Islam and Peace
Non-Violence and Islam
~ 283 ~
During the conversation he said that in modern
times Muslims are engaged in bloody war at many
places, at some places with others and at other
places among themselves. This had led him (like
many others) to conclude that perhaps Islam was a
religion of violence. Later, he studied the Qur’an
with the help of translations, and when he reached
this verse in the Qur’an: ‘Whoever killed a human
being should be looked upon as though he had
killed all mankind (5:32),’ he said that he was so
moved that he could not believe that it was in the
Qur’an.
This incident is broadly indicative of the thinking of
non-Muslims on Islam. On seeing the actions of
Muslims, people today find it hard to believe that
Islam may be a religion of peace. But if Muslims
stop engaging in violent activities and give people
the opportunity to appreciate Islam in its original
form, then certainly a great number of people
would realise as they never had before that Islam
was a peaceful religion and they would rush to it,
saying and that it was exactly the religion which
their souls had been seeking all along.
