The Policy of the Prophet

has this to say: 1.If we perform dawah, God will protect us from all evildoers. (The Quran, 5:67) 2.Dawah turns enemies into friends (The Quran, 41:34) 3.Dawah proves the ideological superiority of Islam. And without doubt there is nothing greater than ideological superiority. 4.Dawah produces positive thinking among the ummah which, in the Quran, is called ‘honest counsel’. (The Quran, 7:68) 5.The task of dawah is done through human beings, but conducive conditions for its performance are provided by God Himself – just as the rains are sent by God, but the work of cultivation is to be performed by the farmers. Now it is the duty of the believers to refrain from squandering their energies on fruitless activities. They should instead devote all their efforts to dawah work. All the best results will follow. When, his life under threat, the Prophet of Islam left his native Makkah along with 200 of his Companions, the Makkan leaders having made their lives unbearable the very first speech he made after reaching Madinah was quite remarkable in being untinged by bitterness or threats of revenge on or retaliation against the Makkans. (Seerah ibn Hishain, Vol. 2, p. 105-106) On reaching Madinah, he attached the utmost importance to entering into peace negotiations with the different tribes around Madinah, e.g. the Banu Khuza’a. These peace agreements were to the effect that neither would they (the tribe) fight against them (the Muslims) nor would the Muslims fight against them. Most of the Arab tribes entered into these peace agreements. But the Quraysh of Makkah insisted on maintaining an aggressive stance, and even made some hostile moves as well. Finally, in the sixth year of Hijrah, the Prophet succeeded in resolving matters by a peace agreement reached at a place called Hudaybiya. However, this agreement with the Quraysh was made by unilaterally accepting their conditions. Islam is a peace-loving religion in the full sense. If others create an atmosphere of violence and disharmony, the demand of Islam on such occasions will be to refrain from retaliatory violence and avoid reaction. Such positive steps are to be taken as will enable peace to be established between the Muslims and non-Muslims. The reason for this is that the aims Islam wants to promote can be realized only in a peaceful atmosphere. In the negative atmosphere of violence and confrontation, no target can be achieved. That is why the Prophet of Islam always unilaterally exercised patience. Whenever others wanted to ignite the fire of hatred and violence, he adopted such strategies as might, by God’s guidance, bring about an atmosphere of mutual love, toleration and moderation. Whenever they kindle the fire of war, God puts it out. (The Quran, 5:64)