Islam and Peace
Non-Violence and Islam
~ 259 ~
THE MODERN AGE AND NON-VIOLENCE
The greatest problem facing Islam today is, as I see
it that Muslims have almost totally forgotten the
sunnah
(Prophet’s way) of non-violence. In latter
times when the Ottoman and Mughal empires
disintegrated and problems like that of Palestine
have had to be confronted by the faithful, Muslims
all over the world have fallen a prey to negative
reaction on a colossal scale; they have failed to
remember that the policy of Islam is not that of
violence but of non-violence. It is the result of this
deviation, that despite almost a 100-years of bloody
wars, Muslims have achieved no positive gain.
Rather whatever they already had has been lost by
them.
According to Imam Malik, later generations of this
ummah (Muslim community) settled matters at
issue in the same way that earlier generations had
done, i.e. non-violent methods. Similarly, Muslims
of modern times must likewise resort only to non-
violent methods. Just as no gain could accrue from
violent methods earlier, no gain can accrue from
violent methods today.
