The history of peace shows that there can be two periods of peace: political peace and non-political peace. In ancient times people were ruled by kings in almost every part of the world. Under a king’s reign, only one kind of peace was possible, that is, political peace.
In previous centuries we find at least three models of this kind of peace. These models are known as Pax Romana, Pax Britannica, and Pax Islamica. These models of peace successfully worked in ancient times, but in the present democratic age, this political peace model is not acceptable by man — America is one such clear example. This country wanted to establish what may be called Pax Americana in the present world, through political power, but it failed. Pax Americana could not be translated into real life.
Now, the desire of everyone and every nation to have peace seems to be a distant dream. The reason for this is that people have made justice a prerequisite for peace; they say: “We want peace, but we want peace with justice.”
This association of justice with peace is extraneous and unnatural. In this world of nature, only the laws of nature can prevail, anything that is unnatural cannot be materialised. According to the law of nature, justice is not a part of peace; it is the result of your own efforts.
The natural formula of peace is based on the principle: Peace for the sake of peace, So, first of all we have to establish peace and that at any cost. According to this law of nature, peace will certainly open the doors of opportunity and by making the most of those opportunities, you can achieve justice, peace, or any other goal.
This principle was successfully demonstrated by the Prophet of Islam in the form of Sulh al Hudaibiya or the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. In fact, Sulh al Hudaibiya was a peace agreement between Muslims and their opponents. The Prophet of Islam finalised this peace agreement by accepting injustice. At that time the Prophet and his companions wanted to visit Makkah and perform Umrah, but they were prevented from doing so. The Prophet dropped his Umrah plans and finalised the peace agreement by accepting all the conditions laid down unilaterally by the opponents. As a consequence, the companions of the Prophet were very disheartened: they considered it a degrading treaty. One of the companions said at that time, “Why are we accepting such a humiliating agreement?”
However, soon after this peace agreement was finalised, God Almighty revealed this verse in the Quran:
“Truly, We have granted you a clear victory.” (48:1)
Why does the Quran call it a “clear victory” when it was obviously a setback for the Prophet and his companions? This ‘victory’ was in terms of potential victory rather than immediate actual victory. The Sulh al Hudaibiya agreement stopped all kinds of hostility between the two sides and opened up the doors of opportunity.
After this it became possible to conduct a dialogue and, have an intellectual exchange, between the two parties. In other words, peace opened the doors for the Prophet to be able to spread his message throughout Arabia.
This prophetic example shows us the way to peace. It tells us how peace can be established and what actions must be taken in such situations of conflict. It is to detach peace from justice. It is to establish peace at any cost. It is to adopt peace for the sake of peace; to re-plan every strategy concentrating on opportunities and not on justice.
Justice is an indirect result of peace and not the direct outcome, so the formula for peace is: establish peace by accepting injustice for a temporary period. Peace will open the doors of opportunity and by availing the opportunities the goal of justice can be reached. The only formula of achieving justice is to accept injustice at the outset; then you will be able to achieve justice in the future by reaping the benefits of peace.
Source: Spirit of Islam, February 2013
