Islam Rediscovered
11. Non-Violence and Islam
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generations, consisting of traditionists, jurists,
‘
ulema
, sufis and other great religious scholars,
all scrupulously avoided any clash or
confrontation with the rulers.
It was during this period that on the one hand
peaceful
da’wah
work was started in various
countries while on the other, disciplines of
hadith,
fiqh
and other Islamic sciences came into existence
on a large scale after a long period of great struggle.
All the precious books which adorn our libraries, all
the classical literature of Islam are the result of these
peaceful activities.
For instance, the Hadith as a source of
Shari’ah
is
second only to the Qur’an in Islam. These traditions
now exist in the form of printed books. These books
are so precious that, without them, it would not
have been possible to develop Islam into a complete
system as it exists today. During the Umayyads and
Abbasids, when the political system had begun to
deteriorate, where were these tens of thousands of
traditions? All of them existed in the memory of the
religious scholars, whose names are mentioned in
the books as chains in the link of authorities who
