A common question that is asked is, "If Islam is a religion that is promoting
peace,
why would it be involved, why would the Prophet be involved in fighting?" It is
important to remember that justice, by definition, is about laws that are
protected by sanctions. In other words, there are laws which, if violated, have
penal consequences or punishments that go with them. And so in standing for
justice it is allowed in every community and in most religions that, when an
aggressor is fighting you,
you are allowed to defend yourself. You are allowed to prevent people from being
unjust or oppressive against you, or any community. When it comes, then, to the
practice of the Prophet (peace be upon him) we need to ask ourselves what were
the battles that the Prophet was engaged in, and we find there were all, with no
exception, defensive or punitive. They were all battles where the Prophet (peace
be upon him) was involved in establishing justice or defending the community. And
this becomes critically important when we look at the individual cases, we look
at the verses of the Qur'an that guide this subject area, and we look at the
various statements and practices of the Prophet recorded in the Sunnah or the
hadith sayings. When we find earlier prophets like Abraham and Moses and
David, and very many men of God mentioned in the earlier scriptures, also standing
to defend their communities,
this was only a sign of people who lived by what they taught. They were living
examples, they were not just preaching and asking people to defend their
communities but they themselves led by examples. And if we look carefully at
each of these cases recorded in the hadith or that were taught in the Qur'an,
the concept of jihad was never an instrument of injustice. It was never an
instrument of promoting religion by forcing people to accept Islam. It was
always a noble cause of justice, defending victims of injustice and who
needed protection from oppressers. So it is only expected that if the Prophet
(peace be upon him) is to live by his good example that we would find narrations of
the Prophet also involved in battles, alongside other noble members of the
community who want to stand for justice. And this is why, until this day, we
consider leaders, military generals, who fight for justice, who stand for truth in
defending the lives of innocent people, as noble people who should be remembered,
who should be commemorated.
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