Why Reconcile with People?

One should seek reconciliation with one’s adversaries in order to save oneself from futile imbroglios and to remain engaged in constructive activities.

Reconciliation is not to establish one’s rights. Reconciliation is to save oneself from the evil intentions of the other party. If the other party is just, there is no need for reconciliation. Even without reconciliation you will get your dues. But when the other party is unjust, this will entangle you in irrelevant things which will cause you to deviate you from being constructive. At that time, the believer seeks reconciliation with his adversaries in order to save himself from futile imbroglios and remain engaged in constructive activities.

Those who do not understand these truths engage themselves in listing their rights at the time of reconciliation. They insist that that they be given their dues. This kind of effort is a permanent obstacle to reconciliation. Such attempts only aggravate the issue. They do nothing to further the cause of reconciliation.

This world is a testing ground. It is full of unjust people just as there are plants, which are full of thorns. In such a world a person’s first priority should be not to become involved with unjust people. He should keep his distance from them and continue on his own forward journey.

But if certain controversial issues arise with some unjust person, in the first instance, he should seek reconciliation and then move on. A person’s whole attention should be on continuing with his onward journey unhampered, rather than focus on the other party giving him his rights.

Such reconciliation is in no way a retreat. It is a principle adhered to by purposeful people. One who has no purpose in life may devote his energies to getting his rights back at the crucial moment and spend all his life in achieving some impracticable reconciliation. Reconciliation has been given great importance in Islam. It has been said that reconciliation is best in all conditions. Even on the occasion of Hudaybiyah, the Prophet of Islam arrived at a reconciliation with his antagonists by accepting all their conditions.