Through Force or Faith? — Page 183
Chapter 3 — Holy Prophet and Wars 183 for you, and then you turned back retreating ( S u rah at-Taubah, 9:25). The earth had straitened for them despite its vastness and many could not withstand the forceful attack of the enemy and fled. In all battles, Muslims remained weaker than the enemy in their number and equipment. Thus, the history clearly shows that those battles could not have been for the spoils. What of spoils, it was hard for Muslims to protect themselves from plunder by the enemy. Now, what remains to be seen is that whether they stole from the enemy by deception or deceit. We see in this context that Muslims were forbidden, even in the state of war, to commit any excesses against the enemy or to deceive the enemy. َو اَل اْوُدَتْعَت١ؕ َّنِا َهّٰللا اَل ُّبِحُي َنْيِدَتْعُمْلا … but do not transgress. Surely, Allah loves not the trans- gressors ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:191). Also, see Muslim, Kit a bul Jihad ; Chapter on Appointment of the Leaders of Expeditions. Tradition No. 3261. Moreover, the directive was not to attack the enemy in his sleep; instead they were always to fight in broad daylight. ( Bukh ā r ī , Kitabul Adh a n ; Chapter: To suspend fighting on hear- ing the Adh ā n. Tradition No. 675) Additionally, they were instructed that they were not to attack without warning or with any deception. Instead a formal declara- tion and invitation to peace had to be made first. ( Muslim, Kit a bul