Islam and Peace

Abstract

In non-Muslim parts of the World, the majority of people increasingly link Islam with violence and terrorism. Nevertheless, salam (peace) is a core concept of Islamic spirituality. This chapter therefore tries to find the gaps in our understanding of the relation between Islam and Peace and tries to explain why the contemporary view of Islam as an inherently violent religion should be corrected. Starting from linguistic, theological and historical analysis, the intimate link between Islam and ‘salam’ is described. This is followed by an analysis of contemporary sectarian conflicts and their relationship with the present day geo-politics.

The chapter advances the idea that the ‘monotheism’ is not the driving force behind many of the contemporary conflicts in which Muslims are involved but that the main culprit is a sort of ‘moneytheism’ prevalent both in the East and the West. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the prophet’s original concept of monotheism and its view of God as ‘Ar-Rahman’ in order to propose a way out of our contemporary global cultural tensions and conflicts.

Citation

Atlas, J.Y. (2015), "Islam and Peace", Business, Ethics and Peace (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-832320150000024009