[10] “Aber Gottes Botschaft ist nicht auf die Araber beschränkt. Sein Wille gilt für alle Creatur, es heischt unbedingten Gehorsam von aller Menschheit, und dass Muhammed als sein Bote denselben Gehorsam zu heischen berechtigt und verpflichtet sei, scheint von Anfang an ein integrirender Bestandtheil seines Gedankensystem gewesen zu sein.” (Sachau, pp. 293–4.) Goldziher (Vorlesungen über den Islam, p. 25 sqq.) and Nöldeke (WZKM, vol. xxi. pp. 307–8) express a similar opinion. [↑]
[11] On the doubtful authenticity of these letters, see Caetani, vol. i. p. 725 sqq. [↑]
[12] It seems strange that in the face of these passages, some have denied that Islam was originally intended by its founder to be a universal religion. Thus Sir William Muir says, “That the heritage of Islam is the world, was an afterthought. The idea, spite of much prophetic tradition, had been conceived but dimly, if at all, by Mahomet himself. His world was Arabia, and for it the new dispensation was ordained. From first to last the summons was to Arabs and to none other.… The seed of a universal creed had indeed been sown; but that it ever germinated was due to circumstance rather than design.” (The Caliphate, pp. 43–4.) Caetani is the latest exponent of this view. (Annali dell’Islām, vol. v. pp. 323–4.) [↑]
[13] Ibn Saʻd, § 10. This story may indeed be apocryphal, but is significant at least of the early realisation of the missionary character of Islam. [↑]
[14] A. von Kremer (3), pp. 309, 310. [↑]
[15] This would seem to be acknowledged even by Muir, when speaking of the massacre of the Banū Qurayẓah (A.H. 6): “The ostensible grounds upon which Mahomet proceeded were purely political, for as yet he did not profess to force men to join Islam, or to punish them for not embracing it.” (Muir (2), vol. iii. p. 282.) [↑]
[16] Ibn Isḥāq, p. 648 sq. [↑]
[17] Muir (2), vol. iv. pp. 107–8. See also Caetani, vol. i. p. 663. “Assai più che tutte le prediche del Profeta, assai più che tutta la bontà delle dottrine islamiche, siffatti vantaggi militari contribuirono al aumentare il numero dei seguaci. La rapidità della diffusione dell’Islām divenne in special modo sensibile per il contegno et per lo spirito di tolleranza, di libertà, e di opportunismo, che diresse il Profeta nei suoi rapporti con i convertiti.” [↑]
[18] Ibn Isḥāq, p. 943–4. (This story rests on somewhat doubtful authority, cf. Caetani, vol. i. p. 610.) [↑]