A Message of Peace — Page 41
M ESSAGE OF P EACE 41 have reached me. Thus this day, I permit them to stand up to their persecutors and remember that a people who raise their sword against the innocent will themselves perish by the sword. Yet, transgress not, because God does not befriend those who transgress. This is the spirit and essence of Islamic Jihad which has been maliciously portrayed in the wrong light. God is forbearing, indeed, but when the mischief of a people crosses all limits, then He does not let the transgressors go unpun- ished. Then He Himself creates conditions which result in their destruction. I know not how and from where our oppo- nents heard that Islam was spread by the might of the sword. God in the Holy Qur’an pronounced that there is no compul- sion in Islam: 25 That is: The religion of Islam does not permit any compul- sion in matters of faith. Who commanded the application of force and what were the means of coercion available to them? And again, such people as are coerced into changing their faith do not display such dedication and such quality of belief, that without any financial returns and despite being a mere few hundred they dare to confront the army of thousands. When the same reached the number of one thousand, they somehow acquired the strength to defeat enemies running into hundreds of thousands. They readily offered their lives in defence of their faith, to be slaughtered like sheep and goats. They stamped the testimony to the truth of Islam with their own blood. Moreover, they became so enamoured with the 25. ( al-Baqarah, 2:257). . .