TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

a way that the blame falls upon us. When we come to understand that we, rather than others, have made some mistake, we shall then set about rectifying our own shortcomings, than wasting time in making protests and complaints against some supposed enemy. A Mercy for Mankind The Quran has the following to say of the Prophet of Islam: We have sent you forth as a mercy to all mankind. (21: 107) The advent of the Prophet of Islam made manifest God’s mercy for all mankind. Through him God communicated those principles of life by opting for which man may inhabit the abode of eternal peace and security (Dar-as-Salaam) (10: 25). Through him, such teachings were revealed as would turn human society into a peaceful society. For the first time in history, the Prophet of Islam presented a complete ideology based on the concept of peace. He gave us the principle for the building of a healthy life, by shunning hatred and violence. Through him a revolution was set in motion, which made it possible to construct a peaceful society by avoiding war and confrontation. Although the Prophet of Islam was compelled to wage several battles, they were so brief that we might describe them as skirmishes rather than full-scale war. It would be quite correct to say that the Prophet of Islam initiated a revolution which, although very great in its scope and repercussions, was nevertheless almost bloodless. He gave peace the status of a complete ideology or system of life. He impressed it upon his followers that violence was the way of destruction, while peace was the way of construction. He held patience to be the greatest form of worship, implying as it does adherence to the path of peace in the full sense of the word. He held disturbing the peaceful system of nature to be the greatest crime (fasad). The Prophet enjoined believers to greet one another by saying Assalamu Alaykum (peace be on you). This shows that mutual relationships should be based on peace and security. The Prophet told the believers that success in the Hereafter should be the target of the human struggle. In this way he dispelled the notion that worldly progress should be one’s aim in life, for that is what ultimately results in all kinds of confrontation and violence. His principle for better living was to make oneself useful to others, and if that was not possible, then at least not to harm others; no one should be regarded as an enemy; even the enemy must be given fair treatment, for only then would the realization come that one’s enemy was potentially one’s friend: the ‘enemy’ always has it in him to be a friend.