Today, many non-Muslims regard Islam as a religion that promotes violence, terrorism and war. Unfortunately, they rely in their view of Islam on the general media, which is not always accurate in reporting the news. Many media outlets, such as TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, are influenced by their investors or owners who have certain agendas and who want to promote certain values and points of view. Other media outlets are simply after the “big story”, in order to make more money and more profits. Others are simply “followers”, who only gather news from other sources, re-package it and try to sell it again purely as a business.
In all these cases, the news reporting is not accurate, but is driven by ulterior motives or simply by profits. Only very few media organizations are committed to providing accurate and true information, regardless of financial gain. Therefore, people today should be very careful in what they take from the media.
Islam is in fact a religion that promotes peace and understanding among people of all faiths, and it strongly prohibits all forms of violence and aggression against all people regardless of their faith or race.
Islam clearly prohibits all kinds and forms of aggression and violence against anyone, except in self-defense. Islam is a practical religion, meant to be implemented in every aspect of our life. Therefore, it realizes the fact that a person who commits aggression and violence against others will not cease these actions unless they are deterred by similar actions taken against them. Islam also places very high importance on justice, and allows for aggressors and unjust people be punished accordingly, unless they repent before they are brought to justice. At the same time, Islam encourages people to forgive those who have wronged them whenever possible.
The fourth verse mentioned above instructs Muslims that if someone transgresses against them, they should respond to them likewise, and it reminds Muslims to-fear God and to restrain themselves to this limit.
The fifth verse reminds Muslims not to let hatred of some people for past reasons to lead them to transgress against those people or be hostile towards them. It also instructs us to help each other in good and righteous actions, and not to cooperate in aggression and sin, and it reminds them finally of the strict punishment of God to encourage them to abide by these principles.
The sixth verse reminds us that goodness and evil are never equal, and that we should repel evil with good actions. This means that when someone is unjust to us or commits evil against us, we are encouraged to respond with kind and good actions, so that the hatred between us and that person will evaporate and will become an intimate friendship!
The seventh verse mentioned reminds us to stand up for justice, even if it is against ourselves or our family, and even if it is against those who are rich or powerful, because justice applies to everyone. It also reminds us that God knows everything we do, and so if we act unjustly even in our hearts, God knows what we did and we will be accountable for that.
This verse also teaches us that we should live peacefully with other nations and tribes and we should respect each other and our differences. We should learn to live together and to get to know each other, and to engage in dialogue amongst all nations and treat every human being as being equal.
This wonderful verse instructs Muslims to grant asylum to non-believers, and make them safe, and allow them to hear the word of Allah. Then they are to be escorted to whatever place they will be safe and secure in. This is because these non-believers simply have no knowledge of Islam, and no knowledge of the word of Allah.
Therefore, Islam does allow Muslims to go to war, as mentioned earlier, in certain circumstances. This includes self-defense, and to remove aggression and injustice that has befallen people and to save them from their oppressors. The verses that tell Muslims to fight those who fight them were mentioned earlier. Below is the verse in the holy Quran that allows Muslims to fight against injustice.
The Holy Quran urges the followers of Islam to resort to peace first and whenever possible but they may fight the oppressors if peaceful means failed. Fighting does not include killing the innocent civilians and the least expecting people as this reflects the meanest kind of character and does not reflect the spirit and/or teachings of Islam.
To sum up, this is the Islamic point of view on war, peace and justice. It is hoped that after reading this article, people will have a clear understanding that Islam promotes peace and justice, and stands against aggression and violence.
It is very sad that some people who want to give a wrong impression of Islam, simply select afew words from the Holy Quran and distort them and put them in the wrong context, all in order to prove that Islam supports violence. They ignore all the verses mentioned in this article.