Islam: The Religion of Peace and Tolerance – Religion Essay
Peace and tolerance are two of the most important aspects that make up Islam. We as Muslims need to understand these aspects of Islam. Khalifatul Masih IV (pbuh) has already informed us that there is a group of extremist
Muslims who have given Islam a bad name. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) himself has said “a person who kills a person unfairly, or who kills someone who had neither rebelled nor became a source of violating peace amongst the people nor created disorder in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of mankind. In other words to kill a person without any cause is according to God Almighty like the murder of the entire human race.” This tells us that without peace, Islam cannot truly be followed according to the proper way that it has been taught by the Holy Prophet (SAW).
Also, without tolerance we cannot be become true Muslims. We need to accept that there are people of many different cultures and races. We need to tolerate the fact that there are different religions in the world, and not all of them agree with the beliefs of Islam. We need to accept this and explain to them why we believe in Islam the way we do. The Holy Prophet (SAW) supported people of different religions to pray in Masjid-e-Nabveeh in Medina. Rather than asking the Christians to pray somewhere else, he invited them to come to the mosque and to offer their prayers in peace without any disturbance. They were even allowed to place their crucifix in front of them while praying. The Holy Prophet never forced people to change their religions, rather he openly accepted people of all different paths. The Holy Prophet was always very open towards people of all races and religions. He never showed any discrimination to Bilal, who was a black slave, and had faced a lot of discrimination from his pagan masters.
The Holy Prophet (SAW) also showed many aspects of peace. The Muslims faced a lot of discrimination from their pagan rivals. They were brutally tortured and persecuted. But the Holy Prophet (SAW) never allowed the Muslims to seek revenge. He always taught his followers the way of peace and encouraged the Muslims to shows love and kindness to their persecutors. Even during times of war, when the Muslims brought back Prisoners of War, the Prophet showed immense tolerance. He never forced these pagans to convert, but rather peacefully told them about the religion of Islam. He also allowed these prisoners of war to stay in the Mosques and even invited them into his house as honorary guests and shared his food with them.
Without these distinguishing factors of Islam we cannot make the final outcome, but will be stuck with mixed up ingredients. We need to understand each and every part of Islam in order for us to even understand why we need peace and tolerance is such a huge aspect of Islam. Without it, we are nothing.