Peace may be characterized as a type of liberty, and this can affect various facets of our lives.
- Civil unrest or disorder; public order and security
- A state of friendship; amity, concord; a state of quarrels or disagreement between people, especially in early usage, between a person and God;
- Tranquillity, peace; anxiety, disturbance (emotional, mental, or spiritual); inner conflict
- An external disturbance, interference, or perturbation, especially as a personal condition
- The absence or cessation of war or hostilities; the situation or status of a nation or community that is not at war with another nation or community.
- Quietness, stillness; the absence of noise, movement, or activity
Since time, there have been several well-known great peacemakers who lived nonviolent lives and taught peace wherever they went. These peaceful people throughout history have become prominent and have left their imprint on the sands of time.
1. Jesus
Many people consider him to be the most calm person who has ever lived on earth. His disciples said that he liked everyone who opposed him, even his foes, and this was chronicled in history. He taught peace and advised his followers to avoid violence in their interactions with others. When he was on Earth, he performed several miraculous marvels. He is the creator of Christianity, and his followers have followed in his footsteps by living in peace with their neighbors.
Jesus came bearing God’s peace, a peace that endured no matter what. It’s a distinct kind of tranquility, one that’s solid and unaffected by people or the world around it. It’s rooted in the divine realm, behind the veil.
Many people believe that he died on a cross as a sacrifice for mankind’s sins. Most people consider him to be God and the greatest guy on the planet, as well as a role model for everyone. Until now, his name has been associated with several miracles.
2. Muhammed
Muhammad (son of Abdullah) (ca. 570–632) is known to Muslims as “Prophet Muhammad.” According to Islamic traditions, he was the final prophet, or messenger of God, who received revelation. Muslims, like earlier prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, pray for God’s blessing when they invoke Muhammad’s name.
Muhammad was born in the Arabian city of Makkah to the Quraysh tribe. The Quraysh tribe was in charge of looking after the sacred Ka’bah, or temple of worship, and providing water and food to pilgrims who came to see it. The Quraysh traced their ancestry back to Abraham and his son Ishmael, believing that the two founded Makkah and built the Ka’bah together.
He was the Islamic religion’s founder. This Arabian prophet is considered by his followers as Allah’s final prophet. His influence allowed him to convert different countries to Islam, and he is regarded as one of the world’s most influential historical people.
Muhammad is history’s gentle guy who fed the destitute and brought calm to Mecca amid stormy times.
3. Mahatma Gandhi
For his peaceful philosophy of passive resistance, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was known to his many followers as Mahatma, or “the great-souled one.” In the early 1900s, he began his activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa, and in the years after World War I, he rose to prominence as a key figure in India’s battle for independence from the United Kingdom.
Gandhi was imprisoned several times during his pursuit of non-cooperation, and participated in a number of hunger strikes to protest the oppression of India’s poorest classes, among other injustices. He was known for his ascetic lifestyle—he often dressed only in a loincloth and shawl—and his devout Hindu faith.
He continued to fight for peace between Hindus and Muslims after Partition in 1947. Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic in Delhi in January 1948.
He was a well-known mediator who was also very nice and honest. He was also a nonviolent person. He and his companions stole an idol statue from a temple when he was five years old, and when confronted, he acknowledged it.
Among the Indians, he is adored. Many people see him as the world’s nicest man. When India was fighting for independence, he only thought about protesting, and he didn’t even dispute it when he was imprisoned for it.
4. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther, well remembered for his remark “I have a dream,” was one of the most prominent people on the planet who advocated against racism. He was killed in an assassination attempt. Despite the fact that prejudice still exists today, Luther fought for the rights of African Americans during his lifetime.
He was a follower of Jesus Christ, and he preached that discrimination based on race or color is a sin.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an African American civil rights activist, receives the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent opposition to racial injustice in the United States.
The Georgia-born clergyman was the youngest recipient of the honor, at 35 years old.
The award money, worth $54,600, was donated to the civil rights struggle by him.
King openly condemned the United States’ participation in Vietnam in the late 1960s, and shifted his focus to securing economic rights for impoverished Americans.
James Earl Ray, an escaped white felon, killed him on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee.
5. Buddha
Buddhism is often considered the world’s most peaceful religion, and for good reason. It emphasizes the idea of ahimsa, or “non-injury” of other living creatures, as do other South Asian faiths.
However, its teachings emphasize that violence affects both the offender and the victim’s spiritual state.
Malicious thoughts or actions are seen as impediments on the route to nirvana, the state of self-transcendence that is the goal of all spiritual pursuits. There are significant pacifist overtones throughout early Buddhist history.
Gautama Buddha, the faith’s founder, averted a potential battle with a neighboring tribe, the Koliyas, over water resources. Emperor Ashoka, who reigned over South Asia in the third century BC, is said to have felt sorrow for the slaughter he had inflicted earlier in his life after adopting Buddhism.
6. Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a benefactor, politician, and anti-apartheid activist from South Africa. From 1994 until 1999, he served as President of South Africa, becoming the country’s first black president and the first democratically elected president. He spent years in prison and came out without resentment or hatred against those who put him there. Through his years in jail, Mandela was seen as a symbol of the battle against racial injustice and as one of the most important leaders in the anti-apartheid movement.
He was one of the leaders that battled for world peace for the South African people and was a powerful figure in Africa throughout his lifetime, making him the most powerful African civil rights leader of all time.
Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his humanitarian efforts. During his time in office, Mandela worked to change South Africa by breaking down racial barriers and encouraging peace. He was the first black South African president.
Mandela advocated for peace, social justice, equality, and human understanding throughout his life.
7. Saint John Paul II
From 1978 to 2005, he served as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and was a devout believer in Jesus Christ. John Paul II is credited with helping to abolish communist control in Europe. He enhanced relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism, Islam, the Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.
He backed the church’s doctrines on artificial contraception and women’s ordination, but he also supported the Church‘s Second Vatican Council and reforms. He was one of the world’s most famous peacemakers and, the second-longest-serving pope in modern history, behind Pope Pius IX, having served for over 32 years from 1846 to 1878.
Despite the fact that Pope John Paul II did not issue a peace encyclical, he did leave a comprehensive peace agenda that he constructed over the course of his papacy. Because of its strong dedication to human rights, notably the right to freedom of religion and conscience, the agenda represents a watershed moment. Human rights are the cornerstone of a well-ordered, peaceful society, and it is what drove him to resist the communist regime in the early years of his papacy.
Later in life, John Paul’s devotion to religious liberty and conscience became the cornerstone of his conversation with other religions, as he sought to bring them together in a common commitment to peace rather than a “clash of civilizations or religions.”
He thought that asserting human rights was pointless unless the underlying grounds for their achievement were built. In remarks given throughout his more than one hundred papal pilgrimages around the globe, John Paul frequently criticized the lack of these fundamental underpinnings, citing their absence as a primary cause of violence, injustice, and strife, notably between the first and third nations.
He thought that while globalization made the globe smaller, it also raised the need for laws and regulations between states; preserving human rights should be the basis by which international law controls people-state interactions.
John Paul II said that the United Nations (UN) was the place where the modern state community should work out its problems.
8. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
She was a religious sister and missionary who was regarded as one of the finest people in contemporary human history. Her charitable deeds and humble living made her renowned. Saint Teresa is regarded as one of history’s most significant figures. The Catholic Church has declared her a saint.
Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta from 1931 to 1948, but the suffering and poverty she witnessed outside the convent walls had such an impact on her that she received permission from her superiors in 1948 to leave the convent and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta’s slums.
Despite her lack of resources, she trusted in Divine Providence and established an open-air school for slum children. She was soon joined by volunteer assistants, as well as financial assistance. As a result, she was able to broaden the scope of her work.
Mother Teresa’s work has been recognized and praised all over the globe, and she has been honored with several accolades and honors, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her efforts to promote worldwide peace and understanding (1972).
She also won the Templeton and Magsaysay prizes, as well as the Balzan Prize in 1979.
9. The 11th Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, was one of the few people who advocated for peace. He was motivated by Buddha’s teachings and preached that all religions should live in harmony. He was known to have eluded the Chinese authorities in order to safeguard the Tibetans’ interests through nonviolent methods.
When China took over Tibet in 1959, the Dalai Lama, a religious and political leader who lives in India, led the peaceful resistance.
According to the Nobel Committee, the Dalai Lama’s Buddhist peace philosophy is founded on regard for all living things and the notion of a global duty that encompasses both man and nature. The Tibetan leader’s willingness to compromise and seek peace in the midst of huge gaps helped him a lot.
After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama was given the chance to outline a proposal for the restoration of peace and human rights in Tibet. He proposed that the nation be made into an environmentally stable and demilitarized zone that might act as a buffer between key Asian countries in the proposal. The goal was to start meaningful discussions on Tibet’s future status, but the Chinese government rejected the idea.
Author
Abbey Johnson has a Masters degree as an engineer and has over 3 years of teaching and research experience. He is happiest when on a bike and is also interested in electric energy and computer Science.