Through Force or Faith? — Page 188
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 188 Surely those who believed, and the Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians—whoso believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, on them shall come no fear, nor shall they grieve ( S u rah al-M a ’idah, 5:70). Here, glad tiding is given to those Jews, Christians and Sabians to whom the message of Islam has not reached or not reached prop- erly that if they believe in God and the Day of Judgment, they would have no grief or fear. Given this, it is not only unfair but cruel to accuse that the Holy Prophet s as had fought the wars to force people to become Muslims. Thus, this was the message and it was given to him at all phases of his life as has been elucidated in Chapter 2 of this book. Now we shall look at the practice of the Holy Prophet s as. He spent better part of his life in Makkah where the use of force on his part was not even conceivable because Muslims were the victims of oppression at that time and all opponents admit that coercion was not possible during that period. After that, the Holy Prophet s as moved to Madinah where infidels and Jews lived along- side the Muslims. The Holy Prophet s as was recognized as the ruler of Madinah as soon as he arrived there. All accounts of history agree that not even one person from those two groups was forced to become a Muslim. With regard to the Jews, not even the fierc- est of the opponents has ever accused that the Holy Prophet s as forced any Jew to become a Muslim. Same was the case of the infi- dels of Madinah. Thus, when the Holy Prophet s as did not force any one to become a Muslim in Madinah where he had complete author- ity and absolute power, how could it be possible anywhere else?