Due to the intolerance and violent extremism of small groups of people who call themselves ‘Muslims’, Islam is currently widely perceived to be a religion of violence, with objectives that appear to be achievable only through terrorism. This, however, is untrue.

Islam is not the name given to the behaviour or the actions of a particular group of people who call themselves ‘Muslims’. Islam is a system of beliefs and ethics, and people who say that they hold those beliefs and value those ethics are called Muslims. It follows, then, that the behaviour of Muslims must be judged by the principles of Islam and not vice versa. Islam cannot be evaluated based on the actions of Muslims.

If individuals calling themselves ‘Muslims’ adopt terrorism or violence, then the responsibility for their actions lies with them, not with the religion they profess. In spite of their professed Islamic agenda, the actions of such people cannot be deemed Islamic. Islam is not the name given to the behaviour or the actions of a particular group of people who call themselves Muslims. Islam is the name of the revealed religion professed by the Prophet Muhammad, and exemplified in his life. The Prophet Muhammad was a prophet of peace, not a prophet of violence. In the Quran, he is called a ‘mercy to humankind’.

Ali ibn Abi Talib was the son-in-law of the Prophet of Islam. When a boy was born in his household, Ali named him Harab, meaning war. Arab tribes were frequently at war and took pride in names that displayed a warrior like nature. When the Prophet heard about the boy’s name, he asked Ali to change the name to Hasan, meaning goodness. From this incident we can get an idea of the personality of the Prophet of Islam.

His was a peace-loving personality in the complete sense. His peaceloving nature was so heightened that he did not even like to hear the word Harab which had connotations of violence. Whereas Harab was a symbolic name for violence, Hasan was a name that symbolized peace. The Prophet of Islam believed in cultivating a peaceful character.

Zaid ibn Muhalhil, a poet from Najd, was born before the Prophet. He was also a skilled swordsman and horse rider, because of which he was known as Zaid-ul-Khail. Khail means horse, and in those days, horses were associated with cavalry. When Zaid embraced Islam, the Prophet did not like his title and changed it from Zaid-ul-Khail to Zaid-ul-Khair. Khail was a symbolic name associated with battles and violence. Khair, on the other hand, was symbolic of peace and goodness.

The Prophet of Islam believed in cultivating a peaceful character. The Prophet conveyed God’s guidance to humankind in a peaceful manner.

The Prophet changed the direction of Zaid’s character by changing his name. He instructed him to be a professor of goodness, giving the gifts of peace and prosperity to people instead of being a harbinger of death and violence.

He wanted his followers to do good works for the people, giving them the message of peace and prosperity and not of death and destruction. From these examples we can understand that peace was the guiding principle of the Prophet’s character. The battles that took place during his life were only incidental and under exceptional circumstances, rather than being the main features of his life. However, most of the Prophet’s biographers have painted an altogether different picture of him. Instead of presenting him as a prophet of peace they have portrayed him as a prophet of violence.

The battles which were fought during the Prophet’s time were related to the culture then prevailing amongst the Arab tribes.

The Prophet Muhammad was born in the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe of Arabia. At that time, Arabia was divided into many different tribes, each with several clans, all vying for domination. Fights between tribes and clans over trivial issues were common. Due to this culture, there were skirmishes between the Prophet’s followers and their opponents. Most of the incidents that have been presented by the biographers of the Prophet as battles can be better classified as minor skirmishes instead.

The Prophet Muhammad was born in the year 570 AD in Makkah and attained prophethood at the age of forty in the year 610 AD. He began his mission of conveying God’s guidance to humankind in a peaceful manner. There was never any act of violence by the Prophet against those who objected to his teachings or oppressed him and his followers during the entire thirteen years of his life as a prophet in Makkah. While he was in Makkah, his teachings were always those of patience, tolerance and avoidance.

One of his Companions, Ammar, of the family of Yasir, was tortured by the Prophet’s opponents, but the Prophet said, “O Yasir’s family, forbear with patience, surely your compensation is Paradise.” (Seerah ibn Kathir)

The behaviour of Muslims must be judged by the principles of Islam and not vice versa. Islam cannot be evaluated based on the actions of Muslims.

Another of his Companions, Khabbab ibn Arth, complained to the Prophet about the oppression by the Quraysh. When the Prophet heard this, he said, “This is nothing; messengers before us have suffered much more for having upheld the message of tawhid (oneness of God).” (Sahih al-Bukhari) The Prophet and his followers had to face the hardships of a three-year social boycott by their tribe, and they spent this time in tolerating and patiently enduring their difficulties. His opponents plotted to kill him, so he quietly escaped from Makkah with a few of his Companions to Madinah. He gave the same advice to his followers.

Even in Madinah his opponents did not leave the Prophet and his followers in peace. They did everything possible to make life miserable for them. The Quran says: “Will you not fight against those who have broken their oaths and conspired to banish the Messenger? They were the first to attack you. Do you fear them? Surely God is more deserving of your fear, if you are true believers.” (9:13)

The outcome of these hostilities were the battles of Badr and Uhud. Even after this when the Prophet got to know that his opponents were marching towards Madinah with an army of 10,000, he employed a strategy of avoidance by creating a trench outside Madinah due to which an armed conflict was averted.

The Prophet was on a divine mission to present God’s message to humankind. Any mission of communication can only be successful when the circumstances are harmonious and peaceful. In an atmosphere of violence and warfare, no mission, however strong, can be successful. In such a situation, even minor differences can instantaneously escalate to violent conflict and war. For an atmosphere of peace, though, a price has to be paid, and that was in the form of perseverance in the face of all obstacles; in ignoring the problems whilst availing of the opportunities.

The Prophet’s opponents were constantly provoking him and his followers to engage with them in battle over small issues, but the Prophet and his Companions always chose the divine teachings of patience and forbearance to circumvent conflict.

…..Whenever they kindle the fire of war, God puts it out… (THE QURAN 5:64) In the 6th year in Madinah, the Prophet entered into a 10-year peace treaty called the Treaty of Hudaybiya with his opponents by accepting all of their conditions. Two years later, when the Makkans were forced to surrender to the Muslims, his opponents were brought before the Prophet. These people had troubled the Prophet and his Companions for many years, having forced them to leave their homes and properties in Makkah. They had committed many atrocities on him and his people. They were established war criminals and captives.

According to the prevailing tribal custom, the punishment for such crimes was death. The Prophet, however, did not even allow them to be insulted and, instead, announced a general pardon in the following words: “Go, you are free”.

Any mission of communication can only be successful when the circumstances are harmonious and peaceful. In an atmosphere of violence and warfare, no mission, however strong, can be successful.

If we were to objectively study the entire 23 years of Muhammad’s prophetic life, it would be absolutely clear that Muhammad was a prophet of peace, not a prophet of violence.

If we compare the Prophet’s battles with other battles in history, we will find that the mission of the Prophet was a non-violent mission; and the battles that happened were defensive in nature and only happened under exceptional circumstances.

The number of people killed in these battles was very few when compared to the casualties of many other battles in history. Sorting in order of the number of casualties or by the duration of battles in history, the armed conflicts that the Prophet Muhammad and his people were forced to engage in, do not even figure in the records.

Before the Prophet's birth, there was an ongoing conflict between two major tribes of Madinah, the Aws and the Khazraj. It is said that this war continued for 120 years and thousands of people perished in these battles, the prominent one of which was known by the name of Battle of Buath. (Ibn Ishaq)

As a comparison here are some details of some of the famous battles in the history of humankind¹.

In comparison to the above sampling of battles from history, the defensive battles fought by the Prophet were those at Badr, Uhud and Hunain. The combined total duration of actual fighting was equivalent to only 1½ days². The total number of casualties in all these battles was 1,018.

Because of a lack of objective understanding of the Prophet's life, Muslim biographers have misrepresented the facts by ignoring the prevailing customs and culture of the time. Due to this, their writings about the Prophet's life show a war-like pattern. On the other hand, non-Muslim biographers of the Prophet have adopted a different approach. These people have largely ignored the main events of the Prophet’s life choosing to focus on a few, exceptional incidents that they have used as the basis of a picture of the Prophet’s life they have painted, that portrays him as a warrior prophet.

They have also been unable to see the Prophet's life as different from Muslim culture, which has led them to assume that terrorism in the name of Islam is an outcome of the teachings of the Prophet of Islam.

The true modest personality of the Prophet appeared to many of his biographers as deficient in some way or the other. This image of the Prophet appeared to them as falling short of the standards of leaders of other peoples of the time, who were great conquerors and warriors. Hence these biographers tried to present a certain image of their Prophet, which, in their eyes was a superior image. This is the reason why, when we read the biographies of the Prophet we find that the Prophet is portrayed as a warrior prophet rather than a prophet of peace. The misleading image we get is that the Prophet relied on the power of the sword rather than the power of peace; that the Prophet believed in subduing and conquering his opponents rather than winning their hearts.

However, this picture of the Prophet is totally baseless and selfassumed. In truth, the Prophet’s was a peace-loving personality. The example of the Prophet was not one of overpowering people by fighting with them; rather it was by winning the people over with love and compassion and giving them life. The Quran says:

Believers, obey God and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. (8:24)

It is obvious from an understanding of the Quran that the mission of the Prophet was different from that of emperors and kings. A king’s purpose is to conquer and rule over people. Hence, the way of a king is one of conquests and wars. Without subduing people by force, a king will be unable to achieve his goal. On the other hand, the mission of a prophet is not to rule over people, but to change their minds and hearts towards spirituality; to teach them God-oriented living, making them divine personalities so that they can be successful in this world and the Hereafter; to make them peaceful personalities so that God will give them a place in His eternal ‘Home of Peace’.

From the above analysis it should be obvious that the Prophet Muhammad was a prophet of peace, and not a prophet of violence.