Islam and the Pursuit of Peace: Responding to Misconceptions

As anti-Muslim sentiment is once again being carefully curated by design-in part to distract public attention from the heartless genocide in Gaza and to normalize hostility toward Muslims-troll armies have taken to mocking the claim that "Islam is a religion of peace."

As has often been the case, many Muslim fundamentalists end up converging with Islamophobes on the very question of what Islam is, what its goals are, and what its methodologies entail. These fundamentalists hijack authentic Islam and weave a narrative alien to the Qur'an and deleterious to Muslims. They vehemently reject the claim that "Islam means peace," thereby conceding the definitional ground to Islam's critics.

This is my short response to these perspectives:

Peace is an outlook-an orientation to life, an ontological attitude toward being. At its core, Islam is about seeking peace, harmony, and resonance with oneself and the rest of creation through submission to God. The pursuit of peace, both at the individual and the communal levels, is central to Islam.

Indeed, the Qur'an is filled with the theme of peace: we greet one another with peace (as-salāmu ʿalaykum - السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ; 6:54), we conclude our prayers by invoking peace, and we orient our lives toward peace. Our Creator is the source of peace, as the Prophet ﷺ taught us to say in prayer:

"Allāhumma anta al-Salām, wa minka al-Salām"
(اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ السَّلَامُ وَمِنْكَ السَّلَامُ) -
"O God, You are the Peace, and from You is the Peace. Blessed are You, O Possessor of Majesty and Bounty."

At the same time, peace in Islam does not amount to non-violence at all costs. Islam upholds peace as a moral and social ideal while also acknowledging the realities of the human condition-including the inevitability, and at times the necessity, of war. It prescribes just rules of engagement and does not naively advocate turning the other cheek in every circumstance. In this sense, Islam advances a balanced and realistic approach to achieving and sustaining peace, both individually and collectively.

Incidentally, just as entering Islam leads to peace, exiting it does not involve any punishment-contrary to another fundamentalist fallacy. In fact, the Qur'an prescribes no punishment for apostasy so long as it does not involve espionage or treason. The Qur'anic principle of no compulsion in religion is universal and ironclad:

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ
"There is no compulsion in religion." (2:256)

This is further reflected in the verse:

لَسْتَ عَلَيْهِم بِمُصَيْطِرٍ إِنْ أَنْتَ إِلَّا مُذَكِّرٌ -
"You are not upon them a controller; your duty is only to remind" (88:22).

Accordingly, the essence of Islam affirms freedom of belief and the absence of coercion-fully in line with its ethos of peace.

Indeed, the very word Islam carries both the meaning of submission to God's will and the peace that follows from it. As the Qur'an commands:

"Enter into al-silm completely" (2:208).

One of the beauties of Arabic is that related meanings often derive from the same root letters: Islam (إسلام), silm (سِلْم), and salām (سلام) are linguistically intertwined, reflecting submission, wholeness, and peace.

Ultimately, and critically, peace is our ultimate goal in Islam, extending into the hereafter. We long to enter Paradise in peace, as the Qur'an declares:

فَادْخُلُوهَا بِسَلَامٍ هَذَا يَوْمُ الْخُلُودِ -
"Enter it in peace; this is the Day of Eternity" (50:34).

And upon their entry, the believers are welcomed by the angels with greetings of peace:

سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ -
"Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured; how excellent is the final home" (13:24).