The Quranic Way of Conflict-Resolution
Today’s Muslims may know much about the divine rewards for reciting the Quran. But they are unaware of the immense rewards for following the Quran in their own lives, although this is precisely the highest sort of reward that is associated with the Quran. The fact is that the solutions to all problems are contained in the Quran, but these solutions can work only for those who agree to accept them without any mental reservations.
Uthman ibn Affan narrates that the Prophet remarked that the best person is he who studies the Quran and teaches it to others (Sahih Bukhari). According to another hadith, Umar ibn al-Khattab narrates that the Prophet said that God will elevate some people through His book—the Quran—and will bring down some others through it (Sahih Muslim).
Such hadith reports indicate that the definite solution to all sorts of problems that Muslims might face is to obey the Quran. Muslims can and will gain protection by following the commandments of the Quran. This is a sure way for them to save themselves from all sorts of trials and afflictions.
If you ponder on the Quran, you will discover a basic guiding principle—that good and evil are not the same, and that in a seemingly difficult situation, one must respond using the best possible method. As a result of this, your enemy will turn into a dear friend.
As the Quran (41:34) puts it:
Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend […]
Elaborating on this Quranic verse, Ibn Kathir reports that Abdullah ibn Abbas said:
God has commanded Muslims to exercise patience when they are angry, to express tolerance in the face of others’ ignorance, and to exhibit mercy in the face of something that is wrong. When people act accordingly, God will save them from Satan, and He will soften the hearts of the enemy for them, so that they become friends.
In this regard, Abdullah ibn Abbas, as reported in the Tafsir al-Qurtubi, is also said to have remarked:
If someone behaves in an ignorant way with you, you must respond to his ignorance with tolerance.
The principle that the above-mentioned Quranic verse (41:34) reveals is also the solution to the problem of inter-communal violence. That is to say, instead of reacting to provocation, one should adopt a positive approach and method. This is the only solution to the problem of violence between communities. There is simply no other effective way. If there were, the problem would have been solved by now, because in the past all these other methods have been tried but they have miserably failed.
The only way to end communal violence involving Muslims is for Muslims to stop thinking in communal terms, and, instead, to adopt the Quranic way of thinking. Muslims are very well aware of the rewards for reciting the Quran, but they do not know about the rewards for obeying the Quran. The Quranic commandments are actually laws of nature, on the basis of which God has established the system that governs this world. It is by following these laws that the cosmic system is able to function perfectly. Similarly, it is by adhering to these laws that human beings can order their lives in the appropriate manner.
In the light of Quranic teachings, one can derive certain key principles of conflict-avoidance and conflict-resolution:
Firstly, the need to properly investigate something that we happen to hear before taking action on it.
The Quran (49:6) says:
Believers, if an evil-doer brings you news, ascertain the correctness of the report fully, lest you unwittingly harm others, and then regret what you have done […]
Often, people get provoked and resort to violence on the basis of mere hearsay and rumour, without investigating the veracity of what they have heard. Sometimes, what they hear is completely baseless, but by the time they realize this, it is too late: they have already taken to violence, resulting in much loss of life and property.
Secondly, the need to avoid useless things. The Quran (23:3) says that one characteristic feature of the believers is that they ‘turn away from all that is frivolous’. This Quranic verse tells Muslims that when foolish people do something wrong out of ignorance, they should not get provoked. They should avoid confrontation and conflict.
If Muslims adopt this Quranic method of avoidance of conflict, it will cut the very roots of inter-communal conflict. This is because the cause of many cases of inter-communal conflict involving Muslims is that Muslims fail to avoid reacting through confrontation in the wake of provocation. They get quickly agitated and take to fighting others.
Take, for instance, the case of a riot that broke out several years ago in a town in western India. This is a quite typical case. The riot would definitely not have happened had Muslims adopted the method of conflict- avoidance mentioned above.
The riot started when some non-Muslims burst crackers while Muslims were praying in a mosque located in a non-Muslim dominated locality. Because this happened just outside a mosque, the Muslims took it to be absolutely intolerable. They got very agitated. Finally, this resulted in a deadly riot.
According to the Quran, what they should have instead done was to simply avoid reacting to the provocation and refrain from confrontation.
Thirdly, the need to abstain from ignorant prejudice and fanaticism. In the context of the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, the Quran (48:26) relates that when the Prophet’s opponents displayed their ignorant prejudice against the Muslims, the believers did not respond in the same way. Rather, they remained established in God-consciousness. It was because the believers did not behave as their opponents did that the Treaty of Hudaybiyah was possible. God termed this treaty as a ‘clear victory’. Two years after this treaty, the whole of Arabia came under the sway of Islam.
If Muslims were to act according to this above-mentioned Quranic verse, all of a sudden their history would take a completely different turn. It would also put a complete end to communal violence. In many cases, communal riots break out because, in the face of the ignorant and prejudicial ways of others, Muslims react in exactly the same way. This escalates the conflict, and then it escalates into rioting.
For instance, in 1980, the town of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, was rocked by a deadly riot. It all started when a non-Muslim’s marriage procession wound its way through the streets, with music and dancing. The procession happened to pass by a mosque. Muslims rushed out of the mosque and tried to stop it, claiming that it was an affront to the mosque. They tried to get the non-Muslims to take a different route, but the latter did not agree. This confrontation then rapidly turned into a deadly riot.
In this case, Muslims reacted to the fanaticism of others by expressing the same sort of prejudice and fanaticism themselves. But if, instead, they had adopted the method that the Quran recommends, their response would have been totally different. And then, Moradabad would have been saved from going up in flames.
According to a hadith contained in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, Abdullah ibn Masud says that the Prophet related that evil cannot be wiped out through evil. Rather, evil can be wiped out through goodness.
This hadith expresses a divine principle. The entire world is governed by this principle. And that is that in this world, every evil can be put an end to only through goodness. Had this not been the case, evil would have completely overwhelmed the world.
Contrary to what Islam tells us to do, Muslims are today engaged in trying to put an end to evil by resorting to evil themselves. They want to end provocation by resorting to provocation, to end hate by resorting to hate, to end enmity by resorting to enmity, to end communal prejudice by resorting to communal prejudice. All of this is completely against divine principles. Such efforts can never succeed. If Muslims insist on continuing this way, they will have to set up an imaginary world of their own liking, because they certainly cannot succeed in the real world in this manner.
