Chapters
Enlightenments: Between Striving with the Sword and Striving with the Word
Striving - The Door to Paradise · Ahmed Alhasan
Enlightenments: Between Striving with the Sword and Striving with the Word
Calling to God, to His true religion, and to obedience to the vicegerent of God on His earth begins with the word.
God said: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way, and He knows best those who are guided.”[68]
Solomon began with the word: “Take this letter of mine and deliver it to them, then withdraw from them and see what answer they return.”[69]
It was a noble letter, wise and merciful:
She said: “O eminent ones, indeed a noble letter has been delivered to me. It is from Solomon, and it is: ‘In the name of God, the Abundantly Merciful, the Intensely Merciful.’”[70] That is, it bears the mark of mercy.
Then the call moves on to argument in the best manner: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way, and He knows best those who are guided.”[71] Then the call takes on a sterner tone: “O Prophet, strive against the disbelievers by having the hypocrites [fight them], and be harsh with them; their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the destination.”[72]
This is what Solomon did in the end: “Return to them. We will surely come upon them with forces they cannot withstand, and we will surely drive them out of it, humbled and brought low.”[73]
If the word proves ineffective, then the sword becomes the decisive criterion between truth and falsehood, for the sake of upholding the word of God and establishing obedience to Him on His earth. So when the word has failed, the move to the sword becomes unavoidable, indeed obligatory, in all the divine religions. That is why God’s prophets and messengers took up the sword and strove and fought in the path of God to uphold the word of God. But to turn to the sword too quickly is rashness, and the rash perish, whereas to falter when the time has come to take up the sword, after the word has been fully established, is faintheartedness, and the fainthearted perish.