The Call of the Quran
5. The call of da‘wah in the modern age
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forgo rightful claims on other communities. The
object of this sacrifice would be to establish the
relationship of
da’i
and
mad’u
on a sound and
peaceable footing.
The Hudaybiyya peace accord (6 A.H.) is a good
example of such a strategic withdrawal. In this
instance, Muslims acceded to all the national and
economic demands of their rivals on a unilateral
basis (the enemy did not meet any of the demands
of the Muslims) in the drawing up of this treaty. Yet
soon after this accord had been finalized, God
revealed the following verse:
“Verily, We have granted you a manifest
victory.” (48:1)
Why did God describe an apparent defeat as a clear
victory? It was because the accord subsequently
reached had shifted the field of encounter between
Muslims and non-Muslims to a sphere in which the
Muslims had a distinct advantage. In the face of
non-Muslim aggression, encounters between Islam
and non-Islam had formerly taken place on the
battlefield. Islam, being militarily the weaker
because of reduced numbers of fighting men and
