Wa alaykum assalam warahmatullah wabarakatuh

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving.

All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad.

Regarding the narration you quoted, there are scholarly discussions as to who really said these words. Most likely these were not Jabir ibn Abdullah’s words.

 

Generally speaking, the sword (as a symbol of power) was never used to force people to convert to Islam. The following are facts to dispel any doubt concerning this issue:

 

• Clear injunctions in the Quran declare that “There shall be no compulsion in religion!” [2:256] and that “Had your Lord so willed, all who are on the earth would have believed [in your message] all of them together. Will you, then, compel people to become believers?” [10:99]

 

• History tells us that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) remained thirteen years in Mecca, where he and his followers encountered different sorts of torture and oppression, and nevertheless he never raised a sword against such oppressors.

 

• There are millions of Muslims in America, north Europe, and southeastern Asia- places where no Muslim army ever arrived. Islam now is the fastest growing religion. Hundreds of persons embrace Islam every day in spite of the fierce war launched against Islam and Muslims at a time when Muslims cannot even defend themselves.

 

• History records no single case where a person was forced to embrace Islam. Had this claim been true, there would have been no Christians in Egypt, for example, just as the Inquisitions did with Muslims in Andalusia.

 

• Swords can conquer lands but they can never conquer hearts. People in the lands conquered by Muslims embraced Islam gradually when they became convinced by the principles practiced by incoming Muslims, not because they were forced to convert.

Almighty Allah knows best.