“To every people have We appointed observances which they observe. Therefore let them not dispute the matter with thee, but summon them to thy Lord: Verily thou art guided aright: “But if they debate with thee, then say: God best knoweth what ye do!” (xxii. 66–67.) The following passages are taken from what is generally supposed to be the last Sūrah that was delivered. “If any one of those who join gods with God ask an asylum of thee, grant him an asylum in order that he may hear the word of God; then let him reach his place of safety.” (ix. 6.) With regard to the unbelievers who had broken their plighted word, who “sell the signs of God for a mean price and turn others aside from His way,” and “respect not with a believer either ties of blood or good faith,” ... it is said:— “Yet if they turn to God and observe prayer and give alms, then are they your brothers in the faith: and We make clear the signs for men of knowledge.” (ix. 11.) Thus from its very inception Islam has been a missionary religion, both in theory and in practice, for the life of Muḥammad exemplifies the same teaching, and the Prophet himself stands at the head of a long series of Muslim missionaries who have won an entrance for their faith into the hearts of unbelievers. Moreover it is not in the cruelties of the persecutor or the fury of the fanatic that we should look for the evidences of the missionary spirit of Islam, any more than in the exploits of that mythical personage, the Muslim warrior with sword in one hand and Qurʼān in the other, [8]—but in the quiet, unobtrusive labours of the preacher and the trader who have carried their faith into every quarter of the globe. Such peaceful methods of preaching and persuasion were not adopted, as some would have us believe, only when political circumstances made force and violence impossible or impolitic, but were most strictly enjoined in numerous passages of the Qurʼān, as follows:— “And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure. “And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures (of this life); and bear thou with them yet a little while. (lxxiii. 10–11.) “(My) sole (work) is preaching from God and His message. (lxxii. 24.) “Tell those who have believed to pardon those who hope not for the days of God in which He purposeth to recompense men according to their deserts. (xlv. 13.) “They who had joined other gods with God say, ‘Had He pleased, neither we nor our forefathers had worshipped aught but Him; nor had we, apart from Him, declared anything unlawful.’ Thus acted they who were before them. Yet is the duty of the apostles other than plain-spoken preaching? (xvi. 37.) “Then if they turn their backs, still thy office is only plain-spoken preaching. (xvi. 84.)