When my peace becomes your peace: the deeper meaning of al-īmān.

Amn — security — is not the ultimate ideal that the human being should seek. Most wars have been justified by this need: to secure a space for citizens, to create a place to live and to trade. Wars of independence or separation followed the same logic: “I separate from you in order to have my own space, which I must secure against you.”

When Abraham, in his prayer, addresses the Developer of his consciousness saying: “convert this land into a land of security, a land without war,” he was not simply asking that this particular territory be sanctuarized, protected from its neighboring enemies. We cannot imagine a universal consciousness like his reduced to praying for the independence of a parcel of land, with its borders and fixed identities. His project was much greater: it was a project of Iman.

The Meaning of Iman

Before proceeding, it is important to clarify that I am not using the conventional translation of Imân, most often rendered as “faith” or “belief.” Such translations flatten the richness of the term and reduce its scope. In Arabic, Imân is rooted in amn — a word that evokes trust, safety, and relational security. The morphology itself reflects interaction and engagement (nisba), pointing not to a static “belief” but to an active process of entrusting and being entrusted. In this sense, Imân is less about holding a belief and more about entering a posture of relational openness and responsibility.

Iman: A Project to Bond Humanity

In this project, the Amn of one depends on the Amn of the other. This is not co-dependence but conscious interdependence: a deliberate choice to build a bond. Iman is the decision to create a relationship where my security and yours strengthen one another, where my prosperity includes yours, where my well-being cannot be conceived without yours. It is a relational commitment—chosen, intentional, and sustained—that binds my destiny to yours.

The Arabic language itself makes this explicit. The addition of the vowel ي in Imân (إيمان) compared to Amn (أمن) indicates relation, bond, interaction — nisba. Moreover, the shift in vocalization from أ (a) to إ (i) embodies a movement of humility: inclining oneself, softening the stance, setting aside the ego, renouncing pride. Language here does not only name; it gestures toward a posture of consciousness.

A Prophetic Paradigm

Iman, understood as a political and social project, began as Abraham’s prayer — a vision and intention — but it was fully activated with the message of Muhammad. Its purpose was to replace ideologies of duality and wars of identity, religion, or territory — all justified by the reflex of securing one’s ground against one’s neighbor (one’s “playing field” against the other).

The Prophet said: al-mu’min man amina jâruhu bawâ’iquh — the mu’min is the one whose neighbor feels safe from his harm. This is not a pious or romantic phrase; it corrects a paradigm. The dominant paradigm says: “I am safe if my neighbor does not attack me.” The prophetic paradigm corrects: “You are safe if you do not attack your neighbor.” If you understand and activate this paradigm in your life, you become worthy of the universal project of Iman.

This is the heart of the project of Iman: a universal paradigm, motivated by consciousness and intelligence, that thinks long-term. If I limit myself to today, I believe my security depends on distrust and defense against my neighbors. But if I change paradigm and refuse to harm them — refuse injustice — I create, over years and even centuries, the conditions of true security.

Thus, Iman is the marriage of two Amn. My Amn and your Amn, joined together, produce Iman. In contrast, my Amn against your Amn — my security against your security — produces war. Iman is therefore a conscious project of propagating peace and justice and enabling political and social transformation — and, before all of that, a transformation that is personal, psychological, and spiritual. And such transformation can only begin with a transformation of paradigm.

Transformation and Responsibility

This project is not only social and political; it begins at the most intimate level. It requires a new way of relating consciousness to our needs. Yes, I need security, affection, prosperity, but if I let these needs guide me on their own, I commit wrongs and abuses. That is why the teaching says: la yu’minu ahadukum hattâ yuhibba li-akhihi mâ yuhibbu linafsih — none is mu’min until he loves for the other what he loves for himself. Iman can only be carried by a desire and a love that exceed the individual and include the other.

When individuals or societies gather only around their own needs, mobilizations arise quickly but disperse just as quickly. What gives solidity is not the immediate satisfaction of needs, but an intention rooted in consciousness: “I do this for my good and for the good of the other.”

Conclusion

The project of Iman is, at its core, the construction of a shared safe space — not merely physical security, but an expanse of consciousness and responsibility. True security comes only from such consciousness: an environment where all can live in peace and harmony, under a justice that emanates from all, is willed by all, and is sought by all. Do not imagine the prophetic message as confined to 1,500 years ago; it is living and pertinent to the very problems we face now — calling us to shift from self-centered survival to collective flourishing.

Thus:
• the one who is safe is not the one who protects himself from his neighbor, but the one who protects his neighbor from his own harm;
• the one who is prosperous is not the one who seeks prosperity for himself alone, but the one who seeks prosperity for all — himself included.