Were Muhammad's Conflicts Only Defensive?
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A Muslim wrote,
"He [Muhammad] only went to battle when he was fought
against first, when the tribes struck him
first, when he was hit first." |
Response: According
to most respected Muslim historian, Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad's people, the Quraysh, did
not attack him because he preached Islam.
For three years, the Quraysh did not disturb
Muhammad when he taught his doctrine to his
disciples privately. Even after he began to
preach Islam publicly, the Quraysh were tolerant. It was not until after Muhammad
publicly disparaged their gods that they
turned against him and his preaching.
“When the apostle openly displayed Islam as
God ordered him his people did not withdraw
or turn against him, so far as I have heard,
until he spoke disparagingly of their gods.”
1
The Quraysh said, “By God, we cannot endure
that our fathers should be reviled, our
customs mocked and our gods insulted.” So
naturally there was contention when Muhammad
began attacking them and their gods. After a
time, Muhammad claimed that he was given the
right to fight them because of the
persecution. In fact, Muhammad said that
persecution was worse than slaughter or
killing. Of course, this statement in the
Qur'an is false. If this
were true, then the Quraysh had every right to
slaughter Muhammad — rather than merely
persecute him, because Muhammad persecuted
them by reviling their gods.
And fight them until persecution is no more,
and religion is all for Allah. But if they
cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they
do. Sura 8:39
And slay them wherever ye find them, and
drive them out of the places whence they
drove you out, for persecution is worse than
slaughter ... Sura 2:191.
The Quraysh understood that Muhammad had
declared war against them because of declarations
like Sura 8:39. So, the Quraysh began to consider methods of
self-defense. However, it was at this point
that Muhammad's companions
emigrated (the Hijra) to Medina in September
622 AD.
When the Quraysh saw that the apostle had a
party and companions not of their tribe and
outside their territory, and that his
companions had migrated to join them, and
knew that they had settled in a new home and
had gained protectors, they feared that the
apostle might join them, since they knew
that he had decided to fight them. So they
assembled in their council chamber, the
house of Qusayy b. Kilab where all their
important business was conducted, to take
counsel what they should do in regard to the
apostle, for they were now in fear of him.
2
While most of the Quraysh argued that Muhammad should be
jailed or banished from the tribe, Abu Jahl
argued that he should be killed. However,
while the Quraysh were plotting against Muhammad,
he and Abu Bakr escaped to
Medina. With Muhammad and his followers in
Medina, the Quraysh thought that their
difficulties were gone. So, the Quraysh returned to
their normal daily life.
However, after a year or more, Muhammad
began robbing their merchant caravans.
The first raids were unsuccessful which is
strange for a supposed prophet. However, it
should never be forgotten that it was
Muhammad who initiated the hostilities by
robbing the Arab's merchant caravans for their
wealth.
Then he went forth raiding in Safar at the
beginning of the twelfth month from his
coming to Medina (337). 3
A caravan of Quraysh carrying dry raisins
and leather and other merchandise of Quraysh
passed by them, 'Amr b. al-Hadrami (349), 'Uthman
b. Abdullah b. al-Mughira and his brother
Naufal the Makhzumites, and al-Hakam b.
Kaysan, freedman of Hisham b. al-Mughira
being among them. When the caravan saw them
they were afraid of them because they had
camped near them. 'Ukkasha, who had shaved
his head, looked down on them, and when they
saw him they felt safe and said, 'They are
pilgrims, you have nothing to fear from
them.' The raiders took council among
themselves, for this was the last day of
Rajab, and they said, 'If you leave them
alone tonight they will get into the sacred
area and will be safe from you; and if you
kill them, you will kill them in the sacred
month,' so they were hesitant and feared to
attack them. Then they encouraged each
other, and decided to kill as many as they
could of them and take what they had. 4
February 624 A.H.
Then the apostle heard that Abu Sufyan b.
Harb was coming from Syria with a large
caravan of Quraysh, containing their money
and merchandise, accompanied by some thirty
or forty men, of whom were Makhrama b.
Naufal b. Uhayb b. 'Abdu Manaf b. Zuhra, and
'Amr b. al-'As b. Wall b. Hisham (352)….
They said that when the apostle heard about
Abu Sufyan coming from Syria , he summoned
the Muslims and said, 'This is the Quraysh
caravan containing their property. Go out to
attack it, perhaps God will give it as a
prey.' 5 [ March 8-13, 624 AD ]
So, the warfare and remarkable success of
Islam began with the robbery of the caravans
of Arabic merchant traders. In Mecca, Muhammad had
little success making converts by
the intellectual persuasiveness of his
new religion. It was when he was able to
show material booty, women slaves, and
military prowess that Islam began its rapid
rise to power. In the historical context, what follows were the attempts of the Quraysh and other Arab tribes to protect
their business and livelihood from the
marauding bands of Muslims who robbed their
caravans and killed their fellow citizens.
However, the Arab tribes were divided and
incompetent. In the end Muhammad's power
rose and the polytheists and Jews were
slaughtered under various pretexts.
While Muhammad had the luxury of reviling the gods of the pagan
Arabians, no one must say the slightest
thing that might be negative about him. If a
Muslim were to say something unfavorable about
Muhammad, he is an apostate and must be
executed! It is intellectual
terrorism and
religious
idolatry.
Chapter One
CLARIFICATION ABOUT CURSING THE PROPHET
OR
SAYING THAT HE IS IMPERFECT BY ALLUSION OR
CLEAR STATEMENT
SECTION 1
The Judgement of the Shari'a
regarding
someone who curses or disparages the Prophet
Know that all
who curse Muhammad, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, or blame him or attribute
imperfection to him in his person, his
lineage, his deen or any of his qualities,
or alludes to that or its like by any means
whatsoever, whether in the form of a curse
or contempt or belittling him or detracting
from him or finding fault with him or
maligning him, the judgement regarding such
a person is the same as the judgement
against anyone who curses him. He is killed
as we shall make clear. This judgement
extends to anything which amounts to a
curse or disparagement. We have no
hesitation concerning this matter, be it a
clear statement or allusion.
The same applies to anyone who curses him, invokes against him,
desires to harm him, ascribes to him what
does not befit his position or jokes about
his mighty affair with foolish talk, satire,
disliked words or lies, or reviles him
because of any affliction or trial which
happened to him or disparages him, because
of any of the permissible and well-known
human events which happened to him. All of
this is the consensus of the 'ulama' and the
imams of fatwa from the time of the
Companions until today.6
Incredibly, this quotation is from a book
published in the fair land of Scotland and
distributed around the world. This is a book that
advocates killing anyone who dares to say
anything negative about Muhammad. Is there
an outcry against this book by Muslims? Are
Muslims denouncing this book? Have they
shown from the Qur'an, Sunnah,
and Sira that this book's claims are
erroneous?
More could be written about the Wars
of Apostasy immediately after the death
of Muhammad, when many Arabs thought that
the death of Muhammad meant that they could
free themselves from Muslim control. And, it
is beyond the purpose of this short article
to pursue what could be written about the tragic history of
the Islamic offensive conquests that spread
out from Saudi Arabia to the surrounding nations.
Last edited 02/18/2004
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