We Are Men of Strength

Their response was: qālū naḥnu ulū quwwatin wa ulū baʾsin shadīd — they said: we have great strength and great ability for war. They said: if you want us to fight, we are ready; the army is prepared, it is powerful, we are ready to go to war. And then they said: wa al-amru ilayki fa-unẓurī mādhā taʾmurīn — but it is for you to command, so think over what you will command. So their opinion was: we are ready to do whatever you want us to do; if you want us to fight, we are ready to fight. So they gave her the green light to go to war — actually, maybe they encouraged her; they said: we are ready to fight; it is your decision now.

Her wisdom now shows up. She wants to deal with the situation in the softest way possible. Confrontation could be an option, but later. Why start with confrontation when there are other means? And we know that that was the policy of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in dealing with situations. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was described as: mā khuyyira bayna amrayni illā ikhtāra aysarahumā — whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would be offered two options, he would always choose the easier. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would try to avoid confrontation, whether it is with Quraysh or any other people, as much as he can; and this was the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

And that is why, when in Ṣulḥ al-Ḥudaybiyah an agreement was reached, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) accepted it, even though many of the Companions were reluctant to accept it; they felt that we are ready to fight. But we should not understand that this means we give up principles, or we compromise in the religion, as we find in the peace process that is happening now. That is something different; that is not peace. That is giving up all of your principles and giving up the Muslim land. That is not called peace; it is misleading — the naming itself is misleading.