TRUE JIHAD

of this principle. We present, here, some examples of this nature. Communication Of The Message Of Monotheism After being appointed as Prophet, the first question before him was which of the two above-mentioned courses he should follow. As we know, the Prophet’s mission was to bring polytheism (shirk) to an end and establish monotheism in its place. The Kabah in Makkah was an ancient centre of monotheism, but at the time of the Prophet, 360 idols were contained within its walls. In view of this situation, the first verses to be revealed in the Quran should have been, one might think, about purifying the Kabah of the idols and making it a centre of tawheed, or oneness of God. But beginning his mission with this task would have amounted to war, because the Quraysh, the most powerful tribe in Arabia, were the guardians of the Kabah. As seen during the conquest of Makkah, the Prophet adhered to the principle of peace even in extreme emergencies. The Prophet, therefore, completely avoided the physical purification of the Kabah and limited himself to the communication of the message of monotheism. This was an example of adopting a peaceful and nonconfrontational method instead of a violent or confrontational one. The Battle Of The Trench The battle of the Trench is another such example. On this occasion a large number of people from different tribes had come to Medina with the intention of attacking it. It was clearly a military challenge. But the Prophet used a strategy to avoid an encounter with the enemy. According to this plan, the Prophet worked hard day and night along with his companions to dig a long trench between him and his opponents. This trench served as a buffer. Therefore, when the army of the Quraysh arrived, they could not attack. So, they camped there for some days. In the end they gave up the idea of attacking as it was impossible to cross the ditch. They eventually left Medina. The digging of this trench provides an example of opting for a peaceful course instead of a violent course.