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though they may be many, and (know) that Allah is with the believers" (viii. 19).
All these verses allow fighting only in the case of self-defence. They clearly provide that as soon as the enemy desists from fighting, Muslims should not continue the battle, though it may be to their own disadvantage, as the following quotations say: "And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in Allah." … "And if they intend to deceive you—then surely Allah is sufficient for you …" (viii. 61, 62).
Many of the tribes now entered into treaties of defence with the Prophet. The main object of most of them was to deceive the Muslims, as the Qur-án says, "Those with whom you make an agreement, then they break their agreement every time and they do not guard (against punishment)"
Every conciliatory term was offered to non-Muslims to bring the war-spirit to an end, but no sooner did they get some advantage over the Prophet than they paid no regard to the ties of relationship or to those of covenant. The continuance of such re-
