Islam and Peace Building
Islam was revealed by God, Allah in Arab jazira. The society of Arab at that time was tribal. People saw other not simply of his or her appearance or personal identity, but they would rather see other from their tribes. War among the tribes was commonly happened just for a small reason. The dignity of the tribe was just above everything. The tribe was the symbol of social status in the society. In this circumstances a tribe was consider superior to another. The unjustice situation as the outcome of such condition was that people only be respected in the name of their tribe. The lower tribes will never get any privileges as much as the superior one.
The other bad custome that commonly done at the time was burying girls baby right after be borned. A daughter was regarded as a disgrace for the family even for the tribe itself. It was not because they like to do it but they were situated in such a cultural values that they could do nothing but accept it. Supposedly, by using their basic sense, they will now instantly whether they did something good or bad. This is the reason why that era was called the era of jahiliyyah that simply means darkness or stupidity era. The jahiliya here did not mean illiterate at all since there were so many poet contest that was held in front of kakbah. The society was called jahil because they followed and did the wrong behaviour or attitude or culture from generation to generation.
Islam itself in fact encourages a lot of peace building with its conceptions and approaches. In social justice Islam told people that all human are equal. No privilege granted based on race, etnicity, or tribal association. The only two criteria for judging human worth are faith (iman) and Good deeds (aml sholeh). This was against the culture of Arab society at the time. Islam put human being as the highest creation among God’s creations. Human regarded as the manifestation of God. Saving a human life, it would be as if he or she saved the life of the whole people (Qur’an 5:32). Islam regards assisting the poor and pursuing equality among all humans are the core of religious values throught out the Qur’an and Hadits.
In economy, Islam generate the concept of Zakat, Shodaqoh, infaq, waqaf, even alwasiayah (will), Muslims leave a third of their estate to charity. These concepts are aimed to give balance and equality in social live by reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. It also generates emphaty among people in the society. This is why Islamic principles and teachings are clearly compatible with contemporary notions of non violent activism that mobilize communities to resist social injustice.
Islam viewed peace as an outcome to be achieved only after full submission to the will of God. Thus peace has internal, personal and social applications, and God is the source and sustainer of such peace. The various Islamic principles and values of peace can not be full identified without revisiting the concept and understanding the value of jihad. (Esposito, 1988). Jihad, that is lately be misunderstood by western as the violent way to spread Islam through the holly war, is simply defensive in nature. There is also possibility of peaceful and non violent jihad, that is jihad against self desire, temptations and selfishness is actually the most difficult to achieve.
The information that I convey above is aimed to show and give a positive understanding of Islam. Islam used to come in uncivilized society, with very unequal way of life. The dominant group had the privilages from that kind of culture. That is why, the bigger the tribe there was, the hater they were to Islamic teaching. Islam has threatened their privileges and challenged to change the condition. The territory where Islam was borned, was rocky desert. As long as the eye could see was mostly rock and sand. Even the Roman empire which was geographically very close to Madina, did not want to have it, even just to take a glance over Madina. But after Islam with its all set of values which was operated very well by very dedicated and responsible personnels, the city of Madina now became the dream land. In my opinion, we should have imagination and bravery to develop the civilized society, since we have the model, that is Madina. A lot of examples that we could absorb and learned from what prophet Muhammad did in building the Peaceful society in the brutal and violence society. If he (Muhammad) could do that, why we do not, yet we have the reference and models to be followed.
