Attitudes to Pacifism

Peace as a spiritual and social goal

Sikhs value peace both within the individual and between people. Inner peace means freedom from the anger and hatred that can lead to conflict. Social peace allows people to worship, serve others and live together harmoniously. Peace is therefore more than simply avoiding a fight: it involves how people think and how they treat one another.

Pacifism is the belief that violence and war are wrong and should not be used. Individual Sikhs may adopt this position, but Sikhism as a whole does not require the rejection of force in every circumstance. The important distinction is between making peace the goal and believing that force can never be justified.

Guru Granth Sahib 831: becoming a peaceful person

Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scripture and living Guru, connects peace with following divine teaching. On page 831 it teaches:

‘Imbued with the word of the Shabad, eternal peace is attained.’

The Shabad is the divine word or teaching expressed through the Guru’s hymns. Being ‘imbued’ with it means allowing that teaching to shape one’s life, rather than merely hearing or repeating it. The passage presents lasting peace as a spiritual goal reached through living according to the Guru’s guidance.

The same page states:

‘The Gurmukh lives in peace and tranquility, doing deeds of sublime purity.’

A gurmukh is someone guided by the Guru rather than by self-centred desires. This teaching links inward tranquillity with outward conduct: a peaceful person should also act well. A Sikh might therefore respond to provocation without hatred, seek dialogue and work to create harmony. These passages support pacifist beliefs, although they do not mean that every Sikh rejects all defensive force.

Peaceful teaching and the limits of pacifism

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, taught a peaceful way of life. Sikhs can understand his teaching as supporting pacifism: being at peace with oneself helps a person avoid conflict with others. Peaceful conduct also encourages other people to follow a peaceful path.

Later Sikh teaching combines this ideal with a responsibility to resist oppression. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, taught:

‘When dealing with enemies, practice diplomacy … and exhaust all techniques before engaging in warfare.’

— Hukam of Guru Gobind Singh 29

Diplomacy means seeking agreement through discussion and negotiation. This teaching makes peaceful methods the first response, while allowing that force may become necessary when those methods fail. Many Sikhs therefore regard pacifism as an ideal but argue that refusing force in every situation could leave vulnerable people unprotected. Others place greater emphasis on non-violence because violence causes suffering and can deepen hostility.

Passive resistance is active opposition

Passive resistance means opposing injustice through non-violent action. It does not mean doing nothing or accepting mistreatment. Peaceful demonstrations, refusal to cooperate and continuing an activity despite an unjust prohibition can all challenge those in power.

For Sikhs, this can connect the duty to seek peace with the duty to oppose injustice. Protesters resist wrongdoing without treating their opponents with violence or hatred. Someone can choose this method for a particular campaign without being an absolute pacifist.

The Akali movement and Guru Ka Bagh

The Akali movement campaigned to reform the management of Sikh gurdwaras and restore community control. Under British colonial rule, some gurdwaras were controlled by mahants, hereditary managers whom reformers accused of misusing religious resources for personal benefit. The campaign was therefore about protecting Sikh religious life, not simply avoiding conflict.

A clear example of its passive resistance was the Guru Ka Bagh Morcha in 1922, near Amritsar. A dispute arose with Mahant Sundar Das over access to land used to collect firewood for the gurdwara’s langar, its community kitchen. On 9 August 1922, police arrested five Sikhs collecting wood; they were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, or SGPC, which worked for Sikh community management of gurdwaras, responded by sending further groups of volunteers to collect firewood. Akali protesters took vows not to use violence. They continued their action despite arrests and police beatings, praying and refusing to retaliate. Their resistance was disciplined and deliberate: they challenged the restrictions while refusing to attack the police.

Their conduct attracted wider attention, including eyewitness reporting by Charles Freer Andrews. On 13 September 1922, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab ordered the beatings to stop, although arrests and other punishments continued. A land-lease arrangement in November 1922 allowed Sikh access and brought the protest to an end. Prisoners were released in April 1923. The wider reform struggle eventually led to the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, which removed hereditary mahant control from the gurdwaras covered by the Act.

What does this example show?

Guru Ka Bagh demonstrates how passive resistance can uphold religious principles while achieving practical change. The protesters’ refusal to retaliate made the contrast between their conduct and police violence clear, attracting attention and pressure for a settlement.

However, success was not immediate: protesters suffered beatings and imprisonment, and ending the violence did not immediately end repression. The outcome also depended on negotiation and a practical agreement over the land. A justified conclusion is that passive resistance was effective in this campaign, but it required courage, organisation and sustained pressure; it does not prove that non-violent methods will resolve every injustice.