The True Jihad
Non-Violence and Islam
~ 67 ~
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. But on all these
occasions, war had become
inevitable, so that 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
Believers do
not have the
right to wage
wars against
their enemies.
Their duty is to
peacefully
convey to them
the message of
Islam.