Peace was their watchword in all their affairs and even in their battles...

Peace was their watchword in all their affairs and even in their battles, and the unparalleled success of the Prophet o f Islam (S) and the Imams (A) was for reasons all stemming from the peace that they endowed themselves with in all their affairs. Hence we find that the 'Abbasids, Umayyads, and Ottomans proceeded in a way that only earned them an ill reputation.

Whereas the true leaders of Islam have only a good reputation and are known by the people for peace, kindness and forgiveness: We ruled and forgiveness was our nature, when you ruled blood flowed as a river flows. Enough for you now is this difference between us, for every vessel will show what substance it holds.

The fact that Islam encompasses peace is one of the reasons for its initial progress and for its second age of progress after the attacks of the Crusaders from the west and the Moguls from the east. And through peace we hope for the advancement of Islam in this century which has been so full of attacks from east and west alike on its lands. The Messenger o f Allah, Muhammad (S), progressed, as we have said, thro ugh peace that he adopted as a mantra.

One example of this is Mecca55 , the capital of unb elief and idolatry and the capital of waging war against the Messenger of Allah (S). The people of Mecca confronted the Messenger of Allah by every possible means. They banished him, killed his daughter Zaynab, confiscated his wealth and killed many of his followers. Finally they tried to assassinate him so he fled secretly to Madinah but they continued their plots against his holy mission.

Despite this, after more than twenty years, when the Messenger (S) wanted to conquer Mecca, he made preparations then proceeded to conquer that city peacefully without one drop of blood being spilt. Among the preparations he made were when he took possession of Khaibar, he took as spoils a large hoard of golden vessels as many as twenty thousand in number and of differing sizes.

The Messenger (S) sent a number of these vessels to be shared out amongst the poor of Mecca even though they were unbelievers, polytheists, and warring against the Messenger of Allah (S). When these golden vessels arrived for the people o f Mecca, they were confused and amazed.