Peace as a Substantive Value

Peace as a substantive and positive concept entails the presence of certain conditions that make it an enduring state of harmony, integrity, contentment, equilibrium, repose, and moderation.

This can be contrasted with negative peace that denotes the absence of conflict and discord even though negative peace is indispensable to pre- vent communal violence, border disputes or international conflicts, substantive-positive peace calls for a comprehensive outlook to address the deeper causes of conflict, hate, strife, destruction, brutality, and violence. As Lee states, it also provides a genuine measure and set of values by which peace and justice can be established beyond the short-term interests of individual, communities or states.[1]

This is critical for the construction of peace as a substantive value because defining peace as the privation of violence and conflict turns it into a concept that is instrumental and accidental at best, and relative and irrelevant at worst in addition, the positive-substantive notion of peace shifts the focus from preventing conflict, violence, and strife to a willingness to generate balance, justice, cooperation, dialogue, and coexistence as the primary terms of a discourse of peace. instead of defining peace with what it is not and force common sense logic to its limit, we may well opt for generating a philosophical ground based on the presence and endurance, rather than absence, of certain qualities and conditions that make peace a substantive reality of human life.[2]

Furthermore, relegating the discourse of peace to social conflict and its prevention runs the risk of neglecting the individual, which is the sine qua non of collective and communal peace. This is where the ‘spiritual individualism’ of Islam versus its social collectivism enters the picture: the individual must be endowed with the necessary qualities that make peace an enduring reality not only in the public sphere but also in the private domain of the individual.

The Qur’anic ideal of creating a beautiful soul that is at peace with itself and the larger reality of which it is a part brings ethics and spirituality right into the heart of the discourse of positive peace. Peace as a substantive value thus extends to the domain of both ethics and aesthetics for it is one of the conditions that bring about peace in the soul and resists the temptations of discord, restlessness, ugliness, pettiness, and vulgarity.

At this point, we may remember that the key Qur’anic term ihsan carries the meanings of virtue, beauty, goodness, comportment, proportion, comeliness, and ‘doing what is beautiful’ all at once. The active particle muhsin denotes the person who does what is good, desired, and beautiful.[3]

In this regard, peace is not a mere state of passivity. On the contrary, it is being fully active against the menace of evil, destruction, and turmoil that may come from within or from without. As Collingwood points out, peace is a ‘dynamic thing’,[4]  and requires consciousness and vigilance, a constant state of awareness that one must engage in spiritual and intellectual jihad to ensure that differences and conflicts within and across the collective traditions do not become grounds for violence and oppression. Furthermore, positive peace involves the analysis of various forms of aggression including individual, institutional and structural violence.

Peace as a substantive concept is also based on justice (‘adl) for peace is predicated upon the availability of equal rights and opportunities for all to realize their goals and potentials. One of the meanings of the word justice in Arabic is to be ‘straight’ and ‘equitable’, i.e., to be straightforward, trustworthy, and fair in one’s dealings with others.[5] Such an attitude brings about a state of balance, accord, and trust, and goes beyond the limits of formal justice dispensed by the juridical system. Defined in the broadest terms, justice encompasses a vast domain of relations and interactions from taking care of one’s body to international law. Like peace, justice is one of the Divine names and takes on a substantive importance in view of its central role in Islamic theology as well as law. Peace can be conceived as an enduring state of harmony, trust, and coexistence only when coupled and supported with justice because it also means being secure from all that is morally evil and destructive.[6] Thus the Qur’an combines justice with ihsan when it commands its followers to act with “justice and good manner (bi’l-‘adl wa’l- ihsan).” (Surah An-Nahl, 16:90).[7]