Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 17
17 would perish by the sword. Do these circumstances lend the least support to the cruel charge that the Prophet was from the very commencement bent upon war and that this cherished idea took a practical shape when he found himself at the head of an army at Medina ? Is it not true that when the Meccans advanced towards Medina, and were met by the Moslems at the famous field of Badr, the ranks of the Muslims contained no more than 313 men of whom very few had any experience, of war and the majority were young men who. had-never fought a L bat tie. . before ? Nay, among these three hundred and thirteen were also boys who had not yet grown to manhood. Could this small number of raw' young men be relied upon as a sufficient force to meet the sturdy warriors and Bedouin hordes of the whole idolatrous Arabia and the thousands of Jews and Christians who were bent upon extir- pating the new faith ? Could a General ever make his appear- ance in the field with such scanty material to deal destruction to innumerable foes ? Does it not clearly prove that the Prophet was obliged to take the sword in obedience to the commandment of God and not to fulfil any plan which he had concerted ? Had it been his plan He would have first collected a force of thirty or forty thousand strong and then made his appearance into the field of battle ? (Yolume II Keview of Eeligions 1903. )