Islam Rediscovered
17. Prophetic Vision
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conflict. Throughout the world the sword was
regarded as the sign of power. The Arabs had a
saying: The greatest check of war is war. In this
connection the Prophet observed: “God grants to
non-violence what he does not grant to violence.”
(
Al-Tirmidhi
)
In the conditions prevailing fifteen hundred years
ago such observations seemed extraordinary. Such
sentiments were so highly at odds with the times
that words of this nature could be uttered only by
one whose mind had not been moulded by his
immediate circumstances, but had been inspired
rather by some higher source of knowledge. Both
the initial as well as the later period of Islam testify
completely to the principle of inspiration.
During the life of the Prophet Muhammad, may
peace be upon him, the Quraysh, who enjoyed the
leadership of Arabia, turned so hostile to him that
they went to the extent of waging war against him.
According to the books of
seerah
, the Quraysh
wanted to embroil him in minor or major battles on
more than eighty occasions. But the Prophet did his
best not to engage in hostilities by adopting a
