The Shariah and Its Application

plain if we may suppose for a while that if a complete Quran had been in people’s possession in Makkah, as it is in the possession of the person mentioned above, there might have arisen the same confusion in Makkah. We find from traditions that in the early phase of Islam in Makkah, when the Makkan pagans had begun their cruel persecution of the Muslims, certain of the faithful, reacting to this grievous injustice, asked the Prophet’s permission to do battle with their persecutors. But the Prophet went on exhorting them to exercise patience, saying: “I have been commanded only to perform da’wah, communication of the message of God. I have not been given permission to do battle.” If the complete Quran in bound form had existed at that time, someone might have stood up and said: “See, Muhammad e is asking us to exercise patience, while in the Quran God asks us to do battle with our opponents.” But no such thing took place in Makkah, for the simple reason that people did not possess the complete Quran as they do today. This example shows wherein, those who raise such objections, have gone wrong. The actual error lies in their taking something out of context by misquoting the verses of the Quran. At a time when Muslims are