Looking into collective reconciliation

Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective

Introduction :
Almost a year has passed since the tragic Sepetmber seige which has left
Zamboanga City and its citizens hurting, Muslims, Christians and its Indigenous
peoples. his in itself clearly shows us that there is a strong need for us to initiate
a city wide and collecti!e reconciliation and all"encompassing pace process.
At such a propitious moment, we urgently need to foster reconciliation to restore
peace. #e should not only restore peace and harmy but in e$ect, be rewarded
%od the Almighty.

e&tual 'asis for (econciliation
he holy )uran in many instances reminds the the Muslim *mmah:
+So ha!e a,wa -fear and obedience. of Allah and reconcile the di$erences
between yoursel!es.+/Al")ur0an 1:23
+Indeed the 'elie!ers are but brothers. herefore reconcile the di$erences
between your brothers, and fear Allah so that you may recei!e mercy.+ /Al")ur0an
45:263
+#hen two parties of the 'elie!ers 7ght each other, then ma8e reconciliation
between them.+ /Al")ur0an 45:53
9Most of their discussions do not contain any good, e&cept of the one who en:oins
charity or goodness or peace"ma8ing among people; whoe!er does that to see8
the pleasure of Allah < #e shall soon gi!e him a great reward= -Surah >isa: 224.
It is clear from the !erses abo!e that reconciliation is greatly !alued in Islamic
teachings. he reconciliation"lo!ing person is blessed with the mercy of Allah. In
terms of social wellbeing, it is of paramount importance. It brings mutual hostility
and grudge to an end pa!ing the way to the establishment of peace and harmony
in society.
?ne can easily e!aluate the great importance that Islam attaches to reconciliation
by re@ecting on the permissibility of telling a lie in Islam with intent to reconcile
between two warring persons or groups. #hile Islam strictly forbids lying, it allows
one to tell a lie for the sa8e of reconciliation. In fact, Islam does not declare such a
person a liar.

A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga
Looking into collective reconciliation
Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective
In a narration that is attributed to the Arophet Muhammad -pbuh. it is said: he
gates of Aaradise will be opened on Mondays and on hursdays, and e!ery
ser!ant /of %od3 who associates nothing with %od will be forgi!en, e&cept for the
man who has a grudge against his brother. /About them3 it will be said: Belay
these two until they are reconciled; delay these two until they are reconciled.
-Cadith )udsi D6, Sunan Abu Bawood part D page D2E.
Allah0s Messenger peace be upon him said: +Shall I not inform you of something
that is greater in degree than -optional. fasting, charity and prayerF+ hey said:
Indeed inform us. So he said: +It is reconciling the people. Gor indeed causing
corruption between them is the sha!erH+ -Sunan Abu Bawood part D page D2E.
oday if we re@ect among oursel!es, we 7nd that our social beha!iour goes much
against the abo!e Cadith. #hen a man 7ghts his 8ith and 8in o!er a tri!ial matter,
belligerent people would come in and worsen the situation.
>o one cares about restoring lo!e and rebuilding peace among them. Cad this
per!erse attitude not been in our society, our houses would ha!e been in
complete peace and tran,uillity.
o be human beings in the true sense we should do the acts that manifest our
true nature. Similarly, to become a true Muslim, it is obligatory to abide by the
Islamic commandments of peace and reconciliation. 'esides, we ought to abstain
from all e!ils; mutual abhorrence both outwardly and inwardly. ?nly then Allah the
Almighty will be pleased with us. After we ha!e got a glimpse of the holy
prophetIs life, we should now feel impelled to promote the !irtue of reconciliation.
'ecause we learnt that our Arophet -Aeace be upon him. preferred reconciliation
in e!ery wal8 of life. Ce not only practiced it by himself but also instructed
Muslims to adopt this noble attitude.
?ne of the clear e&amples can be !iewed in the constitution of Madina which
de7ined relationships between the Jews, christians and Muslims of Madina as well
as the re,uired reconciliation mechanisms within. his in itself shows that from
the time of the Arophet -Salawatullahi alayhi. reconciliation mechanisms were
already in place.
Another e&ample is the peace treaty of Cudaibiyah, which At that time , the
Arophet -SA. reconciled e!en between the pagans of Arab, let alone Muslims. ?ne
should remember that the Arophet -pbuh. had not less power than the pagans but
e!en then he preferred peace treaty with a long range !ision in mind.
here were three e!ents of reconciliation that too8 place in the treaty of
Cudaibiyah. he 7rst was when the Arophet -pbuh. was sitting in Cudaibiyah with
7fteen hundred people. hey went there with the intention of performing *mrah.
'ut Meccans did not allow them to enter Mecca for *mra. Ginally they agreed to a
A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga
Looking into collective reconciliation
Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective
resolution that there will be no war for ten years between the go!ernments of
Mecca and Medina. Cazrat Ali -8aramallahu wa:hah. wrote down the treaty with
the name of Allah -'ismillah hir (ehman nir (aheem.. he Meccan representati!es
ob:ected and said 9we want the treaty not to be labelled with 9the name of Allah
the most merciful and gracious=, but you can write 'ismi8a Allah Cumma -with
your name ?I Allah.=. he holy Arophet pbuh as8ed Ali -ra. to delete these words
and write according to their wish. Cazrat Ali -8aramallahu wa:hah. said 9?I the
prophet of Allah -pbuh. how can I delete these words=F he Coly prophet -pbuh.
ordered him to delete so that the other party may feel happy and treaty of peace
could be accomplished.
he second was when Cazrat Ali -8aramallahu wa:hah. wrote: 9Muhammad, the
messenger of Allah -pbuh.=. he representati!es of Mecca again refused to accept
Muhammad -pbuh. as the messenger of Allah the Almighty. hey said if we had
accepted you as the messenger of %od we would ne!er ha!e fought against you.
hey wanted Cazrat Ali -8aramallahu wa:hah. to cut it too and write down
Muhammad 'in Abdullah -pbuh.. he Coly Arophet -pbuh. as8ed Ali -8aramallahu
wa:hah. to delete these words and write Muhammad 'in Abdullah -pbuh.. his
was the time when tears came in the eyes of Cazrat Ali -ra.. #hen Cazrat Ali -ra.
could not muster courage to cut the words, the Arophet -pbuh. too8 the papers of
treaty from his hands and he cut the words 9the prophet of Allah= by himself and
wrote Muhammad 'in Abdullah in a bid to establish peace and a!oid !iolence. he
Arophet -pbuh. said, 9'y cutting these words, my prophethood is not going to be
cancelled=. hus he -A'*C. accepted their ob:ection :ust for the sa8e of peace in
Arabian Aeninsula.
he third e!ent of reconciliation too8 place when it was agreed upon that if a non"
Muslim goes to Medina to see8 e&ile, the state of Medina would ha!e no right to
gi!e him e&ile and he should be sent bac8 to Mecca. ?n the other hand, if
somebody comes from Medina to Ma88ah and see8s e&ile, he will not be sent
bac8. his was absolutely a shoc8ing condition that made the eyes of all
companions wet with tears. 'ut the holy prophet -pbuh. accepted this condition
:ust for the sa8e of peace and reconciliation. -Gor the rele!ant Cadith, see Muslim
Shareef part 2D, page 222 to 22D.
he peace treaty of Cudaibiyah bene7tted Muslims a lot. hose 8ings and lofty
people, who had resisted Islam before, witnessed that the prophet pbuh and his
companions were not oppressors but rather they were the oppressed ones. he
prophet pbuh endured sti$ opposition and continued persecution including the
serious in:ury caused by the stones that street boys had hurled on him in aif. he
aggressi!e pagans used to lay thorns in the ways of the prophet pbuh. Ce
tolerated pain and su$erings e!en during his Salah -prayer.. Sometimes he used
to be forcibly stopped from worshipping %od Almighty. Bespite all that, the
prophet 8ept patience and taught his companions to maintain peace and order.
A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga
Looking into collective reconciliation
Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective
hus he continued to spread the message of the holy )uran: 9And help one
another in righteousness and piety " and do not help one another in sin and
in:ustice= -Surah Maidah !erse: D.
Buring the battle of Khaibar, when the Arophet -A'*C. had won the war, he could
do e!erything. 'ut in place of retaliation, the prophet pbuh reconciled with his
ri!als and handed o!er their land to them. his was the unprecedented e&ample
of blessing in the entire history of human8ind.
oday, we need to bring these aspects of the prophetIs life into our focus and
emulate these glaring e&amples of reconciliation in our daily practical life. If we do
it, our society will be safe from plenty of e!ils. he pressing need of the time is to
reconcile in the religious matters so that the Islamic message of peace could
reach e!ery noo8 and corner of the world.
?ne fre,uently as8ed ,uestion is why there is 7erce 7ghting in Muslim countries
while Islam is a religion of peace. Similarly, why there is Muslim e&tremism and
intolerance growing against Muslims themsel!es, let alone non"Muslims.
he answer is that many Muslims ha!e turned a blind eye to the pluralist and
inclusi!e nature of Islam. hey ha!e totally become dependent on e&clusi!ist
e&tremist ideologues, regardless of the fact that such ideologies are antithetical to
the nature of Islam.
Islam basically see8s to establish peace and reconciliation in place of war. It is
such e&tremist"minded Muslims who bring this religion into disrepute by imposing
a !ery conser!ati!e, literal and e&clusi!ist presentation of it. If the Muslims start
introspecting and reconciling, there will be no 7ghting and no ci!il war in the
Muslim world.
As such, technically, we should ha!e no problem reconciling with people for
economic bene7ts, when it comes to matters of religion, we are not willing to do
the same duty with lo!e and peace. #hen it is e!ident from the holy )uran and
Cadith that there should be reconciliation, mutual harmony and peace in all
aspects of life. (eligion is synonymous with goodwill for others. #e should
remember that there is no use of religion without peace and reconciliation.
Lstablishing a reconciliation process for Zamboanga City.
Zamboanga City has been historically a melting plot and a migration spot, it has
been home to both settler and indigenous communities, witness to centuries of
7ghting and con@ict,its residents ha!e de!eloped a le!el of stigma which was
actually been on the brin8 se!eral times, from the IAIM 'urning, to the Cabatangan
A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga
Looking into collective reconciliation
Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective
siege, and most recently the September D62N Seige.
hese in addition to the regular incidents of cultural discrimination and social
isolation has managed to lea!e a subconscious imprint on the people of
Zamboanga, both on the side of the Christians, Muslims and the indigenous
communities.
As such here is a need for the creation of a reconciliation process for Zamboanga
City, whether this may be a go!ernment or a third party mechanism which may
allow semblance of transitional and restorati!e :ustice to operate and allow a
sense of healing for the people of Zamboanga City.
Cow do we go about this processF
he hurt and pain that the people of Zamboanga has e&perienced in a way has
been felt on many le!els, intergenerational, socio"cultural, political as well as
economic isolation. his re,uires that the process is clearly inclusi!e and all"
encompassing at the same time focusing on healing the hurts rather than
focusing on the pain e&perienced, a sort of mo!ing forward for the people of
Zamboanga.
his means that the reconciliation process should both in!ol!e communities and
sectors, both culturally and demographically spea8ing so as to ensure that
reconciliation happens from within and healing becomes an innate part of that
process.
#ho should be part of those who will lead the reconciliation processF
All community leaders, irrespecti!e of their socio"cultural aOliations must mo!e
forward to embrace this, but primary leaders who should mo!e forward are the
religious sector, who has the trust and con7dence of their communities.
Community leaders that include those who are traditional elders as well as
political leaders can truly help in this process.
he forming up of a third party reconciliation commissionPbody who will come
from di$erent sta8eholders and sectors who will be able to draw up an inclusi!e
program for healing and reastoration, not of rights but of respect and acceptance
of each other as part of the culturally di!erse city of Zamboanga City.
wo of the many groups that oftentimes are forgotten are 7rst, the cultural
wor8ers, who in the words of Kublai Milan, Mindanao Artist, who primarily create
art spaces that help in the e&pression of healing of a community and who are able
A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga
Looking into collective reconciliation
Understanding Reconciliation from a textual persepective
to positi!ely in@uence mindsets through their art should always be an essential
part of this reconciliation process. And second the youth, who are endlessly full of
energyand can be in!igorated to 9heal the world= with enthusiasm as well as lead
them towards full healing of the hurt that has happened to Zamboanga.
rust is not easy to gain in any situation, most especially when there is much hate
and anger generated, this is where peacebuilders should come in.
Aeace indeed is the 9greater struggle= that we ha!e to wage for oursel!es deep
within oursel!es.
A Briefing Paper prepared by Yusuf Morales, Muslim oncerns oordinator, Ateneo de !amboanga