SPIRIT OF ISLAM FEBRUARY 2018

36 Spirit of Islam Issue 62 February 2018 The biographers of the Prophet Muhammad have put the number of ghazwah (battle) at more than 80. This gives the impression that the Prophet Muhammad in his 23-year prophetic career waged about four battles in a year. But this impression is entirely baseless. The truth is that the Prophet Muhammad in his entire prophetic life, engaged in war only on three occasions. All the other incidents described as ghazwah were in actual fact examples of avoidance of war and not instances of involvement in battle. For instance, in the books of Seerah , the incident of Al-Ahzab is called a ghazwah (battle), whereas the truth is that on this occasion the armed tribes of Arabia, twelve thousand in number, reached the borders of Madinah with all intentions of waging war, but the Prophet and his Companions dug a deep trench between them, thus successfully preventing a battle from taking place. The same is the case with all the other incidents called ghazwah . The opponents of the Prophet repeatedly tried to embroil him in war, but on all such occasions, he managed to resort to some such strategy as averted the war, thus defusing the situation. There were only three instances of Muslims really entering the field of battle—Badr, Uhud and Hunayn. On all these occasions, war had become inevitable, so the Prophet was compelled to encounter the aggressors in self-defence. Furthermore, these battles lasted only for half a day, each beginning at noon and ending with the setting of the sun. Thus it would be proper to say that the Prophet in his entire life span had actively engaged in war for a total of a day and a half. That is to say, the Prophet had observed the principle of non-violence throughout his 23-year prophetic career, except for one and a half days. The Islamic method, being based totally on the principle of non- violence, makes it unlawful for believers to initiate hostilities. Except in cases where self-defence has become inevitable, the Quran in no circumstance gives permission for violence. o