Birth of phrophet Muhammad (pbuh)

It was in the midst of such conditions and environments that Muhammad was born in 569 after Christ. His father, 'Abdullah had died some weeks earlier, and it was his grandfather who took him in charge. According to the prevailing custom, the child was entrusted to a Bedouin foster-mother, with whom he passed several years in the desert. All biographers state that the infant prophet sucked only one breast of his foster-mother, leaving the other for the sustenance of his foster-brother. When the child was brought back home, his mother, Aminah, took him to his maternal uncles at Madinah to visit the tomb of 'Abdullah. During the return journey, he lost his mother who died a sudden death. At Mecca, another bereavement awaited him, in the death of his affectionate grandfather. Subjected to such privations, he was at the age of eight, consigned at last to the care of his uncle, Abu-Talib, a man who was generous of nature but always short of resources and hardly able to provide for his family. Young Muhammad had therefore to start immediately to earn his livelihood; he served as a shepherd boy to some neighbours. At the age of ten he accompanied his uncle to Syria when he was leading a caravan there. No other travels of Abu-Talib are mentioned, but there are references to his having set up a shop in Mecca. (Ibn Qutaibah, Ma'arif). It is possible that Muhammad helped him in this enterprise also. By the time he was twenty-five, Muhammad had become well known in the city for the integrity of his disposition and the honesty of his character. A rich widow, Khadijah, took him in her employ and consigned to him her goods to be taken for sale to Syria. Delighted with the unusual profits she obtained as also by the personal charms of her agent, she offered him her hand. According to divergent reports, she was either 28 or 40 years of age at that time, (medical reasons prefer the age of 28 since she gave birth to five more children). The union proved happy. Later, we see him sometimes in the fair of Hubashah (Yemen), and at least once in the country of the 'Abd al-Qais (Bahrain-Oman), as mentioned by Ibn Hanbal. There is every reason to believe that this refers to the great fair of Daba (Oman), where, according to Ibn al-Kalbi (cf. Ibn Habib, Muhabbar), the traders of China, of Hind and Sind (India, Pakistan), of Persia, of the East and the West assembled every year, travelling both by land and sea. There is also mention of a commercial partner of Muhammad at Mecca. This person, Sa'ib by name reports: "We relayed each other; if Muhammad led the caravan, he did not enter his house on his return to Mecca without clearing accounts with me; and if I led the caravan, he would on my return enquire about my welfare and speak nothing about his own capital entrusted to me."

Fighting is prescribed in Islam in 3 instances

1- In self defence,

All divine religion has permitted fighting in self defence, which is a principle adopted universally in civil law. As the Qua'an states: "And fight in God's cause those who fight you, and do not transgress, surely God doesnot love transgressors" (Surah 2 verse 190).

2- War in the cause of God,

Jihad is clearly defined in Qur'an as meaning to fight those who sway the Muslim away from his religion or prevent him from adhering to it. This fight is waged solely for freedom to call men to God and to his religion. As the Qur'an states: "And fight them until there is no more persecution and the religion prescribed by God is fully established" (surah 8 verse 39).

3- Defence of the oppressed,

It is a religious obligation to defend those persecuted for their religious conciction-be they Muslims or non-muslims. It is this principle of freedom of conviction which is also a principle adopted in modern democratic constituations. The Qur'an sanctions the use of the sword under certain circumstances in the cause of religion-and not for Islam sxclusively, when a house of worship is in danger, be it chrestian, jewish, hindu, buddhist or muslim, a muslim is enjoyed to shed his blood to save it from destruction, as The Qur'an states: "Permission to fight back is given to those who have been oppressed, and surely is Most Powerful to bring their victory * Those who were expelled from their homes unjustly, only that they say:" Our Lord is God". Had God not repelled one people by means of another, there would have been destroyed cloisters, monasteries, temples, and mosques, in which the name of God is much mentioned. And surely God will help those who stand in his cause; surely God is All-Powerful, Almighty". (Surah 22 verse 39-40).

Muslim Ethics Of War

The Glorious Qur'an, the Hadith (Traditions) of the prophet (pbuh)and his exemplary manner demonstrate that peace is a fundamental principle for Muslim relations with other nations.Fighting is only re-sorted to as a last option when peace can not be achieved by any other means where Fitna or sedition is rife, because strife is a greater crime than murder, therefore war is an exception to the principles of Islam and fighting is not pursued for the purpose of correction into the Religion but only for God's sake in order to establish His law in the world. Accusations that Islam was spread at the point of the sword are false-hood and are clearly denied in the following verse of the Qur'an:-
"There is no compulsion in Religion. Truth has become clear from error, therefore whoever disbelieves in Satan and believes in God has taken a firm support that never gives way. And God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing" (Surah 2 verse 256)
By Dr. Ahmed Zedan

The Battels of the Prophet

The prophet Muhammed (pbuh) had to fight nine battles in all, Badr, Uhud, The Trench, Bani Al Mustaliq, Khaybar, The Conquest of Makkah, Hunain and Al Ta'if, of which the first 3, were the principle ones, the rest being more in nature of skirmishes when a general state of war prevailsbest illustrate the principle in question. For thirteen logn years the Prophet and his Companions were the victims of inhuman persecutions at the hand of the people of Makkah, an historical fact admitted by friend and foe.

he suffered all that without retaliation. when however, things reached a pitch when his life itself was in imminent danger, some safeguard became necessary. The very night when the conspirators plotted to do away with him, he managed to escape with his life to Madinah, in the company of his devoted friend Abou Bakr. But his enemies did not leave him alone even in this far off refuge, 150 miles from Makkah.

Jealous of his success in his new place of sojourn, they maderepeated efforts to nip the tender plant of Islam in the bud. In all these battles, the locality of the battlefield is a decisive factor which shows that the Muslims were constrained to resort to the swort in sheer self defence.

The first war was fought at Badr, 120 miles from Makkah, the enemies headquarters and 30 miles from Madinah. The strength of the contending parties was also indicative, the Muslims were outnumbered by more than 3 to 1.

When Makkah finally surrendered and was occupied by the Muslims not a drop of blood was spilled, the vanquished, who had spared no ingenuity in inflicting torture on the Muslims, the ring leaders of the deadly opposition, tormentors,pressors and assassins, lay wholely at the mercy of the victors. No punishment would have been too severe for them according to modern military laws. But it was Muhammed, "The Spirit of Truth" who perfected the teachings of the preacher of the Sermon on the Mount, who leads people to "all truth". He illustrated in practice the precept of Jesus, "Love thine enemy".

Jihad

The word Jihad means striving. In its primary sense it is an innerthing, within self, to rid it from debased actions or inclinations

This word has been in frequent use in the Western press over the past several years, explained directly or subtlely, to mean holy war. As a matter of fact the term "holy war" was coined in Europe during the Crusades, meaning the war against Muslims. It does not have a counterpart in Islamic glossary, and Jihad is certainly not its translation.

The word Jihad means striving. In its primary sense it is an innerthing, within self, to rid it from debased actions or inclinations, andexercise constancy and perseverance in achieving a higher moral standard.Since Islam is not confined to the boundaries of the individual butextends to the welfare of society and humanity in general, an individualcannot keep improving himself/herself in isolation from what happens intheir community or in the world at large, hence the Quranic injunction tothe Islamic nation to take as a duty "to enjoin good and forbid evil."(3:104) It is a duty which is not exclusive to Muslims but applies to thehuman race who are, according to the Quran, God's vicegerent on earth. Muslims, however, cannot shirk it even if others do. The means to fulfilit are varied, and in our modern world encompass all legal, diplomatic,arbitrati­ve, economic, and political instruments. But Islam does notexclude the use of force to curb evil, if there is no other workablealternative.­ A forerunner of the collective security principle andcollective intervention to stop aggression, at least in theory, asmanifested in the United Nations Charter, is the Quranic reference "..makepeace between them (the two fighting groups), but if one of the twopersists in aggression against the other, fight the aggressors until theyrevert to God's commandment." (49:9)Military action is therefore a subgroup of the Jihad and not itstotality. That was what prophet Mohammad emphasized to his companions whenreturning from a military campaign, he told them: "This day we havereturned from the minor jihad (war) to the major jihad (self-control andbetterment)." Jihad is not a declaration of war against other religions andcertainly not against Christians and Jews as some media and politicalcircles want it to be perceived. Islam does not fight other religions.Christians­ and Jews are considered as fellow inheritors of The Abrahamictraditions by Muslims, worshipping the same God and following thetradition of Abraham. The rigorous criteria for a "just war" in Islam have already beenalluded to, as well as the moral and ethical constraints that should beabided by. Modern warfare does not lend itself to those moral standards;and therefore, war should be replaced by some other alternative forconflict resolution. An enlightened and resolute world public opinion canovercome and subdue war oriented mentalities. The key is a change of heart. Just as there is a constructive rolefor forgiveness in interpersonal relations, so might this be possible ininternational relations provided justice, and not force, is the finalarbiter. We have to acknowledge again, for the sake of honesty, thathistorically all traditions, Muslim, Christian, Jew as well as others, hadtheir lapses in honestly following the valued ideals of their religions orphilosophies. We all made mistakes, and we still do.