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Creator, and not by outward ostentatious practices and
rituals. These latter will benefit us only when the faith is
genuine, and the submission voluntary and unconditional.

Surely, the angels did not sing in honour of private
or individual peace, which is, after all, limited to a
comparatively small number of godly men; nor did they
do so in praise of an imaginary universal peace, which
would mean a total disarmament of nations and a cessation
of wars and hostilities. No, neither of these two specific
peices was the object of this melody. The spiritual peace is
a tranquillity of heart and conscience granted by Allah as
a grace and blessing only to those few believers who have
made great progress in piety and spiritual life, and love
Him, above all, and sacrifice every other love for His.

It was neither a social nor a political peace for the
people or Israel; for the history of the last twenty centuries
shows the very contrary. The angels could not, therefore,
sing and announce a peace that could never be realized or
accomplished. We are forced, then, in face of the subsequent
historical facts on the one hand, and by the importance of the
occasion, as well as the quarter from which this remarkable
announcement was made, on the other, to conclude that this
“peace upon earth” was none other than the approaching
establishment of the Kingdom of Allah upon earth, which
is Islam. The Geek word “Eiriny” stands for the Semitic
“Shalom,” “Shlama,” and “Islam.” That is all!

The very mention of “a multitude of heavenly hosts” gives
the hymn a martial or triumphal character. It is indeed
a singular indication of joy on the part of the armies
belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven, in favour of their
future allies belonging to the Kingdom of God on earth, of
which the newly born Babe of Bethlehem was the greatest
Evangelist and Herald.