A Critique of Professor Arnold G. Toynbee’s Understanding — Page 22
22 Fall of Makkah in the Eyes of other Historians The fall of Makkah took place towards the end of the Holy Prophet’s ministry. Describing the situation that existed at the fall of Makkah, the prophet’s role and its impact on the Makkans, the well known and highly respected British historian Stanley Lane Poole writes: “But what is this? Is there no blood in the streets? Where are the bodies of the thousands that have been butchered? Facts are hard things; and it is a fact that the day of Muhammad’s greatest triumph over his enemies was also the day of his grandest victo ry over himself. He freely forgave the Kureysh all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn they had inflicted on him; he gave an amnesty to the whole population of Makkah. Four criminals whom justice condemned, made up Muhatrunad’s proscription list; no house was robbed, no woman insulted. It was thus that Muhammad entered again his native city. Through all the annals of conquest, there is no triumphant entry like unto this one. ” (Lane Poole, quoted in introduction to Higgins’ Apology for Mohammad pp ixxi) This opinion is not of Lane Poole alone. R. Bosworth Smith wrote in his book “Muhammad and Muhammadism”: