Roots of ‘Security’ and ‘Peace’

in Islam

Karim Douglas Crow

IAIS-Malaysia

PEACE & SECURITY FORUM: IDFR and IAIS October 4th 2011

There is no good in many of their conferences except those who enjoin charity, or good deeds or the making of peace among men. Whoso does that, seeking GOD’s good pleasure, WE shall soon bestow on them a great reward.

• – Q al-Nisa>’ 4:114

crucial issues confronting us:

- fostering peace and ensuring global security,

- building and sustaining peaceful societies,

- nation healing after violent conflict,

- harmonious reconciliation between rival groups and competing interests,

- construction of peaceful societies,

- peaceable relations between differing political and ideological systems.

peaceful security and social integration?

Islam is not a relic from the past we can

claim ownership over. It is a precious gift

from our Lord, loaned to us as a test of

how well we make use of it, and how

effectively we understand its true value

and application.

understanding of peace in Islam?

experiencing safety and security at the

individual moral level, and at the communal

level of society and polity.

double thrust of the Islamic understanding

of ‘peace’ – social and communal,

individual and salvational

conception of سلم / salm ‘peacesecurity’ in classical Islamic sources.

• al-Baqarah 2:208 the Qur’an employs

silm / ‘peacereconciliation’ as an

attribute of faith i>ma>n,

and/or as synonymous with isla>m;

• In al-Anfa>l 8:61 salm / ‘peacemaking’

denotes the antonym of warbloodshed.

In classical Arabic usage the term

salm ‘peace’ denotes the opposite of

h}arb ‘war’; but the contemporary

widespread Arabic usage of sala>m

(‘salutations of safety and peacefulsecurity’)

often takes it generally to connote

‘peace’.

The name al-Isla>m:

• Signifies safety and security experienced

in acts of mutual harmony and concord

between humans springing out of the

inner peace between individual creatures

and their Creator.

• al-Isla>m points to the real purpose and

source of true security: to draw closer

to the ultimate origin of Peace - Alla>h.

The Semantic Scope of other verbal

roots overlaps in meaning with salima:

Sala>mah or sala>m is equivalent

to ama>n / surety & security, as

well as to s}ulh} / reconciliation.

S}ulh} & Is}la>h} conciliation & peace making

– in resolving conflicts between individuals or

groups to ensure the harmony of the wider

community, central to the key Qur’ānic teaching

on ending conflict: as}lih}u dha>ti baynikum

/and do you rightly dispose-order the case

that is between you and be of one accord in

unison —or quite simply ‘Peace Making’. Muslims

must be of one accord after divisions over spilt

blood, disputed property or rivalries, and act

reciprocally with justice & equity (al-muqsit}u>n ).

amn & ama>n ‘safety – security –

assurance of peace’:

and i>ma>n ‘faith, secure belief (safeguarding

from perdition)’. The legal application of amān

or public security in the external political sphere is

well known, but the extension of isla>m into the

interior domain of i>ma>n is a crucial pairing all too

often overlooked. There were differing views

among the legal and theological schools whether

i>ma>n is distinct from isla>m.

S{abr ‘long-suffering patience’

or endurance of suffering for a higher

cause. This fundamental virtue has a

strong link with Jiha>d ‘total striving’

and opens out onto the pursuit of

external security.

‘safety – security – faith-salvation’

These closely related concepts amplify

the meanings of outward resignation,

or submission isla>m = ‘safety –

security – saving peace’ flowing

from one’s inner surrender.

The total context requires one to align all

these terms together for the full range

of meaning to manifest.

Jiha>d as Peaceful Change ?

Islam also possesses a comprehensive set

of values & methodology for ‘Peaceful-

Action’ al-Jiha>d al-Silmi>. Jihad is one of

Islam’s most potent concepts having a

complex history and tradition. The task of

re-conceptualizing Jihad is a matter of

great urgency.

Jiha>d — an active technique of Struggle.

Peaceful-Action is the primary essential

form of Striving for justice and equity.

Peaceful-Action does not seek to avoid or

ignore conflict, but provides one way for

people to act together effectively for a

common purpose. Peaceful-Action has

always been one of the basic ways

humans pursue and settle their conflicts

throughout their history.

rejecting passivity and oppression, and understand struggle as essential.

In Islamic terms Peaceful-Action is termed in Arabic

al-‘Amal al-Silmi> or al-Jiha>d al-Silmi>.

Peaceful-Action is a technique whereby people see

struggle as essential, and wage conflict without

recourse to illegitimate force, violence or bloodshed.

Peaceful-Action was employed by the Prophet

Muh}ammad and his Companions throughout his

mission in Mecca, and after his migration to Madi>nah

until the Battle of Badr—namely, during the first

fifteen out of the almost twenty-three years of the

Prophet Muh}ammad’s prophetic mission.

al-Furqa>n 25:52

So obey not the unbelievers, but

contend with them [by peaceably

inviting to the truth through sincere

persuasion] with the utmost exertion /

ja>hidhum bi-hi jiha>dan kabi>ran !

an effective technique of action for waging conflict, and as a powerful method for resisting injustice and oppression, Peaceful-Action may include the following activities :

Individual Example by peaceably inviting and urging righteous conduct, and by drawing attention to falsehood, oppression and injustice; = heeding the dictates of conscience with willing readiness to consciously suffer persecution or injury to one’s own person—without recourse to violence (s}abr ).

Public Protest and Persuasion, through

speeches, demonstrations and petitions, as

well as Symbolic Acts; genuine symbolic

acts draw energy and effective impact from

deeply seated religious and cultural values

& teachings possessing the efficacy of

moving people and conveying one’s

message to the widest extent possible.

Various forms of social, political and

economic Non-Cooperation, Withdrawal

or Renunciation; such as economic

strikes, refusal to pay taxes or obey

unjust laws, and boycotts of services and

institutions :: in order to improve

conditions and gain greater recognition;

this was manifested first in Islam by

migration (hijrah).

Direct Intervention against specific

abuses, policies and institutions. Intervention often relies on Symbolic Acts.

also reliance on independent cultural and

political institutions beyond state control

or manipulation; establishing alternative

parallel institutions serving educational

and social needs and for economic self-aid,

assisting the most disadvantaged, and for

quick response to a specific crisis.

• Peaceful-Action does not seek to

resolve or do away with conflict;

instead it seeks to engage in conflict

without violence or bloodshed by

adhering to divine imperatives and

permanent values.

• It is a bold committed approach that

understands conflict as a struggle

among contenders for power and

loyalties.

Islam and P e a c e f u l C h a n g e

• vital emphasis on active struggle and the readiness to engage in spiritual and physical combat,

• commitment in Islam to social equity and political justice (qist} and ‘adl ) in promoting humane values and in the construction of an ethical social order through opposing injustice, corruption and repression.

• Islam’s emphasis on justice and

an equitable social order, and

propounds specific ideals and

practices for active reconciliation

between individuals and groups.

al-ih}sa>n ‘surpassing goodness’

Islam seeks a balance between the dictates of justice and equity, and those of human clemency, harmony, and selfless love embraced by the notion of ‘surpassing goodness’.

Renounces the use of forceful coercion in favor of active goodwill and persuasion in order to elicit intentional assent or compliance.

Hamdulillah