Since man is created to live not in isolation, then he is to coexist with others around him to live a meaningful life and to fulfil the responsibilities of vicegerency and worshipping of Allah on the surface of the Earth.
To do this, man must create, consolidate and maintain peace with others in his surrounding and the world at large. In addition, he must go his way to accommodate others, pardon their foibles and tolerate their dissents!
This is the reason tolerance has been vouchsafed as the first condition of peaceful living in Islam.
Nothing is possible without peace in this world. And in the hereafter too, one poignant different man will enjoy for earning paradise is peace all through his living in it _ he will not get sick again, he will be enjoying himself; eating, drinking and merrymaking without having the recourse to urinate, defecate and ease himself as a result of his eating, drinking and merrymaking.
Indeed, he will enjoy peace all through his eternal stay in the paradise.This is what is being alluded to in Qur’an 36:25-26 thus:
“No frivolity will they hear therein ( in the paradise); nor any mischief,_
” Only the saying , “Peace! Peace”!
That is in the hereafter in the garden of Eden, what of in this life? Is anything possible in the absence of peace in this Adamic world too?
Can one attain one’s lofty goals without the presence of peace? Even the worship of the Almighty Allah is impossible without the tranquility, harmony and peace of mind and environment of the worshippers!
A declaration of state of emergency in a country will affect adversely the Christian populace as it will affect the Muslim ones negatively _ churches will be closed as Mosques will be knocked while Sundays and Fridays will be disallowed as days of worshipping the Almighty publicly!
In fact, all the three important occasions of importance in man’s life _ birth, marriage and death_ are infeasible in the absence of peace, since birth, marriage and death in time of wars and rancour cannot be adjudged as normal happenings of life which human beings will celebrate as they will do in the time of peace!
This is the reason, man is advised to pray, work and strive to attain peace!
Ask ( Pray) For Peace And Security Of Life Always
Prophet Muhammad (Salla-llahu alehi wasalam) having been inspired by the Almighty to know the inner and surface meanings of peace and security of life and property, has placed fighting or the much maligning term ‘Jihad’ in Islam, as the last resort in matters concerning him and the non-Muslims!
And as a condition of this Jihad, Muslims should not be the elicitors or causers of the fighting, Jihad and war, in the first instance!
He must have been pushed to the wall and must have exhausted all the available means of avoiding fight, until he is allowed to fight.
And that too, will be the aftermath of when the elicitor of the fight has started it! This is explicitly presented in Qur’an 2:190 as follows:
“And fight in the way of Allah THOSE WHO FIGHT YOU, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits”.
As a matter of religious importance, prophet Muhammad ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) has expressly warned the Muslims to avoid turning the meeting of the enemies into sports or merry making affairs, so that they will not make it a normal situation of life that they will want to partake in it every time so as not to instigate it when there is no basis for it and when they have not exhausted all the means to peace, when he warned in a Hadith narrated by Abu-Huraira as follows:
” Do not wish to meet the enemies always, instead pray to Allah for peace but when you meet them (when there is no means again to avoid the fight), be patient!”
As tolerance is one of the main teachings of Islam; since it is a means to peaceful living, a good Muslim must therefore, tolerate what others say or do to him, except when it involves doing wrong or committing a crime.
And at that, he must report the case to the authority for proper investigation but not to take law into his hands!
Besides, there is no compulsion in religion. Muslims are directed to invite others to Islam through wisdom and good preaching and not through threats or punishment.
Allah says: “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful teaching and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious”.
This makes it necessary for every Muslim to use tact in spreading islam to others. In the first place, he is advised to give a good example by overcoming his own selfish desires; and he is told to call others with tact and good reasoning!
A Muslim should use only good reasoning to make the non-Muslim realise his mistake and not resort to abusive words either against him or against what he worships. Allah says:
“Revile not those whom they call upon besides God, lest they out of spite revile God in their ignorance.
Thus have we made alluring to each people its own doing; then to their Lord shall be their return, so He will inform them of what they did” _ Qur’an 6: 108
Imagine when Islam does not want you to abuse those the non-Muslims are regarding as gods, despite their falsity; so that they will not out of ignorance, abuse the true God Allah; does it give you the license to mob, murder and exterminate their lives? And now, look at the evils done early by the faithful had elicited?
The murder of Deborah has led to the murder of Harirah and her four children in spate of a week? See how evil is begetting evil?
Supposing our brothers in the northern parts of the country do not restrain themselves from retaliating Harirah’s and her Children’s murder ( I pray they will not), what will have become of the Easterners living in the north and vice versa?
This should tell governments in the country to try all means in their capacities as the agents of the state to bring Deborah’s murderers and Harirah and her children’s killers to justice.
They must go a whole hog to unravel the mystery or mysteries behind those killings and make sure the long hands of justice catch and deal mercilessly with these sons of devil who do not respect the sanctity of human lives.
Moreover, this the reason it is germane, this time, than ever, for the believers to emulate the prophet (Salla-llahu alehi wasalam), they are claiming to love with all they possess and more than their ownselves, fathers and mothers! They should know that the Prophet of Islam is a complete gentleman!
The Prophet Of Islam Is A Complete Gentleman
Our Prophet (Salla-llahu alehi wasalam) is a complete gentleman, no doubt!. Not only this, he exemplified gentlemanliness in his speech, behaviors and conducts!.
Even when a people insult others in his presence, he either called them to order or moved away from the mess and deserted the instigators!
In the same vein, he used to say that: “God is merciful and loves mercy in every matter” and, “Mercifulness will not be in a matter except it beautifies it while it will not be subtracted from a matter except that it spoils it”!
In a report, it was said that a Jew walked past the prophet and said:
“Death shall be your portion Oh Muhammad.” Aisha, the prophet’s wife who was present, out of emotion replied the Jew; “death and curse should be your portion oh this Jew!”.
The prophet was said to have quickly corrected Aisha his wife and said : ” O you Aishat : “God is kind and loves kindness in every matter; when the people of the books (the Jew and Christian) wish you death, don’t reply them but say “on you or over to you “!
Besides, during the battle of Khandaq (the trench), a Christian seized the prophet’s warfare when the prophet had slept off! He woke the prophet and said today, I will kill you and who will save you today?.
It is said that the prophet replied him :” Allah will save me”. While saying this, the weapon fell from the Christian’s hands and the prophet picked it!. He now asked the Christian as he had asked him hitherto : “who will save you today?.
The Christian replied the prophet ( salla-llahu alehi wasalam) patronizingly: “I saw you O Muhammad as a kindhearted being and I know that you will not kill me! Then the prophet released him!
When the Christian man joined his people in their camp, they asked him, why have you been oh Man! To which he responded: “I’m coming from the best of men in character”.
The said the ‘testimony’- Ash-adu an Lailaha illa llahu, wa ana Muhammadan Rasul-llah, and became a Muslim for the toleration of his excess by the Prophet (Salla-llahu alehi wasalam), even in the face of war!
Friends and Foes, the prophet of Islam has never been an instigator of evil or a promoter of war! He lived, dwelled and did business with the Jew, Christian and Pagan, and he never cheated, deceived or harmed them.
He was said to have even been a banker to these people where they kept their treasures, valuables and property and he never cheated them .
He would return their property to them in-to-to even during the time of attrition and war! This is what he had done at the time of migration to Madinna, when he commanded his cousin ‘Aliy Ibn Abu-Talib to sleep on his bed so that Makkans would not know that he had migrated to Madinna in the night, and purposefully, he would be returning their kept property to them in the morning, as they had given them to him in the first day!
O you who claimed Islam as your faith, be stilled and kind, your prophet was a model of everything good! Try and emulate your prophet who is the best in character among the God’s creation!
Stop acting belligerently! Life is not for you alone; it is meant for everybody: Christians, Jews, Muslims, freethinkers and the atheists!
O you who like to attack the Muslims at every occasion and tag the prophet as evil, be careful and accept from me the goodness of our prophet(saw)! He is to you like a mother to her children!
He wishes no evil to you and your brethren in other faiths though he prefers you be Allah’s faithfuls like him as the one who completes the apostleship of other messengers and prophets of God!
O you who believe in the oneness of God, hear the words of the apostle sent to you by the one that you believe:
“I have been commanded by God to dwell with those that abandon me; to pardon who transgress against me and to give to those who deny me”!
May the peace of Allah continue to dwell with prophet Muhammad (Salla-llahu alehi wasalam), his households, companions, the believers and us too in every part of this nation, Amin.
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