War and Peace in Islam

avoidance must be adopted, and peace must at all costs be unilaterally maintained: that is an important principle of Islam. There is only one exception to this rule, and that is in the case of physical aggression by opponents. The Prophet of Islam began his prophetic mission in ancient Makkah, where he lived for a period of thirteen years after receiving his prophethood. During this period the Makkan opponents repeatedly indulged in acts of persecution and violence. But the Prophet of Islam and his companions unilaterally tolerated all such acts of gross injustice. The emigration from Makkah to Madinah was also a form of tolerance and avoidance, resorted to by the Prophet, in order to avoid clashing with his opponents. Even after the Prophet’s migration, his opponents were not content, but set out to attack him, notwithstanding the distance of three hundred miles separating Makkah and Madinah. In the books of hadith these attacks are called ghazwah (battles). Eighty three ghazwahs are recorded in the hadith. However, only three all-out battles took place between the Prophet and his opponents. This was because, on all the other occasions, by means of avoidance and timely strategy, the Prophet managed to avert confrontation between the two sides: eighty ghazwahs were, therefore, cases of avoidance and only on three occasions (Badr, Uhud, Hunain), was he forced to take up arms, there being no other option. One example of this avoidance of armed confrontation is that of the signing of the Hudaybiyyah peace treaty. When a pitched battle seemed imminent between the Prophet of Islam and his opponents, the Prophet successfully defused the situation by the initiation of peace negotiations which continued for two weeks. During these negotiations, which took place at