Was Jesus Pacifist But Prophet Muhammad A Warmonger? - Our Prophet 4 - Struggles In Mecca

Another misconception that we find today in the media about the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, is that unlike Jesus, the Prophet was violent because he went to war. Whereas Jesus was a type of prophet who, if you slap this cheek, I will give you the other cheek. He never went to war with anyone. He was the symbol of peace and they always make that comparison. Have you not seen that the Prophet of Islam was violent, he went to war, but the Prophet of Christianity, or the Lord of Christianity, is a merciful loving one who did not go to war. Is that true?

The claim that Jesus, 'alayhi as-salam, never took up arms, is that a true statement? No, it does not. First of all, there is nothing in the Bible that confirms that. Yes, we believe Prophet 'Isa did invite to love and compassion and mercy, but in fact there are historical clues that Jesus, 'alayhi as-salam, he did try to mobilize his companions to fight. He did, but he did not have enough supporters.

And in fact, the whole story of the crucifixion demonstrates that he called on his companions to fight. How? The Romans, what was their punishment for Sedition? The one who rises against the government, armed or calls on people, mobilizes people to rise against the rulers of the region? Their punishment was crucifixion. They would not crucify you just for anything. Sedition, the punishment for it was crucifixion.

Now if you were just a man walking so humble and you are preaching something new. You think the Romans cared? They do not care. Okay, fine, let him invent his own religion, big deal, that is not my concern. The Romans had installed their own rulers in Jerusalem, they acted on behalf of the Romans. Prophet 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, told his companions that these people are thieves, these people are corrupt and we have to take action. In fact, he did call on his people to fight his companions, but he did not have enough companions to topple them. But he did.

And number two, really, Prophet 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, he was facing who, if he wanted to fight, who is he going to fight? The Roman Empire. Well, obviously that is not a wise thing to do when you have a few companions and they have a huge civilization and state, obviously you are not going to go and drag yourself to death by doing so.

So, it was not wise for him to fight anyone, whereas the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, he was not dealing with the Roman Empire in the beginning. They were some tribal, you know, people in Makkah who wanted to uproot Islam. The Prophet defended himself.

So, we see that this is a big misconception. When they compare them, they do injustice to the Prophet. The circumstances of Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi, later on in his life were different than Jesus. Yes, you want to compare Prophet to Muhammad in Jesus and be fair to the analogy, compare Prophet Jesus to Prophet Muhammad in Makkah, the 13 years in Mecca, did the Prophet go to war? Did he seek revenge from anyone. Did he torment anyone? Did he punish anyone? No, it was all forgiveness. Muslim would be tortured, he would be tortured, he would be harassed. He never sought revenge. How come they do not make that comparison?

Yes, in Madinah now, the Prophet was a leader and it was expected of him to defend his society. Prophet 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, never had a region that he was ruling or representing, for him to defend it. He would go from village to another village, preaching.

So, you have differences over here. Be sure that Prophet 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, If he established a community somewhere in Palestine and now he was guarding that community, or there were people who came to attack, he would have gone to war for sure. No doubt about that.

What indicates the mercy of the Prophet is that in the 8th year of the Hijrah, when Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, granted him victory, he entered Makkah triumphantly. All those Makkans, the pagans had blood on their hands. 20 years of persecution, killing, murdering. Now the Prophet had the opportunity to obliterate them. What did he do?

He forgave all of them. He did not punish a single one of them. Show me one leader in history who was persecuted along with this community for 20 years, the day he gets victory over his own staunch enemies, he forgives them all. That is the Rahma [mercy] of the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi.

[Inaudible question] No, what I meant that in the Bible we do not have any verses that states 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, never took up a sword and he never tried to fight. There is no such claim in the Bible. So the Bible does not negate the fact that he did. Even the Bible does not negate that. It does not talk about that, but it does not negate that.

But in fact, there are indications in which the Prophet 'Isa, 'alayhi as-salam, sometimes would mobilize people to take up arms. There are indications in the Bible we can discuss the verses. In fact, we do have commands from Prophet Jesus, 'alayhi as-salam, telling the youth to take up arms. Now, they interpret it differently. But in any case, this is one misconception that many Westerners have regarding the Prophet, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa alihi.