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War and peace in the Quran

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 9 May 2025

“The sacred month for the sacred month, and retaliation (is allowed) in sacred things. Whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you and keep your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty.” — ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 194.	اَلشَّہۡرُ الۡحَرَامُ بِالشَّہۡرِ الۡحَرَامِ وَ الۡحُرُمٰتُ قِصَاصٌ ؕ فَمَنِ اعۡتَدٰی عَلَیۡکُمۡ فَاعۡتَدُوۡا عَلَیۡہِ بِمِثۡلِ مَا اعۡتَدٰی عَلَیۡکُمۡ ۪ وَ اتَّقُوا اللّٰہَ وَ اعۡلَمُوۡۤا اَنَّ اللّٰہَ مَعَ الۡمُتَّقِیۡنَ ﴿۱۹۴﴾
“And if they incline to peace, you (must) incline to it also, and trust in Allah. Surely He is the Hearer, the Knower. And if they intend to deceive you, then surely Allah is sufficient for you. He it is Who strengthened you with His help and with the believers.” — ch. 8, Al-Anfāl, v. 61–62.	وَ اِنۡ جَنَحُوۡا لِلسَّلۡمِ فَاجۡنَحۡ لَہَا وَ تَوَکَّلۡ عَلَی اللّٰہِ ؕ اِنَّہٗ ہُوَ السَّمِیۡعُ الۡعَلِیۡمُ ﴿۶۱﴾ وَ اِنۡ یُّرِیۡدُوۡۤا اَنۡ یَّخۡدَعُوۡکَ فَاِنَّ حَسۡبَکَ اللّٰہُ ؕ ہُوَ الَّذِیۡۤ اَیَّدَکَ بِنَصۡرِہٖ وَ بِالۡمُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ ﴿ۙ۶۲﴾

In the last Khutba, I dealt with verses 190–193 of chapter 2. Verse 191 directed the Muslims that as long as the Quraish enemies of the Muslims continue to respect the sanctity of the ḥaram area around the Ka‘bah by not fighting in it, which was their practice, then Muslims also must not fight them in that area. Only if the enemy fights in that sacred area can Muslims respond by fighting. The pre-Islamic Arabs also observed four months in the year as sacred. During these months, which included the month of the Pilgrimage, all fighting ceased and people could carry on trade in the country without fear of being attacked. Verse 194, which I read above, gives Muslims the same command about the sacred months as about the sacred mosque, that if the enemies of the Muslims do not fight Muslims in those months, the Muslims also must refrain from fighting them.

Therefore, both as regards place and time, if the enemy of the Muslims is observing a cessation of fighting then Muslims must suspend hostilities as well. In modern warfare, there are buffer zones in which the two enemies do not fight and there are truces for a fixed period of time when no fighting is agreed to take place. Muslims must adhere to both of these when these have been agreed with the enemy.

The next statement in this verse 194 tells Muslims that if someone launches an attack on them as an act of aggression, they should respond by similar action of the same proportion as the act of aggression they faced from their enemies. This statement was once used by Mr Marmaduke Pickthall, the British Muslim and translator of the Quran into English, to justify why he was publishing his translation of the Quran. After completing his translation, but before publishing it, he went to Egypt in 1929 to clarify certain points relating to the Arabic language with scholars of Arabic there. He found there that many leading Muslim religious scholars were strongly opposed to translating the Quran into any language and regarded this as prohibited in Islam. Pickthall says that one day in Cairo he saw in a bookshop two English translations of the Quran by non-Muslims for sale. He said to the Muslim religious leaders who were against translating the Quran that these translations by non-Muslims have been produced by opponents of Islam in order to attack Islam. And Muslims are allowed by the Quran to respond to attacks upon them by their enemies in the same way as the enemies are attacking them. He quoted this verse in support and he put its words in this way:

Whoever attacks you, attack him in the way that he has attacked you.

He told them that since the opponents of the Muslims are attacking Islam by producing translations of the Quran containing criticism of its verses, this means that Muslims are allowed by the Quran to produce translations of the Quran in reply! He argued that even if (and I myself stress here “even if ”) translating the Quran is forbidden for Muslims and is ḥaram, but as non-Muslims are translating it to attack Islam then it becomes allowed to Muslims to translate it to answer their attacks. As time passed, the opposition among Muslim religious scholars to translating the Quran disappeared altogether, but the early Muslim translators had to face that opposition.

This verse, and the verses I went through last Friday, impose limitations and restraints on how and why Muslims may fight their enemies in war. In our modern world, it was only in the last century, twentieth century, the 1900s, that rules and conventions were brought in, and accepted internationally, in relation to wars. Before that, an attacking country could do whatever it liked, whenever it liked, and however it liked, against another country. These rules restrict when a country is justified in using military force, and prohibit attacks on certain places and against certain categories of people. Islam introduced rules of this civilised kind several centuries ago, so it is a great pity and tragedy that Islam is represented as a religion of violence and a danger to peace.

The second passage that I recited requires Muslims to make peace with their enemy who is fighting them if the enemy makes them an offer of peace. So much so, that even if the offer of peace is a trick and deception by the enemy, Muslims must accept the offer and trust in Allah. The Holy Prophet Muhammad entered into peace treaties with the enemies of the Muslims, and also with other non-Muslim communities. The most well-known of these was the truce of Hudaibiyah, made with the Quraish of Makkah. In this treaty, he even accepted an unfavourable condition, that if a person in Makkah were to embrace Islam and reach the Muslims at Madinah and seek refuge with them, the Muslims must return him back to Makkah; on the other hand, if a Muslim at Madinah left Islam to join the Quraish at Makkah, the Muslims would not be entitled to stop him from going and joining them. The Holy Prophet wanted to show, and he was confident in this, that even if it is made harder for new people to embrace Islam, and made easier for existing Muslims to leave Islam, still many more will join Islam than leave it.

While this treaty was being signed with the Quraish representative, one Suhail Ibn Amr, his own son Abu Jandal suddenly appeared on the scene. He had escaped from Makkah after embracing Islam, where he had been tortured, and now sought refuge with the Muslims. He showed them his injuries. The Holy Prophet asked Suhail to make an exception for Abu Jandal to the clause in the agreement, as it had only just been signed, but Suhail insisted on enforcing the clause. According to another account, Suhail hit his son in the face and pulled him by his hair to return to the Quraish. It is reported:

“Abu Jandal came hopping, his legs being chained, but the Prophet returned him to them” (Bukhari, hadith 2700).

All the Holy Prophet could do was to advise Abu Jandal to be patient and console him with the news that Allah would provide a way out for him and for others suffering like him, but that Muslims could not cheat on this agreement (see M.H. Haykal, The Life of Muhammad, p. 354). It is recorded in Hadith:

“Muslims did not like this condition and got disgusted with it. Suhail did not agree except with that condition. So, the Prophet agreed to that condition and returned Abu Jandal to his father Suhail ibn Amr. Thenceforward the Prophet returned everyone in that period (of truce) even if he was a Muslim” (Bukhari, h. 2711).

Muslims were greatly dissatisfied with the pact that the Holy Prophet had entered into. Later on, that day was even called the day of Abu Jandal by a Companion who reported this incident (Bukhari, hadith 3181, 7308). That Companion said:

“If I could have refused the order of the Holy Prophet (not to fight), I would have refused it” (Bukhari, hadith 3181)

and he also said:

“If we had been called to fight, we would have fought” (Bukhari, hadith 3182).

The Companions of the Holy Prophet felt humiliated by the terms of this truce. Hazrat Umar protested to the Holy Prophet, saying:

“Are we not on the right path, and they are on the wrong path? Why should we accept humiliation for our religion?”

The Holy Prophet replied:

“I am the Messenger of Allah, and Allah will never make me go to waste.”

It is reported that Hazrat Umar left angrily, and was so impatient that he went to Hazrat Abu Bakr and put to him the same point. Hazrat Abu Bakr gave him the same reply as the Holy Prophet had given, that Allah would never bring him to failure as he is His Messenger (Bukhari, hadith 4844). Shortly afterwards, on his return to Madinah, the Holy Prophet received in revelation the Surah known as Sūrah al-Fatḥ, or The Victory. It begins:

“Surely We have granted you a clear victory” (48:1).

Hazrat Umar asked him: “Was this (meaning the truce) a victory?” The Holy Prophet replied: “Yes” (Bukhari, hadith 3182).

Indeed the peace agreement at Hudaibiyah turned out to be much more to the advantage of the Muslims than fighting any war. Muslims and their Arab opponents could now come into contact with one another freely, without fear of a fight starting. The opponents could now see the true picture of Islam in the lives and morals of the Muslims, and their false impressions about them began to vanish. People wanting to embrace Islam were no longer afraid of facing war from their community. And Islam spread rapidly as a result.

Only a year and a half later, Muslims were able to conquer Makkah with only little fighting and bloodshed. Even Suhail himself, after the conquest of Makkah, embraced Islam, and upon the death of the Holy Prophet, when the news reached Makkah and Muslims became disheartened, he made a speech which uplifted them and restored their confidence.

A long time later, a Companion of the Holy Prophet said to fellow-Muslims:

“Do you consider the Victory (meaning as mentioned in the Quran, 48:1) to be the conquest of Makkah? It was certainly a victory, but we consider the Victory to be when we took the pledge of Ar-Riḍwān on the day of Hudaibiyah” (Bukhari, hadith 4150).

What this pledge refers to is that just before the truce was finally agreed, it seemed as if fighting was inevitable but the Muslims were not prepared for it. So the Holy Prophet called on the Companions to pledge, or take the bai‘at at his hand, that if required to fight they would fight to the very last man. They took that pledge.

So may Allah enable the teachings of Islam, and the practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, about establishing peace, and victory through peace, to reach the Muslims and non-Muslims of the whole world— Ameen.

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