Islam Rediscovered
10. Islam As It Is
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developed, this important point made by Abdullah
ibn Umar could not be highlighted, with the result
that history took the course of wars and conquests,
while in terms of the real teachings of Islam, history
should have taken the course of
da‘wah
and the
propagation of Islam.
It is no exaggeration to say that Islam and violence
are contradictory to each other. The concept of
Islamic violence is so obviously unfounded that,
prima facie it stands rejected. The fact that violence
is not sustainable in the
present world is enough to
convince one that violence as a principle is quite
alien to the scheme of things in Islam. Islam claims
to be an eternal religion and such a religion cannot
afford a principle in its scheme which will not be
sustainable in later periods of human history. An
attempt to bracket violence with Islam amounts to
casting doubts upon the very eternity of the Islamic
religion.
No wonder, then, that the Prophet Muhammad,
may peace be upon him, so earnestly used to entreat
his Lord in his daily prayer: “O God, you are the
original source of Peace; from You is all Peace, and
