Islam and Peace
Non-Violence and Islam
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empires were dismantled with special divine
succour. Consequently, intellectual oppression at
the international level was replaced by intellectual
freedom.
In this connection those traditions are worth noting
which are enshrined in Sahih al-Bukhari. When,
after the fourth caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, political
conflict ensued between Abdullah ibn Zubayr and
the Umayyads, Abdullah ibn Umar, the seniormost
companion of the Prophet held himself aloof from
the battle. People approached him and, quoting the
verse of
qital-e-fitna,
asked him why he was not
joining in the battle. Abdullah ibn Umar replied that
‘fitna’
as mentioned in the Qur’an did not refer to
political infighting, but rather to the religious
coercive system, that had already been put to an
end by them. (Fathul Bari, 8/60)
From this we learn that the war against
fitna
was a
war of limited duration, meant to be engaged in
only until its specific purpose had been served.
Invoking the Quranic exhortation to do battle
against
fitna
in order to validate acts of war which
had quite other aims was improper. This verse
