The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 63
II - Commencement of Jihād by the Sword & Fundamental Discussion on Jihād 63 Jihād by the sword. If only one choses to understand. Holy Qur’ān as the Most Authentic Historical Evidence At this instance, the doubt may arise in someone’s heart that as the Qur’ān is the religious scripture of the Muslims themselves, how can its testimony be given such a rank so as to base such a significant historical account upon it. The response is that such a doubt can only arise in the heart of such a person who is completely ignorant of the science of history and Islāmic literature. The standing of the Holy Qur’ān is such that no other record of Islāmic history possesses any value in comparison to it. In comparison to the Holy Qur’ān, what weight could the narrations of Ḥadīth and history possibly possess, despite the extensive scrutiny of the Muḥaddithīn 1 and historians? This is not merely a biased claim; rather, it is a clear truth, which has been accepted by both friend and foe. The fact is that here, there is no question of a religious issue, whereby a non-Muslim can reject the idea of the Qur’ān saying that he does not believe the Qur’ānic teaching to be from God. Rather, on this occasion, it is a question of historical testimony. As such, it is accepted that the most authentic and genuine historical testimony is that which is from the era in which an occurrence has taken place, it is related by those people before whom the occurrence has taken place, it is put to writing immediately and then remains pure from all types of interpolation afterwards as well. The standard therefore, which the Holy Qur’ān enjoys in this respect, is not at all enjoyed by any other book. The Holy Qur’ān was not only put to writing in the era of the Holy Prophet sa , rather, many Ḥuffāẓ 2 had preserved its every word in their minds as well. Thereafter, it has remained pure from every kind of interpolation to this day, and is present even today, in the exact form and condition as in the era of the Holy Prophet sa , and the Companions. As this is an accepted fact, I do not wish to spend too much time on this discussion, otherwise I would have spoken about how very magnificent the status of the authenticity of the Holy Qur’ān truly is, and how it is an insult of the truth to present any other testimony in comparison to it. I present two testimonies, merely by way of example, and even they are of such people who are critics of Islām. 3 ُ وَالْفَضْل ُ مَا شَھِدَت ْ بِه ِ ال �ْأعْدَاء 1 Scholars of Ḥadīth [Publishers] 2 People who have committed the Holy Qur’ān to memory [Publishers] 3 An Arabic proverb, which means, ‘True superiority is that to which even enemies testify. ’ [Publishers]