Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 232
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 232 believe. As has already been pointed out, there were instances in which the Holy Prophet rejected a profession of belief in Islam when he had reason to suspect that such profession was being made with an ulterior motive. On this question of Islam having been spread by the sword, Thomas Carlyle has observed ( The Hero as Prophet, p. 61): The sword indeed: But where will you get your sword? Every new opinion has its starting precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone, there it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it; there is one man against all men. That he take a sword, try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must first get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can …. In this great duel, Nature herself is umpire, and can do no wrong. The thing that is deepest - rooted i n Nature, what we call truest, that thing and not the other will be found growing at last. James Michener has said (‘The Misunderstood Religion’, Reader’s Digest , June 1955, p. 88): No other religion in history spread so readily as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts that idea, and the Quran is explicit in support of freedom of conscience. History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and