The Shariah and its Application

But the policy for dealing with them changed in the second of these two phases. History shows that the command given in regard to these idolaters in the first phase was simply to warn them by adopting peaceful means: “Arise and warn, call them to the path of their Lord with wisdom.” According to this injunction, the Prophet and his companions used to visit those people in Makkah and recite to them the verses of da’wah from the Quran. They used to address their gatherings in these words: “Say there is no God but God and you will earn salvation.” But after the migration and the conquest of Makkah, the situation changed. Now chapter nine of the Quran, titled ‘Repentance’, was revealed which conveyed a “declaration of immunity by God and His Messenger to the idolaters with whom you have made agreements.” After the revelation of this chapter, when the time of Hajj (pilgrimage) came, the Prophet sent a delegation of his companions to Makkah to make a public pronouncement of this declaration from God. From this example we find that when the dawah or the communication of the message was required in regard to the idolaters, the verses dealing with dawah were revealed. In this way, the knowledge of the very order of revelation sufficed to indicate what had to be done and when. But the position of later-day Muslims is different. Now the state of affairs is that the entire Quran is in our hands in the form of one collected volume, containing both kinds of verses together. Muslims have, therefore, to discover from their own ijtihad which of the injunctions are addressed to them in the particular set of circumstances in which they find themselves.