The Quran says of the Prophet of Islam: “We have only sent you as a mercy to all mankind.” (21: 107)
The advent of the Prophet of Islam made manifest God’s mercy for all mankind. Through him, God communicated those principles of life by opting for which man may inhabit the abode of eternal peace and security (Paradise). (10: 25)
Through him, such teachings were revealed that could turn human society into a peaceful society. The Prophet of Islam presented a complete ideology based on the concept of peace. He gave us the formula for a peaceful life — to shun hatred and violence.
The entire life of the Prophet illustrates this peace-loving policy. At the time of the migration or Hijrah, the people of Makkah were all set to wage war against the Prophet and his companions. Had the Prophet wished, he and his companions could have confronted the enemy. Omar and the other companions were seeking permission to engage with the enemy but the Prophet refused and avoided conflict by quietly leaving his homeland for Medina. This was not escaping out of fear for their lives, rather it was a concerted decision to avoid conflict and change the place of action.
Just prior to the Hudaybiyya treaty in 628 AD, a state of war prevailed, but the Prophet accepted all the conditions of his enemies unilaterally and agreed to a peace treaty. On the occasion of the battle of Khandaq, the 12000-strong army of the Quraysh had arrived at the borders of Madina, in order to do battle. But the Prophet and his companions dug a long trench to set up a buffer between themselves and their enemies, thus avoiding bloodshed.
The Prophet lived in an age of conflict. This fact could not be ignored during his mission. In spite of his peace-loving nature and peaceful mission, the society he lived in was not peaceful. The battles that he was forced to engage in were purely due to this factor. These battles were so brief that we might describe them as skirmishes rather than wars. It would be quite correct to say that the Prophet of Islam initiated a revolution which, although very great in its scope and later repercussions, was ideologically non-violent. He impressed upon his followers that violence was the way to destruction, while peace was the way to salvation. He held patience to be the greatest form of worship, and disturbing the peaceful system of nature to be the greatest crime.
The Prophet enjoined believers to greet one another by saying “As salam o alaikum!” (Peace be upon you!). This shows that any relationship should be based on peace and security. The Prophet told believers that success in the Hereafter should be the objective of our lives. He dispelled the notion that material accumulation was the aim of life, for that ultimately results in conflict and violence. They were told to make themselves useful to others, and if that was not possible, to at least refrain from causing anyone any harm. No one should be regarded as an enemy; even the enemy must be given fair treatment, for only then would the realization come that one’s enemy was potentially one’s friend: the ‘enemy’ always has it in him to be a friend.
