Aman
(Protection) 

In the context of research in wars, mention must be made of what is known in Islam as aman (protection or security; asylum)

The word aman was widely used in Islamic societies, as well as in those Christian societies which lived in the land of Islam and among Muslims, or under Muslim rule during some periods of their history.

In the various accounts of Arab or Islamic origin, we often hear a man saying to a Muslim king : "Grant me aman, my Lord!" and the king answers : "Aman granted". What this means is that this man's life, freedom and possessions are "protected". Therefore, neither the king, nor anybody else can harm him.

The origin of the term aman is found in the following Quranic verse : "If anyone amongst the pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of Allah; and escort him to where he can be secure", [Repentance : 6].

It is clear that the words of Allah are addressed to His Messenger, the import of which allows for no ambiguity or confusion. If one of the idolaters seeks the Prophet's aman (protection), the Prophet must grant it to him. He must also let him hear the Word of Allah; that is, explain to him what the Dacwa is all about, enlighten him and make him understand the message of Islam. If the idolater receives guidance and if he is convinced of what he has heard, then that is good; if he is not, the Prophet must convey him to his place of security.

Those people who seek the protection of Muslims come under the protection of Islam; it therefore becomes incumbent upon the Muslims to guarantee their security and safety, so long as they are in the land of Islam.

With the passage of time, aman became a tradition of Islam which had left the door wide open for all protection-seekers to come in through. In this way Muslims were able to spread the Dacwa slowly among the protection-seekers, without recourse to coercion. This was quite in line with the spirit of Islam, as Allah says : "Invite to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching".

As time passed, every Muslim had the right to grant protection to an individual or a group of people; this covenant became binding on all Muslims, because, as the Prophet said, "the Muslims' aman is one and the same, it must be fulfilled by even the most inferior of them".

In Islam, "covenant" or "engagement" has a certain holiness to it, the praises of which Westerners had frequently sung, admiring, and acclaiming it because it was a rare virtue in people, especially in the Christian society of the dark Middle Ages.

Aman is a covenant or an engagement; and Allah has commanded Muslims to fulfil it : "And fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement, will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning)", [The Night Journey : 34].

One cannot be a true Muslim unless one has faithfully observed the covenant he has made :

"Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants", [The Believers: 8].

And those who do break their covenant rank among the evil-doers :

"For the worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are those who reject Him : they will not believe. They are those with whom thou didst make a covenant, but they break their covenant every time, and they have not the fear (of Allah)", [The Spoils : 55-56].

The observance of the covenant in Islam reaches a holiness that puts it above Islamic solidarity itself. Even though Islam considers Muslims -whatever their nationality and country of origin - one Ummah, and that aggression against any one of those countries is seen as aggression against the whole Ummah, it places the fulfillment of an engagement above the duty of solidarity and assistance :

"As to those who believed but came not into exile, ye owe no duty of protection to them until they come into exile; but if they seek your aid in religion, it is your duty to help them, except against a people with whom ye have a treaty of mutual alliance", [The Spoils : 72].

Mentioned here by way of example, these verses invalidate all the charges brought against Islam, those which attempt to project Islam as a religion of coercion and oppression, and to portray Muslims as a people who have spread Islam by the sword.

Even if he spends long years searching, a historian will not find in the history of Muslims such crimes against humanity as those perpetrated by the Spaniards in the days of such men as Columbus, CortÈs and Pissarro in the Americas which they had discovered, occupied and exploited. They transferred all the riches of these newly found lands to Spain, having massacred, with their canons and firearms, the peoples of those regions, who were armed with spears and swords only, killing tens of thousands of them, capturing and humiliating thousands, and treating them like beasts.

If a large number of historians and researchers have sought to machinate against Islam and project it as the opposite of what it really is, some of them have given Islam its due in full and spoke highly of it.

It is within the context of those impartial scholars that we would like to refer the reader to our book : In the Footsteps of Mohammed (pp. 413-465).