Islamic Civilization Foundations Belief Amp; Principles Pdf

[Janie Mccorey]

Thesubject of the culture of peace and non-violent communication is extremely important, even more so today than in the past. The contention of this paper is that Islam is a religion of tolerance, peace, and reconciliation. I shall argue that there are many principles of the culture of peace in Islam. However, this doctrine may be misunderstood in some Islamic societies due to the poor knowledge of Islamic teachings or wrong education. Therefore, we strongly need to have a true interpretation of religious teachings as well as a true approach to religious diversity to provide the culture of peace.

El tema de la cultura de paz y la comunicacin no violenta es sumamente importante, especialmente en la actualidad. El argumento de este artculo es que el Islam es una religin de tolerancia, paz y reconciliacin. Argumentar que hay muchos principios de la cultura de paz en el Islam. Sin embargo, esta doctrina puede malinterpretarse en algunas sociedades islmicas debido al escaso conocimiento de las enseanzas islmicas o la educacin incorrecta. Por lo tanto, necesitamos tener una verdadera interpretacin de las enseanzas religiosas, as como un verdadero enfoque de la diversidad religiosa para difundir la cultura de la paz.

Structural violence is manifested in acts that enable some actors in society to benefit from unequal exchange and the plight of the disadvantaged. Structural violence can be seen in social structures such as politics, education, religion, and media. The third type of violence is cultural violence. A society that does not respect the rights of others, a society that is racist, ethnic, monopolistic, ... is considered culturally violent.

For Muslims peace is not merely the absence of war or organized violence. It is also the presence of justice and the creation of conditions in which humans can realize their full potentials. Human beings' nature is inclined to peace, and the violence comes because of how we were educated, not because of our nature. Faulty education gets us disconnected from our compassionate nature. Wrong education describes humans as basically evil and selfish. That is the core of violence.

The UN call for peace education suggests that education in general is important for the establishment of a culture of peace and that specific sorts of peace education may be of particular importance. These include the expectation that children, from an early age, should benefit from education about the values, attitudes, modes of behavior, and ways of life that can enable them to resolve any dispute peacefully and in a spirit of respect for human dignity and of tolerance and non-discrimination. (53/243, Dedaration... in Salomon, 2009: 107)

The major world religions claim that their education systems teach peace. However, some people say that in practice history and religious education were used to promote war rather than peace. They point to the ethnic/religious conflicts in Burma, Sri Lanka, india, Sudan, iraq, Yemen, Syria, Palestine and Israel, as well as the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, in the name of radical Islam, and subsequent attacks by Islamic extremists in Bali, Madrid and London. They argue that because religion is, and has been, the cause of so much violence and wars, religious education should be banned from schools and colleges in Islamic society.

There are many principles in Islamic teachings that provide a foundation for creative peacemaking. In Arabic salaam is translated as peace and is considered as one of the holy names of God. (Nasr, 2002: 217). Islam is a religion of universalism, tolerance, peace, and reconciliation. Islam teaches that life is sacred and that the believer has a duty to uphold truth and justice. Social justice is the core principle of Islam. Pursuing justice in the face of oppression and suffering is the personal and collective duty of every Muslim. But Islam is often misunderstood as a religion of the sword that justifies the use of violence to spread the faith; while the principles of nonviolence are not well developed within Islam. Concepts of peace are at the core of the Islamic teachings. The term salaam envisions a peaceful, harmonious social order of justice towards all without violence or conflict.

لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِهينِ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَ ه ي فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِن بِا ه للِّ فَقَدِ اسْ تَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَىَ لاَ انفِصَامَ لَهَا وَ ه الل سَمِيعٌ عَلِيم.ٌ

Moreover, except in limited cases, it does not permit the use of force. Although the Qur'an recognizes the right to retribution its adherents, it is also a reward for forgiveness. So in ash-Shura it says: The retribution of a bad action is one equivalent to it. However, whoever pardons and makes reconciliation, his reward lies with Allah. He does not love the unjust. (42: 40).

.وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَِّ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا إِنَّ اللََّ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ .

فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللََّ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللََّ مَ عَ المُتَّقی نَ

وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِهينُ لِلَِّّ فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ

وَلَا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَِّ فَيَسُبُّوا اللََّ عَدْوًا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ كَذَٰلِكَ زَيَّنَّا لِكُ ه لِ أُمَّةٍ . عَمَلَهُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبهِهِمْ مَرْجِ عُهُمْ فَيُنَبهِئُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُون.

In his defensive battles, the Prophet of Islam best practiced human and moral principles, even treating his most vicious enemies with humane behavior. During the Hunayn war, he granted the majority of captives mercy and returned their property to them. In the conquest of Mecca that some Muslims used to chant that today is the day of vengeance, but the Prophet said to them today is a day of mercy, then told the people of Mecca and the leaders of their war, you are all free and there is no worry for you. The Prophet of Islam during the wars never deprived the enemy of drinking water. In the Kheybar battle he was strongly opposed when he was offered the opportunity to close the waterway or poison the drinking water in the fortress, and forbade the spread of poison in the city of enemies and in general everywhere. During the war, the Prophet said: Do not kill women, children and the elders and do not burn palm trees and crops. Imam Ali (PBUH) also commands his soldiers: Never start a war with the enemy unless they start, do not kill the fugitives, do not attack the wounded, don't go into their homes, don't attack women, and don't scold anyone. (Ibn al-Jouzi, 1997: 91)

The teachings of Islam invite people to live a peaceful life based on theism, justice and purity. Therefore, peace in Islam is an eternal constitution. Even the nature of war in Islam is a defensive one, not an offensive one, because the principle of Islam is peace and coexistence, not conflict, violence and war. In many verses of the Qur'an, God has allowed Muslims to fight only for defense. Therefore, war in Islam is a secondary principle, not a primary one.

The third principle in creating a culture of peace and a non-violent society is to pay attention to the spiritual self-awareness inherent in our human nature that can move people away from violence. Human nature has a tendency for peace and friendship. Enjoying compassion, and love for others is part of our human nature. Violence is not our nature. Basically, non-violent relationships can bring us closer to our nature and help us connect and return to what is truly a pleasing way of life, one that con tributes to one another's well-being and comfort. Human nature tends to peace, and not violence; violence comes from how we learn, not from our human nature.

In spite of these principles of peace in Islamic cultural heritage, we question the reason behind the violence in some Islamic societies; violence in various dimensions of direct or structural violence or cultural violence. To respond to this question, I would say that since there are many types of interpretation of Islamic doctrines from different points of view, and within different Islamic communities, hence, we are faced with the conflicting voices in some fields. However, we should not forget that there are conflicting voices within other religions as well. The problem lies with the way religion is understood and practiced. It must be stressed at this point that the problem is not with religion per se. It is not the philosophy or the doctrines, it is not the practices or the rituals, which are the issue. Rather, it is our interpretation of religion which constitutes the problem. It is the meaning we attach to certain doctrines and rituals which creates difficulties. Over the centuries, most adherents of most of the faiths have developed an exclusive view of their particular religious tradition. God is seen as the God of their particular group. Truth and justice, love and compassion, are perceived as values which are exclusive to their religion. The unity that they seek is invariably the unity of their own kind. Their religion -they are passionately convinced- is superior to other religions. (Haar & Busuttil, 2005: 72-73). This Islamic theory of peace culture is misused in some Islamic societies because of poor knowledge of Islamic teachings or due to wrong education. And there are different interpretations of religion and its foundations among Muslims and there are also misunderstandings of Islamic teachings. There is no question that the problem is not with the essence of Islam but with the problem of understanding and interpreting Islam. As a result, people are drawn into violence, war and strife because of some misunderstandings and misinterpretations of Islam's teachings.

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