Jesus In India — Page 9
J e s u s i n I n d i a 9 was made to murder him. When, however, God’s vengeance came, it so happened that the Meccan and tribal chiefs decided unanimously that this man, the Holy Prophet sa , should at all events be put to death. It was at that time that God, who is the Supporter of His loved ones and of the truthful and the righteous, informed him that nothing but evil was left in the town, that the people were bent upon murdering him and that he should leave the town at once. Then in response to divine command, he migrated to Medina. Even there, his enemies did not leave him alone; they pursued him, and tried at all costs to annihilate Islam. When their arrogance exceeded all limits, and their crime of killing innocent people had made them only too fit to be punished, Muslims were given the permission to fight in self-defense. And those people and their helpers did deserve punishment for killing many innocent persons and robbing them of their possessions, not in any fair fight or battle, but out of sheer mischief. But in spite of all this, when Mecca was taken, our Holy Prophet sa pardoned them all. It is, therefore, utterly wrong and unfair to suppose that the Holy Prophet sa or his companions ever fought to spread Islam, or forced anyone to join its fold. Remember, at the time all nations were highly prejudiced against Islam. The enemy was scheming to destroy Islam which he thought was a new religion and the followers of which were only a negligible minority, and everyone was anxious to see the Muslims destroyed at the earliest, or too torn apart to have any possibility of growth. This is why the Muslims had to encounter hostility at every step, and anyone from any tribe who accepted Islam was either summarily killed by his tribe or lived in perpetual danger of