Al-Risala (English), Nov-Dec 2001

wise one: many people profoundly influenced by the holy Quran, embraced Islam, and this without there having been any disruption of Makkah’s peaceful atmosphere. This gave an added impetus to the Prophet’s missionary endeavours. 2. Positive Status Quoism in Social Affairs: In Makkah, there was a public place known as Dar AINadwah, which served as a political centre. This was dominated by the idolaters. When their opposition to the Prophet Muhammad  intensified, they took a unanimous decision to boycott the Prophet, his family and his followers. When the boycott too failed to inflict any harm on his mission, his opponents issued a death warrant from this same Dar AI-Nadwa. When the Prophet heard of this, although his situation was now extremely serious, he did not attempt either to revoke the decision of Dar al-Nadwa or to launch a protest campaign supported by his followers. On the contrary, what the Prophet did was quietly leave the city for Madinah, a town 300 miles away from Makkah. Even after reaching Madinah, he did not devote any time to planning counter moves, but gave his full attention to the task of dawah. This was also an example of positive status quoism. In this way, the Prophet, by avoiding direct confrontation with the situation at hand, found another vast field in which to continue his peaceful activities. 3. Positive Status Quoism in Political Affairs: When the Prophet migrated to Madinah, after thirteen years of his prophethood, the existing society of Madinah was composed of three groups—Muslims, idolaters, and Jews. Accepting that social set-up as it was, the Prophet established a system based on plurality. The status of Madinah under this system was that of a city state, the Prophet being the head