SPIRIT OF ISLAM AUGUST 2O13

40 Spirit of Islam Issue 8 August 2013 THE WORD OF GOD VICTORY In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Truly, We have granted you a clear victory so that God may forgive you your past and future sins and complete His favour to you and guide you to a straight path, and so that God might bestow on you His mighty help. 48: 1-3 In the sixth year of the Hijrah , the Prophet Muhammad left Medina for Makkah along with his companions, so that he could perform the rite of pilgrimage there. He had reached Hudaybiya when the pagans of Makkah came forward and barred his way, saying that they would not allow him to enter Makkah. Mutual negotiations followed, as a result of which a peace treaty was drawn up and signed by both sides. This treaty was executed apparently on the unilateral terms and conditions dictated by the polytheists. As a consequence, the companions of the Prophet Muhammad were very disheartened: they considered it a degrading treaty. But on the way back from Hudaybiya, this verse was revealed: ‘We have granted you a clear victory.’ The reason for this was that according to this Treaty it was agreed that for ten years there would be no war between the Muslims and polytheists. The end of fighting was in fact synonymous to the opening of the door of dawah . After the Hijrah (migration to Medina), due to incessant fighting, dawah activity had stopped. Now, the truce had created an open atmosphere in which there could be a free exchange of thought between the opponents. T HE Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between 610 and 632 A.D. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind, along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level. Translated from Arabic and commentary by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan