The Light 2018 03 March issue

March 2018 The
Light 10
When the Muslims had found refuge in
Madinah, a city 200 miles to the north of Makkah,
a thirteen days journey, here too were they
not left alone. It was then revealed to the Holy
Prophet:
“Permission to fight is given to those upon
whom was war is made, because they have been
wronged — and God is well able to help them.
Those who have been expelled from their
homes unjustly, only for saying, ‘Allah is our
Lord’. And if God had not allowed one group of
people to repel another, then there would have
been pulled down cloisters and synagogues and
churches and mosques, in which God's name is
remembered.” (Quran, 22:39-40).
It would thus be in the 53rd year of the Holy
Prophet's life in old age that he would first take
up arms to fight in self-defence. Had the Holy
Prophet Muhammad ever had any inclination
for warfare, then he would most certainly have
taken part in the tribal warfare's that were the
order of the day in the society in which he grew
up. But the fact that he did not, shows he was
never a man of war, but a man of peace, and it
was when only such strenuous, life-threatening
circumstances were presented to him and the
welfare of the Muslims was at stake, did he take
up arms, but in the noblest of causes.
It would be for another near seven years
that the Quraish would put up greater numbers
in the battlefield and wage aggressive warfare
against the Muslims. Finally, after almost two
decades of Makkan tyranny, a peace treaty was
concluded at Hudaibiyah, in which it was stated
there would be absolutely no war for ten years.
This peace treaty belies the allegations against
the Holy Prophet and shows that he was compelled
to use force. The Holy Prophet was acting
upon the Quranic teaching:
“And if they incline to peace, do thou incline
to it and trust in Allah; He is the Hearing, the
Knowing. And if they intend to deceive thee,
then surely Allah is sufficient for thee.” (Quran
8:61-62).
At that time the Muslims who accompanied
the Holy Prophet Muhammad at the signing of
the truce numbered fifteen hundred. And yet it
was only two years later, that the terms of the
truce were violated when a tribe in alliance with
I Shall Love All Mankind.
the Quraish slaughtered many innocent Muslims.
The Quraish refused to dissociate themselves
with this tribe in alliance with them and
refused to renew the terms of the Truce. It was
then the Holy Prophet prepared to march on
Makkah, the city from which he had been exiled
seven years earlier.
But with how many men did the Prophet
Muhammad march to Makkah? Was it with the
fifteen hundred from two years ago? No, this
time, they numbered ten thousand! Within
those two years of peace, something remarkable
happened; thousands upon thousand voluntarily
joined Islam, such that the prophecy of
the Truce being a “great victory” (see Quran
48:1) would be fulfilled, even at a time the
terms seemed quite humiliating to the Muslims.
One must ask what the reason for this
remarkable wave of conversion was? Before the
Truce his enemies, as they do to this day, had
been trying to create this dark, sinister, and
grim picture of him. But when the saw the Holy
Prophet for whom he was, they saw him not to
be the man of terror as they had once imagined.
They saw the great moral and spiritual transformation
that he had brought about in his people.
In effect, their hearts were conquered. How true
we read in the Quran:
“Repel evil with what is best, when lo! he
between whom and you there is enmity will be
like a warm friend.” (Quran 41:34)
The Holy Prophet did not conquer by way of
aggressive warfare; he was conquering people’s
hearts and minds.
Not too long before had God had consoled
the Holy Prophet when he was being expelled
from Makkah:
“He Who has made the Quran binding on
thee will surely bring thee back to the Place of
Return.” (Quran 28:85)
“And surely they purposed to unsettle you
from the land that they might expel you from it,
and then they will not remain after you but a little
while.” (Quran 17:76)
True enough, within a short seven to eight
years, he was brought back to the “place of Return”
(Makkah) and in the most dignified manner
despite all odds!