Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 18
Murder in the Name of Allah. After this the Prophet sa sent invitations to all the neighbouring countries, but he did not wait to see whether these invitations were accepted or not. As soon as he acquired power he started the conflict with the Roman Empire. . It is amazing that a Muslim scholar could even by implication suggest that the Prophet was guilty of a Hitler-style invasion Naaudhu billah. 15 The Prophetsa was the Prince of Peace, not an invader. Maulana Maududi loved political power and, unfortunately, this colours his interpretation of Islamic history. But Islam does not need politics to prop it up. In Bengal, now Bangladesh, Muslims were an infinitesimal minority in the middle of the eighteenth century when the British took over the administration from the Mughals. By the time. Bengal became independent in 1947 it had a Muslim majority. . Muslims had no political control of the area nor was there any migration of Muslims from northern India during British rule. This increase in Bengal's Muslim population was owing to peaceful conversion by travelling sufis, the roving Muslim missionaries and the. Imams of the village mosques. . Thomas Arnold's observation on the subject is significant. He said: 'Islam has gained its greatest and most lasting missionary triumphs in times and places in which its political power has been weakest. ”. Maulana Maududi probably never read the history of Islam in Bengal,. Malaysia or Indonesia. He was so enthralled by the Turko-Afghan and. Mughal conquests that he never had time to note that the largest Musiim country in the world, Indonesia, never had a Muslim conquerer - that there was no fighting nor any violence there. That was the case also in. Malaysia. . The Prophet was obviously innocent. He took up the sword only in self-defence and only when oppression became unbearable. Here is what an objective Sikh has to say on the subject:. In the beginning the Prophet's enemies made life difficult for him and his followers. So the Prophet asked his followers to leave their homes and migrate to Medina. He preferred migration to fighting his own people, but when oppression went beyond the pale of tolerance he took up his sword in self-defence. Those who believe religion can be spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of religion nor the ways of the world. They are proud of this belief because they are a long, long way away from the Truth. 17. Who knows better: a Sikh journalist or the mizaj shanasi nubuwwat?! 18