Enter into it in Peace: Islam is Peace
Image credit As anti-Muslim sentiment is being carefully curated by design, yet again—in part to distract public attention from the 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 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 that is 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 individ...