Our God — Page 122
122 sons of darkness! How can I convince you that it was the Arabs who unsheathed the sword against the Muslims and that they did not sheathe it until they realised that Muhammad saw had the back- ing of a powerful Being, against whom these material means do not matter as much as the wing of a gnat. Indeed, they accepted Islam out of fear—not that of the sword, but of God. Indeed, they broke their idols with their own hands, not because they were afraid of Muslim power but because they observed the idols humiliated and helpless. History tells us that, after the fall of Makkah, when the idols were broken, some of the chiefs of Makkah looked at the idols contemptuously and said: If these idols had any power, the stiff-necked Arabs would not bow down to Muhammad saw today. 1 This is what was said by those in the thick of it and you—more than thirteen centuries later, living thousands of miles away from Arabia, and absolutely ignorant of Islamic history—claim that the Arabs accepted Islam for fear of the sword of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him)! Woe be to prejudice! Is there no limit to unfairness? In short this phenomenal success of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, is clear proof of the fact that there was a powerful Being working in support of him, and He is the very Being whom we call God. Now, thirteen-and-a-half cen- turies after his death, four hundred million people take pride in his servitude and the number is ever increasing. 2 That day is not far off when, by the grace of God, this incomparable king of the 1. T a r i khul- K ha mi s. 2. This number has since quadrupled to 1. 6 billion Muslims throughout the world per the Pew Research Center. [Publisher]