The Prophet Muhammad’s Message of Peace

Amajor part of the Prophet’s mission was to bring peace to the world.One of the ways in which he strove towards this end was to attempt toconvince people that all men and women, albeit inhabiting verydifferent regions of the world, and different from one another incolor, culture and language, et cetera, were in fact blood brothers andsisters. His message was crucial, for a proper relationship of love andrespect can be established only if that is how human beings regard oneanother. To inculcate such feelings, the Prophet would preach to hisfollowers, "You are all Adam’s offspring and Adam was made of clay."And in his prayers to his Creator, he said, "O Lord, all Your servantsare brothers."
The Prophet would exhort his followers to live inpeace with their fellow men, saying, “A true believer is one with whomothers feel secure,” one who retus love for hatred. He used to teachthe believers that anyone who would retu love only when love wasgiven belonged on a lower ethical plane. The true believer neverreasons that only if people treat him well that he will treat them wellin retu. He is accustomed rather to doing good to those who mistreathim, and to refrain from harming those who do him injury. The Prophethimself set the example. All his recorded words and actions reveal himas a man of great gentleness, kindness, humility, good humor andexcellent common sense, with a great love for all people and even foranimals.

Despitehis position as leader, the Prophet never believed himself to begreater or better than other people. He never made others feel small,unwanted or embarrassed. He urged his followers to behave kindly andhumbly, releasing slaves whenever possible, and giving in charity —especially to very poor people, orphans and prisoners — without anythought of reward.
He told the people that "every religion hassome special characteristic, that of Islam being modesty." In theabsence of such a virtue, no community can have lasting peace. TheProphet’s own modesty, coupled with great strength of character, isdepicted in a well-known story of an old Makkan woman who hated theProphet. Every moing when the Prophet passed by her house, she wouldempty a basket of rubbish on his head from theupper story of her house. He never once remonstrated with her aboutthis. One day, when the Prophet passed through this area, no rubbishfell on his head. Thinking that the old woman must be ill, he wentupstairs to inquire how she was, and found her ill in bed. When shediscovered that the Prophet had come to see her, she began to weep, "Iill-treated you, and now you come to inquire after my health!"Ultimately, she became one of his followers. What strength ofcharacter, what patience and tolerance the Prophet evinced in refusingto be provoked, preferring rather to show kindness and magnanimity toone who had wished him ill.
His was a high moral character, so that even if badly treated by others, he wenton retuing good for evil. People harmed him, yet he would pray forthem. He would remain patient in the face of oppression and, regardlessof the provocation, he would refrain from becoming incensed.In setting this example, his aim was to fashion souls that wereGod-oriented, that found Allah so great that everything else paled intoinsignificance. He wanted everyone to have such boundless peace of mindthat nothing could disturb him. Such balanced individuals would neverthen become prey to worldliness. Totally free from negative reaction,they would then be able to tu everything in this world, whethermaterial or spiritual, into food for more profound thought, rather thaninto pretexts for rash and vengeful action.
The essence of thisphilosophy is expressed in one of the Prophet’s sayings: "Nine thingsthe Lord has commanded me: Fear of Allah in private and in public;justness, whether in anger or in calmness; moderation in both povertyand affluence; that I should join hands with those who break away fromme; and give to those who deprive me; and forgive those who wrong me;and that my silence should be meditation; and my words be remembranceof Allah; and my vision be keen observation."
Throughout the firstthirteen years of his Mission, Prophet Muhammad preached in Makkah, butit was in the face of bitter opposition from the Makkans. When itbecame impossible for him to stay there, he left for Madinah. Wars werewaged against him, but he showed his antagonists that the power ofpeace was far greater than that of war. The peace treaty ofal-Hudaybiyyah is a clear example of this, when the Prophet agreed toevery demand his antagonists made on the sole assurance that peacewould subsequently prevail.
His life’s experience ranged frompenury to prosperity, from defeat to success, yet whatever the degreeof well-being or hardship, he steadfastly trod the path of moderation.At all times and right till the end, he remained a patient and gratefulservant of the Almighty, bringing his message of peace and tolerance tomankind.