A Muslim Views the Promise of Nonviolence
This article was originally published in the June-July 1995 issue of Ansar As-Salam, the newsletter of the Muslim Peace Fellowship. It is republished online by the Fellowship of Reconciliation with the permission of MPF and the author.
Is Islam a “nonviolent” faith? Is the practice of our faith compatible with the broader movement for nonviolent – and even revolutionary – social change? These are difficult questions for those of us who profess Islam, and who live in the realization that much of the Islamic world, contrary to the resonant message of peace and reconciliation of Prophet Muhammad [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him] is drenched in the blood of doctrinal warfare, internecine strife, and raging national antagonisms among Islamic states and between Islamic and non-Islamic citizens within a number of nations.
And given the corporate and cultural forces – often racist, anti-poor, and anti-Islamic – that shape world hegemony, it’s not surprising that televised, CNN-style Islamic violence plays so well in Peoria, and defines so much of how everyday Christian people in America perceive Islam.
Of course, the great majority of the one billion Islamic souls on planet earth live in relative tranquility and harmony with the planet and their fellow humans. And other religions – particularly Christianity – have their own legacies of slavery, genocide, and conquest by the sword. But Islam, far more than Christianity, is viewed as a preeminently violent and intolerant religion, as well as a religion that is quick on the trigger to protect its “turf” from cultural infidels or political interlopers.
And this is part of the reason why the world of Islam, from my perspective, can, and must, make both spiritual and strategic use of nonviolence as a context for the development of Muslim communities and the creation of a world that is more just.
How can we do this?
The first part of the answer, I think, may be found in reexamining the rich and sustaining nonviolent elements in Islamic tradition. Islam is certainly not a pacifist religion, per se: warfare and armed struggle (in self-defense and in defense of the Din) are at the very roots of the foundation of the faith on the Arabian Peninsula more than 14 centuries ago. But there is also spiritual encouragement in the Holy Qu’ran for the cessation of warfare and the establishment of peace and reconciliation among those in conflict. Surah VIII, verse 62, says:
And if they [the adversaries]
incline to peace, then incline to it
and trust in Allah; surely He is
the hearing, the knowing…
And, as far as adversarial relationships with non-Muslims are concerned, we should remember that there is also an elaborate and detailed legal code of Islamic law (Shar’iah) which both physically protects and guarantees the civil and human rights of non-Islamic minorities in Muslim societies. (Muslims in places like Egypt, Sudan, Iran, and a few other places should truly embrace this principle, Insha’Allah!)
The second part of the answer may involve taking a clear – and honest – look at the mass destruction and social havoc created by armed, military internecine violence in the Islamic world. Do we, as Muslims of conscience, believe that Prophet Muhammad [Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him], for example, would have approved of the horrific war between Muslims in Iran and Iraq? Would he have given sanction to the Iraqi invasion and rape of Kuwait in 1990? Would the Prophet of Islam have approved of the “Jihad” waged by northern Sudanese militarists against the non-Muslim people of the south? I believe that the clear answer to all of these questions is NO, and that Muslims of conscience have a moral obligation to condemn, in no uncertain terms, violence and oppression perpetrated by Muslims against fellow Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The third part of the answer might involve the building of long-term social and organizational structures that would help to insure a more peaceful and just global Islamic presence, in somewhat the same way that Christian Quakers in the Society of Friends have built, and sustained, the American Friends Service Committee to work for nonviolent social justice and humanitarian service throughout the world. Perhaps a nonviolent service organization of this type could help deliver food to the poor (like Mercy International); provide relief to refugees in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; offer economic development assistance to struggling Ummahs in North America; introduce earth-friendly production technology to the poorest regions of the world; and educate the Islamic world about the power of nonviolence for social transformation. And we could fund this global initiative with just 5% of the billions of U.S. dollars that Islamic states spend each year on armaments and weapons for the mass destruction of humankind!
I offer here no theological innovations, and no new message, but simply the hope that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala would bless us all to do His will – and be makers of peace and justice throughout the earth! As-salamu ‘alaykum.
Ibrahim Abdil-Mu’id Ramey is director of civil and human rights for the Muslim American Society. At the time of this article’s original publication, in 1995, Ramey was the peace and disarmament coordinator of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He served in that position until 2006.
