Islam

Islam is the religion of peace

[size=18]Islam is monotheistic religion and according to Quran all the people are children of Adam. Satan is considered as enemy of the whole humanity to cause enmity among all people. The series of prophets and messengers coming from God through out the ages is to call the people again towards their real identity of love and friendship.The good life according to Islam is in submitting to God and in worshiping Him as The Creator and The Master and to recognize the true nature of man.The individual who will recognize his true nature on which every person is created will be able to live together in society with peace and affection to each other.Islamic tradition dictates that prophets were sent by God to every nation. In Islam, only Muhammad was sent finally to convey God's message to the whole world, whereas other prophets were sent to convey their messages to a specific group of people or nation. So the ideal nationhood in Islam is beyond all boundaries and differences. Prophet Muhammad is the final messenger according to Islam and his nation or ummah is called Ummat e Muhammad (nation of Muhammad). The establishment of ummah (the Islamic community) on earth based on the rules of shariah is the ultimate goal of Islam according to the jurisprudential approach. The ummah is not confined to any particular geography, or limited to any specific race; rather it consists of all believers throughout the world from whatever background, language, creed, history or geography. Unlike race, language, history and other such involuntary criteria in nationhood, where the individual has no choice and nationalism and patriotism ask for allegiance to a particular nation and state not chosen by him/her, ummah arms the individual by allowing a choice to be made by him/her in joining or rejecting it. It is therefore a conscious and informed choice that establishes ummah and allegiance to it rather than non-voluntary factors as in nationhood.

As enunciated by St. Augustine peace is ‘tranquility of order’, order being ‘the disposition of equal and unequal things in such a way as to give to each its proper place. One of the terms meaning peace and peacemaking in Arabic, sulh, which is used in the Quran, is also the root of the word islah denoting development and improvement. This term is used to refer to peacemaking. Peacemakers are agents of good and those who breach it are elements of corruption and sin. It is therefore observed that peace and peacemaking are seen in Islamic tradition as part and parcel of human development. In other words peace and making peace are seen as Godly acts worthy of praise and reward.[6] Enmity takes root within and is the cause of conflict amongst humans without; ‘wars start in the minds of men’ reads the UNESCO Charter . Therefore, the main ingredient and instigator of much of armed conflict in history, enmity and hatred, befell mankind as a result of having succumbed to Satanic temptation and deception.The commonality with Kantian as well as Hobbesian perspective in considering enmity and war as ‘state of nature’ (outside of the original dwelling) is all too clear. However, there is a striking difference in man’s approach to the ‘state of nature’. Whilst both Hobbes and Kant believe that peace is a better way of life and prescribe an artificial state of peace to promote human security, progress and stability (they, however, disagree widely on how to achieve that state) as a rational discourse, in Islam peace is advocated as a divine quality to be pursued in order to achieve the state of felicity that we were in paradise, man's former dwelling .

Justice, as outlined in the Quran, refers to balance and is the foundation upon which creation stands. "Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph after the Prophet and the first Imam of Shi’as, has an incisive definition of justice. He considers justice to be the placement of everything in their proper order. The issue of proportionality and relativeness is thus an indispensible part of justice.

Peace based on justice, therefore, would mean a balanced, fair and tranquil state of affairs, where all concerned would enjoy their due rights and protection. Muhammad is reported to have said once, "

"Mankind are the family of God, and the most beloved of them to God are those who are the most excellent to His family." "Not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."

Great Muslim scholars of prophetic tradition such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Sharafuddin al Nawawi have said that the words ‘his brother’ mean any person irrespective of faith.[/size][color=blue][/color]