Peace And Conflict

• Peace


  Being in harmony with oneself or others
• Muslims believe that peace can lead to a better society
• Islam


  Means peace
• One of Allah's names is peace
• They greet each other with peace
• The Quran discourages people who do things that go against peace
• Peacemaking


  • Allah doesn't like anything that disrupts peace
  • Leads to a better society
  • Muslims should maintain peaceful relationships with others in different faiths
• Justice, forgiveness and reconciliation


  • Disagreements are inescapable
  • Efforts should be made to bring about forgiveness
  • The prophet was required to settle many disputes, when people of Mecca persecuted him, he forgave them all
  • Muslim peace fellowship - work against injustice within communities and all over the world, shows commitment on behalf of all Muslims. They do it by holding conferences and publications
• Causes of conflict


  • Religion - Sunni and Shi'a disagreement
  • Politics and ideology - the Korean war
  • Nationalism and ethnicity - the Rwandan massacre
  • Economics - Iraq war
• They would have to strive to overcome this but if it doesn't work, they must fight
• Non-religious people would argue that political war can be justified whereas holy war cannot
• Muslims believe that the holy war done by the Prophet was for self-defence. They also say it is unfair to blame genocides on God
• Pacifism


  • Belief that all violence is wrong
  • The story of Habil and Qabil shows that Muslims should be pacifists too
• Passive resistance


  • Non-violent opposition to authority
  • Muslims believe as long as the government is just and allows them to practise their religion then it should be obeyed
  • If their right to practise their faith is taken, passive resistance is allowed
• Just war theory


  • Rules to make war fair
  • Conditions for just war: Fought by legal recognised authority, Cause of war must be just, War must be fought with intention to establish good or correct evil, Must be reasonable chance of success, War must be the last resort, Only sufficient force must be used and civilians must not be involved
• Weapons of mass destruction

  • Problems: scale of destruction is immeasurable, deaths are inevitable, can amount to war crime
  • Benefits: effective deterrent, quick end to conflicts
  • Minority of Muslims would argue that WMD is a useful deterrent
  • Non-religious people are very cautious about the use of WMD as the consequences are disastrous
• Some extremist groups would say all people are needed to be Muslim
• Non-religious people would blame religion for violence and extremism