Holy Prophet of Islam - Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa — Page 132
sa. The Holy Prophet of Islam, Hadrat Muḥammad Mustafa the unconscionable critics of Islam have accused him of waging aggressive wars to impose his faith on an unwilling people. . After having given reasons why the Muslims were obliged to take up arms, the verse proceeds to mention the object and purpose of the wars of Islām. The object was never to deprive anybody of his home and possessions or to deprive whole peoples of national freedom or compel them to submit to foreign yoke under the garb of making them civilized as. Western nations do, on to explore new markets and get new colonies. It was to fight in self-defense and to save Islām from extermination and to establish freedom of conscience and liberty of thought. It was also to defend places of worship belonging to different religions against desecration or destruction. Having laid down the principle that all religions have their origin in Divine revelation and that the Founders of all religions were Divine Messengers and should therefore be equally respected (35: 25), the Holy Qur'ān in the present verse has enjoined upon the Muslims to defend, even with their lives, all the places of worship: the churches, the synagogues, the temples, the cloisters etc. This subject is echoed in the following verses of the Holy Qur'an: وَقُتِلُوْهُمْ حَتَّى لَا تَكُوْنَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُوْنَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ wa qatiluhum ḥatfa la takūna fitnatuñwwa yakunaddinu lillahi. And fight them until there is no persecution and religion is freely professed for. Allāh. (2:194) فَمَنِ اعْتَدَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوْا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَى عَلَيْكُمْ famani‘tada ‘alaikum fa‘tadū ‘alaihi bi mithli ma‘tada ‘alaikum. So, whoso transgresses against you, punish him for his transgression to the extent to which he has transgressed against you. (2:195) 132