A Critique of Professor Arnold G. Toynbee’s Understanding — Page 6
6 force and statecraft to assert himself and his opinions. But it is false to suppose that Muhammad in Madinah laid aside his role of preacher and missionary of Islam, or that when he had a large army at his command, he ceased to invite unbelievers to accept the faith. Ibn Sa’d gives a number of letters written by the Prophet from Madinah to chiefs and other members of different Arabian tribes, in addition to those addressed to potentates living beyond the limits of Arabia, inviting them to embrace Islam; and in the following pages will be found instances of his ha ving sent missionaries to preach the faith to the unconverted members of their tribes, whose very ill - success in some cases is a sign of the genuinely missionary character of their efforts and the absence of an appeal to force. ” (The Preaching of Islam, p. 28, published in London) 3. REVEREND BOSWORTH SMITH Opposing the views expressed by Toynbee, Reverend Bosworth Smith comments on the events and circumstances of the blessed life of the Holy Prophet as follows: “Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one, but he was Pope without the Pope pretensions, and Cae sar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a body guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man had the right to rule by a right divine, it was Muhammad for he had all the