I would like to share two important principles of Islam here: peace and fear of God.
Peace
A believer is necessarily a lover of peace. In his mind, faith and a desire for peace are so closely interlinked that, regardless of circumstances, he will strive to the utmost for the maintenance of peace. He will bear the loss of anything else, but the loss of peace he will not endure. The life that the true believer desires in this world can be lived only in the propitious atmosphere which flowers in conditions of peace. Conditions of unrest breed a negative atmosphere which to him is abhorrent. But if peace is to be maintained, it calls for a certain kind of sacrifice. That is, when conditions become disturbed, the believer must overlook both the misdeeds leading up to this situation and the identity of the wrong doers. He must suffer all the harm and injustice done to him without making any attempt either to retaliate, or to bring the miscreants to book, so that a state of peace continues to prevail. The believer has to be willing to pay this price, so that his pursuance of constructive ends proceeds unhampered.
The believer is like a flower in the garden of nature. Just as a hot wind will shrivel up a bloom and cause it to die, so will constant friction distract the believer from achieving positive goals. And just as a cool breeze will enable the flower to retain its beauty for its natural lifespan, so will a peaceful atmosphere enable the believer to fulfil the obligations of divine worship in a spirit of great serenity. Peace is thus central to the life of the believer.
Islam is a religion of peace. And peace is a universal law of nature. That is because God loves the condition of peace, and disapproves of any state of unrest. God’s predilection for peace is enough reason for the believer also to love peace. In no circumstances will the true believer ever tolerate the disruption of peace.
Fear of God
Fear of God, or taqwa, means leading a life of caution and restraint in this world. Umar Farooq, the second Caliph once asked a Companion of the Prophet what taqwa was. He replied, “O leader of the believers, have you ever crossed a path which has thorny shrubs on both sides?” The Companion then asked another question, “What did you do on such an occasion?” Umar Farooq replied, “I gathered my clothes close to me and moved ahead cautiously”. The Companion said, “This is the meaning of taqwa.”
The present world is a testing ground. Here, various kinds of thorns have been scattered for the purpose of testing man, such as negativity, false issues raised by non-serious people and the lure of worldly things. Besides these, there are many unpleasant occurrences which disturb people’s minds and lead them away from the path of virtue.
All these things are like thorny shrubs lining both sides of the path of life. At any moment it is feared that man may embroil himself in these thorns and then instead of going forward, remain entrapped in these snares of life.
In such a state of affairs the wise man is one who travels the paths of life by ‘gathering up his clothes’ to avoid becoming entangled in these unpleasant snares. In this way, he is able to continue his journey unhampered. Yet at all times he must remain conscious of the fact that he must protect himself. He has to adopt the path of avoidance, not of entanglement.
Man has been created with an upright nature. If no hindrance comes in the way, then every man will, on his own, take the right course. That is why, the utmost precaution must be taken against allowing unnatural obstacles to come in the way.
Then, guided by this upright nature, man will continue to walk along the right path until he meets his Lord.
Source: Spirit of Islam, September 2018
