Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 105have failed may be repeated. The Meccans, therefore,had not been beaten; only their aggression againstMuslims had failed. Militarily speaking, Muslims weredecidedly the weaker side. True, their defence was stillmaintained, but they constituted a miserable minorityand a minority which, though it had been able to resistthe aggression of the majority, had been unable to takethe offensive. Muslims, therefore, had not yet establishedtheir independence. If they had sued for peace, itwould have meant that their defence had broken, andthat they were now ready to accept the terms of thedisbelievers. An offer of peace by them would have beendisastrous for Islam. It would have meant selfannihilation.It would have brought new life to an enemydemoralized by repeated defeats. A growing sense ofdefeat would have given place to renewed hope andambition. Disbelievers would have thought that thoughMuslims had saved Medina they were still pessimisticabout their ultimate victory over disbelievers. Asuggestion of peace, therefore, could not have proceededfrom the Muslim side. It could have proceeded from theMeccan side, or from a third side, if a third side couldhave been found. No third side could, however, befound. In the conflict which had arisen Medina was setagainst all Arabia. It was the disbelievers, therefore, whocould have sued the Muslims for peace, and there wasno sign of this. Thus warfare between Muslims andArabs might have gone on for ever. The Muslims couldnot, and the Arabs would not, sue for peace. Civil strifein Arabia, therefore, seemed to have no end, at least notfor another hundred years.There was only one way open to Muslims if theywanted to put an end to this strife. They were notprepared to surrender their conscience to the Arabs, torenounce, that is to say, their right to profess, practiseand preach what they liked; and there was no movementfor peace from the side of disbelievers. Muslims hadbeen able to repel repeated aggression. It was for them,