Islam and Peace
Non-Violence and Islam
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Furthermore, even in the case of the offensive being
launched by an opposing group, the believers are
not supposed to retaliate immediately. Rather in the
beginning all efforts are to be made to avert war,
and only when avoidance has become impossible is
battle to be resorted to inevitably in defence.
3. According to the Qur’an there was one form of
war which was time-bound strictly in relation to its
purpose. This was to put an end to
fitna
‘Fight
against them until
fitna
is no more.’ (2:193) In this
verse
fitna
signifies that coercive system which had
reached the extremes of religious persecution. In
ancient times this coercive political system
prevailed all over the world. This absolutism had
closed all the doors of progress, both spiritual and
material. At that time God commanded the
believers to break this coercive system in order to
usher in freedom, so that all doors of spiritual and
material progress might be opened to man.
This mission was undertaken and brought to a
successful conclusion at the internal level within
Arabia during the life of the Prophet. Later, during
the pious caliphate, the Sasanid and Byzantine
