ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books War,peace and Non-violence Peace: the Way of the Prophets and the Imams Since the principle of peace is such a strategic and important one, we should discuss it in more detail, it being the basis of the struggle to establish a government for the millions of Muslims on the earth.

It is essential that those involved in the international Islamic movement observe peaceful means as peace leads to rallying the people and then it brings about and end to the obduracy of the enemy.

Hence Imam Amir- ul-Mu'mineen (A) said: 'I would hate for you to become revilers.' Before this the Holy Qur'an had said: {And do not curse those who call upo n other than Alla h lest they curse Allah out of enmity and unwittingly.} (6:108) Cursing and enmity bring about loathing amongst friends and empower the enemy and there is no call for this.

Arbitrary cursing ends up nowhere and what a person should be mindful of in front of his enemy is that he should seek to repel him with what is best as is found in the Holy Qur'an: {Repel (evil) with tha t which is best for then you will find that your former enemy will beco me your warmest ally.

But none shall achieve this but the patient ones and none shall achiev e this except one blessed with great fortune.} (41:34-35) So those involved in the Islamic movement should adopt peace in their thoughts, words, writings and confrontations and even if they organise demonstrations and strikes they should be characterised by calmness for what is important is to reach the goal and not an outpouring of hatred and loathing. For hatred only breeds hatred and loathing only breeds loathing.

In the well-known aphorism: 'Grapes are not harvested from thorns.' Everything bears fruit of its own kind and good behaviour in a person brings about good behaviour in the person being dealt with. Bad behaviour only brings about a negative reaction. This applies equally to peace and its concomitants; each of them breeds its like.

This requires a degree of self-control and open-heartedness as Imam 'Ali (A) said: 'The tool of leadership is open-heartedness.' Meaning that your heart should remain open in all aspects - ethically and socially, intellectually, and in struggles, for this is the tool of leadership and the more this occurs, the more people will become attracted to the movement and the nearer it will take them to the desired objective.