In any controversy, one way to attempt to settle
matters is for both parties to enter into violent
confrontation. The better way to settle disputes is to
effect a reconciliation at the very outset.
Reconciliation is like a safety valve in any situation
where there are conflicting interests and where
tempers can become explosive. So at times of
provocation, the best course to adopt is a
conciliatory rather than a confrontational one. That
is a law of nature.
However, it rarely happens that such reconciliation
as can be effected exactly reflects the desires of both
the parties. In the majority of cases, reconciliation is
possible only on a unilateral basis. That is, one party
has to suppress his own inclinations and show a
willingness to put an end to the dispute in
accordance with other party’s wishes.
Why is this kind of unilateral reconciliation better?
The main benefit is that without wasting one’s
energy and time in unnecessary wrangling, one is
able to carry on a constructive course of action,
whereas a state of confrontation puts a full stop to
all such activity.
History shows that any success on the part of an
individual or a community has been achieved by
adopting the conciliatory method. The path of clash
and confrontation has never led to any genuine
success in this world. Reconciliation is vital, because
it gives man the opportunity to utilize available
opportunities to the fullest extent, whereas
confrontation leads to his entire energies being
channelized into planning the destruction of others.
The work of construction, therefore, is never
engaged in, although the secret of true success lies
in construction and consolidation rather than in
destroying supposed enemies.
Many people justify violence by saying that they
have been the victims of plots and conspiracies and
so must put an end to this by fighting. This excuse
is quite baseless. What is generally regarded as a
plot is, in actual fact, a manifestation of that plan of
nature which has been established in the present
world as a natural law.
In the present world, the actual problem for a
community is not that it has enemies plotting
against it. The actual problem is that it has failed to
purge itself of the weaknesses that provide others
with the opportunity to exploit it. An established
state of peace is a safeguard against this kind of
exploitation. Violence means rendering oneself
insecure by breaking the defence line.
Ref -The Ideology of Peace
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
