Notas a los cuadros

It has been identified that any peacebuilding exploits that target religious communities must rely on the teachings, beliefs, values and rituals that emanate from the very sources of the faith of members of such communities. Alluding to this reality, Scott Appleby states:

“Religious actors build peace when they act religiously, that is, when draw on the deep wells of their traditions, and extract from those depts. The spiritual instincts and moral imperatives for recognizing and embracing the humanity of the other; and when they employ the distinctive ritual and symbolic and psychological resources of religion for transforming the dream of a common humanity into a tangible, felt reality”.2

This comment made by Appleby aptly sets the tone for any religious peacebuilding initiative, be it a discourse or a practical engagement. In view of this proposition, it can be argued that any peacebuilding efforts geared towards Muslims must be tailored to resonate with the religious assumptions, beliefs and experiences of Muslims and the communities in which they live. Obviously, the religion of Islam is practiced through the dictates of the Holy Qur’ān and the Sunnah (traditions and deeds) of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh); and therefore, Muslim actions are usually motivated by the dictates of these two primary sources of Islam.

Other secondary sources such as ijma’ (consensus of legal opinion), qiyas (analogy), istihsan (juristic preference), qawl al-sahabi (opinion of a Companion of the Prophet), maslahah

mursalah (jurisprudential interest), sadd al-dhari’ah (blocking lawful means to an unlawful

end), istishab al-hal (presumption of a continuity of a rule), ‘urf (custom) and texts of earlier _________________

2

A statement made by Scott Appleby quoted in Susan Hayward, Religion and Peacebuilding: Reflections on Current Challenges and Future Prospects, United States Institute of Peace, 2012, p. 6.

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scriptures are equally relied upon in Islamic practices.3 _{However, in view of the non-} monolithic nature of Islam and its adherents, any peacebuilding project that is pursued from Islamic perspective must largely draw its anchoring pillars from Qur’ānic precepts as well as the Sunnah. In this regard, Ibrahim Kalin describes the Qur’ān and Sunnah as the main sources of Islamic Waltanschauung and explains that while the Qur’ān is subject to different interpretations from the Sufis and Hanbalis to the Wahhabis and modernists, one cannot understand a good part of the Qur’ān without the Prophetic Sunnah which gives concrete experiences of the Muslim Community.4 _{This view put forward by Kalin reflects the position} of Maulana Muhammad Ali that Muslims consider the Qur’ān as the foundation upon which the entire superstructure of Islam is established, and that it is the ultimate source from which every conceptual and theoretical discourse on Islam must be drawn.5 _{To this extent,} Mohammed Abu-Nimer suggests that studies about Muslims must be pursued from the perspective of the Qur’ān, the Islamic Scripture which is valued and cherished by Muslims.6 In the light of the above, it is obvious that any discourse or a practical initiative on Islamic peacebuilding ought to draw its legitimacy from the holy Qur’an. In an era whereby some Muslims promote the use of violence through the (mis)interpretation of Qur’ānic texts,7 _{it has} even become imperative that explicit Qur’ānic injunctions, prescriptions, parables and liturgy on peace are explored to counter the violent Islamic narratives. This argument is influenced by the preposition that the same religious sources that are used to legitimize violence and anarchy must be used as sources for the propagation of peacebuilding.8

___________________________ 3

Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Islamic Jurisprudence, The Other Press, 2003, p. 145. 4

Ibrahim Kalin,‘Islam and Peace: A Survey of the Sources of Peace in the Islamic Tradition’ Islamic Studies 44:3, 2005, p.28,. 5

Maulana Muhammad Ali, The Religion of Islam, S, Chand & Company Ltd, 1990, p.17. 6

Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam: Theory and Practice, University Press of Florida, 2003, p.19. 7

See Peter Keay, The New Economy of Terror: Motivations and Driving Forces Behind Contemporary Islamists Insurgencies, in M. Darweish and C.Rank (ed.) Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Contemporary Themes and Challenges, Pluto Press, London,2012, p.138. 8

See S. Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana, Religion, Violence and the Islamic Traditions of Nonviolence, Turkish Year Book of International Relations, 2003,Vol. XXXIV, p.25.

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Similarly, Abdul Rashied Omar argues that a strong emphasis on the most primary source of Islamic guidance, the Qur’ān is needed in any Islamic peacebuilding endeavour; because the concepts of compassion and justice which are core ethical precepts in peacebuilding are employed on numerous times in the holy Qur’ān in order to teach Muslims.9 _{Also, Abdulaziz} Sachedina underscores the immutable position of the Qur’ān in Islamic peacebuilding when he argues that Muslims will reject violence if they are made aware of Qur’ānic teachings on religious pluralism as a divine imperative for peaceful co-existence among human societies.10 However, the contextualization of peacebuilding as a communal activity within the purview of Islamic community needs a direct leaning on the deeds and teachings of the holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This is because the typical Islamic community began with the Prophet (pbuh) who expressed and taught the message of the Qur’ān at both individual and community levels. Therefore, the practice of Sunnah affords the Muslim with the leverage of reading and applying the Qur’ān within the concrete experiences of the Muslim community.11 In this regard, Ibrahim Kalin asserts that the Sunnah is an integral part of the Islamic worldview without which one’s understanding of the Qur’ān cannot be complete.12 Kalin further contends that:

“The fact that the Prophetic Sunnah is part of the Islamic worldview and religious life, without which we cannot understand a good part of the Qur’an, can be seen as confirming the significance of reading the scripture within the concrete experiences of the Muslim community”.13

__________________ 9

A. Rashied Omar, Islam and Peacebuilding, Notre Dame OpenCourseWare, 2010, p.3. Available at: http://ocw.nd.edu/peace- studies/islamic-ethics-of-war-and-peace/about-professor Accessed on 2 October, 2014 at 22.00 GMT.

10

Abdul-Aziz Sachedina, The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism, Oxford University Press, 2000, p.13. 11

Ibrahim Kalin, Islam and Peace: A Survey of the Sources of Peace in the Islamic Tradition, Islamic Studies 44:3, 2005, p.329. 12

Ibid. 13

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This view of Kalin has been espoused by many other prominent contemporary scholars of Islam and peacebuilding. For example, Mohammed Abu-Nimer and S. Ayse Kadayifci- Orellana have put forward similar argument that principles and practices that guide Islamic peacebuilding and conflict resolution cannot be compelling without deriving their sources from the Qur’ān and the deeds and sayings of the Prophet (pbuh).14 Based on the scholarly views expressed above, it can be stated that Muslims will identify more with peacebuilding initiatives which are focused on pertinent values and Islamic rituals which are unequivocally embedded in the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. Moreover, it implies that any discussion on Islam and peacebuilding must be premised not only on categorical statements in the Qur’ān, but also on the teachings and personal practices of the holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the

Sunnah. In view of the above, the next part of this chapter explores the concept of peace in

the Islamic Tradition.