← Quranic WisdomQuranic Wisdom
A Course in Self-Control
English · 2 min read
Those, who control their desires, making every effort to know God’s laws as demonstrated in Nature and literally stated in the Quran, have adopted
the right path and, sooner or later, they
will reach their destination.
Man cannot afford to ignore these laws. Neither can man set up a parallel system of laws. We have no choice but to discover these laws and plan our activities in accordance with them. Going against these laws will benefit no one, neither men nor women. Here the formula is very simple—either follow the natural path—or perish.
The Importance of Interaction
The Quran holds interaction to be of great importance. Interaction should definitely be engaged in, whatever the situation. This principle is laid down in the chapter Al-Fath (Victory). The translation of the relevant verses is as follows:
Truly, We have granted you a clear victory, so that God may forgive you your past and future sins and complete His favour to you and guide you to a straight path, and so that God might bestow on you His mighty help. (48:1-3)
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These Quranic verses have a historical background. The Prophet of Islam started a mission in Arabia, which was completely peaceful. But at that time people did not have the religious freedom that we have today. They were, therefore, greatly angered by his initiatives and ultimately started a war against him.
A war-like situation did not favour the Prophet. He wanted to convey his message to everyone but, with such adverse circumstances, all normal contacts were almost totally severed. This was particularly acute on the occasion of the confrontation between the Prophet and his companions and the non-Muslim forces at Hudaybiyyah. The Prophet and his followers wanted to proceed to Makkah from Hudaybiyyah to perform their religious rites at the Kaaba. But the other party stopped them from doing so. The Prophet, wanting quite naturally to normalize the situation, initiated peace talks between the two parties, which lasted two weeks. These have been recorded in history as the Hudaybiyyah Treaty.
The Prophet discovered that the other party, with their negative mindset, was in no way ready to halt their militancy. He offered, therefore, to accept all their conditions unilaterally, provided that they agreed to end the hostilities. This offer was accepted, resulting in a ten-year no-war pact between the two parties.
When this peace treaty was finalized, God revealed the verses given above in the Quran. At face value, the Hudaybiyyah Treaty was like a defeat, for the price paid by the Prophet was his unilateral acceptance of all the conditions laid down by the other party. But the Quran, in the above verses, declared it as a ‘clear victory’. In what sense was it a clear victory? The answer is quite obvious. The Hudaybiyyah Treaty successfully removed the deadlock and opened the door to peaceful interaction between the two parties.
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