Through Force or Faith? — Page 170
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 170 The Holy Prophet s as did not want war nor did he like carnage and plunder. In fact, Islam even equates the murder of one man with the murder of the entire human race. As Islam is a realistic religion that looks at all issues of human society in a matter-of-fact way and offers their solutions instead of ignoring them; therefore, man is permitted to defend himself instead of succumbing to a collec- tive suicide when confronted with such a calamity where there is choice to be made between annihilation of himself, his friends and family, or to pick up arms and fight for himself. Even today, as has always been in every age, all civilized nations have endorsed this principle. In our times, the UN, as the representative body of the entire world, endorses this princi- ple even to the extent that the proponents of the unnatural and arbitrary teachings of Christ, according to which Christians were enjoined to offer the other cheek when hit on one, are forced to accept the principle put forth by Islam to fight to defend them- selves. Therefore, no matter how much clichés the Christians use, the conduct of the Christian nations of the entire world over the last two thousand years refutes their imaginary and fictitious teachings and validates Islamic precept—this includes many vice- gerents of Jesus, many a predecessor of the Pope. In fact, the truth is that perhaps all nations of the world combined have not shed quite as much blood as the Christians. For Muslims, despite the being given the right to defend, they have been enjoined to make tireless efforts to call the enemies to peace, even after the hostil- ities have broken out. The aforementioned verses reflect the his- toric fact that when Muslims had to engage in defensive wars, they did so, not because of any base desires but despite their wishes being otherwise and their aversion to war.