Through Force or Faith? — Page 180
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 180 The Catholic Encyclopedia also admits that Muslims did not shed any blood at the occasion of conquest of Jerusalem and did not damage the temples of Christians there. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, under Jerusalem, New York, 1910, Robert Appleton Company) War for Spoils With regard to the second category of objections, namely, the Holy Prophet s as fought the wars for the spoils; it has already become evident from the earlier discussion that he did so entirely in self-defence and not for spoils, and only after a prolonged period of suffering from all kinds of hardships and atrocities, which encompassed most of his ministry. Only after this did he pick up arms as the last resort. Now, we shall also take up the objection as to whether these wars were for the spoils. The wars with the objective of plunder are conceivable only if the invad- ers are strong enough to take the wealth with force; or if they are weak, they may deceive and steal or attack when the opponents are unaware. It is not plausible that a party, despite being weak, would attack its enemy without any deception or after warning the enemy, to capture its wealth. What were the conditions when the Holy Prophet s as fought those wars? The plight of Muslims was such that in every battle they were inferior to their enemies both in number and equipment. Their condition in the first battle is recorded by the Quran as: َو ْدَقَل ُمُكَرَصَن ُهّٰللا ٍرْدَبِب َّو ْمُتْنَا ٌةَّلِذَا١ۚ