The principle of peace for the sake of peace was successfully demonstrated by the Prophet of Islam in the form of the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyyah that he signed with his opponents, by accepting injustice. At that time the Prophet and his companions wanted to visit Makkah and perform Umrah, but they were prevented from doing so. The Prophet dropped his Umrah plans and finalised the peace agreement by accepting all the conditions laid down unilaterally by the opponents. As a consequence, the companions of the Prophet were very disheartened: they considered it a degrading treaty. One of the companions said at that time, “Why are we accepting such a humiliating agreement?”
However, soon after this peace agreement was finalised, God Almighty revealed this verse in the Quran: “Truly, we have granted you a clear victory.” (The Quran, 48:1)
Why does the Quran call it a “clear victory” when it was obviously a setback for the Prophet and his companions? This ‘victory’ was in terms of potential victory rather than immediate actual victory. The Hudaybiyyah Peace Treaty stopped all kinds of hostility between the two sides and opened up the doors of opportunity. After this, it became possible to conduct a dialogue and have an intellectual exchange between the two parties. In other words, peace opened the doors for the Prophet to be able to spread his message throughout Arabia.
This prophetic example shows us the way to peace. It tells us how peace can be established and what actions must be taken in such situations of conflict. It is to detach peace from justice. It is to establish peace at any cost. It is to adopt peace for the sake of peace; to re-plan every strategy concentrating on opportunities and not on justice.
Justice is an indirect result of peace and not the direct outcome, so the formula for peace is to establish peace by accepting injustice for a temporary period. Peace, thus, established will open the doors of opportunity, and by availing the opportunities the goal of justice can be reached. The only formula for achieving justice is to accept injustice at the outset; then you will be able to achieve justice in the future by reaping the benefits of peace.
Source: Spirit of Islam February 2013
