Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 363
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 363 the rate of this progress might be made on the basis of the number of Muslims who were present with the Holy Prophet at Hudaibiyya, which was just short of 1,500, and the number that accompanied him two years later on the occasion of the Fall of Mecca, whi ch was 10,000. This is eloquent testimony that the attraction and superiority of Islam lie in its spiritual power and not in armed conflict. The extreme anxiety of the Holy Prophet to secure a truce at Hudaibiyya and his acceptance of the obviously unequal terms of the treaty confirm his own commitment to peace and orderliness and his aversion to armed conflict. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, had now been largely set free to devote the greater part of his attention to the discharge of his major responsibility, which was to convey the universal message of Islam as widely as possible. He was commanded, ‘O Messen ger, proclaim widely that which has been sent down to thee from thy Lord; for if thou do it not, thou wilt not have conveyed His Message at all. Allah will safeguard thee against harm by the people’ (5:68). This obligation was not confined to the Holy Prop het himself, but was laid upon the whole body of believers; as would appear from: ‘You are the best people for you have been raised for the benefit of mankind; it is your duty to enjoin good, forbid evil and have firm faith in Allah’ (3:111); and: ‘Let the re be from among you a party whose business it should be to invite to goodness, to enjoin equity and to forbid evil. It is they who shall prosper’ (3:105). This obligation has to be discharged prudently and wisely, as is said: ‘Call unto the way of thy Lor d with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and contend with them on