Mark Colvin, it's lovely to be here. Am I am I have a theology background, too.
I read theology here at Oxford. And then I trained as a demand at Muslim College in London.
But I don't have sort of expertise in peace studies. But when I was invited to come and speak, I thought, you know, this is just the thing for me.
This is something I can really get stuck into and would really enjoy because I do a lot of interfaith work.
Is an educational programme that I devised last year, piloted for the first time in the U.K. But really the key is that,
you know, what kind of society are we trying to shape and build and and and leave for our future generations to come?
So thinking about what I should say today, of course, the primary sources in Islam are the the Koran in Haiti.
The revelation itself and then the Hadith contains the reports are the sayings and deeds of the prophet.
But I want to try and take another different look and let this look is really to look at the life of the prophet,
because the Koran speaks of the prophet as being sent as a mercy for the world's eyes, as being an excellent example to follow.
And I thought, you know, let's have a kind of historical look.
Let's look at the biography, the seer of the Prophet, and see what kind of examples, how we can take from his life about peace and reconciliation.
And again, I think it would be really interesting to look at the life of the prophet and also try and profess that will be
as can be a promise that he is he will recommend some academic words to read and try and sort of combine the two,
our historical perspective, the life of the prophet, but bring it into the contemporary world and see what lessons as a Muslim we can draw from that.
But I really want to begin in Southall, the Broadway.
I don't know whether any of you have been to the Broadway, but the broader MSO has lots of restaurants.
And every now and then I try and take my family, my daughter and I and my wife.
We go and do some shopping and we treat ourselves to curry house.
And last year when I went, I discovered a number of young people.
They had a stall. They were giving out leaflets.
And these leaflets were very much about, you know, if you can't be friends with Jews and Christians, you democracy's haram.
You know, unity vote is haram, it's forbidden and so on.
So what I did was take these leaflets and the information that they were disseminating and actually provide a theological response to that.
But what I want to begin with is, is really to say that in the contemporary context,
the first steps on the path to effective peacemaking and peacebuilding must entail a dialogue with
those who hold radical extremist views and to challenge their readings off the Koran and Hadith.
So. Through this, we can challenge that narrative because that's absolutely essential to begin this process of peacemaking.
One of the verses that they were using in that literature was about Muslims cannot have relationships with other people of other faiths.
And this is a kind of common narrative, common argument that the likes of al-Qaida and everybody in that kind of group try and use.
So what's the Koranic response to that? Because, of course, in the contemporary world, it's an inter, interconnected,
interdependent world and Muslims can't simply isolate themselves that there has to be interaction.
They have to create a new kind of system which is suited for the 21st century.
But the Koranic response really to to this diversity and how Muslims should relate to that,
that does a verse in the Koran that says God does not forbid you to deal kindly,
unjustly with anyone who has not fought you for your faith or driven you out of your homes.
God loves to just but God forbid you to take us allies, those who have fought against you for your faith,
driven you out of your homes and helped others to drive you out.
Any of you who take them. That's those who fight against you as allies.
We'll be wrong. There is now a traditional commentary from Al Tabari.
He in in commentary of this verse, he states,
The most incredible view is that the verse refers to people of all kinds of creeds and religions who should be shown kindness and treated equitably.
God referred to all those who do not fight the Muslims or drive them from their homes without exception or qualification.
And it's interesting that the word the boardroom is often translated as dealing kindly.
But to fully appreciate the meaning of this term. We must examine the root.
It comes from the root as borough.
By doing so, we discover the depths of its meaning and the basis upon which the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims should be based.
It should should be based upon being just to one another.
At one point in the Koran, God says,
let not a people's enmity towards you incited to act contrary to justice B just for it is closest to righteousness.
So any form of peace making, the central theme has to be there have to be mechanisms fought for justice and the dispensing justice.
Another meaning would be dealing benevolently with one another.
A Christian delegation from Madrid visited the prophet, and when it was time for their prayer,
the prophet allowed them to pray in the mosque facing towards the east.
So that really shows you the kind of liberal attitude that the prophet had towards people of other faiths,
but of course, behaving with utmost courtesy at all times. On one occasion, a funeral was passing the prophet.
Out of respect stood up. And that the companion said the prophet.
This is a Jew and the prophet replied. Was he not a human being?
And so from this,
Islamic scholars have drawn from the cities and numerous verses of the Koran that every human being has been honoured by God with dignity.
Now, before the mission of the Prophet, an interesting incident took place that shows the prophet's attitude to peace building Mecca,
of course, with a tribal society without any legal system.
The consequence of which was that the rights of the weak and the less powerful tribes were not respected.
A transgression by one person of another would often lead to conflict between tribes because of the absence of a mechanism for redress.
The conflict and war would last for many years. In one incident,
a foreign merchant visiting Mecca would've found himself in a position in which the buyer refused to pay the buyer being a prominent man.
Mecca was well aware that the merchant had no tribal support and would not be able to force him to pay.
However, the merchant appealed to the prophets, trying to Koresh to see that justice was done.
Most of the clans who had no alliances with American man Ments clan responded immediately.
So there was a concrete resolve to ensure that justice was done.
Clan meetings were held and they concluded a pact in which they stated that in every act of oppression in Mecca,
they would stand together as one man on the side of the oppressed against the oppressor until justice was done.
Whether the oppressed man were a Koresh or one who had come from abroad.
It did not matter. And later.
The prophet would say, looking back at this incident, at this event, he would say, I was present in the house of Abdullah Ibn injured on that.
So excellent a pact that I would not exchange my part in it for a herd of red camels,
herd of red camels being very tremendously valuable thing in those days.
And if now in Islam I was summoned to it, I would gladly respond.
So I think the first lesson from this would be that the cycle of violence.
Can only be broken through establishing a justice system for addressing grievances.
Secondly, that it just system must ensure that all members of the society feel ownership and that it treats all equitably.
It is also legitimate for Muslims to enter into agreements and pacts with non-Muslims for the greater good.
Now, despite the efforts of violent extremist Eiler ideologues,
warfare in Islam is not a perpetual state, but a means to be employed only as a last resort.
So Islam restricts war, promotes peace, prosperity, justice, freedom, mutual coexistence and cooperation between nations and peoples.
And despite the suffering, I mean, it's incredible when you look at the life of the prophet in Mecca, it's incredible.
The intense suffering that the prophet experienced in the early community experienced.
So, for example, does a Koranic commentary by a Loebner model Wahid,
which states that the idolatries from amongst the people of Mecca were in the habit of harming the companions of the messenger of a lot.
These companions used to come always either beaten up or with their skulls bashed in.
They complained to the messenger of Allah about the situation.
They persistently told them, be steadfast. I have not been commanded to fight.
And this really is the greater jihad. You know, we have this idea of the less that the greater jihad and the greater jihad is in Mecca,
where there's oppression, there's a lot of violence towards Muslims. Yet the response is not violence and violence.
But the response very much is to respond through the through argument, through dialogue and on occasions.
Of course, Muslims are forced to leave to seek refuge in Abyssinia, which was a Christian place.
So, you know, again, that's another argument against those people who say that you can't go two to two non Muslims look for help.
And as a matter of fact, in in Abyssinia, we actually have a tradition in which the Muslims are praying for the king.
The only other really kind of interesting point was when,
after all the suffering and finally when the prophet was his life was threatened in another plot to kill him, he or she left Mecca for Madina.
And Madina is an interesting place because not only are the pagan Arabs there,
but they're also that the strong contingent of Jews, that there's also outlying Christian tribes.
And Madina is a place which has completely been exhausted through conflict.
They've just basically exhausted themselves through fighting,
not because they've come to some peace, but because they've been fighting for such a long time.
And so the profit comes and the first thing it does which which is is quite a unique document, really,
his he brings the different parties and different tribes together and establishes what is called the Constitution of Madina and the Constitution.
And Bettina really laid out the duties and responsibilities of the different constitutions of Madina.
And this would be to to to allow freedom of religion for all people within Madina,
protection of property and livelihood and equitable treatment of all citizens,
and more importantly, win in order to shore law and ensure law and order all citizens as it would be one against criminals and law breakers.
But the key, I think, for us,
for us when we look at Madina is the idea of the central authority and this is something I think really I can relate to in the contemporary world.
The problem we have is that there isn't a central authority or central leadership within Muslims.
And this is why the likes of al-Qaida, the likes of Taliban, are able to gain ground.
So what we have to try and do is, is to support the infrastructure and support the leadership of these countries.
And it has to be done through democracy.
There has to be we simply cannot go and support governments that are, you know, tyrants, despots, because by doing that,
we're seen as being part of that oppression that these ordinary people at grassroots level exercise.
So leadership is key that that's coming through here.
And of course, this is how this vicious cycle of violence can comes to an end in Madina.
And in all the parties, all the different parties who had been fighting one another were signatories to this agreement.
But but the the problem, I think.
And I haven't done a lot of work on this aspect was, you know, what were the the main contributors to the to the dismantling of the Constitution.
And within this, we've been not enough work, I think has has been done on that because we can learn from that.
But what I also try and do is use the Constitution within it as a foundational document that that isn't the end,
but just the beginning for for Muslims in the contemporary world,
because it means that, you know,
here we have a practise of the prophet that really allows us to create a constitution that embraces other faiths as well.
Now, in in March six, twenty eight, which is six years of the hedra, the migration to Madina the Prophet.
He did something that's really incredible in terms of we were talking about those strategic moves.
What the prophet did was he actually having fought the makins in brother in Ohad, having fought them.
He suddenly decided that they were going to go on the pilgrimage on unarmed.
No weapons. They were dressed in the Iran and they travelled to Mecca, which completely took the makins by surprise.
And there's a place called Todavía where that's the place where they stopped.
And so makins. And the compound of the prophet and the prophet himself were involved in diplomacy, in negotiations, because the makins,
if they allowed the Muslims to continue the pilgrimage, would be a that would give the wider Arabian area a sense that the Muslims that had won.
So they had to come to some kind of agreement. And what's interesting about the agreement is that outwardly, when you look at the agreement,
there seems to be completely against the Muslims because the agreement states, for example, when it's being written down on a number of times,
the prophet said in a disagreement between the messenger of God and other,
that the McCain tribes and and and the that the negotiator for the makins said, Lo, you know, we don't accept you as as much of a messenger of God.
So the prophet said, OK, if that's the attitude, we will cut that out.
And so and then in the second, one of the toughest conditions was that if any convert from Mecca were to go and to seek refuge in Medina,
he would have to be returned back to to to to the tribe in Mecca, which outwardly seemed quite you know,
it was quite substantial giving in to the Meccans and some of the companions of the prophet.
What we're not too happy about this.
And and the worst of this was that when the agreement had been signed, a companion, a young Muslim convert who had been chained up.
He arrived and he was crying and saying, look, you know, take me with you.
But the prophet said, no, we've we've established our pact.
And and the pact quite clearly says that if any convert comes to to us in Medina, we have to give him back to the makins.
So he has to be given back to the Merkins.
But I think the really important lesson from this occasion is that that sense of leadership and how the companions,
although they disagreed with the prophet and didn't quite see the wisdom of what was to come, although they disagree, they accepted the decision.
And the problem we have, for example, today in Palestine and so on, is that that kind of leadership isn't there.
People are just not prepared to accept that. You know, sometimes for the sake of peace.
We have to make substantial concessions because peace is always far greater and central to the flourishing of human beings.
So in conclusion, then,
to build lasting peace and to initiate peace making is is something that is intrinsic to the lessons that we learn from the life of the prophet.
The key components of successful peacemaking and peace building has to be one of leadership,
diplomacy, negotiation, foresight and a real, genuine desire for peace.
The preparedness to make the necessary sacrifices of concessions is essential and to ensure that all parties feel they have ownership of the process.
So thank you and I shall conclude their.