Page 99 - Quranic Wisdom - New.indd

Quranic Wisdom

Prophet of Islam started a mission in Arabia, which was
completely peaceful. But at that time people did not have the
religious freedom that we have today. They were, therefore,
greatly angered by his initiatives and ultimately started a war
against him.
A war-like situation did not favour the Prophet. He wanted
to convey his message to everyone but, with such adverse
circumstances, all normal contacts were almost totally severed.
This was particularly acute on the occasion of the confrontation
between the Prophet and his companions and the non-Muslim
forces at Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet and his followers wanted to
proceed to Makkah from Hudaybiyyah to perform their religious
rites at the Kaaba. But the other party stopped them from
doing so. The Prophet, wanting quite naturally to normalize the
situation, initiated peace talks between the two parties, which
lasted two weeks. These have been recorded in history as the
Hudaybiyyah Treaty.

Interaction should definitely be engaged in, whatever
the situation.

The Prophet discovered that the other party, with their
negative mindset, was in no way ready to halt their militancy.
He offered, therefore, to accept all their conditions unilaterally,
provided that they agreed to end the hostilities. This offer was
accepted, resulting in a ten-year no-war pact between the two
parties.
When this peace treaty was finalized, God revealed the
verses given above in the Quran. At face value, the Hudaybiyyah
Treaty was like a defeat, for the price paid by the Prophet was
his unilateral acceptance of all the conditions laid down by the
other party. But the Quran, in the above verses, declared it as a
‘clear victory’. In what sense was it a clear victory? The answer is

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