Non-Violent Direct Action
Three things you should know about non-violence
1. It is at the heart of Muslim teachings
The Prophet Muhammad (aws) practiced non-violence, patience and fortitude when the first public Muslim community emerged in Mecca. When he eventually returned to Mecca, he rejected calls from his followers to make war, and instead, made a treaty with his enemies and subsequently entered Mecca a year later without bloodshed. He was an armed soldier only as a last resort - fighting to save his community from extinction.
2. It requires courage and strength of character
The Khudai Khidmatgars, a non-violent army founded in 1929 by Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988) to oppose British oppression in the North West Frontier of the Indian Subcontinent, stood firm before the guns of British soldiers at the Qissa Khawani Bizaar massacre of 1930. The Khudai Khidmatgars were faster to adopt the use of non-violence than Ghandi's Indians because courage and codes of honour were already central to Pathan culture. The aim of colonial violence in the North West Frontier was always to provoke violence - the British oppressors feared non-violence because violence had been central to their 'divide and rule' policy.
3. Non-violence transforms people
As Timothy Flinders wrote, non-violence, "is used as a tool to transform and regenerate the human personality. The story of Khan's movement among the Pathans demonstrates the power of non-violence to harness the negative forces in personality and use those same forces to transform an individual, a community and even society." (Easwaran, 1999, p.196)
REFERENCE
Eknath Easwaran (1999) Non-violent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains (California: Nilgiri Press)