WITH the end of the expedition to Tabuk, the teachings of Islam had finished spreading across the whole Arabian peninsula. Muhammad was now safe from every attack coming from outside. In fact, as soon as Muhammad returned to Medina from that expedition, all the people of the peninsula who still held to shirk began to reconsider. Although the Muslims who had accompanied Muhammad on the journey to Syam endured a great many hardships, bearing every suffering from thirst and the scorching heat of that season, they returned with heavy hearts, for they had not fought, nor brought home any spoils of war, since the Roman side had withdrawn its forces to hold out within the fortresses of inland Syam. Yet this withdrawal actually left a deep impression on the hearts of the tribes of the southern region - in Yemen, Hadramaut and 'Uman (Oman). Was it not the Roman army that had also defeated Persia, had taken back the Great Cross, and then carried it back to Jerusalem in a grand ceremony? While Persia, at that time, had for a long while been the mighty power over the territory of Yemen and the regions around it.
As long as the Muslims were not far from Yemen and the other Arab regions, was it not fitting that this whole territory should join together as one under the banner of Muhammad, the banner of Islam, so that they might be saved from the power of the Romans and the Persians? What harm was there if the chiefs of the tribes and territories did so, so long as they proved that Muhammad still recognised the authority of the territories and tribes of those who came to declare their acceptance of Islam and their loyalty?! Yes, let this tenth year of the Hijrah indeed become the Year of Delegations, with people coming in throngs to embrace the religion of Allah. Let the Tabuk expedition and the withdrawal of the Roman forces in the face of the Muslims have a greater effect than the conquest of Mecca, the victory at Hunain, and the siege of the city of Ta'if all this time.
The good fortune that befell Ta'if - the city that had once resisted the Prophet most fiercely during the siege, so much so that the Muslims eventually left it unable to break through - was that after the events of Tabuk, this was the first city to declare its loyalty, although before that it had long wavered before announcing its declaration of loyalty.
After the events of Hunain, while the Prophet led the expedition to Ta'if, 'Urwa b. Mas'ud - one of the leaders of Thaqif who lived in that city - happened to be away. He had gone to Yemen. When he then returned to his region and saw that the Prophet had won at Tabuk and had returned to Medina, he immediately declared himself a Muslim and showed how great was his desire to invite his people to embrace Islam as well. 'Urwa was no stranger to Muhammad and his greatness. He was among those who had once taken part in negotiating on behalf of Quraysh in the peace treaty of Hudaybiyyah. After 'Urwa embraced Islam and the Prophet learned of his desire to go and invite his people to accept this religion which he himself had already embraced, the Prophet, who also knew how proud and fiercely fanatical the people of Thaqif were about their idol Lat, warned 'Urwa, saying: "They will kill you."
But 'Urwa, who felt his standing among his people was strong enough, replied instead:
O Messenger of Allah, they love me more than they love their own eyes.
Then 'Urwa went to invite his people to embrace Islam. They deliberated among themselves and gave him no answer. The next morning, early, he went up to the upper room of his house and called the people to prayer. The Messenger of Allah's premonition at that time proved exactly right. His people could no longer restrain themselves. He was surrounded and showered with arrows from every direction, and one arrow struck him fatally. 'Urwa's family, who were around him, grew anxious. As he breathed his last, 'Urwa said: "A great honour has been granted to me by Allah, a testimony has been bestowed upon me by Allah. What I am experiencing is the same as what the martyrs who fought alongside the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - experienced before they left us."
Then he asked that he be buried together with the martyrs. His family duly buried him among them.
But indeed 'Urwa's blood was not shed in vain. All the tribes around Ta'if then embraced Islam. Here they realised that what Thaqif had done to that leader was a great sin. Because of this act, Thaqif also realised that they felt uneasy. Everyone who went out from among them was certain to be caught. Now they were convinced that if no peace or truce of some kind were made, their fate would surely be lost and worthless. They quickly held a deliberation among themselves. They proposed to their leader ['Abd Yalail] that he go to meet the Prophet and propose a peace on behalf of Thaqif.
But 'Abd Yalail feared he would meet the same fate as 'Urwa b. Mas'ud had met from his own people. He would not set out to meet Muhammad unless accompanied by five other men, believing that if he went with them and then returned home, they would be able to win over their respective groups.
When they had drawn near to Medina and Mughira b. Shu'ba met them, he hurried ahead to bring news of their arrival to the Prophet. Abu Bakr also saw him walking hurriedly. Once he learned the purpose of their coming from Mughira, he asked to be the one to carry the good news to the Messenger of Allah. And so Abu Bakr went in to convey the news of the arrival of the delegation of Thaqif to the Prophet.
But in truth this delegation still wanted to preserve the pride of their people. They still wanted to bring up the memory of the Prophet's siege of Ta'if which had then ended in withdrawal. Even though Mughira had already told them how to give the Islamic greeting to the Prophet, they still refused and insisted on giving the greeting only in the manner of the Jahiliyyah.
Then they pitched a qubba - a distinctive round tent - beside the mosque. They pitched the tent because they were still very wary of the Muslims, and were not yet convinced. The go-between them and the Messenger of Allah in the negotiations was Khalid b. Sa'id b. al-'As. They would not taste any food that came from the Prophet's side until Khalid had tasted it first. As their intermediary, this man conveyed to Muhammad that they accepted Islam, on condition that their idol Lat be left untouched for three years, not destroyed, and that they be exempted from the obligation of prayer. But their request was flatly rejected by Muhammad. Their request was then reduced further: that Lat be left for two years, then changed to one year, and then further to just one month, after they had returned to their people. But his refusal was firm and left no room for doubt or bargaining.
How could they expect from the Prophet, who called people to worship only the One God and destroyed every idol without mercy, that he would allow the matter of their idol to remain, even though their own people were no less fervent about it than the people of Thaqif in Ta'if. For a person, there is only this: either he believes or he does not believe; apart from that there is only doubt (skepticism) and constant uncertainty. Doubt and faith cannot dwell together in one heart, just as faith and disbelief cannot. To leave Lat - the ancestral idol of Banu Thaqif - untouched would signify that they still alternated their worship between the idol and God, and this is the act of associating partners with God, while God will never forgive the sin of one who associates partners with Him.
Now the people of Thaqif asked to be exempted from the obligation of performing prayer. But Muhammad refused, saying: There is no good in a religion without prayer. After that the people of Thaqif no longer insisted on keeping Lat; they were willing to accept Islam and perform the prayer. But they still asked that the idols not be destroyed by their own hands. They were new to the faith, and their people, who were still waiting for them to return, wanted to know for certain what they had actually done. They asked that Muhammad excuse them from having to destroy with their own hands what they and their ancestors had worshipped. In this matter Muhammad saw no need to insist. It would make no difference whether the idol was destroyed by the hands of the Thaqif people or by the hands of others. What mattered was that the idol be destroyed, and that the people of Thaqif would then worship only the One God.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
We will free you from having to destroy your idols with your own hands.
To oversee them, authority was given to 'Uthman b. Abi'l-'As - the youngest in age among them. Young as he was, he was given the authority to oversee them, because he was the most earnest in understanding the laws of Islam and the teaching of the Qur'an, as witnessed by Abu Bakr and those who were among the earliest to embrace Islam.
The delegation of Banu Thaqif stayed with Muhammad until the end of the fasting month. They fasted together with the Muslims, and food was sent to them for suhur and for breaking the fast. When the time came for them to return to their people, Muhammad instructed 'Uthman b. Abi'l-'As, saying:
Keep the prayer short, and take the weakest among them as your measure. Among them are the elderly, and there are children, and there are those who are weak and those who have their own needs.
The delegation then returned to their homeland. To carry out the destruction of Lat, the Prophet sent along with them Abu Sufyan b. Harb and Mughira b. Shu'ba. Both of these men already had good and close ties with Banu Thaqif. When Abu Sufyan and Mughira arrived and Mughira set about destroying the idol, the women of Thaqif, feeling grief, wept, yet none dared come near, for there had already been an agreement between the delegation of Thaqif and the Prophet to destroy the idol. Mughira took all the wealth of Lat, including its ornaments, to be used to pay off the debts of 'Urwa and Aswad - by order of the Messenger and with the agreement of Abu Sufyan.
So with the fall of the idol Lat and Ta'if's acceptance of Islam, the whole of the Hijaz was now Islamic. Muhammad's influence now stretched from the Roman territory in the north down to the region of Yemen and Hadramaut in the south. The remaining regions in the southern part of the peninsula were all likewise preparing to join this new religion. With whatever strength they had, all were now ready to defend their faith and their respective homelands. Meanwhile, delegations kept arriving from every direction. They all made their way to Medina to declare their loyalty, to declare their acceptance of Islam.
As the delegations continued to arrive in Medina month after month, at last the month of Hajj drew near. Up to that time the Prophet had not fulfilled that obligation in full as Muslims do today. Might we now see him go this year as a sign of gratitude to God for the help He had given in facing the Romans, in bringing Ta'if into the fold of Islam, and for the delegations that had come to him from every direction?
In truth, on the peninsula there were still people who did not yet believe in Allah and His Messenger, still people who were disbelievers, and still people who were Jews and Christians. And the disbelievers still held to the customs of the Jahiliyyah. In the sacred months they still made pilgrimage to the Ka'bah, while the disbelievers were unclean. So then, let him remain in Medina for now, until God completed His decree, until God permitted him to go on pilgrimage to the House of Allah. Let Abu Bakr alone lead the people on Hajj.
It was at that time that Abu Bakr led three hundred Muslims towards Mecca. Yet from year to year the polytheists might still continue to make pilgrimage to the sacred House of Allah. Was there not, in general, an agreement between Muhammad and those people that no one should be barred from coming to the Sacred House, and that no one need fear during the sacred months? Was there not, between him and the Arab tribes, agreements that would hold until certain fixed times? As long as such agreements existed, so long would those who associated partners with God and worshipped other than God continue to make pilgrimage to the House of Allah, and the Muslims would keep witnessing with their own eyes the practices of Jahiliyyah worship carried out around the Ka'bah; whereas according to the specific and the general agreements there was no reason to prevent anyone from coming to perform Hajj and worship at that place.
But once many of the idols worshipped by the Arabs had been destroyed and the idols that had once stood inside and around the Ka'bah had likewise been wiped out, then a gathering at the sacred House of Allah that brought together those who had turned away from the life of shirk and paganism with those who still remained in that life of shirk and paganism would be an incomprehensible contradiction. One could understand Jews and Christians making pilgrimage to Bait al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), since that is the Promised Land for the Jews and the birthplace of Isa the Messiah for the Christians, but one could not understand two kinds of worship meeting in a single place - a place where idols had been destroyed and where, at the same time, the very idols that had been destroyed were still being worshipped. It was therefore only fitting that the polytheists should no longer be allowed near the Sacred House, now cleansed of every trace of shirk and every atmosphere of paganism. It was in this connection that the verses of Surah Bara'ah (At-Taubah, chapter 9) were revealed. But the pilgrimage season had already begun, and some of the polytheists had already arrived from far and wide to carry out their rites. Let this gathering, then, become the occasion for delivering Allah's command to them, severing every agreement between paganism and faith, except for the agreements made for a fixed term, which would remain valid until the time set for them.
For this purpose the Prophet then sent Ali b. Abi Talib to follow after Abu Bakr, to deliver a sermon conveying the command of Allah and His Messenger to the assembled people during the Hajj season at Arafat. In carrying out this task, Ali was able to catch up with Abu Bakr and the Muslims who had set out together to perform the Hajj.
When the people had gathered at Mina to carry out the rites of Hajj, Ali stood beside Abu Huraira, and called out to the assembled people, reciting this word of Allah:
"A declaration of disassociation from Allah and His Messenger to the polytheists with whom you had made a treaty (1).
So go about freely in the land for four months, and know that you cannot escape Allah, and that Allah will bring disgrace upon the disbelievers (2).
And this is a proclamation from Allah and His Messenger to mankind on the Day of the Greatest Hajj, that Allah and His Messenger are free of obligation to the polytheists. But if you repent, that is better for you. But if you turn away, know that you cannot escape Allah. Give tidings to those who disbelieve of a painful punishment (3).
Except for those with whom you have a treaty among the polytheists, and who have not violated anything in that treaty, and who have not helped anyone against you - fulfil that treaty with them to its term. Allah loves those who remain steadfast in righteousness (4).
When the sacred months have passed, the polytheists may be fought wherever you find them; seize them and besiege them and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and establish prayer and give zakat, let them go free. Indeed, Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful (5).
And if any one of the polytheists asks you for protection, grant him protection so that he may hear the word of Allah, then take him to a place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know (6).
How could there be, before Allah and His Messenger, a treaty with the polytheists, except for those with whom you made a treaty near the Sacred Mosque. So as long as they act rightly towards you, act rightly towards them too, for Allah loves those who remain steadfast in righteousness (7)
. How could there be such a treaty, when if they were to overpower you, they would not respect any bond of kinship or agreement with you? They please you with their mouths (sweet words) while their hearts refuse. And most of them are wicked people (8).
They have sold the verses of their Lord for a small price, and they hinder people from the way of Allah. Indeed evil is what they do (9).
They no longer respect a believer, neither in kinship nor in agreement. Those are the ones who transgress the limits (10).
But if they repent, establish prayer and give zakat, then they are your brothers in religion. We explain the verses in detail for a people who understand (11).
But if they break their oaths after their treaty and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief - for they are people who cannot restrain themselves (12).
Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and plotted to expel the Messenger, and who were the first to attack you? Do you fear them? It is Allah who is more deserving of your fear, if you are believers (13).
Fight them! Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and will help you against them, and will bring relief to the hearts of the believers (14).
Allah will remove the anger of their hearts and will accept the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (15).
Do you suppose that you will be left as you are, while Allah has not yet made clear those among you who strive and who take no one as an intimate ally besides Allah, His Messenger and the believers? Allah is fully aware of what you do (16).
It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah, since they have themselves testified to their own disbelief. Their deeds are worthless, and they will remain forever in the Fire (17).
But the ones who shall maintain the mosques of Allah are those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and who establish prayer and give zakat and fear no one except Allah. It is they who may be hoped to be among the rightly guided (18).
Do you equate providing water to the pilgrims and maintaining the Sacred Mosque with believing in Allah and the Last Day and striving in the way of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people (19).
Those who believe, who emigrated and strove in the way of Allah with their wealth and their lives are of a higher rank in the sight of Allah; and it is they who are the ones who attain success (20).
Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Him, and good pleasure, and gardens for them wherein is lasting bliss (21).
They will remain therein forever. With Allah is a great reward (22).
O you who believe! Do not take your fathers and your brothers as allies if they prefer disbelief over faith; and whoever among you takes them as allies, it is they who are the wrongdoers (23).
Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kin, the wealth you have acquired, the trade you fear will decline, and the homes you love - if all of these are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and than striving in the way of Allah, then wait until Allah brings about His decision. Allah does not guide the wicked people (24).
Allah has helped you on many occasions, and on the day of Hunain, when you took pride in your great numbers. But your great numbers availed you nothing, and the earth, for all its vastness, felt narrow to you, and you turned back in retreat (25).
Then Allah sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and sent down forces you did not see, and punished the disbelievers - and that is the recompense of the disbelievers (26).
After that Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful (27).
O you who believe! Indeed the polytheists are unclean. So, after this year, let them not come near the Sacred Mosque. And if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you from His bounty if He wills. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise (28).
Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not adhere to the true religion - from among those who were given the Scripture - until they pay the jizya willingly while in a state of submission (29).
The Jews say: 'Uzair is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: the Messiah is the son of Allah. Such is their saying, out of their own mouths. They imitate the sayings of the disbelievers of old. May Allah curse them. How are they turned away? (30).
They have taken their priests and monks as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary, as well - though they were commanded to worship only the One God. There is no god but Him. Glory be to Allah, far above what they associate with Him (31).
They wish to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except that His light be completed, even though the disbelievers dislike it (32).
It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the true religion, to make it prevail over all religions, even though the polytheists dislike it (33).
O you who believe! Many among the priests and monks devour people's wealth wrongfully and hinder them from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah - give them tidings of a painful punishment (34).
On the Day when it is heated in the fire of Hell, and their foreheads, their sides and their backs are branded with it. This is what you hoarded for yourselves; so taste now what you used to hoard (35).
Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months. So it was ordained by Allah on the day He created the heavens and the earth; among them are four sacred months. That is the right religion. So do not wrong yourselves during them. Fight the polytheists all together, just as they fight you all together. And know that Allah is with those who remain firmly God-conscious (36). (Qur'an, 9: 1-36)
At that time Ali stood among the people who were performing the rites of Hajj at Mina. He recited to them the verses of Surah At-Taubah, which I have quoted here in full, for a purpose I shall explain afterward. When he finished reciting, he paused a moment, then called out again to the assembled people:
O people! A disbeliever will not enter Paradise. After this year, a polytheist may no longer perform Hajj, nor circle the Ka'bah naked. Whoever is bound by a treaty with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that treaty remains valid until its term.
Ali delivered these four commands among the assembled people, after which they were given four months so that each group could return to their own regions and homelands. From that time on, no polytheist ever performed Hajj again, and no one ever again circled the Ka'bah naked. It was also from that time that the foundation of an Islamic state was laid.
For this reason too I have quoted here the opening portion of Surah At-Taubah in full, in the hope that this foundation would be known to all Arabs. Ali did not merely recite the verses of Bara'ah (At-Taubah) during the pilgrimage season alone - according to one accepted source - but afterward recited them as well in people's homes, as other sources report. If one reads this opening portion of Surah Bara'ah, rereads it and studies it carefully, one will truly feel that it is the ideal foundation, in its clearest form, for every newly rising state. The revelation of Surah Bara'ah in its entirety came during the last expedition undertaken by the Prophet. After the people of Ta'if had come forward to declare themselves part of this new faith, after the whole of the Hijaz, together with Tihama and Najd, had come under the banner of Islam, and after most of the tribes of the southern peninsula had declared their submission to Muhammad and joined the teachings of his religion - it was then that the wisdom of history behind the revelation of the verses laying down the foundation of the ideal state, up to that point, became apparent. For a state to be strong, it must have an ideal ideology, general in nature, that can be embraced as the conviction of the community, and that all are prepared to defend with every strength and capacity they have. In this regard, what greater ideology could there be than faith in Allah, the One God, without partner? And what ideology could have a greater influence on the human soul than the awareness that one feels connected to the universe in its highest manifestations? Nothing can hold sway over a person except Allah, and only Allah can watch over one's conscience. If there were those who opposed this general ideology that was to become the foundation of this state, then they were the wicked, those who wished to sow the seeds of civil strife and destructive sedition. Therefore, no treaty could be made with such people. The state had to fight them. If their defiance of the general ideology was unrestrained and uncontrollable, they had to be fought until they submitted. If their defiance of the ideology was not unrestrained and could be contained - as was the case with the People of the Book - then they were obliged to pay the jizyah obediently, in submission to the prevailing regulations.
From our review of the meaning of the verses of Surah At-Taubah that we have just read, from a historical and sociological perspective, it would surely lead us to that same conclusion. And every honest person of good faith would reach the same conclusion. But those who have responded to the Messenger in a manner that goes beyond due bounds will abandon such a review. They will interpret the verse in Surah At-Taubah, clear and forceful as it is, by claiming that it will drive people to fanaticism, no longer in keeping with the spirit of tolerance of civilisation today; that it will drive people to hunt down and kill polytheists wherever there are believers - without mercy or compassion - and that it will also drive people to make laws founded on tyranny.
Such are the words we often read in the books of the Orientalists. These words are very appealing to the minds of people who are not yet mature in matters of social and historical criticism, even among Muslims themselves. Such words are in fact entirely inconsistent with historical reality, and likewise inconsistent with social reality. It is precisely this - their interpretation of Surah At-Taubah as we have mentioned, and the similar interpretations found in many other surahs of the Qur'an - that has led people to produce an interpretation utterly unacceptable to reason and to the facts of the Prophet's history, and that also contradicts the whole course of the life of that great Prophet, from the time he was sent by Allah bearing this religion until the time he returned to the mercy of Allah.
To clarify this matter, it would be worth asking about the ideal foundation of the civilisation that prevails today, and comparing it with the ideal foundation brought by Muhammad. The ideal foundation of the civilisation prevailing today is unlimited freedom of thought, with only its manner of expression restricted by law. And it is this freedom of thought that has come to be made into an ideology, one which people defend and for which they are willing to sacrifice. They struggle and fight to the death to bring it about, and regard all of this as a glory that every generation ought to be proud of, and to take pride in even regarding the past. It is for this very reason that Orientalists such as those we have mentioned say:
The teaching of Islam, which seeks to fight those who will not believe in God and the Last Day, is a teaching that drives people to fanaticism. This is, in truth, contrary to freedom of thought.
This is a shameful falsification, once we realise that the value of a thought lies in its teaching and its practice. Islam does not command opposition to the polytheist inhabitants of the peninsula so long as they are compliant and do not invite others into shirk nor command the carrying out of its rites. The ruling culture of today, in combating ideas that run counter to the prevailing ideology, has gone further than the Muslims' opposition to the polytheists. The ruling culture of today is also a thousand times more severe compared with the jizya imposed upon those regarded as People of the Book.
Here we will deliberately not take as an example the events of the past when the movement to abolish the slave trade occurred, even though those engaged in that trade were quite convinced that it was not forbidden. We will not take this as an example, so that no one may say that we do not approve of such trade, even though Islam commands nothing more than to abolish what it disapproves of. On the other hand, Europe today, the Europe that possesses the prevailing ruling culture, assisted by America, by armed forces in southern Asia and the Far East, has also fought the movement of Bolshevism (communism), and is prepared to keep fighting to the death. We in Egypt too are prepared, together with this prevailing culture, to fight and eradicate Bolshevism, even though in this case Bolshevism is nothing more than an economic idea opposed to another idea held by the prevailing culture of today. Is the call of Islam to eradicate the polytheists, who violated the covenant of God after it had been ratified, to be labelled a barbaric call promoting fanaticism and opposition to freedom? Whereas the call to eradicate Bolshevism, which destroys the fabric of society, is, within the prevailing culture, regarded as a call promoting freedom of thought and ideology and worthy of respect?
Then there was a group of people in several countries in Europe who held the view that spiritual education must be accompanied by physical education, and that the habit of covering the whole body or part of the body actually arouses sexual desire in others more, and would therefore, in fact, damage morals even more than if people went about entirely naked. So those with this idea began to put it into practice, beginning to set up nudist facilities in several cities. They built places that could be visited by anyone wishing to accustom themselves to such physical education. But as soon as this idea spread, the authorities in several countries considered the spread of such phenomena to be highly damaging to moral education and dangerous to society. "Nudist associations" were banned, those responsible for the idea were pursued, and setting up such places of physical education was prohibited by law. We have no doubt that if this idea were to spread widely among an entire nation, it would surely provoke a declaration of war from other nations against that nation, on the grounds that it would ruin the values of the spiritual life of mankind - just as wars once arose over the slave trade, and wars arose likewise over the trade in white slaves or the trade in opium.
Why does all this happen? The reason is that absolute freedom of thought is indeed acceptable so long as it remains confined within the bounds of expression that does not go so far as to endanger the body of society. But once a thought reaches the point of causing harm to human society, its cause must be eradicated; every manifestation of that idea must likewise be eradicated, even the idea itself must be eradicated - although the manifestation of this fight will differ according to the degree of harm to society resulting from that manifestation, which, if allowed to persist, is feared to bring consequences for ethical, social and economic development.
This is a social reality that has already been acknowledged and endorsed by the prevailing culture of today. If we were to go on exploring further this manifestation and its influence among various nations, it would take far too long, and this is not the place for it. Suffice it to say that any law aimed at silencing any social, economic or political movement means a war against the thought that gave rise to that movement, and this war can be justified in proportion to the danger it poses to human society, should the thoughts targeted by that war be carried out.
If we wish to judge the call of Islam to eradicate the life of shirk and its adherents, and to fight them until they submit, can such a war be justified or not? We need first to look at the role played by this idea of shirk, and its purpose. If there is already agreement as to how great a danger it poses to human society across various ages, then the declaration of war launched by Islam against them can indeed be fully justified, and is even an obligation.
The life of shirk that existed at the time when Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, brought the call to the true religion did not merely represent the worship of idols - and even if that were all it was, it would still have to be eradicated, for it is an irony against reason and against the dignity and honour of humanity that a human being should worship a stone - but this life of shirk also represented a whole set of traditions, customs and habits, and even represented a social system more dangerous than slavery, more dangerous than Bolshevism, and more dangerous than anything the human mind could picture as this twentieth century draws to a close. They represented a way of life that buried baby girls alive, unlimited polygamy in which a man could marry thirty, forty, a hundred, three hundred women or more. They represented usury in its filthiest possible form, and they also represented moral anarchy in its lowest form. Pagan Arab society was in fact the most wicked society ever brought forth among mankind.
From every honest person I greatly hope to receive an answer to this question: Suppose today some human society were to devise for itself a system, with all its traditions, customs and habits, encompassing the act of burying baby girls alive, unlimited polygamy, permitting slavery for some reason or none at all, ruthless exploitation of property, and then, because of all this, a rebellion arose seeking to destroy and root it out utterly - could such a rebellion be accused of fanaticism, of an act against freedom of thought? Suppose a nation had already grown content with this base social system, which had nearly spread as well to other nations, and other nations then declared war - could that too be justified? Is this not far more justifiable than the recent World War, which claimed the lives of millions of the world's people for no reason other than the greed of the imperialist nations?
And if that is indeed how it is, where then lies the value of the Orientalists' criticism against the verses the reader has just followed from Surah Bara'ah, and against the call of Islam to eradicate shirk and its adherents, who sought to establish a system with all its dangerous consequences as we have described?
If this is already an established historical fact regarding the system that prevailed in the land of the Arabs under the banner of shirk and paganism, then there is also another fact in history that stems from the life of the Messenger. From the time he was sent by God to bear the Message for thirteen years, enduring every hardship, sacrificing everything, calling people to the religion of Allah by providing proof and inviting them to discuss in a good manner. Every war and every expedition he undertook was never at any point an act of aggression, but was always defensive in nature, defending the Muslims, defending their freedom to carry out the call to the religion, the religion which they had already come to believe in, for which they sacrificed their lives.
The call, firm and already quite clear, that the polytheists deserved to be opposed - because they were unclean, because they could not be trusted to keep an oath or a written treaty, because they could no longer be trusted with any duty or kinship bond with the believers - its verses were revealed at the end of the Prophet's expedition to Tabuk. When Islam descends upon a region amid a life of paganism that is widely spreading, and strives to establish a social and economic system as destructive as the one that already existed on the peninsula when the Prophet was sent, and then the Muslims come inviting them to abandon such a way of life and instead take up what God has permitted and abandon what He has forbidden - and still they refuse to comply - then for an honest person there is no other way but to rise up against them, to eradicate them until this teaching of God is complete, and until nothing remains widespread but justice and faith in Allah.
The verses of Bara'ah (At-Taubah) recited by Ali, and likewise his proclamation to the people, that a disbeliever will not enter Paradise, that after this year polytheists would no longer be allowed to perform the Hajj pilgrimage and circle the Ka'bah naked - brought excellent results. The doubt that had once been rooted in the hearts of the tribes, which until then had still been slow to accept the call of Islam, vanished completely.
In this way, lands such as Yemen, Mahra, Bahrain and Yamama embraced Islam. There was no longer any side left that would offer resistance to Muhammad, except for a small number who, out of arrogance, committed wrongdoing and were deceived by their own people, among them 'Amir bin al-Tufail, who went along with the delegation of Banu 'Amir seeking to take shelter under the banner of Islam. But when he came face to face with the Prophet, 'Amir refused and would not accept Islam. He wanted to be made an ally of the Prophet instead. The Prophet still tried to persuade him to accept Islam. But he continued to refuse. Then, as he left, he said:
I will rain down horsemen and troops upon this city to fight against you.
Then Muhammad said: "Allahumma, O Allah! Protect me from what 'Amir bin al-Tufail intends!"
'Amir then set off to return to his tribe. But partway through his journey he was suddenly stricken with a plague sore on his neck, and he met his death while staying at the house of a woman from Banu Salul. As he was about to meet his death he kept repeating: "Oh Banu 'Amir! This is a swelling like the disease that strikes camels, and I am dying too in the house of a woman of Banu Salul!"
Also Arbad b. Qais refused to accept Islam and returned to Banu 'Amir. But not long after settling there he was struck dead by lightning while riding a camel he intended to sell. Even so, the refusal of 'Amir and Arbad did not prevent their people from embracing Islam. Worse still than all of them was Musailima ibn Habib. He came along with the delegation of Banu Hanifa from Yamama. He was left behind by the group with their belongings while they went to meet the Messenger of Allah. It was then that they all embraced Islam, and the Prophet gave them gifts. They also mentioned Musailima, to whom the Prophet then likewise gave a gift as he had to them, saying: "He is no worse than the rest of you," meaning because he had guarded his companions' belongings. But upon hearing these words from them, Musailima then claimed prophethood for himself, supposing that God had made him a partner with Muhammad in prophethood. To his own people he composed verses and used words trying to imitate the Qur'an: "God gives blessing to the one who is pregnant. Who brings forth a living being that moves. From between the lower skin and the contents of the belly."
Loading the full version…