Difference of Perspective

THE ART OFCLEAR THINKING their victory turned into defeat. The Quran commented on this issue in this way: And God made good His promise to you when by His leave you were about to destroy your foes, but then your courage failed you and you disagreed among yourselves [concerning the Prophet’s direction] and disobeyed it, after He had brought you within sight of what you wished for, some of you desired the goods of this world and some of you desired the Hereafter, then in order that He might put you to the test, He prevented you from defeating your foes. But now He has pardoned you: God is most gracious to the believers. (3:152) In this battle, the Muslims were defeated. Many of them were seriously wounded. Moreover, the battle had occurred entirely because of the excesses of their opponents. It was a completely one-sided attack on the part of the latter. For this battle, the fault lay with them, not with the Muslims. But despite this, why was it that here, the Quran, instead of criticising the opposing party, only indicated the weaknesses of the Muslims? Why was this style adopted? The reason for this was the difference in the way of thinking. In cases like this, one method is to engage in logical analysis. And so, one can analyse, what in the light of logical analysis, is right and what is wrong, and who the oppressor is and who the oppressed is. This method