Arabic lexicons definitively separate these concepts. According to Lane’s Lexicon and Hans Wehr’s Arabic-English Dictionary, the root S-L-M means primarily "to submit, surrender, or yield." While the word Salaam ("peace") shares this root, it carries a distinct meaning: a greeting, or the state of being undisturbed.

• Islam: "Total submission to the Will of God."
• Muslim: "One who submits completely to Allah."
• Salaam: "State of undisturbed harmony."

The Scholarly Interpretation

This etymological distinction is not a minor detail; it defines the Muslim experience. As the 14th-century historian and Quranic commentator Ibn Kathir explained, Islam is Tasubuh wa Tawajud—submission and obedience. Contemporary scholar Dr. Yusuf Ali reinforces this, noting that the essence of Islam is the subordination of the self to divine law.

The Quran itself codifies this understanding of peace as a byproduct of submission, not a standalone goal. In Surah 8 (The Dawn), verse 39, Allah commands:

"Fight them until there is no fitnah [dispute] and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah."
_{—Quran 8:39}

According to this logic Salaam is not a state of voluntary coexistence or human rights, but a state of sovereignty settled over a conquered or converted people.

Conditional Peace

Scholars interpret this verse not as a call for perpetual non-violence, but as a directive toward the eventual establishment of Islamic sovereignty. The peace (Salaam) promised is only achieved when the opposing force (i.e. non-Muslims) either submits to the Islamic tax regime or is conquered. Historically, this resulted in a peace (Salaam) granted only to those who acknowledged Islamic supremacy—often under restrictive conditions—as noted by the Fatwa scholar Abu Ali al-Husayni al-Qummi, who stated: "Islamic peace is the peace of the conqueror, not the peace of the defeated."

Restricted Peace

Therefore, if peace is meant to exist between humans within an Islamic framework, it is strictly limited to the Muslim Ummah. It is peace achieved not through mutual tolerance or the resolution of differing viewpoints, but through the subjugation of the non-Muslim.

This creates a profound tension with the Western secular ideal of peace—which assumes the coexistence of diverse political and religious entities without one dominating the other. The Islamic theological framework suggests that true peace requires the dominance of one will (Allah’s will) over another.

Totalitarian Peace

The misunderstanding persists because English speakers translate the root word "peace" loosely, failing to grasp the theological weight of "submission." To understand Islam is to recognize that its central promise is not the absence of conflict between humanity, but the total replacement of existing human legal systems with divine command. The religion does not offer a path to global conciliation; it offers a path to universal submission.

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