Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 17
Inter-Religious Peace 17 Having said that, one begins to wonder if, in the eyes of some, this claim about the supremacy of the Holy Founder sa of Islam would be tantamount to creating ill-will or misunderstanding amongst the followers of other religions. So how can one reconcile this claim with the theme of this address, namely that Islam guarantees peace in all spheres of human interest, religion being not the least important among them? It was with this question in mind that I had to elaborate this claim at some length. This question can be answered to the satisfaction of an unprejudiced and enquiring mind in more than one way. As has already been mentioned before, similar claims are also made by followers of many other religions. It is only prudent for one to investigate the relative merits of the claim without being unduly excited about it. By itself such a claim should not offend the sensibilities of the followers of other religions who make similar counter-claims. But Islam goes one step further by teaching humility and decency to its followers so that their belief in the supremacy of the Holy Founder sa of Islam is not expressed incautiously, thereby giving offence to others. The following two Traditions of the Holy Founder sa of Islam stand aloft as beacons to illuminate the case in point. 1) One of the Companions of the Holy Founder sa of Islam became involved in a rather heated discussion with a staunch follower of the Prophet Jonah as of the Fish (or Whale). Both parties in the debate claimed their respective Prophet to be head and shoulders above the other in excellence. It appears that the Muslim contender might have rubbed in the claim in a manner so as to hurt the sensibility of the follower of Jonah as who approached Prophet Muhammad sa , and