him over and over again not only to be an outstanding human being but to be the true Prophet of God. What is even more important is that the Prophet’s success laid the groundwork for the permanent preservation

religion and to re-introduce its teachings in their true form to mankind. But after the Prophet of Islam, the world will see no further prophets, for the Book which the Prophet gave to the world—the Quran—

rather moulds itself to whatever shape will produce a strong and durable structure. What is required for such an Islamic society to come into being? The answer is simply that people should fear God. The

DepartedOn July 14, 2001, the then Pakistan President General Parvez Musharraf came to New Delhi from Islamabad. He had five long sessions with the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The main

the talks failed, and two days later, on the night of July 16, 2001, Musharraf returned to Islamabad. What was the reason for the failure of these high level talks? The basic reason according to the

Makkah in A.H. 8, had converted, impressed by the political dominance of Islam, rather than from having undergone any profound intellectual transformation or from having attained any such conviction as

earlier followers of the Prophet. They had been accustomed to a free and easy life, and some of the Islamic injunctions—especially zakat5 were more than they could tolerate. Some months before the death of

demagogues had arisen in Yemen and Najd who exploited this situation putting forward a new brand of Islam, according to which there was no need to pay zakat. To give their words more weight, these demagogues—notably

it did: the whole of the Hawazin tribe, won over by the Prophet’s unbounded generosity, accepted Islam. The effects of this event were also felt in Ta’if. The Hawazin and the Thaqif were two branches

branches of one large tribe. The Thaqif felt much more threatened by the Hawazin’s conversion to Islam than they had been by the siege of their city. The severance of the Hawazin from their alliance was a mortal

(A.D. 630) a delegation from Ta’if arrived in Madinah. They expressed their willingness to accept Islam, but only under certain quite unusual conditions. They denied right of passage to the Muslims’ army

people of Madinah accepted Islam made it easier for the Muslims’ scattered resources to be brought together in one place, and used more effectively for the furtherance of the Islamic cause. When the Aws and

them, “for today Rabi’ah’s offspring have as good as overcome the Persians.”49 The Prophet saw how Islam had been strengthened by the Ansar taking the Muslims in. He realized that it would now only be a

daughter of Abu Sufyan, a prominent member of the Quraysh, and her husband Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh accepted Islam and emigrated to Abyssinia. There, however, the husband became a Christian. Not long after that he

mellowed, and he converted to Islam one day before the conquest of Makkah. The other aspect of this policy was that of “striking terror” into the hearts of the enemies of Islam. This consisted of mustering

Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was signed, the Prophet had been preaching for twenty years. The message of Islam had spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. There were people in every tribe in whose hearts the

as their leaders. Many who realized the truth of Islam were unable to proclaim their faith out of fear of the Quraysh. They knew that declaration of Islam amounted to a declaration of war against the mightiest

history of Islam in which all of the students were Muslims, and all of the teachers were from the enemy rank. Here I shall quote a British orientalist who remarked about the Prophet of Islam: He faced adversity

said: “Go, you are free.” The result of this kind behaviour was miraculous. They immediately accepted Islam. 7. Seventh Principle: Not to be a dichotomous thinker In the famous Ghazwa of Muta, Khalid bin

that by the grace of God, I have written books on almost every Islamic subject, which, in a contemporary style effectively introduce Islam to the educated. Scholars both in the East and in the West have

programme in Urdu and English and my speeches on television. The coming into existence of this Islamic literature in a contemporary style was indeed an extraordinary