Enter into it in Peace: Islam is Peace

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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 individual and the communal level, is central to Islam.

Indeed, the Qur’an is filled with the theme of peace: we greet each other with peace (as-salāmu ʿalaykum — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ; cf Q 6:54), we end our prayers 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 simply mean non-violence at all costs. Islam encourages the pursuit of peace as a moral and social ideal, while also acknowledging the realities of the human condition, including the inevitability—and sometimes 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 maintaining peace, both individually and collectively.

Indeed, the word Islam itself 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” (Q 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 all intertwined, reflecting submission, wholeness, and peace.

It can even be said that peace is our goal extending into the hereafter. We long to enter Paradise in peace, as the verse says: “Whoever comes to the Most Gracious with a heart attuned to Him—enter in peace; this is the Day of Eternity” (Q 50:34). And upon their entry, the believers are welcomed by the angels with greetings of peace: “Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured; how excellent is the final home” (Q 13:24).