and entered into agreements with his enemies; not once in his whole life did he demand that a people vanquished in battle should accept Islām. The injunction to make peace with a nation inclined to peace (8:61), and the fact of the Holy Prophet’s repeatedly making treaties with unbelievers, are clear negations of the impossible construction which it is sought to put upon the words of the ḥadīth namely, that the Holy Prophet was commanded to wage war against people until they embraced Islām.

Other ḥadīth, which are sometimes misinterpreted are of a similar nature. For instance, in one it is stated that when the Holy Prophet went out to fight with a people he did not attack them till morning, and if he then heard the adhan being called out he refrained from attacking the people (Bu. 10:6). This ḥadīth evidently refers to such people as are spoken of in the ninth chapter as breaking their agreements repeatedly and attacking the Muslims. At this very time, that is, in the ninth and tenth years of Hijrah, the time to which the 9th chapter relates, tribe after tribe came over to Islām, deputations from different tribes coming to Madīnah and going back to their people to convert them to the new faith. Therefore, when an expedition had to be sent for the punishment of a tribe which proved unfaithful to its agreement, it had to be ascertained that it had not in the meanwhile accepted Islām, and therefore the precaution spoken of in the ḥadīth was taken.

In another ḥadīth occur the words, “He who fights that the word of Allāh may be exalted,” which being severed from the context are sometimes construed as meaning fighting for the propagation of Islām, but when read with the context, their meaning is clear. The ḥadīth runs thus: “A man came to the Holy Prophet and said: There is a man who fights for gain of riches and another man who fights that his exploits may be seen, which of these is the way of Allāh? The Holy Prophet said, The man who fights that the word of Allāh may be exalted, that is in the way of Allāh” (Bu. 56:15). It is clear that these words only mean that a man who fights in the way of Allāh (which, as shown from the Holy Qur’ān, means only in defense of the faith) should have his motives free from all taint of personal gain or reputation. The unbelievers sought to annihilate the faith of Islām, and the defense of the faith was, therefore, equivalent to the exaltation of the