( السِّلْمِ ) (Islam..): As if Allah (swt) wanted to tell us in this verse that Islam is a process of full entry, an entry into something that is peace. That is, to be at peace with yourself, with your family, with your neighbors, with your community, with your nation, with all people, to be at peace even with birds, with the animals, to be at peace with plants, and to spread peace in life. This is the care of Islam, but sadly, what we see now is the exact opposite, contrary to the Qur’anic verses. The Prophet (saws) said:

“Spread peace among yourselves”

the Prophet (saws) guides us to spread peace among people, as it is stated in his (saws) saying:

“You shall not enter Paradise so long as you do not affirm belief (in all those things which are the articles of faith) and you will not believe as long as you do not love one another. Should I not direct you to a thing which, if you do, will foster love amongst you: Spread peace among yourselves.”[1]

Some may think that “peace” in the hadith means just the greeting of peace (i.e. As-salamu Alaykum), whereas spreading peace is to live in peace, to live in safety, and to live in contentment. This is the meaning of spreading peace that the Prophet (saws) spoke of, and this asserts the meaning of this verse under study. Therefore, we find that the legislations of Islam aim to achieve this goal completely in promoting peace, starting, for example, from the peace with the senses, and with the soul. Noting that the Prophet (saws) instructed us about the hunger, thirst and satiety saying:

“A human being fills no worse vessel than his stomach. It is sufficient for a human being to eat a few mouthfuls to keep his spine straight. But if he must (fill it), then one third of food, one third for drink and one third for breathing.”[2]

Allah (swt) has given you the keys of living in peace with your health and with your body, if you follow them, -that is be not excessive in food, in self-stress, and in everything that affects the self – you will live in peace with your senses, with yourself, and you live in peace with people, especially your wife, this relation that Allah (swt) has set the basic rules for:

 {وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ}

(And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed, in that are signs for a people who give thought.) (Al-Room: 21)

This relationship is formulated of affection, compassion and tranquility:

 {هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنَّ}

(They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them.) (Al-Room: 21)

As for the woman, if she is clothing for you and you are clothing for her, then you live with her in affection and compassion. Therefore, one mathematician said: I was surprised when I read the biography of Muhammad, when Gabriel came to him at the first time, and he was afraid and dismayed, he went to his wife, I wondered who was this great wife whom Muhammad hurried to after the angel came down to him? And what was the answer of Sayyedah Khadijah (May Allah be pleased with her) to the Prophet (saws) when he said to her:

“wrap me, wrap me”, and they covered him until he calmed down and said: “O Khadija, what is wrong with me?”. Then he told her everything that had happened and said, ‘I fear that something may happen to me.” Khadija said, ‘Never! But have the glad tidings, for by Allah, Allah will never disgrace you as you keep good reactions with your Kith and kin, speak the truth, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guest generously and assist the deserving, calamity afflicted ones.”[3]

This was what Sayyedah Khadija (May Allah be pleased with her) said. Thus, you live in peace with your wife, with your children, and Allah (swt) shows this relationship between children and parents in many verses:

 وَقَضَىٰ رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا ۚ إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ الْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلَاهُمَا فَلَا تَقُل لَّهُمَا أُفٍّ وَلَا تَنْهَرْهُمَا وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا * وَاخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ الذُّلِّ مِنَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَقُل رَّبِّ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِي صَغِيرًا

(And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], “uff,” and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word % And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, “My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small.”)  (Al-Issraa’: 23-24)

 {وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ }

(And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents.) (Luqman: 14)

Allah (swt) does not say: We have enjoined upon parents care for their children, because they do not need a recommendation for their children, as this is created in their instinct. Allah (swt) has legislated this relationship in the family between sons and daughters and their parents, so the family lives in the best state of peace, consequently, the peace relationship spreads to the neighbors. The Prophet (saws) said:

“Gabriel kept on recommending me about treating the neighbors in a kind and polite manner, so much so that I thought that he would order (me) to make them (my) heirs.”[4]

Therefore, when Imam Ali (May Allah honour his face) was asked about the right of the neighbor, he said:

“you say that the right of the neighbor is not to harm him, and I say: the right of the neighbor is to be patient with his harm.”

This is the meaning of living in peace with neighbors, and living in peace with your community:

 وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

(And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.)  (Ali-Imraan: 104)

Inviting to all that is good, and enjoining what is right. The “right” is what people are acquainted with, and what they have lived in, after it was ordered by Shari‘ah (Islamic legislations). The “wrong” is what the people have denied, after it was forbidden by Shari‘ah. First, what is ordered or forbidden by Shari‘ah precedes what the people are acquainted with, and this is called Al-‘Urf. That is, to live within the customs and laws of society, and to live in peace with society and the surrounding environment, and then live in peace with all humanity:

{ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ }

(O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you)  (Al-Hujuraat: 13)

Allah (swt) says: (that you may know one another), not “that you may fight one another”. And the Prophet (saws) said:

“Indeed, Allah removed Jahiliyyah from you, and its boasting about lineage. [Indeed a person is either] a pious believer, or a miserable sinner. And people are all the children of Adam, and Adam was [created] from dust.”[5]

And ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) said:

((When did you start enslaving people, when their mothers gave birth to them free?’.))

In all respects, Islam orders you to be involved in peace. What does Islam have to do with terrorism?

The word “Islam” contradicts the word “terrorism” and “extremism”. The relationship between Islam and terrorism is one made by the enemies of Islam, who distort all the meanings of Islam, and put Islamic slogans to criminal facts. There is not relationship between murdering and religion? Religion forbids to hurt a cat, a dog, or an and to cut a tree. Religion is sublimity and promoting morality. How have  ideas been transformed that this religion is religion of murder? Is the verse says: “O you who believe, enter into all murder completely”, or “enter into Islam completely [and perfectly]”? Look at the continue:

( وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ) (and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.): The step is the distance between the foot and the foot. Do not follow the steps of the devil; because the devil originally showed enmity, as Allah informs us:

{ قَالَ فَبِعِزَّتِكَ لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ % إِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِينَۚ  }

([Iblees] said, “By your might, I will surely mislead them all (83) Except, among them, Your chosen servants.”.)  (Saad: 82-83)

He is an enemy of mankind:

 {إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا ۚ إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُوا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ}

(Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.) (Faatir: 6)

The enmity of Satan is a clear enmity. The one who wants to mislead man, to deviate him from the truth of this religion, and to make the Islamic religion the religion of killing, takfir, hatred and sectarianism, is the one who is implicitly hostile to the religion, which the verses began to talk about:

 {وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ }

(And of the people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he calls Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of opponents.) (Al-Baqarah: 204)

These takfiris, terrorists, murderous criminals, are the worst enemies of Islamic religion, the fiercest to Islam, the most hostile to Islam and Islamic teachings, why? Because whoever commits a crime, and puts an Islamic mark on it, he does not only commit the crime, but he commits an addition one that he offends Islam, and labels it with this crime that he has committed.

Religions are from Allah (swt), and as long as they are from Allah (swt), they are for the guiding Allah’s creation, and are for the benefit of mankind. Religions would not have come for fighting, ot to initiate hostility and hatred, and to divide people along sectarian and ethnic lines. Religions always call for equality, for love, for brotherhood, for giving, for mercy, and call for tolerance in everything. This is the essence of religions; because they belong to the Lord of Man. Verify, it is impossible that these religions, or the Islamic religion specifically, turns into a religion of killing, terrorism, destruction, sabotage, and killing people and spreading hatred, antagonism, insecurity and turmoil among humans. This cannot be from the religion of Allah (swt), and it cannot be from the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws).

Accordingly, in this verse under study, Satan is a clear enemy, so we cannot follow his steps, and these are the black steps of the Satan that we see. Our Islam is white, our Islam is clean and great, it is the purity and serenity, it is friendliness, love and brotherhood. Our Islam is giving, mercy, civilization, progress and greatness. Our Islam is the spreading of security and safety, the Prophet (saws) says:

Whoever among you wakes up in the morning secured in his dwelling, healthy in his body, having his food for the day, then it is as if the world has been gathered for him.’[6]

[1] Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book of Belief, Chapter: Clarifying that no one will enter paradise but the believers; loving the believers is part of faith and spreading Salam is a means of attaining that, no. 54.

[2] Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of foods, Chapter: the economy in eating, and the hatred of satiety, no. 3349.

[3] Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book of Interpretation of Dreams, Chapter: Commencement of the Divine Revelation to Allah’s Messenger (saws) was in the form of good dreams, no. 5669.

[4] Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book of Good Manners and Form (Al-Adab), Chapter: To recommend to be kind to one’s neighbour, no. 5669.

[5] Sunan Al-Tirmithi, Book on Virtues, Chapter: the virtues of Ash-Shaam and Yaman, no. 3955.

[6] Sunan Al-Tirmithi, Book of Zuhd, no. 2346.