One of the significant points to be noted concerning the personality of God’s Messenger is that he was the most eminent commander in human history. In order to understand this dimension of his sacred mission, it is worthwhile to make a general evaluation of his military triumphs:

1) There is not another Prophet who carried his mission to decisive victory in all aspects of life. When the Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, who resembles God’s Messenger more than the other Prophets in many aspects of his mission, died, his people were still in the desert, not yet able to conquer ‘Palestine’ after several decades of his preaching. Jesus’ mission was mainly aimed at infusing a spiritual and moral revival into the life of the Jews who had drowned in the bog of materialism. After his elevation to heaven, his disciples succeeded in conveying his message as far as the centre of the Roman Empire despite severe persecutions but, unfortunately, at the cost of the degeneration or corruption of his original creed.

When the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, said farewell to the world, he left behind the whole of Arabia converted to Islam, and an ‘army’ of dedicated Companions, who were ready to convey his Message as far as the remotest corners of the world. He achieved this end with a handful of self-sacrificing men, who had neither heard of belief or Scripture before, nor been acquainted with anything concerning a civilized social life and world politics or good morals and self-discipline. He made a handful of desert men engaged in civil wars, unending feuds, into an ‘army’ of holy warriors who, equipped with belief, sincerity, knowledge, good morals, love of humanity and compassion, and imbued with activism, dedicated themselves to a Divine Cause to, in the words of Rabi‘ ibn Amir, the Muslim envoy to the Iranian commander during the Qadisiyyah War, ‘elevate men from the dark pits of worldly life to the high, boundless realm of the spirit, from the humiliation of worshipping false and man-made divinities to the honour and dignity of worshipping One God, the only Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and to free them from the oppression and depression brought about by false religions and man-made systems to the luminous and peaceful climate of Islam.’

2) The aim of God’s Messenger was never to build a worldly kingdom; he was sent to guide humanity to salvation in both worlds, physical and spiritual; he aimed at reviving people, not killing them. It is to this end that he was obliged to arrange military expeditions and sometimes to command armies. He sent out many expeditions and himself commanded forces 28 times. Fighting took place in almost half of all the military campaigns he organized during his mission, which number about 80, and only around 1,000 people lost their lives in all on both sides. Around 250 Muslims were martyred and 750 non-Muslims were killed. This means that God’s Messenger, upon him be peace, established his Message and brought absolute security to the whole of the Arabian peninsula for the first time in its history, and opened the way to global security, at the cost of only 1,000 lives. This is, as so many of his achievements are, unequalled in world history.

3) God’s Messenger established a system of rules governing international relations among sovereign states. In other words, he was the first to legislate an international law. Although the concept was not unknown before Islam, international law was very limited – for example, there were no recognized rules for the treatment of prisoners of war. Again, God’s Mesenger, upon him be peace, established a set of rules to bring a ‘discipline’ to fighting. For example, the following is the order given by him and his true successors to come until the present day to armies dispatched for fighting, an order which had been strictly obeyed by Muslims in their wars as Muslims:

Always keep fear of God in your mind. Remember that you cannot afford to do anything without His grace. Do not forget that Islam is a mission of peace and love. Do not destroy fruit-trees nor fertile fields in your paths. Be just, and spare the feelings of the vanquished. Respect all religious persons who live in hermitages or convents and spare their edifices. Do not kill civilians. Do not outrage the chastity of women and the honour of the conquered. Do not harm old people and children. Do not accept any gifts from the civil population of any place. Do not billet your soldiers or officers in the houses of civilians. (1)