Islam Rediscovered
11. Non-Violence and Islam
~ 161 ~
From this we learn that the war against
fitna
was a
war of limited duration, temporary in nature, meant
to be engaged in only until its specific purpose had
been served.
Invoking the Qur’anic exhortation to do battle
against
fitna
in order to validate acts of war which
had quite other aims is highly improper. This verse
could be cited only if the same state of affairs as
existed at the time of its revelation, were to prevail
once again.
The biographers of the Prophet Muhammad, may
peace be upon him, have put the number of
ghazwa
(battle) at more than 80. This gives the impression
that the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon
him, 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,
may peace be upon him, in his entire prophetic life,
engaged in war only on three occasions. All the
other incidents described as
ghazwat
were in actual
fact examples of avoidance of war and not instances
of involvement in battle.
