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Islam means ‘Peace’?

Islam Means ‘Peace’?

Does Islam mean Peace? One of the things which often amazes me is the frequency with which Islam is defined as meaning ‘peace’.

This is a definition that I cannot find in any of the books of Arabic language, nor in any of the books of Muslim belief. It is a definition which contains a great deal of falsehood, taking the people away from the purpose of Islam, and painting a false picture of the principles of Islam. This is even worse when it is used as a means of da’wah. The correct definition of Islam is that linguistically it means: Submission, obedience, and deference.

There is more than one technical definition of Islam, however, most of them follow something like: Submitting to Allah, by worshipping him alone, yielding to him in obedience, and being free from the association of partners in worship with Allah, as well as being free from those who associate partners with him.

For your information, the Arabic word for peace which comes from the same origin is “salaam” – even that has a meaning that is more comprehensive than peace, meaning to be saved and protected from all kinds of harm, which is the meaning of “as-salaamu ‘alaykum”, or the words “salm”and “salam” as is found in the Qur’aan, in reference to seeking peace at times of war.

An interesting way to illustrate the foolishness of the people who say that Islam means peace would be to imagine a war. Imagine one of the sides came, saying, “we have come for islaam” – the closest meaning of this would be ‘we have come to drive you into submission to us’, or ‘we have come to submit unconditionally to you’. Nobody would understand this as ‘we have come seeking peace’.

Therefore, I advise my brothers & sisters to fear Allah with regard to this innovation of calling Islam ‘peace’.

M. T. Humble

January 9, 2010 - Posted by Abu-Tayeb Khairdeen | Knowledge Based Articles | islam, muslim, peace