The Prophet Muhammad A simple Guide to his Life
The Power of Peace
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Muslims and the aggressors. The same is the case
with all those incidents, called
ghazwa,
or battles.
Whenever the Prophet’s opponents wanted to
involve him in battle, the Prophet managed to
defuse the situation by adopting one strategy or
another.
There are three occasions when the Prophet entered
the field of armed combat – at Badr, Uhud and
Hunain. But as proven by events, fighting had
become inevitable on all these occasions. The
Prophet had no choice but to do battle with the
aggressors. Furthermore, each of these military
engagements lasted for only half a day, beginning
at noon and ending by sunset. Therefore, it would
not be wrong to say that the Prophet in his entire
life took up arms only for one and a half days. That
is to say, of the entire 23-year prophetic period,
except for one and a half days, the Prophet
observed the principle of non-violence.
While giving the command of battle to the Prophet
and his companions, the Qur’an clearly states that it
was the other party, which had commenced
hostilities (9:13). This verse gives conclusive
