In fact, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was not only a great person in his own time, but is one of the greatest figures of all times for all races, colors, and nationalities. His example was excellent for the 7th-century Arabs and remains excellent for all people living in the 21st century. The Prophet Muhammad was an excellent example for the rich and poor, the young and old, the rulers and subjects, and for intellectuals and ordinary people. Allah sent him as His Prophet for all humanity.
The morality of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not restricted to just a few moral attributes, but included diverse traits and aspects of life. He was kind, compassionate, caring, generous, and humble, but he was also strong, brave, eloquent, wise, and insightful. He was a great planner, organizer, and thinker while at the same time he was also a man of faith, trust, and devotion to Allah.
He was the most merciful person in all of history. He was merciful to his family, followers, friends, and even enemies. He was merciful to the young and old, to humans and to animals. Those who persecuted him in Makkah and killed his relatives and his followers were later defeated in the battles. When they were captives under the Prophet Muhammad, he forgave them. He did not ever take revenge or retaliate. He was the most forgiving person. Even in times of war, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) never allowed the killing of anyone except those involved in the fighting; he issued clear orders against the killing of civilians, including women, children, and even those who were engaged in worship of any kind. He taught his followers to observe the sanctity of all life while engaged in a just war.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states the following: Hundreds of millions of people all over the world believe in Islam. They come from extremely diverse backgrounds and represent virtually all the known races of humanity. Further, a great number of people, both men and women, convert to Islam regularly. That thousands and thousands of people embrace Islam each year from all around the world should be seen as a testament to the peace, serenity, simplicity, and beauty of the precepts and ideals of our Prophet Muhammad’s message. If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) preached violence, and led a violent life, it does not stand to reason that so many people would continuously flock to Islam on their own free will. The Qur’an, the most fundamental scripture of Islam, teaches sanctity of life, not violence. It enjoins peace, justice, and compassion as basic tenets for all of humankind and condemns violence and aggression in all forms. [God enjoins justice and compassion and giving freely to the next of kin, and forbids lewdness, wickedness and oppression.He admonishes you so that you may take heed] (An-Nahl 16: 90). In a society where human dignity was measured by race, ethnicity, color, status, and wealth, the Qur’an stressed the sacred bond of humanity binding all people. [O mankind, We have created you from a single pair of a male and female, and rendered you nations and tribes so that you might know one another. The most honorable of you in the sight of God is the one who is most conscious of Him. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware] (Al-Hujurat 49:13).
Even the concept of holy war is denounced in Islam because in Islam war can only be characterized as either just or unjust, not holy. The Qur’an permits only a just war, a war waged to remove tyranny and oppression, or in self-defense. The Qur’an is categorical in denouncing all wars of aggression.
[And fight in God’s cause against those who wage war against you, but do not commit aggression — for, verily, God does not love aggressors.] (Al-Baqarah 2:190)
[Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged — and, verily, God has indeed the power to succor them.] (Al-Hajj 22:39)
Allah also forbids Muslims from attacking anyone who allows others to live in peace:
[Thus, if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them.] (An-Nisaa‘ 4:90)
[Hence, if they do not let you be, and do not offer you peace, and do not stay their hands, seize them and slay them whenever you come upon them: for it is against these that We have clearly empowered you [to make war].] (An-Nisaa‘ 4:91) Muhammad, thus, took up arms only in self-defense.
Muhammad was born into a tribal society where the only bond recognized was that of the tribal bond. When he preached about the unity of God and universal brotherhood between all of humankind, the powerful members of his society violently opposed him. They subjected him and his followers to relentless persecution, even to the extent of lynching some of them. They were forced to leave Makkah to immigrate to Abyssinia and then to Madinah. Even in Madinah, he was not left alone to practice his religion. The tribes from his society rallied forces to eliminate him and his followers. Numerous attempts were even made on his life.
It was in this context that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was called to take up arms to defend himself and his followers. While doing so, he never compromised the sacred principle of sanctity of life, as he and his followers were ordered to govern themselves by the firm ethics of just war and clearly defined rules of engagement.
In a milieu where the killing of a single camel unleashed numerous wars costing thousands of lives, Muhammad waged wars that can be described as minor skirmishes as their casualties were kept to a minimum on both sides. This is because nothing was more abhorrent to Muhammad than killing an innocent soul.
In order to better appreciate the ethics of Muhammad’s wars, we may do well to compare him with the war heroes of the Old Testament. What we read there is total wars often involving putting entire populations to the sword. To cite a few instances:
In the cities of these nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you as a patrimony, you shall not leave any creature alive. You shall annihilate them — Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites — as the Lord your God commanded you. (Deuteronomy 20:16-17)
Go now and fall upon the Amalekites and destroy them, and put their property under ban. Spare no one; put them all to death, men and women, children and babes in arms, herds and flocks, camels, and asses. (1 Samuel 15:2-3)
After the conquest of Jericho: “They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” (Joshua 6:21)
Contrary to the above, Muhammad never allowed the killing of anyone except those involved in the fighting; he issued clear orders against killing of civilians, including women, children, and even those who were engaged in worship of any kind. He forbade the slaughter
ing of animals except for food. Unlike some leaders who would order kill everything that breathed to be killed, he taught his warriors not to harm innocent living creatures. He taught his followers how to observe the sanctity of all life while engaged in a just war by narrating the story of an ancient prophet: An ant stung one of the prophets of old and in a fit of anger he ordered an entire anthill to be burned down; Allah then revealed to him, “Just because a single ant stung you, how dare you burn down an entire community which glorifies God!”(Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and Abu Dawud).
We also have traditions wherein Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade his warriors from separating mother birds from their babies.
Those who consider the Old Testament figures to be sacred in spite of their “total-war policies” and their killings of entire populations and yet fail to recognize the prophetic witness of Muhammad, are clearly driven by bias and prejudice rather than objectivity or truth. They should compare Muhammad’s general amnesty to the Makkans who had persecuted him and his followers, and waged wars against him for more than a decade with that of Joshua’s act of putting the inhabitants of the entire city he conquered to the sword. Compare also Muhammad’s interdict a
gainst the mutilation of enemy soldiers in combat with the Old Testament narrative of King David’s feat of producing two hundred foreskins of Philistines as a trophy to get the hand of King Saul’s daughter in marriage.
In quoting these stories of the Old Testament, I must however rush to point out, that I am — God forbid — in no way implying that we are allowed to make a value judgment about the actions of those great heroes or prophetic figures of the past; it would be unfair on our part to judge them by our own standards and laws that have evolved over the centuries. Theirs are to be strictly studied in their own specific milieu and context and must never be extended to that of ours. As the Qur’an says: [Those are a people who have passed away; theirs was what they did, and yours is what you do.You will not be questioned about their actions] (Al-Baqarah 2: 134). Historical actions and events must be judged and analyzed contextually, and this goes for all religions as well.