{"id":103856,"date":"2017-12-25T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T12:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=103856"},"modified":"2017-12-24T16:51:23","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T16:51:23","slug":"mediation-perspectives-peace-conflict-and-mediation-in-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/mediation-perspectives-peace-conflict-and-mediation-in-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Mediation Perspectives: Peace, Conflict and Mediation in Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Image courtesy of Afshad\/Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Mediation Perspectives is a periodic blog entry that\u2019s provided by the CSS\u2019 Team and occasional guest authors. Each entry is designed to highlight the utility of mediation approaches in dealing with violent political conflicts. To keep up to date with the Mediation Support Team, you can sign up to their newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dec 2017 – <\/em>The fourth instalment of the CSS Mediation Perspectives Blog Mini-Series on the use of religious resources in peace mediation (Part one: Criteria<\/a>, Part two: Christianity<\/a>, Part three: Buddhism<\/a>) comes from a Muslim perspective and looks at how peace, conflict and mediation are part of Islam.<\/p>\n

Religions promote peace and provide moral guidance and legal injunctions to restrict and moderate the use of violence. Followers of a religion can comply with these guidelines or transgress against them as such followers are neither angels nor devils. Instead, they are human beings with all the complex aspirations to peace and temptations to violence that the human condition entails. In that respect, Islam is no exception.<\/p>\n

Peace occupies a central position in Islam and is viewed as being three dimensional: with God, with the self and with others. In the Islamic normative framework, peace must inform the attitude and the behaviour of every Muslim: \u201cThe true Muslim is the one with whom others feel in peace and do not fear his\/her tongue and hand\u201d (Prophet Muhammad). There is a whole symbolic framework of peace in Islamic religious language. For instance, the word Isl\u0101m shares the same root as \u201csilm\u201d and \u201csal\u0101m\u201d, the Arabic terms for peace; one of the attributes of God is the \u201cSource of Peace\u201d (As-Sal\u0101m<\/em>); the Qur\u2019\u0101n refers to Paradise as the \u201cAbode of Peace\u201d (Darussal\u0101m<\/em>). Peace is further the greeting of Islam (assal\u0101mu alaykum)<\/em>, the language of the righteous, and Muslims continuously reiterate their wish for peace in their daily prayers. Furthermore, the Qur\u2019\u0101n associates peace with food, considering it therefore not only as a human right but as a basic need.<\/p>\n

The Islamic tradition considers conflict a human phenomenon. In his work The Unrestricted Thunderbolts<\/em>, Muslim scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350) observed that \u201cconflict occurs necessarily and unavoidably between people due to the disparity in their wills, understandings, and sharpness of mind. What is disliked is aggression and hostility to each other. Otherwise [\u2026] conflict does not hurt; it is unavoidable since it is constitutive of the human creation.\u201d According to Ibn al-Qayyim, \u201cconflict is defined as the situation where the origins are incompatible, the ways are divergent or the goals are contradictory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, conflict is not considered to be an inherent attribute of the parties. Instead, it is seen as a relationship between parties that has been altered and needs to be restored. Correspondingly, the Islamic Arabic expression for mediation is \u201cbond mending\u201d (isl\u0101hu th\u0101til bayn<\/em>). It is therefore envisaged that such a breakdown in a relationship may occur between people who are not necessarily \u201cbad\u201d.<\/p>\n

Preventing violence, transforming conflict and promoting peace is not exclusively the task of the state in Islam. Instead, it is the duty of each and every Muslim: \u201cMaking peace justly between two parties is an act of charity\u201d (Prophet Muhammad). \u201cWhat is more valuable than fasting, praying, and almsgiving is to restore the bonds between conflicting parties\u201d (Prophet Muhammad).<\/p>\n

When mediation becomes difficult, as in the case of asymmetric conflicts where a more powerful party refuses to talk to a powerless one, it is the duty of the whole Muslim community to engage in a \u201cgood intervention\u201d to bring the more powerful actor to the dialogue table: \u201cIf two groups of believers come to fight one another, then amend the relation between them. But if one of them oppresses the other, fight the oppressor until it submits to the command of God. If it complies, then amend the relation between them with fairness and be just. God loves those who are just.\u201d (Qur\u2019\u0101n, 49:9) This verse sets out the successive steps of a process: 1) Try to mediate between the two fighting groups; 2) If one group refuses mediation, rejects conflict settlement and persists in oppressing the other group, the Islamic community has the duty to intervene until the oppressor reconsiders his position; 3) If the oppressor abandons oppression and embraces peace, resume the mediation with fairness and do not be unjust with the group who ceased oppression.<\/p>\n

If the community fails to engage in a good intervention, the powerless actor has the right to resist in order to re-establish the power balance. Muslims, however, are ordered to resist in a \u201cgood way\u201d in line with Ihs\u0101n<\/em>, the highest attribute of Islamic faith. This is a difficult Islamic concept to translate, but may be considered as the sum of virtues since it covers (1) the good, (2) the fair, (3) the true, (4) the right and (5) the beautiful. \u201cResist with Ihs\u0101n<\/em>, then verily he, of whom you are an enemy, will become as though he was a close friend.\u201d (Qur\u2019\u0101n, 41:34) This is about the transformative power of non-violence.<\/p>\n

Dealing with conflict in the Islamic tradition must also be governed by the five Islamic imperatives of Ihs\u0101n<\/em>, \u2018Adl<\/em> (fairness) that must guide conduct even towards adversaries (\u201cO you who believe, be upright for God, bearers of witness with justice, and let not the enmity and hatred of anyone incite you not to be fair; be fair, that is closer to piety.\u201d [Qur\u2019\u0101n, 5:8]), Kar\u0101ma<\/em> (human dignity) conferred on all the children of Adam, Wasatiya<\/em>, the avoidance of the extremes, and, above all, the overarching requirement of Rahma<\/em> (true love), as the Muslim is advised to start all his\/her daily actions, be it religious duties or worldly affairs, by saying \u201cBismill\u0101h Ar-Rahm\u0101n, Ar-Rah\u012bm<\/em>\u201d (In the name of God, the Loving, the Love-Giving).<\/p>\n

It is unfortunate to observe the gap between the Islamic normative framework of peace promotion and the reality of Muslim societies today, torn apart by so many violent conflicts. Much effort is needed in terms of research, capacity building and dissemination, in order to promote the culture of non-violence and provide young peace actors across the Islamic world with both traditional and modern tools. This will hopefully enable conflicts to be transformed by peaceful means.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Abbas Aroua is a medical physicist and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Lausanne University, Switzerland. He is director of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva for Peace Studies and Convener for the Arab world for TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 cordoue.ch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Religions promote peace and provide moral guidance and legal injunctions to restrict and moderate the use of violence. Followers of a religion can comply with these guidelines or transgress against them as such followers are neither angels nor devils. Instead, they are human beings with all the complex aspirations to peace and temptations to violence that the human condition entails. In that respect, Islam is no exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}