Page 64 - Islam Denounces Terrorism

62 Islam Denounces Terrorism

The Mistakes in Differentiating between the
"Meccan Period Muslims" and "Medina Period
Muslims"

Some opponents of Islam refer to moderate Muslims as "Meccan
period Muslims." In their view, the time when our Prophet (pbuh) was
in Mecca was a peaceful time of no wars, yet wars suddenly started fol-
lowing our Prophet's (pbuh) migration to Medina. Some people claim,
on that basis, that the proponents of war in Islam recognize only the
verses revealed in the Medina period, while peace-loving Muslims rec-

ognize only the verses from the Meccan period. That idea is as illogical
as it is ignorant.

As we have already seen, the essential precondition for a Muslim
to acquire the identity of a Muslim is to believe in all the verses of the
Qur'an, without exception. If someone rejects a single verse, then he
loses the attribute of being a Muslim as described in the Qur'an. There
is therefore no possibility in the eyes of the Qur'an of someone who
says, "I am a Muslim" to discriminate by saying, "I recognize this verse
but not that one."

It is true that there was no fighting in the Meccan period in the life
of our Prophet (pbuh), but that there was fighting in the Medinan peri-

od and that verses were sent down concerning those particular battles.
In order to understand the reasons for this, we need to understand the
difficult conditions in the time of our Prophet (pbuh).

The Harsh Testing of Muslims in the Meccan
Period

The revelation to our Prophet (pbuh) took a full 23 years. During
the first 13 years of this, Muslims lived as a minority in the pagan soci-
ety of Mecca and were subjected to tremendous pressures. Many Mus-
lims were subjected to physical torture, some were martyred, the