- nor a camel except for food; 8) do not inundate a date-palm grove or burn it; 9) do not misappropriate (from the spoils); and 10) do not act cowardly.” Mālik recorded it in the Muwaṭṭaʾ.
Ibn al-Anbari, commenting on Allah’s words, “There is no compulsion in religion,” said: The meaning of the verse is that outward conformity produced by coercion—when the heart gives no testimony and the conscience does not embrace it—does not constitute religion; true religion is what is held in the heart.
Whoever studies the Prophet’s ﷺ life will find that he never forced anyone to accept his faith; he fought only those who fought him. As for those who concluded a truce with him, he did not fight them so long as they upheld their treaty and did not break it. Indeed, Allah commanded him to honor their covenant as long as they remained upright toward him, as He said: “So long as they are true to you, be true to them” (Qur’an 9:7).
When he first arrived in Madinah, he made a pact with the Jews and allowed them to remain upon their religion. When they later waged war against him and violated the treaty, he fought them in their own territory—after they had already marched against him at Uhud, the Trench, and even at Badr, coming specifically to fight him. Had they withdrawn, he would not have fought them.
The point is that the Prophet ﷺ never compelled anyone whatsoever to enter his religion; people embraced it by their own free choice and willing consent. Most of humanity accepted his call once guidance became clear to them and they realized that he was truly the Messenger of Allah.
Ibn Kathir, explaining the verse “There is no compulsion in religion,” wrote: Do not force anyone to enter Islam, for it is manifest, its proofs and evidences are clear, and it has no need of coercion. Whoever Allah guides to Islam, whose breast He expands and whose insight He illumines, enters it upon clear evidence; whereas the one whose heart Allah has blinded and upon whose hearing and sight He has set a seal gains nothing from being compelled to enter the faith.
Many well-grounded scholars have spoken at length on this subject, and their words accord with the very spirit, principles, and objectives of Islam. Yet the enemies of Islam insist on describing it in ways that distort and defame it, seeking only to mislead and repel.
The Prophet’s ﷺ campaigns—which opened hearts and minds and were undertaken in defense of the threatened creed—together with his dealings, treaties, preaching with wisdom and good counsel, and disputation in the finest manner, all refute those allegations: “Your Lord knows best who strays from His way, and He knows best those who are rightly guided” (Qur’an 6:117).
This was elucidated by Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Maʿad, where he stated: “Section: On arranging the sequence of the Prophet’s dealings with the unbelievers and the hypocrites from the time he was sent until he met his Lord.”