Part One: SEERAH (Biographical Sketch) CHAPTER

C:\Users\Admin\Dropbox\The Message - Material of Maulana\16. Books and Review\Apa's Books\Life And 59 instance and not allowed to reach the extent of war and violence, so that the lesser evil is nipped in the bud. In this matter we find a very important principle in Islam in a hadith narrated by Aishah, the Prophet’s wife. While describing the general policy of the Prophet of Islam she said that whenever the Prophet of Islam had to opt for one of two ways he would always opt for the easier option and discard the harder one. In all controversial situations between two parties, attempts to solve the problem should be made only in the peaceful sphere. Taking the second option means attempting to solve the problem of ‘guns’ with ‘bombs’. It is this second option which turns conflicts into war. The life of the Prophet of Islam tells us that he adopted this method, called the easier option by Aishah, throughout his entire life. At least a hundred times he had to face the confrontation produced by his opponents, but he always opted for the way of the easier option. He could almost always avoid any head-on clash by peaceful strategy. That is why we find that between the Prophet and his opponents collisions took place only three times: at the battles of Badr, Uhud and Hunayn. Although many incidents have been termed “battles” in the books of seerah, on examining them closely we find that these are only different forms of avoidance and not of indulgence in war. For instance, we find in the books of Seerah the names of battles like Ghazwa-e-Tabuk, Ghazwa-e-Khandaq, Ghazwa-e-Makka, Ghazwa Hamraul Asad, whereas in all these battles and a number of other such battles the Prophet always succeeded in managing to avoid war by employing some strategy or the other. So we can safely conclude that peace is the rule in Islam and war is only a rare exception. Now the question arises as to why, in the first place, there is the injunction to wage war in Islam and why the Prophet had to go to war with his opponents three times. We learn from the Quran that so far as the matter is confined to mere provocation or an insignificant loss the way of patience and avoidance must be adopted. But when the other party initiates the aggression, then at that time war can be waged in defence. The first principle in this regard is that which we learn from the Quran: