quotation, is met with in Ḥadīth? He could not say or do that of which he had no idea. The propagation of Islām by force is neither contained in the Holy Qur’ān nor did the Holy Prophet ever entertain such an idea, yet Ḥadīth which is an explanation of the Holy Qur’ān and a record of what the Holy Prophet said or did, explicitly states that Islām must be enforced at the point of a sword until the whole world is converted to Islām! These remarks are obviously due to carelessness on the part of the writer.
The only ḥadīth referred to in the article is “the story of the Holy Prophet’s writing to the powers around him”. But that letter does not contain a single word about the enforcement of Islām at the point of a sword. The wording of one of these letters addressed to the king of the Copts — and all these letters were addressed in similar words — is as follows: “I invite thee with the invitation of Islām; become a Muslim, and thou wilt have entered security; Allāh will give thee a double reward. But if thou turnest back, then on thee is the sin of the Copts. O followers of the Book! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allāh and that we shall not associate aught with Him and that some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allāh, but if they turn back, then say, Bear witness that we are Muslims”. The mere writing of these letters to all the kings is undoubtedly an evidence of the universality of Islām, but by no stretch of imagination can it be made to yield the conclusion that Islām was to be spread by force of arms. The letter is simply an invitation, combined with an appeal to the followers of all revealed religions to accept the common principle of worship of one God.
There is one ḥadīth, however, which has sometimes been misconstrued, as meaning that the Holy Prophet was fighting people to make them believe in the Unity of God. It runs thus: “Ibn ‘Umar says, The Holy Prophet said, I have been commanded to fight people until they bear witness that there is no god but Allāh and that Muḥammad is the messenger of Allāh and keep up prayer and pay the zakāt. When they have done this, their lives and their properties are protected unless there is obligation of Islām, and their account is with Allāh” (Bu.2:17). It has already been shown that principles of Islām are one and all taken from the Holy Qur’ān, not from Ḥadīth, and that