The Light of Truth — Page 87
REFUTING OBJECTIONS God did say, however, to argue with them (i. e. argue with the Christians) with wisdom and goodly exhortation. He did not say to kill them with swords and rapiers except after they turned peo- ple away from the path of Allah, and after they schemed to extin- guish the light of Islam and took the stance of open enemies. So, look carefully at what our Lord, the Lord of all the worlds, has actually enjoined. I have made it clear for you that war is not among the prin- cipal aims of the Quran or a part of its root teaching; rather, it is permitted when the need is dire, the torment of oppressors reaches its extreme, and the tyranny of the unjust ignites. You have an excellent exemplar in the battles of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: how he exhibited patience during the oppression of the disbelievers for a period of time long enough for a newborn to reach the age of maturity. The disbelievers would persecute him night and day. They would steal the wealth of the believers like criminals. They would kill Muslim men and women through such acts of torture that merely picturing them causes tears to flow from the eyes and the hearts of the righteous to tremble. In this way, persecution reached the utmost extreme, to the point that the disbelievers made plans to kill the Prophet of Allah. So, his Lord commanded him to leave his homeland and flee to Madinah as an emigrant from Makkah. Hence, the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, left his homeland, forced out by his people. Despite this, the disbelievers were not finished. Instead, their mischief continued to flare on, and they created difficulties in the work of preaching; until one day they pursued the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, with their horses and fight- ers, and erected the tents of their large army on the grounds of Badr, which is near Madinah, and became determined to com- pletely eradicate religion. Then, the wrath of Allah began to 87