Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 13
The Preaching of Islam that at Mecca he was weak and powerless, hence that compromising and submissive attitude of peaceful co-existence. Then, having gained some power at Medina, he resorted to the sword, according to this school of thought. . Had he not done so there would have been no spiritual revolution in. Arabia and Islam would not have spread. The late Maulana Abul Ala. Maududi' was a leading proponant of this view. In his book. Al-Jihad fil. Islam, the Maulana says:. The Messenger of Allaha invited the Arabs to accept Islam for 13 years. . He used every possible means of persuasion, gave them incontrovertible arguments and proofs, showed them miracles and put before them his life as an example of piety and morality. In short, he used every possible means of communication, but his people refused to accept Islam. . It grieves my heart to quote the rest of this passage but it needs to be set out. . When every method of persuasion had failed, the Prophetsa took to the sword. . That sword removed evil mischief, the impurities of evil and the filth of the soul. The sword did something more - it removed their blindness so that they could see the light of truth, and also cured them of their arrogance; arrogance which prevents people from accepting the truth, stiff necks and proud heads bowed with humility. . As in Arabia and other countries, Islam's expansion was so fast that within a century a quarter of the world accepted it. This conversion took place because the sword of Islam tore away the veils which had covered men's hearts. ². The above statement is doubly unfortunate because it was made by a. Muslim scholar who claimed to be mizaj-shanasi-Rasul, the one who found himself in complete harmony with the mind and heart of the. Prophet, so much so that he acquires a measure of authority in explaining the true meanings of the words and deeds of the Prophetsa - a claim which, if accepted, would give the claimant as much or more right to represent than the Holy Prophets enjoyed vis-à-vis his understanding of the Word of God. This means that the Maulana's understanding is tragic beyond words it has been made by a Muslim leader and repeats a baseless assertion of Islam's enemies. It is the biased orientalists who accused the Prophets of converting people by force. The Maulana's phraseology appears to glorify Islam, but in reality it endorses the accusation of the European critics of Islam. R. Dozy said: ‘Muhammad's generals preached Islam with a sword in one hand and the Quran in the 13 1