Making a Friend out of an Enemy

During a visit to the US in June 2011, I was invited to an American church in Philadelphia to deliver a lecture on the importance of peace. When I had completed my address, a Christian scholar asked: ‘There is a well-known teaching in the Bible, “Love your enemy.”¹ Can you refer to any such verse from the Quran?’ I said, ‘Yes, you can read verse 34 of Chapter 41 of the Quran. The translation of this verse is:

“Good and evil deeds are not equal. Do good deeds in return for bad deeds; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.”’ (41:34)

This Quranic verse is based on the law of nature. According to the law of nature, there is neither a permanent friend nor a permanent enemy. People fall into two categories: some who are actual friends, and others who are potential friends. One must discover this fact and by right planning, try to turn this potential into actuality.

Those who are engaged in violence in the name of jihad tend to take things at face value. That is, if someone appears to be an enemy, they instantly declare him an enemy and initiate a bloody war against him. This is an example of their failing to go below the surface of things. However, if they looked at things in a deeper way, they would find that those whom they regarded as their enemies had, in reality, the potential of being their best friends. Therefore, instead of waging war against them, they should have made them their friends through peaceful dawah work, that is, by conveying the message of God.

According to the law of nature all men and women are children of Adam and Eve. That is, all human beings have a common ancestor. This means that mankind is a global family. All men and women are blood sisters and blood brothers. In the present day, this biological phenomenon has become a scientifically established fact. Now, it is no longer a mysterious story of Adam and Eve. Rather, it is a fact affirmed by anthropological research.²

The acceptance of this biological fact makes it possible, at least in terms of theory, for all men and women to live as a global family, rather than as rival groups. Now there is virtually no justification for tribal or national or any other kind of war in human society.

We seldom hear of fighting having broken out between members of the same family. Theoretically, this ought to be true for the whole of mankind, for, according to scientific research, all of mankind is a single family, and so, the old kinds of hostilities should come to an end. The time has now come for all of mankind to live on earth in harmony as a single family. Living in harmony is no longer simply an ethical principle. Rather, it is a way of life, the veracity of which has been proved through scientific studies.

In the present age, the scientific community has abandoned several ancient theories. For example, the heliocentric theory has replaced the old geocentric theory. The same approach is applicable to war and peace. The demands of a realistic assessment of current affairs and scientific thinking should make people give up violence and adopt the peaceful method as their only possible course of action.

The fact of common ancestry has forever done away with the equation of ‘we and they’. Now the only valid equation is one that is based on the concept of ‘we and we’. To initiate war, therefore, is like waging war against one’s own family members rather than against any outside group. War is now the act of a pre-civilized age and not of modern civilization.

This universal fact is set forth thus in the Quran:

‘…whoever killed a human being—except as a punishment for murder or for spreading corruption in the land—shall be regarded as having killed all mankind, and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind.’ (5:32) 

War has only one serious upshot: the killing of others. War is, in effect, an act of mass murder. In this sense war is the worst kind of heinous crime. In other words, war means the killing of humanity and peace means the giving of life to humanity.

Killing a human being is not like killing an animal. Killing a member of humanity is like killing one’s own self.

It is clear from the foregoing arguments that the sole option we have before us is not war, but peace.

Killing a human being is not like killing an animal. Killing a member of humanity is like killing one’s own self. If one is aware of this reality, one will never make another human being the victim of one’s violent actions. When one person kills another, it is out of ignorance. If people’s lack of awareness in this regard could be remedied, then certainly violence could be brought to an end. The best way then to counter violence and war is to promote universal education.