TOWARDS GLOBAL PEACE

Never did the Prophet resort to such methods. Not once in his life in Madinah did he ever speak against the Makkans. But because they were polytheists and considered the Prophet's message of tawhid or the oneness of God to be a threat, they took to the offensive by unleashing battles against him. But the Prophet managed these battles in such a way that they turned into mere skirmishes. All the so-called ghazwas (wars) which the Prophet fought were actually skirmishes, not wars. They began in the afternoon and ended the same evening. This is by no means a ‘war’. Wars are like the First and the Second World War. The ‘battles’ of Badr and Uhud that the Prophet engaged in which lasted half a day, were only skirmishes. Why did they turn out to be skirmishes when the Makkans wanted to unleash war? The Makkans attacked, in the hope of fighting, but the Prophet’s wise management with his peaceful policy, transformed them into mere skirmishes. Take, for instance, the Battle of Khandaq also called the ‘Battle of the Trench’. But how was it a battle? An army of Makkans 12,000 strong advanced towards Madinah. When the Prophet came to know of this—keeping himself informed was part of his management system—he took his companions and arranged for a trench to be dug around the portion of Madinah that was open to attack. The Makkans arrived at the trench, laid siege there for a fortnight and then returned. There was no fighting. This is another example of the Prophet’s method of problem management. Yet another example of the Prophet’s policy of pacifism is his peace negotiations with the Quraysh. The Quraysh, the most influential tribe in Arabia, were opponents of the Prophet. The Prophet entered into talks with them at a place called Hudaibiya until they finally agreed to a peace treaty. However, the Quraysh laid down some conditions that weighed heavily against the Muslims. For instance, a clause of the treaty said that if after the signing of the treaty a Makkan accepted Islam and went to Madinah, he would have to be sent back to Makkah. There were several other conditions like this. On the paper on which the text of the treaty was written, the Prophet was referred to as ‘Muhammad, the Prophet of God’, but the Makkans objected to this. As they did not believe he was a prophet of God, Believers should adopt a course of action that does not lead to confrontation but seek to maintain an environment of peace.