mentioned here. One relates to internal revolt or khuruj, rebellion against an established government. The Prophet declared this to be haram or unlawful in Islam. He laid down that once a government is established in a country, one must accept it. This was not meant to encourage a passive attitude. If you do not rebel against a government, you will engage in peaceful work, such as inviting people to God, promoting education, running businesses etc. The political field is just one of hundred fields, and you still have opportunities to work in the remaining ninety nine. But if instead, you