Islam and Peace
Non-Violence and Islam
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sedulously avoiding all such issues, the Prophet of
Islam strictly limited his sphere to peaceful
propagation of the word of God. This resulted in
Dawah
work being performed in full force
throughout this period. One of the great gains
during these 13 years of
dawah
work was the entry
into the Islamic fold of men of the highest moral
calibre who were responsible for forming the
history of Islam, for instance, Abu Bakr, Umar,
Usman and Ali, etc.
2. In Mecca when the Quraysh leaders were set to
wage war against the Prophet, even then, instead of
opting for the way of reaction and retaliation, what
the Prophet did was to secretly migrate to Medina.
Migration, by its very nature, was a clear example
of non-violent activism. This peaceful strategy
enabled the Prophet and his followers, about two
hundred in number, to form a powerful centre of
Islam in Medina. Had they adopted the path of
confrontation instead of peaceful migration, the
history of Islam might have been buried right there
in Mecca shortly after its inception.
