Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 107continue to hold their Prophets in reverence and toregard their books as the Books of God.At the end of the Mosaic tradition, we had Jesus aswho taught;But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoevershall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the otheralso (Matthew 5: 39).Christians have often cited this teaching of Jesus asand argued that Jesus as preached against war. But inthe New Testament, we have passages which purport toteach quite the opposite. One passage, for instance,says:Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I camenot to send peace, but a sword (Matthew 10: 34).And another passage says:Then said he unto them. But now, he that hath a purse, lethim take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath nosword, let him sell his garment, and buy one (Luke 22: 36).Of the three verses the last two contradict the first. IfJesus as came for war, why did he teach about turningthe other cheek? It seems we have either to admit acontradiction in the New Testament, or we have toexplain one of the contradictory teachings in a suitablemanner. We are not concerned here with the questionwhether turning the other cheek can ever be practicable.We are concerned only to point out that, throughouttheir long history, no Christian people have everhesitated to make war. When Christians first attained topower in Rome, they took part in wars both defensiveand aggressive. They are dominant powers in the worldtoday, and they continue to take part in wars bothdefensive and aggressive. Only now the side which winsis canonized by the rest of the Christian world. Theirvictory is said to be the victory of Christian civilization.Christian civilization has come to mean whatever tendsto be dominant and successful. When two Christianpowers go to war, each claims to be the protector of