Lessons from History
According to the law of nature, the power of peace is greater than the power of war. The veracity of this principle has been confirmed time and again throughout human history. In particular, the experiences of the Second World War have valuable lessons to offer us on this subject.
Japan and Germany participated in World War II (1939 – 1945) with parallel ambitions. Japan’s goal was to secure the position of the number one country of Asia, while Germany’s aim was to become the number one country in Europe. The Second World War continued for six years, in the course of which both Germany and Japan were forced to sacrifice numerous lives and resources. Towards the end of the war, both countries had suffered massive and widespread devastation.
At the end of the war, leaders arose in both these countries, who in their wisdom, saved their people from becoming victims of negative thinking. For example, when the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito addressed his nation on the subject of the Japanese defeat on August 15, 1945, he said in a broadcast on Japan’s national radio:
‘It is according to the dictates of time and fate that we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable.’
This message sent out by Japan’s Emperor, aimed as it was at building a progressive future for the country, indicated a clear-cut line of action to the Japanese people. Thus Japan’s post-war planning did not include preparations for revenge. This peaceful planning worked, and within thirty years, Japan had emerged as the number one country of Asia.
Germany’s modern history took a similar course. As the first post-war Chancellor of Germany (1949 – 1963) German statesman Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (1876 – 1967) led his country from the ruins of World War II to being a productive and prosperous nation. A thorough statesman, who spearheaded Germany’s intellectual leadership, he planned his country’s future along peaceful lines – unlike his infamous predecessor, Adolf Hitler, who, with his aggressive tactics, had led Germany to defeat and ruination. With Adenauer’s peaceful approach, Germany slowly recovered from the damages suffered during the war and eventually became the number one nation of Europe.
This experience of the twentieth century serves as an eye-opener for all those who still think in terms of violence and believe that they can achieve their goals by fighting. Islamic history is likewise replete with similar experiences.
In the thirteenth century, the Tartar and Mongol armies attacked the Abbasid Caliphate, destroying everything from Samarqand right up to Aleppo. In the process, there were some clashes between the Muslims and the Mongols, with the Muslims finally being subjugated. All their fighting had been in vain. The Muslims were so demoralized that it began to be said:
‘Don’t believe it, if someone says that the Mongols have been defeated.’
Then, a new situation developed, with the Muslims abandoning violence under compulsion and becoming engaged in a peaceful mission. The British orientalist T.W. Arnold (1864 – 1930) in his book The Preaching of Islam reports that this peaceful process resulted in the majority of the Mongols accepting Islam. Thus, the problem that could not be solved by war was solved through peace. Narrating this story the Lebanese American scholar Philip K Hitti (1886 – 1978) observes,
‘The religion of the Moslems had conquered where their arms had failed.’
This history of Islam sends out a strong message to Muslims—that is, having failed to achieve their goal through a violent struggle, the time has again come for Muslims to abandon all kinds of violence and attempt to achieve their goals by a peaceful method.
War depends entirely on the aggressive use of weaponry and can only be a source of destruction. Nothing constructive can be achieved through war and violence. On the contrary, peace, based on education and positive planning, inevitably leads to progress and development. The whole of human history testifies to this fact.
This history of Islam sends out a strong message to Muslims—that is, having failed to achieve their goal through a violent struggle, the time has again come for Muslims to abandon all kinds of violence and attempt to achieve their goals by a peaceful method.
War is perpetrated under the influence of negative thinking, and so its result is also negative. On the other hand, peaceful planning is engaged in under the influence of positive thinking. That is why the peaceful method invariably proves to be successful.
If studied objectively, history has valuable lessons for us. It has never been possible throughout history for anyone to achieve positive results through war, just as no one has ever obtained negative results by following a peaceful course of action.
History is a record of human experiences, both positive and negative. What is implicit in this record is the message that we should not repeat the negative experiences of history: we should repeat only those experiences which have led to positive results in the past.
Mankind’s past has been recorded in books which are readily available in libraries across the world. Before rushing to the battlefield, the would-be combatants would be well advised to visit such libraries for guidance. Only after making a thorough study of the annals of history – which tells us about the negative and positive aspects of the events of human life over the past millennia – should they plan their future actions.
If you observe a garden with lush green trees, a mountain or an ocean; if you see the world of nature; if you see the starry universe, you will find that, everywhere, there is peace and tranquillity. It is only human life which is vitiated by violence and fighting. In this sense, man seems to be a creature at odds with the whole of the universe. If those who are engaged in militancy were to give some thought to this incongruity, they would feel ashamed of their conduct. They would immediately give up violence as a way of life and adopt the culture of peace.
A verse in the Quran gives this advice:
‘Travel about the land and see what was the end of the deniers.’ (6:11)
The implication here is that what happened to the deniers was not only unrewarding but also punitive and that a similar fate awaits those who engage in uncalled for militancy. It follows that one should study human history and then plan one’s actions only after paying heed to its lessons.
