PEACEFUL CITIZENS

Explaining who a true believer is, the Prophet is said to have remarked, so we learn from a hadith report, that people’s blood and wealth are safe from such a person. (Sunan At Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2627)

There are two ways of living in society. You can live peacefully with others, or you can choose to keep quarreling with them. The hadith referred to here indicates that the way of a true believer is to live along with others as a peaceful citizen. Such a person lives without creating any problem at all for other people’s lives, property and honour. Under no conditions whatsoever does he engage in violence.

What way of life can protect the members of society from one another’s excesses? It is to maintain a balanced attitude even when one has cause for complaint. A person should contain his grievances within himself and refrain from pouring the fire of his resentment onto others. One should abstain from venting one’s ire and other negative emotions on others. In a society that consists of people who are like this, every individual will feel safe at the hands of everyone else. This peaceful society is an ideal human society.