Abstract
When the entire life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is scrutinised from a holistic perspective it is apparent that he preferred peace over any kind of violence, conflict and rough treatment. It is not an exaggeration to underline that the secret of his great success was lying behind one single word - "peace" as argued by Indian Muslim scholar, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Nevertheless, due to misconceptions and selective approach,many of his statements and teachingsare taken out of its historical context and often misinterpreted.This is mainly due to a lack of a holistic reading of his life, if it isn’t prejudice towards him and his religion. A very famous saying of the Prophet "...paradise lies under the shadow of swords" can be given as a significant example for such misused and perhaps abused traditions. Not many people question what the complete statetement of the Prophet is, the timing of the statement and its historical context.
No matter what era of his prophetic career is examined,preference of peace over violence is quite conspicuous both in terms of individual and socio-political relations of Muhammad. In this article, an effort will be made to depict this central methodology of Prophet Muhammad by drawing attention to different aspects and periods of his life to capture the picture within its entirety. Thus, examples regarding individual, family, social and political relations of the Prophet during the Meccan and Medinan periods will be analysed from various perspectives. Additionally, Prophetic traditions promoting and advocating peace will be analysed together with their historical context and development of the utterance of these important statements. Finally, the ultimate aim of these traditions andimportant central method will be questioned to shed light on the Islamic and more precisely Prophetic approach for current readers of his biography and philosophy in general and Muslim interlocutors in particular.
No matter what era of his prophetic career is examined,preference of peace over violence is quite conspicuous both in terms of individual and socio-political relations of Muhammad. In this article, an effort will be made to depict this central methodology of Prophet Muhammad by drawing attention to different aspects and periods of his life to capture the picture within its entirety. Thus, examples regarding individual, family, social and political relations of the Prophet during the Meccan and Medinan periods will be analysed from various perspectives. Additionally, Prophetic traditions promoting and advocating peace will be analysed together with their historical context and development of the utterance of these important statements. Finally, the ultimate aim of these traditions andimportant central method will be questioned to shed light on the Islamic and more precisely Prophetic approach for current readers of his biography and philosophy in general and Muslim interlocutors in particular.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 07 Mar 2018 |
