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Muhammad’s Biography (part 1 of 12): The Conditions of Arabia Prior to Prophecy
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Description: A brief look at the social and political state of the Arabian Peninsula prior to the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 21 Jan 2008
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_-_The_Conditions_of_Arabia_Prior_to_Prophecy_001.jpg) Arabia in that period was divided into three areas of
influence. The north lived under the shadow of two great empires, the Christian
Byzantium and the Zoroastrian Persia, empires in perpetual war so evenly
matched that neither could achieve definitive victory over the other. In the
shadows of these powers lived the Arabs of the northern region with divided and
shifting allegiances.
The south was the land of the Arabian perfumes, called by
the Romans ‘Arabia Felix.’ (present day Yemen and Southern Saudi Arabia) It was
desirable property. The conversion of the Ethiopian ruler, the Negus, to
Christianity had brought his country into alliance with Byzantium, and it was
with Byzantine approval that the Ethiopians took possession of this fertile
territory early in the sixth century. Before their ruin at the hands of a
ruthless conqueror, however, the southerners had opened up the deserts of
central Arabia to trade, introducing a measure of organization into the life of
the Bedouin who served as guides for their caravans and establishing
trading-posts in the oases.
If the symbol of these sedentary people was the
frankincense tree, that of the arid zone was the date-palm; on one hand the
luxury of perfume, on the other necessary food. No one could have regarded the
Hejaz -’where no bird sings and no grass grows’ - according to a
southern poet - as desirable property. The tribes of the Hejaz had never
experienced either conquest or oppression; they had never been obliged to say ‘Sir’
to any man.
Poverty was their protection, but it is doubtful whether
they felt poor. To feel poor one must envy the rich, and they envied no one. Their
wealth was in their freedom, in their honor, in their noble ancestry, and in
the pliant instrument of the only art they knew, the art of poetry. All that
we would now call ‘culture’ was concentrated in this one medium. Their poetry
would glorify courage and freedom, praise the friend and mock the adversary, extol
the bravery of the fellow tribesmen and the beauty of women, in poems chanted
at the fireside or in the infiniteness of the desert under the vast blue sky,
bearing witness to the grandeur of this little human creature forever traveling
across the barren spaces of the earth.
For the Bedouin the word was as powerful as the sword. When
hostile tribes met for trial in battle it was usual for each side to put up its
finest poet to praise the courage and nobility of his own people and heap contempt
upon the ignoble foe. Such battles, in which combat between rival champions
was a major feature, were more a sport of honor than warfare as we now
understand the term; affairs of tumult, boasting and display, with much fewer
casualties than those produced by modern warfare. They served a clear economic
purpose through the distribution of booty, and for the victor to press his
advantage too far would have been contrary to the concept of honor. When one
side or the other acknowledged defeat the dead on both sides were counted and
the victors would pay blood-money - in effect reparations - to the vanquished,
so that the relative strength of the tribes was maintained in healthy balance.
The contrast between this and the practices of civilized warfare is striking.
However, Mecca was, and remains, important for an
altogether different reason. For here lies the Kaaba, the first House’ ever
set up for humanity to worship their only God. The ancient Kaaba had long been
the center of this little world. More than 1,000 years before Solomon built
the temple in Jerusalem, his ancestor, Abraham, aided by Ishmael, his elder son,
raised its walls on ancient foundations. A certain Qusayy, chieftain of the powerful
tribe of Quraysh, had established a permanent settlement there. This was the
city of Mecca (or ‘Bakka’). Close by the Kaaba ran the well of Zam Zam. Its
origin, too, goes back to Abraham’s time. It was this well which saved the
life of the infant Ishmael. As the Bible says:
“And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel
of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her: ‘What ails you, Hagar? Fear
not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Arise, lift up the
boy, and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God
opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the
bottle with water, and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy; and he
grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.” (Genesis 21:17-20)
Or, as the Psalmist sings:
“As they pass through the dry Valley of Baca, it becomes a place of springs; the early rain fills it with pools.” (Psalms 84:6)
The circumstances of the time favored the development of
Mecca as a major commercial center. The wars between Persia and Byzantium had closed the more northerly trading routes between east and west, while the
influence and prosperity of southern Arabia had been destroyed by the
Ethiopians. Moreover, the city’s prestige was enhanced by its role as a centre
of pilgrimage, as was that of Quraysh as custodians of the Kaaba, enjoying the
best of both worlds. The combination of nobility – the Arab descent from Abraham
through Ishmael - with wealth and spiritual authority gave them grounds for
believing that their splendor, compared with that of any other people on earth,
was as the splendor of the sun compared with the twinkling of the stars.
But the distance of time from the great patriarchs and
prophets as well as their isolation in the arid deserts of the peninsula had
given rise to idolatry. Having faith in the intercession of lesser gods with
the Supreme Being in their rites if worship, they held the belief that their
deities possessed the power to carry their prayers to the Supreme God. Every
region and clan, indeed every house, had a separate little ‘god’ of its own. Three
hundred and sixty idols had been installed within the Kaaba and its courtyard -
the house built by Abraham for the worship of the One and only God. The Arabs
actually paid divine honors not merely to sculptured idols but venerated everything
supernatural. They believed that the angels were daughters of God. Drunkenness
and gambling were rife. Female infanticide was common where newborn girls were
buried alive.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 2 of 12): From Birth to Adulthood
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Description: A glimpse at the life of the Prophet prior to revelation.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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The Prophet’s Birth
It was in the year 570 of the Christian Era that Prophet
Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, was born in Mecca, a city in present day Saudi Arabia. His father, Abdullah, was a
great-great-grandson of Qusayy, the founder of Mecca, and belonged to the
Hashimite family of Quraish. His mother, Ameena, was descended from Qusay’s
brother. Returning with a caravan from Syria and Palestine, Abdullah stopped
to visit relatives in an oasis to the north of Mecca, fell ill there and died
several months before his son’s birth.
It was customary to send the sons of Quraysh into the
desert to be suckled by a wet-nurse and spend their early childhood with a
Bedouin tribe. Apart from considerations of health, this represented a return
to their roots, an opportunity to experience the freedom that accompanies the
vastness of the desert. Prophet Muhammad was taken by Halima, and spent four
or five years with this Bedouin family, tending the sheep as soon as he was old
enough to walk, learning the ways of the desert.
When he was six, not long after he had rejoined his
mother, she took him on a visit to Yathrib, where his father had died, and she herself
fell ill with one of the fevers prevalent in the oasis, dying on the journey
home. Muhammad now came under the guardianship of his grandfather, Abdul-Muttalib,
chief of the Hashimite clan. When the boy was eight years old, Abdul-Muttalib
died, and thus he entered the care of the new Hashimite chieftain, his uncle
Abu Talib. Prophet Muhammad tended sheep, and when he reached the age of nine,
he was taken by his uncle on the caravan journey to Syria so that he could learn
the art of trade.
He continued working as a merchant, and soon he made a
reputation for himself. Among the substantial fortunes of Mecca was that of
the twice widowed Khadeeja. Impressed by what she heard of Muhammad, who was
now commonly known as al-Ameen, ‘the trustworthy’, she employed him to take her
merchandise to Syria. Even more impressed by his competence, when this task
was completed, than by his personal charm, she sent a proposal for marriage. By
this time Prophet Muhammad was twenty-five, and Khadeeja was the age of forty.
Khadeeja presented her husband with a young slave, Zayd, who was then freed by
Muhammad. When Zaid’s relatives came to ransom him, his affection ran so deep
for his benefactor that he chose to remain with Prophet Muhammad. Khadeeja bore
Muhammad six children, including one boy, Qasim, who died before his second
birthday.
Prophet Muhammad was by now a man of substance,
respected in the community, admired both for his generosity and his good sense.
His future seemed assured. In due course, having re-established the prosperity
of his clan, he would become one of the more influential elders of the city and
end his life, perhaps, as his grandfather had done, reclining in the shade of
the Kaaba and recollecting long years well spent in worldly terms. Yet his
spirit was uneasy and became increasingly so as he approached middle age.
The Hunafa
The Meccans claimed descent from Abraham through Ishmael,
and their temple, the Kaaba, had been built by Abraham for the worship of the
One God. It was still called the House of God, but the chief objects of
worship came to be a number of idols placed inside, sculptural depictions of
deities they believed to be the daughters of God which acted as intercessors. The
few who felt disgust at this idolatry which had prevailed for centuries longed
for the religion of Abraham. Such seekers of the truth were known as Hunafaa,
a word originally meaning “those who turn away” from idol-worship. These
Hunafaa did not form a community, but rather each sought the truth by the light
of their own inner consciousness. Muhammad son of Abdullah was one of these.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 3 of 12): The First Revelations
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Description: A detailed account of how the Prophet, God praise him, received his first revelations from God.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 19 Feb 2008
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It was during this time when the Prophet began to see
pleasant dreams which in turn proved true. He also felt an increasing need for
solitude, and this lead him to seek seclusion and meditation in the rocky hills
which surrounded Mecca. There he would retreat for days, taking provisions
along with him, and would return to his family for more provisions. In the
blaze of day and during the clear desert nights, when the stars seem sharp
enough to penetrate the eye, his very substance was becoming saturated with the
‘signs’ in the heavens, so that he might serve as an entirely adequate
instrument for a revelation already inherent in these ‘signs.’ It was then
that he was undergoing a preparation for the enormous task which would be
placed upon his shoulders, the task of prophethood and conveying the true
religion of God to his people and the rest of humanity.
It came on a night late in the sacred month of Ramadan,
the night known to Muslims as Laylat-ul-Qadr, the ‘Night of Decree.’
__The_First_Revelations_001.jpg)
Cave of Hira (aerial view). Prophet Muhammad used to
meditate in this cave frequently. The first revelations of the Quran came to
him here.
Prophet Muhammad was in solitude in the cave on Mount Hira. He was startled by the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel, the same who had come to
Mary, the mother of Jesus, who seized him in a close embrace. A single word of
command burst upon him: ‘Iqra’ - ‘Read!’
He said: ‘I am not able to read!’ but the command was issued twice more, each
with the same response from the Prophet. Finally, he was grasped with
overwhelming force by the angel. Gabriel released him, and the first ‘recitation’
of the Quran was revealed to him:
“Read in the name of your Lord who created -created man from a
clot. Read: for your Lord is Most Bountiful, who teaches by the pen, teaches
man that which he knew not.” (Quran 96:1-5)
Thus began the magnificent story of God’s final revelation
to humanity until the end of times. The encounter of an Arab, fourteen
centuries ago, with a being from the realm of the Unseen was an event of such momentous
significance that it would move whole peoples across the earth and affect the
lives of hundreds of millions of men and women, building great cities and great
civilizations, provoking the clash of mighty armies and raising from the dust beauty
and splendor unknown previously. It would also bring teeming multitudes to the
Gates of Paradise and, beyond, to the beatific vision. The word Iqra’ ,
echoing around the valleys of the Hejaz, broke the mould in which the known
world was casted; and this man, alone among the rocks, took upon his shoulders
a burden which would have crushed the mountains had it descended upon them.
Prophet Muhammad was forty years old and he had reached
an age of maturity. The impact of this tremendous encounter may be said to
have melted his substance. The person he had been was like a skin scorched by
light and burnt away, and the man who descended from the mountain and sought
refuge in the arms of his wife Khadeeja was not the same man who had ascended it.
For the moment, however, he was as if a man pursued. As
he descended, he heard a great voice crying: ‘Muhammad, thou art the Messenger
of God and I am Gabriel.’ He looked upwards, and the angel filled the horizon.
Wherever he turned, the figure was there, inescapably present. He hastened
home and cried to Khadija: ‘Cover me! Cover me!’ She laid him down, placing a
cloak over him, and as soon as he had recovered himself a little he told her
what had happened. The Prophet was in fear for himself. She held him close
and solaced him:
“Never! By God, God will never disgrace you. You
keep good relations with your relatives, help the poor, serve your guests
generously, and assist those hit with calamities.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
She saw in her husband a man God would not humiliate
because of his virtues of honesty, justice, and helping the poor. The first
person on the face of earth to believe in him was his own wife, Khadija. At
once, she went to see her uncle Waraqa, a biblical scholar. After listening to
the account of her husband’s experience, Waraqa recognized him from the
prophecies of the Bible to be the awaited prophet, and he confirmed that what had
appeared to him in the cave was the indeed the angel Gabriel, the Angel of Revelation:
“This is the Keeper of Secrets (Gabriel) who came
to Moses.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The Prophet continued to receive revelations for the
remainder of his life, memorized and written down by his companions on pieces
of sheepskin and whatever else was at hand.
The Quran or “Recitation”
The words brought to him from Gabriel are held sacred by
the Muslims and are never confused with those which he uttered himself. The
former are the Sacred Book, the Quran; the latter the Hadith or Sunna of the
Prophet. Because the angel Gabriel would recite the Quran orally to the
Prophet, the Sacred Book is known as Al-Quran, “The Recitation,” the recitation
of the man who knew not how to read.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 4 of 12): Persecution in Mecca
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Description: The early days of the Prophet of Islam’s mission and persecution of the adherents of Islam.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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First Converts
_001.jpg) For the first few years of his Mission, the Prophet
preached to his family and his intimate friends. The first women to convert
was his wife Khadija, the first child his first cousin Ali, whom he had taken
under his care, and the first bondsman was his servant Zayd, a former slave. His
old friend Abu Bakr was the first adult free male to convert. Many years later
the Prophet said of him: ‘I have never called anyone to Islam who was not at
first hesitant, with the exception of Abu Bakr.’
Later, the command came to him to preach openly and to
speak out against idolatry. At first, the elders of Quraysh had been able to
ignore this strange little group, treating Muhammad as a sad case of
self-deception, but now they began to realize that his preaching, which was
attracting adherents among the poor and the dispossessed (and could therefore
be seen as subversive), presented a threat both to the religion and the
prosperity of Mecca. Open conflict, however, would have been against their
interests. Their power depended upon their unity, and with the example of
Yathrib - torn asunder by tribal conflict - as a grim warning of what could
happen in their own city, they were obliged to bide their time. Moreover, the
clan Hashim, whatever it might think privately of its rogue member, was bound
by custom to defend him if he was attacked. They confined themselves for the
time to mockery, perhaps the most effective weapon in the common man’s defense
against the in break of truth, since it does not involve the degree of
commitment inherent in violence. His former guardian Abu Talib give up his
call so not as to jeopardize his safety and the safety of the clan. ‘O my
uncle,’ he said, ‘even if they set against me the sun on my right and the moon
on my left, I will not abandon my purpose until God grants me success or until
I die.’ Abu Talib answered with a sigh: ‘O my brother’s son, I will not
forsake you.’
Tension in the city increased gradually, month by month,
as Muhammad’s spiritual influence spread, undermining the hegemony of the
elders of Quraysh and bringing division into their families. This influence
became even more dangerous to the established order when the content of the
successive revelations was broadened to include denunciation of the callousness
of the Meccan plutocracy, their greed for ‘more and more’ and their avarice. The
opposition was now led by a certain Abu Jahl, together with Abu Lahab and the
latter’s brother-in-law, a younger man who was more subtle and more talented
than either of them, Abu Sufyan. Returning one day from the hunt, Muhammad’s uncle
Hamza, who had so far remained neutral, was so angered on being told of the
insults heaped upon his nephew that he sought out Abu Jahl, struck him on the
head with his bow and announced then and there his conversion to Islam.
Beginning of Persecution
At the end of the third year, the Prophet received the
command to “arise and warn,” whereupon he began to preach in public, pointing
out the wretched folly of idolatry in face of the marvelous laws of day and
night, of life and death, of growth and decay, which manifest the power of God
and attest to His Oneness. It was then, when he began to speak against their
gods, that Qureysh became actively hostile, persecuting his poorer disciples,
mocking and insulting him. The one consideration which prevented them from
killing him was fear of the blood-vengeance of the clan to which his family
belonged. Strong in his inspiration, the Prophet went on warning, pleading, and
threatening, while Quraish did all they could to ridicule his teaching and
deject his followers.
The Flight to Abyssinia
The converts of the first four years were mostly humble
folk unable to defend themselves against oppression. So cruel was the
persecution they endured that the Prophet advised all who could possibly
contrive to do so to emigrate, at least temporarily, to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), where they would be well received by the Christian Negus, ‘an upright King.’ About
eighty converts fled there in 614 CE to the Christian country.
This apparent alliance with a foreign power further
infuriated the Meccans, and they sent envoys to the Negus demanding the Muslims’
extradition. A great debate was held at Court and the Muslims won the day,
first by demonstrating that they worshipped the same God as the Christians, and
then by reciting one of the Quranic passages concerning the Virgin Mary,
whereupon the Negus wept and said: ‘Truly this has come from the same source as
that which Jesus brought.’
Still in spite of persecution and emigration, the little
company of Muslims grew in number. The Quraish were seriously alarmed. Idol
worship at the Kaaba, the holy place to which all Arabia made pilgrimage,
ranked for them as its guardians, as first among their vested interests. At
the season of the pilgrimage, they posted men on all the roads to warn the
tribes against the madman who was preaching in their midst. They tried to
bring the Prophet to a compromise, offering to accept his religion if he would
so modify it as to make room for their gods as intercessors with God. In
return, they offered to make him their king if he would give up attacking
idolatry. Prophet Muhammad’s constant refusal frustrated their efforts at negotiation.
Conversion of Umar
More important still was the conversion of one of the
most formidable young men in the city, Umar ibn al-Khattab. Infuriated by the
increasing success of the new religion - so contrary to all that he had been
brought up to believe - he swore to kill Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings
of God be upon him, regardless of the consequences. He was instructed that,
before doing so, he had better look into the affairs of his own family, for his
sister and her husband had become Muslims. Bursting into their home he found
them reading a Chapter called ‘Ta-Ha’, and when his sister acknowledged that
they had indeed embraced Islam, he struck her a harsh blow. More than a little
ashamed of himself, he then asked to see what they had been reading. She
handed him the text after insisting he made ablution before handling it, and as
he read these verses of the Quran, he underwent a sudden and total
transformation. The sweet potency of the words of Quran changed him forever! He
went directly to Muhammad and accepted Islam.
Men such as these were too important in the social
hierarchy to be attacked, but most of the new Muslims were either poor or in
slavery. The poor were beaten and the slaves tortured to make them renounce their
faith, and there was little Muhammad could do to protect them.
A black slave named Bilal was pegged down naked under
the scorching sun with a heavy stone on his chest and left to die of thirst. He
was taunted by the pagans to renounce his religion in return for remission of torture,
but his only reply was ‘Ahad! Ahad!’ (‘God is One! God is One!’). It
was in this state, on the point of death, that Abu Bakr found him and ransomed
him for an exorbitant fee. He was nursed back to health in Muhammad’s home and
became one of the closest and best-loved of the companions. When, much later,
the question arose as to how the faithful should be summoned to prayer, Bilal
became the first mu’ezzin (the call to prayer announced with a loud
voice from the Muslim place of worship, called masjid) of Islam: a tall, thin
black man with a powerful voice and, so it is said, the face of a crow under a
thatch of grey hair; a man from whom the sun had burned out, during his
torment, everything but love of the One and of the messenger of the One.
Destruction of the Saheefah
Frustrated on every side,
the Meccan oligarchy, under the leadership of Abu Jahl, now drew up a formal
document declaring a ban or boycott against the Hashim clan as a whole; there
were to be no commercial dealings with them until they outlawed Muhammad, and no
one was to marry a woman of Hashim or give their daughter to a man of the clan.
Then, for three years, the Prophet was constrained with all his kinsfolk in
their stronghold, which was situated in one of the gorges which ran down to
Mecca.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 5 of 12): Setting the Stage for Migration
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Description: The major events which led to the emigration of the Muslims to Medina.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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Men from Yathrib
They came performing the pilgrimage (Hajj) from Yathrib,
a city more than two hundred miles away, which has since become world-famous as
al-Medina, “the City” par excellence. Yathrib was fortunate in its location in
a pleasant oasis, famous even to this day for the excellence of its dates, but
unfortunate in every other way. The oasis had been the scene of almost
unceasing tribal strife. Jews fought Jews and Arabs fought Arabs; Arabs allied
themselves with Jews and fought other Arabs allied with a different Jewish
community. While Mecca prospered, Yathrib lived in wretchedness. It was in
need of a leader capable of uniting its people.
At Yathrib, there were Jewish tribes with learned rabbis
who had often spoken to the pagans of a Prophet soon to come among the Jews,
with whom, when he came, the Jews would destroy the Arabs as the tribes of ‘Aad
and Thamud had been destroyed of old for their idolatry.
The Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God
be upon him, at that stage in his call was secretly visiting different tribes
in the outskirts of Mecca to convey them the message of Islam. Once, he
overheard a group of men at Aqaba, a place outside Mecca, and he asked to sit
with them to which they gladly welcomed. When the men from the tribe of Khazraj
from Yathrib heard what Muhammad had to say, they recognized him as the Prophet
whom the Jews had described to them, and all six men accepted Islam. They also
hoped that Muhammad, through this new religion, could be the man who would
unite them with their brother tribe, the Aws, a tribe in Yathrib with whom they
shared common ancestry, but distraught with years of war and animosity. They
determined to return to Yathrib and spread the religion of Muhammad. As a result,
not a house existed in Yathrib except that it heard the message Islam, and the
next season of pilgrimage, in the year 621, a deputation came from Yathrib
purposely to meet the Prophet.
First Pact of Aqaba
This deputation was composed of twelve men, five of
those present the previous year, and two members of the Aws. They met the
Prophet again at Aqaba and pledged in their own names and in those of their
wives, to associate no other creation with God (to become Muslim), neither to
steal nor to commit adultery nor to kill their infants, even in dire poverty;
and they undertook to obey this man in all things just. This is known as the
First Pledge of Aqaba. When they returned to Yathrib, the Prophet sent with
them his first ambassador, Mus’ab ibn ‘Umair, to teach the new converts the
rudiments of the faith and further spread the religion to those who had not yet
embraced Islam.
Mus’ab preached the message of Islam until almost every family
in Yathrib had a Muslim in their midst, and before the Hajj of the following
year, 622, Mus’ab returned to the Prophet and told him the good news of his
mission, and of the goodness and strength of Yathrib and its people.
Second Pact of Aqaba
In 622, pilgrims from Yathrib, seventy-five of them Muslims,
from them two women, came to perform the Hajj. During the latter part of one
night, while all were asleep, the Muslims from amongst the Yathribite pilgrims
secretly crept into the place whether they had previously arranged to meet the
Prophet, at the rocks at Aqaba, to vow allegiance to the Prophet and invite him
to their city. At Aqaba, they met the Prophet, and with him was his uncle,
then still a pagan but one who defended his nephew due to familial bonds. He spoke
and warned the Muslims about the dangers of their task, and against proving
untrue to their commitment if they undertook it. Another person from the
pilgrims who was present the previous two years also stood and warned against
the danger of their commitment and their preparedness to uphold it. In their
staunch determination and love of the Prophet, they swore to defend him as they
would defend their own selves, their wives and children. It was then that the
Hijrah, the emigration to Yathrib, was decided.
This is known as the Pledge of War, because it involved
protecting the person of the Prophet, by arms if necessary; and soon after the
emigration to Yathrib, the Quranic verses permitting war in defense of the
religion were revealed. These verses are crucial in the history of Islam:
“Permission is given unto those who fight because they have
been wronged, and God is indeed able to give them victory; those who have been
driven from their homes unjustly only because they said -- Our Lord is God! For
were it not that God repels some people by means of others, monasteries and
churches and synagogues and mosques in which the name of God is extolled would
surely have been destroyed…” (Quran 22:39-40)
A turning-point had come for Prophet Muhammad, for the
Muslims, and for the world. It was Prophet Muhammad’s destiny, and an aspect
of his prophetic function, that he should demonstrate the alternatives open to
the persecuted and the oppressed; on the one hand, forbearance; on the other,
what is called by Christians the ‘just war’, but for which, in the words of a
later Quranic revelation – “corruption would surely
overwhelm the earth” (Quran 2:251). For almost thirteen years, he
and his followers had suffered persecution, threats and insults without raising
a hand in self-defense. They had proved that this was humanly possible. Circumstances
were now changing and called for a very different response if the religion of
Islam was to survive in the world. Peace has its seasons, but so has war, and
the Muslim never forgets that every man born is born to struggle in one form or
another, at one level or another; if not physically, then spiritually. Those
who try to ignore this fact are, sooner or later, enslaved.
Plot to Murder the Prophet
In small groups, the Muslims slipped out of Mecca and
took the road to Yathrib. The Hijrah (‘emigration’) had begun.
For Quraish the limits of what was bearable had been
passed. Enemies within the city were bad enough, but now these enemies were
setting up a rival centre to the north. The death of Abu Talib had removed Muhammad’s
chief protector. Restrained hitherto by principles inherited from their bedouin
forefathers and by the fear of causing a troublesome blood feud, the leaders finally
decided that Muhammad must die. Abu Jahl proposed a simple plan. Young men
should be chosen from different clans, each one to strike a mortal blow, so
that Muhammad’s blood would be upon all of them. Hashim could not seek
retribution from all the other clans.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 6 of 12): The Hijrah of the Prophet
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Description: A detailed account of the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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> The Prophet Muhammad
> His Biography
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The Hijrah (23 September, 622 C.E.)
Meanwhile, the Prophet, with a few intimates, had been
awaiting the divine command to join the other Muslims in Yathrib. He was not
free to emigrate until this command came to him. At last the command came. He
gave his cloak to Ali, bidding him lie down on the bed so that anyone looking
in might think Muhammad lay there. The slayers were to strike him as he came
out of the house, whether in the night or early morning. He knew they would
not injure Ali. The assassins were already surrounding his house when Prophet
Muhammad slipped out unseen. He went to Abu Bakr’s house and called to him,
and they both went together to a cavern in a desert hill, hiding there until
the hue and cry was past. Abu Bakr’s son and daughter and his herdsman brought
them food and tidings after nightfall. Once, a search party came so near to them
in their hiding-place that they could hear their words. Abu Bakr was afraid
and said, “O Messenger of God, Were one of them to look down towards his feet,
he would see us!” The Prophet replied:
“What do you think of two people with whim God is
the Third? Do not be sad, for indeed God is with us.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
When the search party had departed their presence, , Abu
Bakr had the riding-camels and the guide brought to the cave at night, and they
set out on the long ride to Yathrib.
After traveling for many days on unfrequented paths, the
fugitives reached a suburb of Yathrib called Qubaa, where, for weeks past, the
people of the city heard that the Prophet had left Mecca, and hence they been setting
out to the local hills every morning, watching for the Prophet until heat drove
them to shelter. The travelers arrived in the heat of the day, after the watchers
had retired. A Jew who was out and about saw him approaching and called out to
the Muslims that he whom they expected had at last arrived, and the Muslims set
out to the hills before Qubaa to greet him.
The Prophet stayed in Qubaa for some days, and there he
built the first mosque of Islam. By that time, Ali, who had left Mecca by foot three days after the Prophet, has also arrived. The Prophet, his companions
from Mecca, and the “Helpers” of Qubaa led him to Medina, where they had been
eagerly anticipating his arrival.
The inhabitants of Medina never saw a brighter day in
their history. Anas, a close companion of the Prophet, said:
I was present the day he entered Medina and I have never
seen a better or brighter day than the day on which he came to us in Medina,
and I was present on the day he died, and I have never seen a day worse or darker
than the day on which he died” (Ahmed)
Every house in Medina wished that the Prophet would stay
with them, and some tried to lead his camel to their home. The Prophet stopped
them and said:
“Leave her, for she is under (Divine) Command.”
It passed many houses until it cam to a halt and knelt
at the land of Banu Najjaar. The Prophet did not descend until the camel had risen
and gone on a little, then it turned and went back to its original place and
knelt again. Upon that, the Prophet descended from it. He was pleased with
its choice, for Banu Najjaar were his maternal uncles, and he also desired to
honor them. When individuals from the family has were soliciting him to enter
their houses, a certain Abu Ayyoub stepped for ward to his saddle and took it
into his house. The Prophet said:
“A man goes with his saddle.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari,
Saheeh Muslim)
The first task he undertook in Medina was to build a
Mosque. The Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God
be upon him, sent for the two boys who owned the date-store and asked them to
name the price of the yard. They answered, “Nay, but we shall make thee a gift
of it, O Prophet of God!” The Prophet however, refused their offer, paid them
its price and built a mosque from there, he himself taking part in its
erection. While working, he was heard saying:
“O God! There is no goodness except that of the
Hereafter, so please forgive the Helpers and the Emigrants.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The mosque served as a place of worship for Muslims. The
prayer which was previously an individual act performed in secret now became a
public affair, one which epitomizes a Muslim society. The period in which
Muslims and Islam was subordinate and oppressed was over, now the adthaan, the
call to prayer, would be called aloud, booming and penetrating the walls of
every house, calling and reminding Muslims to fulfill their obligation to their
Creator. The mosque was a symbol of the Islamic society. It was a place of
worship, a school where Muslims would enlighten themselves about the truths if
the religion, a meeting place whether the differences of various warring
parties would be resolved, and an administration building from which all
matters concerning the society would emanate, a true example of how Islam
incorporates all aspects of life into the religion. All these tasks were
undertaken in a place built upon the trunks of date-palm trunks roofed with its
leaves.
When the first and most important task was complete, he
also made houses on both sides of the mosque for his family, also from the same
materials. The Prophet’s Mosque and house in Medina stands today in that very
place.
The Hijrah had been completed. It was 23 September 622,
and the Islamic era, the Muslim calendar, begins the day on which this event
took place.. And from this day on Yathrib had a new name, a name of glory: Madinat-un-Nabi,
the City of the Prophet, in brief, Medina.
Such was the Hijrah, the emigration from Mecca to Yathrib. The thirteen years of humiliation, of persecution, of limited success, and
of prophecy still unfulfilled were over.
The ten years of success, the fullest that has ever
crowned one man’s endeavor, had begun. The Hijrah makes a clear division in the
story of the Prophet’s Mission, which is evident from the Quran. Till then he
had only been a preacher. Thenceforth he was the ruler of a State, at first a
very small one, but which grew in ten years to become the empire of Arabia. The kind of guidance which he and his people needed after the Hijrah was not the
same as that which they had needed before. The Medina chapters differ,
therefore, from the Meccan chapters. The latter give guidance to the individual
soul and to the Prophet as Warner: the former give guidance to a growing social
and political community and to the Prophet as example, lawgiver, and reformer.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 7 of 12): A New Stage in Medina
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Description: The challenges of establishment a new city state in Medina.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 19 Feb 2008
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> The Prophet Muhammad
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Prophet Muhammad’s main meal was usually a boiled gruel,
with dates and milk, his only other meal of the day being dates and water; but
he frequently went hungry, sometimes even binding a flat stone against his
belly to alleviate his discomfort. One day a woman gave him a cloak -
something he badly needed - but the same evening someone asked for it to make a
shroud, and he promptly gave it as charity. He was brought food by those who
had a small surplus, but he never seemed to keep it long enough to taste it, as
there was always someone in greater need. With diminished physical strength -
now fifty-two years old - he struggled to build a nation based upon the true
religion of Islam out of the varied assortment of people God had given him as
his raw material.
By force of character combined with extraordinary
diplomatic skill, Prophet Muhammad began to reconcile the warring factions of
Medina. With his other companions also emigrating, a support system for the
newcomers was of essential importance. To unite the ‘emigrants’ (Muhājirūn)
with the local Muslims, the ‘helpers’ (Ansār), he established a
system of personal relationships: each ‘helper’ took an ‘emigrant’ as his
brother, to be treated as such under all circumstances and to stand in order of
inheritance along with members of the natural family. With a few exceptions,
the ‘emigrants’ had lost everything they possessed and were completely
dependent upon their new brothers. The Helpers sometimes
went so far as to give their Emigrant brothers half of whatever they possessed
in the form of houses, assets, lands and groves. Such was the enthusiasm of
the Helpers to share everything with their brothers-in-faith that they divided
everything into two parts to draw lots for allocating their share. In most
cases, they tried to give the Emigrants the fairer portion of their property.
One is tempted to describe as a ‘miracle’ the fact that
this situation seems to have caused no resentment whatever among those who were
so suddenly obliged to take complete strangers into their families. This bond
of brotherhood broke all ties of ancestry, color, nationality and other factors
previously regarded as a standard of honor. The only ties which now mattered
were religious. Seldom has the power of religious faith to change men been
more clearly demonstrated.
The Meccan Muslims, however, had not forgotten their old
skills. An ‘emigrant’ who when his new brother said to him, ‘O poorest of the
poor, how can I help you? My house and my funds are at your disposal!’
replied: ‘O kindest of kind friends, just show me the way to the local market.
The rest will take care of itself.’ This man, it is said, started by selling cheese
and clarified butter, and soon became rich enough to pay the dower of a local girl
and, in due course, was able to equip a caravan of 700 camels.
Such enterprise was encouraged, but there were also
those who had neither the ability to do so nor did they have family or property.
They would spend the day in the Mosque and at night, the Prophet would place
them with various individuals of the Helpers. They came to be known as ‘Ahl
us-Suffa.’ Some were fed at the Prophet’s own table, when there was any to
spare, and with roasted barley from the community chest.
In the first year of his reign at Yathrib, the Prophet
made a solemn covenant of mutual obligation between his people and the Jews
tribes of Medina and its surrounding areas, in which it was agreed that they
would have equal status as citizens of a state and full religious liberty, and
that each would defend the other if attacked.
But their idea of a Prophet was one who would give them
dominion, and a Jewish prophet, not an Arabian one. The Jews had also profited
greatly from the infighting between Arab tribes, as it was through this
instability of the region that they had gained the upper hand in trade and
commodities. Peace among the tribes of Medina and its surrounding areas was a
threat to the Jews.
Also, from among the inhabitants of Medina were those who
resented the newcomers, but held their peace for the time being. The most
powerful of them, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salool, was extremely resentful of the
arrival of the Prophet, as it was he who was the de facto the leader of Yathrib
prior to the Prophet. He accepted Islam as a matter of formality, though he
would later betray the Muslims as the leader of the ‘hypocrites.’
Due to this common hatred of the Prophet, the Muslims,
and the new state of affairs of Yathrib, the alliance between the Jews and the ‘hypocrites’
of Medina was almost inevitable. Throughout the history of Muslims in Medina, they tried to seduce the followers of the new religion, constantly plotting and
planning against them. Due to this, there is frequent mention of the Jews and hypocrites
in the Medina chapters of the Quran.
The Qiblah
The Qiblah (the direction toward which the Muslims pray)
until this point had been Jerusalem. The Jews imagined that the choice implied
a leaning toward Judaism and that the Prophet stood in need of their instruction.
The Prophet longed for the Qiblah to be changed to the Kaaba. The first place
on earth built for the worship of God, and rebuilt by Abraham. In the second
year after the migration, The Prophet received command to change the Qiblah
from Jerusalem to the Kaaba at Mecca. A whole portion of Surah al-Baqara
relates to this Jewish controversy.
The First Expeditions
The Prophet’s first concern as ruler was to establish
public worship and lay down the constitution of the State: but he did not forget
that the Quraish had sworn to make an end of his religion. Enraged that the
Prophet had succeeded in migrating to Medina, they increased their torture and
persecution of the Muslims who stayed behind in Mecca. Their evil plots did
not stop their. They also tried to make secret alliances with some polytheists
of Medina, such as Abdullah ibn Ubayy previously mentioned, ordering him to
kill or expel the Prophet. The Quraish often sent threatening messages to
Muslims of Medina warning of their annihilation, and so much news of the plots
and plans of the polytheists reached the Prophet himself that he requested the
positioning of security guards around his house. It was at this time that God
had given the Muslims permission to take arms against the disbelievers.
For thirteen years they had been strict pacifists. Now,
however, several small expeditions were sent, led either by the Prophet himself
or some other of the emigrants from Mecca for the purpose of reconnoitering the
routes which led to Mecca, as well as forming alliances with other tribes. Other
expeditions were led in order to intercept some caravans returning from Syria en route to Mecca, a way that Muslims could place economic pressure of the Quraish in order to
quit their harassment of the Muslims, both in Mecca and Medina. Few of these
expeditions ever saw actual battle, but through them, the Muslims established
their new position in the Arabian Peninsula, that they were no longer an
oppressed and weak people, but rather their strength had grown and were now a
formidable force not easily reckoned with.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 8 of 12): The Campaign of Badr
|
Description: One of the most decisive battles in human history changed the political balance of the Arabian Peninsula.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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The Campaign of Badr
On one expedition, the Quraishite caravan on route to Syria had escaped the Muslims. The Muslims were in wait for its return. Some scouts of
the Muslims saw the caravan, led by Abu Sufyan himself, pass by them, and hurriedly
informed the Prophet of it and its size. If this caravan were intercepted, it
would have an economic impact of great measure, one which would shake the
entire society of the Meccans. The Muslim scouts reported that the caravan would
be halting at the wells of Badr, and the Muslims now prepared themselves to
intercept it.
News of these preparations reached Abu Sufyan on his
southward journey, and he sent an urgent message to Mecca that an army should
be dispatched to deal with the Muslims. Grasping the catastrophic consequences
if the caravan were intercepted, they immediately rounded as much power as
possible and departed to encounter the Muslims. On way to Badr, the army
received news that Abu Sufyan managed to escape the Muslims by driving the
caravan to an alternative route along the seashore. The Meccan army, numbering
about a thousand men, persisted to Badr in order to teach a lesson to the
Muslims, dissuading them from attacking any caravans in the future.
When the Muslims came to know of the advance of the
Meccan army, they knew that a daring step must be taken in the matter. If the
Muslims did not encounter them at Badr, the Meccans would continue undermine
the cause of Islam with all their ability, possibly even proceeding to Medina desecrating lives property and wealth there. The Prophet, may the mercy and
blessings of God be upon him, held and advisory meeting to determine the course
of action. The Prophet did not want to lead the Muslims, especially the
Helpers who were the far majority of the army and were not even bound by the
Pledge of Aqaba to fight beyond their territories, into something they did not
agree to.
A man from the Helpers, Sa’d ibn Mu’aadh stood
reaffirmed their devotion to the Prophet and the cause of Islam. From his
words were the following:
“O Prophet of God! We believe in you and we bear
witness to what you have vouchsafed to us, and we declare in unequivocal terms
that what you have brought is the Truth. We give you our firm pledge of
obedience and sacrifice. We obey you most willingly in whatever you command
us, and by God Who has sent you with the Truth, if you were to ask us to plunge
into the sea, we will do that most readily, and not a man of us will stay
behind. We do not grudge the idea of encounter with the enemy. We are
experienced in war and we are trustworthy in combat. We hope that God will
show you through our hands those deeds of valor which will please your eyes. Kindly
lead us to the battlefield in the Name of God.
After this show of extreme support and love for the
Prophet and Islam by both the Emigrants and the Helpers, the Muslims, numbering
a little over 300, made their way as best they could to Badr. They had only
seventy camels and three horses between them, so the men rode by turns. They
went forward to what is known in history as al- Yawm al-Furqan, the Day
of Discrimination; discrimination between light and darkness, good and evil,
right and wrong.
Preceding the Day of the battle, the Prophet spent the
whole night in prayer and supplication. The battle was fought on 17 Ramadan in
the second year of the Hijra; 624 C.E. It was customary for the Arabs to start
the battles with individual duels. The Muslims gained an advantage in the
duels, and some notaries of the Quraish had been killed. The Quraish enraged,
the fell upon the Muslims in order to exterminate them once and for all. The
Muslims kept a strategic defensive position, which in turn produced heavy
losses for the Meccans. The Prophet was beseeching His Lord with all his might
by this time, extending his hands so high that his cloak fell off his shoulders.
At that point, he received a revelation promising of the help of God:
“…I will help you with a thousand of the angels one behind
another in succession.” (Quran 8:9)
Upon hearing the good news, the Prophet ordered the
Muslims took an offensive. The great army of Quraish was overwhelmed by the
zeal, valor and faith of the Muslims, and after facing heavy losses, they could
do nothing but flee. The Muslims were left alone on the field with a few
doomed Meccans, amongst them the arch-enemy of Islam, Abu Jahl. The Quraish
were defeated and Abu Jahl was killed. The promise of God came true:
“Their multitude will be defeated, and they will turn their
backs (in flee).” (Quran 54:45)
In this, one of the most decisive battles in human
history, the total casualties were between only between seventy and eighty.
Mecca reeled under the shock, where Abu Sufyan was left as
the dominant figure in the city, and he knew better than anyone that the matter
could not be allowed to rest there. Success breeds success, and the bedouin tribes,
never slow to assess the balance of power, were increasingly inclined towards
alliance with the Muslims, and Islam gained many new converts in Medina.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 9 of 12): The Treason of Former Allies
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Description: Mistakes at Uhud lead to heavy losses of life, and a new tactic reveals victory for the Muslims.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 19 Feb 2008
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The Battle on Mt. Uhud
In fact, in the following year, an army of three
thousand men came from Mecca to destroy Yathrib. The Prophet’s first idea was
merely to defend the city, a plan of which Ibn Ubayy, the leader of “the Hypocrites”,
strongly approved. But the men who had fought at Badr, believing that God
would help them against any odds, thought it a shame that they should linger
behind walls.
The Prophet, approving of their faith and zeal, gave way
to them, and set out with an army of one thousand men toward Mt. Uhud, where the enemy were encamped. Ibn Ubayy withdrew with his men, who were a third of
the army, in retaliation. Despite the heavy odds, the battle on Mt. Uhud would have been an even greater victory than that at Badr for the Muslims, but for
the disobedience of a band of fifty archers whom the Prophet had set to guard a
pass against the enemy cavalry. Seeing their comrades victorious, these men
left their post, fearing to lose their share of the spoils. The cavalry of Quraish
rode through the gap and fell on the exultant Muslims. The Prophet himself was
wounded and the cry arose that he was slain, until someone recognized him and
shouted that he was still living: a shout to which the Muslims rallied. Gathering
round the Prophet, they retreated, leaving many dead on the hillside. The
field belonged to the Meccans, and now the women of Quraish moved among the
corpses, lamenting the slain from amongst their own people and mutilating the
Muslim dead. Hamzah, the Prophet’s young uncle and childhood friend, was among
the latter, and the abominable Hind, Abu Sufyan’s wife, who bore Hamzah a
particular grudge and had offered a reward to the man who killed him, ate his
liver, plucked from the still warm body. On the following day, the Prophet
again sallied forth with what remained of the army, that Quraish might hear
that he was in the field and so might perhaps be deterred from attacking the
city. The stratagem succeeded, thanks to the behavior of a friendly bedouin
who met the Muslims, conversed with them and afterwards met the army of Quraish.
Questioned by Abu Sufyan, he said that Muhammad was in the field, stronger than
ever, and thirsting for revenge for yesterday’s affair. On that information,
Abu Sufyan decided to return to Mecca.
Massacre of Muslims
The reverse which they had suffered on Mt. Uhud lowered the prestige of the Muslims with the Arab tribes and also with the Jews of
Yathrib. Tribes which had inclined toward the Muslims now inclined toward the Quraish.
The Prophet’s followers were attacked and murdered when they went abroad in
little companies. Khubaib, one of his envoys, was captured by a desert tribe
and sold to the Quraish, who tortured him to death in Mecca publicly.
Expulsion of Bani Nadhir
The Jews, despite their treaty with the Muslims, now
hardly concealed their hostility. They began negotiating alliances with Quraish
and the ‘hypocrites,’ and even attempted to assassinate the Prophet. The
Prophet was obliged to take punitive action against some of them. The tribe of
Bani Nadheer were besieged in their strong towers, subdued and forced to
emigrate.
The War of the Trench
Abu Sufyan must have understood very well that the old
game of tit for tat was no longer valid. Either the Muslims must be destroyed
or the game was lost for ever. With great diplomatic skill he set about
forming a confederacy of bedouin tribes, some, no doubt, opposed to the Muslims,
but others merely eager for plunder, and at the same time he began quietly to
sound out the Jews in Medina regarding a possible alliance. In the fifth year
of the Hijrah (early in 627 C.E.) he set out with 10,000 men, the greatest army
ever seen in the Hijaz (the western region of the Arabian Peninsula). Medina could raise at most 3,000 to oppose him.
The Prophet presided over a council of war, and this
time no one suggested going out to meet the enemy. The only question was how
the town could best be defended. At this point Salman the Persian, a former
slave who had become one of the closest of the companions, suggested the
digging of a deep ditch to join the defensive strong points formed by the lava
fields and by fortified buildings. This was something unheard of in Arab
warfare, but the Prophet immediately appreciated the merits of the plan and
work began at once, he himself carrying rubble from the diggings on his back.
The work was barely finished when the confederate army
appeared on the horizon. While the Muslims were awaiting the assault, news
came that Bani Quraidhah, a Jewish tribe of Yathrib which had, until then, been
loyal, had defected to the enemy. The case seemed desperate. The Prophet
brought every available man to the ditch, leaving the town itself under the
command of a blind companion, and the enemy was met with a hail of arrows as
they came up to the unexpected obstacle. They never crossed it, but remained
in position for three or four weeks, exchanging arrows and insults with the
defenders. The weather turned severe, with icy winds and a tremendous
downpour, and this proved too much for the bedouin confederates. They had come
in the expectation of easy plunder and saw nothing to be gained from squatting
beside a muddy ditch in appalling weather and watching their beasts die for
lack of fodder. They faded away without so much as a farewell to Abu Sufyan. The
army disintegrated and he himself was forced to withdraw. The game was over. He
had lost.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 10 of 12): The Treaty of Hudaibiyyah
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Description: The hidden victory of a non-aggression treaty between the Muslims and the Meccans.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 08 Jul 2006
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> The Prophet Muhammad
> His Biography
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Punishment of Bani Quraidhah
Nothing is worse, in Arab eyes, than the betrayal of
trust and the breaking of a solemn pledge. It was time now to deal with Bani Quraidhah.
On the day of the return from the trench the Prophet ordered war on the
treacherous Bani Quraidhah, who, conscious of their guilt, had already taken
to their towers of refuge. After a siege of nearly a month they had to
surrender unconditionally. They only begged that they might be judged by a
member of the Arab tribe of which they were adherents. They chose the head of
the clan with which they had long been in alliance, Sa’d ibn Mu’ādh of
Aws, who was dying from wounds received at Uhud and had to be propped up to
give judgment. Without hesitation, he condemned the men of the tribe to death.
Hudaibiyyah
In the same year the Prophet had a vision in which he
found himself entering Mecca unopposed, therefore he determined to attempt the
pilgrimage. Besides a number of Muslims from Medina, he called upon the
friendly Arabs to accompany him, whose numbers had increased since the
miraculous discomfiture of the clans at the Battle of the Ditch, but most of
them did not respond. Attired as pilgrims, and taking with them the customary
offerings, a company of fourteen hundred men journeyed to Mecca. As they drew
near the valley they were met by a friend from the city, who warned the Prophet
that the Quraish had had sworn to prevent his entering the sanctuary; their
cavalry was on the road before him. On that, the Prophet ordered a detour through
mountain gorges, so the Muslims were tired out when they came down at last into
the valley of Mecca and encamped at a spot called Hudaybiyyah; from thence he
tried to open negotiations with the Quraish, to explain that he came only as a
pilgrim. The first messenger he sent towards the city was maltreated and his
camel hamstrung. He returned without delivering his message. The Quraish, on
their side, sent an envoy who was threatening in tone, and very arrogant. Another
of their envoys was too familiar in the way he spoke to the Prophet, and had to
be reminded sternly of the respect due to him. It was he who consequently said,
on his return to the city of Mecca: “I have seen Caesar and Chosroes in their
pomp, but never have I seen a man honored as Muhammad is honored by his
comrades.”
The Prophet sought to send some messenger who would
impose respect. Uthman was finally chosen because of his kinship with the
powerful Umayyad family. While the Muslims were awaiting his return the news
came that he had been murdered. It was then that the Prophet, sitting under a
tree in Hudaybiyyah, took an oath from all his comrades that they would stand
or fall together. After a while, however, it became known that Uthman had not
been murdered. Then a troop that came out from the city to molest the Muslims
in their camp was captured before they could do any hurt and brought before the
Prophet, who forgave them on their promise to renounce hostility.
Truce of Hudaibiyyah
Eventually proper envoys came from the Quraish. After
some negotiation, the truce of Hudaybiyyah was signed. It stipulated that for
ten years there were to be no hostilities between the parties. The Prophet was
to return to Medina without visiting the Kaaba, but he would be able to perform
the pilgrimage with his comrades in the following year. The Quraish promised they
would evacuate Mecca to allow him to do so. Deserters from the Quraish to the
Muslims during the period of the truce were to be returned; not so deserters
from the Muslims to the Quraish. Any tribe or clan who wished to share in the
treaty as allies of the Prophet might do so, and any tribe or clan who wished
to share in the treaty as allies of the Quraish might do so. There was dismay
among the Muslims at these terms. They asked one another: “Where is the
victory that we were promised?”
It was during the return journey from Hudaybiyyah that
the surah entitled “Victory” was revealed. This truce proved, in fact, to be
the greatest victory that the Muslims had till then achieved. War had been a
barrier between them and the idolaters, but now both parties met and talked
together, and the new religion spread more rapidly. In the two years which
elapsed between the signing of the truce and the fall of Mecca the number of
converts was greater than the total number of all previous converts. The
Prophet traveled to Hudaybiyyah with 1400 men. Two years later, when the
Meccans broke the truce, he marched against them with an army of 10,000.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 11 of 12): The Return to Mecca
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Description: Events which led to the conquest of Mecca, and eventually to the end of idolatry in Arabia.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 08 Jul 2006
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> The Prophet Muhammad
> His Biography
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The Campaign of Khyber
In the seventh year or the Hijrah the Prophet, may God
praise to him, led a campaign against Khyber, the stronghold of the Jewish
tribes in North Arabia, which had become a hornets’ nest of his enemies. The
Jews of Khyber thenceforth became tenants of the Muslims. It was at Khyber
that a Jewish woman prepared poisoned meat for the Prophet, of which he only
tasted a morsel. Hardly had the morsel touched his lips than he became aware
that it was poisoned. Without swallowing it, he warned his companions of the
poison, but one Muslim, who had already swallowed a mouthful, died later. The
woman who had cooked the meat was put to death.
Pilgrimage to Mecca
In the same year the Prophet’s vision was fulfilled: he
visited Mecca unopposed. In accordance with the terms of the truce the
idolaters evacuated the city, and from the surrounding heights watched the
procedure of the Muslims.
Truce broken by the Quraish
A little later, a tribe allied to the Quraish broke the
truce by attacking a tribe that was in alliance with the Prophet and massacring
them even in the sanctuary at Mecca. Afterwards they were afraid because of
what they had done. They sent Abu Sufyan to Medina to ask for the existing
treaty to be renewed and, its term prolonged. They hoped that he would arrive
before the tidings of the massacre. But a messenger from the injured tribe had
been before him and Abu Sufyan failed again.
Conquest of Mecca
Then the Prophet summoned all the Muslims capable of bearing
arms and marched to Mecca. The Quraish were overawed. Their cavalry put up a
show of defense before the town, but were routed without bloodshed; and the
Prophet entered his native city as conqueror.
The inhabitants expected vengeance for their past
misdeeds, but the Prophet proclaimed a general amnesty. In their relief and
surprise, the whole population of Mecca hastened to swear allegiance. The
Prophet ordered all the idols which were in the sanctuary to be destroyed,
saying: “Truth hath come; darkness hath vanished away;” and the Muslim call to
prayer was heard in Mecca.
Battle of Hunain
In the same year there was an angry gathering of pagan tribes
eager to regain the Kaaba. The Prophet led twelve thousand men against them. At
Hunain, in a deep ravine, his troops were ambushed by the enemy and almost put
to flight. It was with difficulty that they were rallied to the Prophet and
his bodyguard of faithful comrades who alone stood firm. But the victory, when
it came, was complete and the booty enormous, for many of the hostile tribes
had brought out with them everything that they possessed.
Conquest of Taif
The tribe of Thaqeef were among the enemy at Hunain. After
that victory their city of Taif was besieged by the Muslims, and finally
reduced. Then the Prophet appointed a governor of Mecca, and himself returned
to Medina to the boundless joy of the Ansar, who had feared lest, now that he
had regained his native city, he might forsake them and make Mecca the capital.
The Tabook Expedition
In the ninth year of the Hijrah, hearing that an army
was again being mustered in Syria, the Prophet called on all the Muslims to
support him in a great campaign. In spite of infirmity, the Prophet led an army
against the Syrian frontier in midsummer. The far distance, the hot season, and
the fact that it was harvest time and the prestige of the enemy caused many to
excuse themselves and many more to stay behind without excuse. They camped
that night without food or drink, sheltering behind their camels; and so they
reached the oasis of Tabuk, finally returning to Mecca after converting several
tribes. But the campaign ended peacefully. The army advanced to Tabuk, on the
border of Syria, but there they learnt that the enemy had not yet gathered.
Declaration of Immunity
Although Mecca had been conquered and its people were
now Muslims, the official order of the pilgrimage had not been changed; the
pagan Arabs performing it in their manner, and the Muslims in their manner. It
was only after the pilgrims’ caravan had left Medina in the ninth year of the
Hijrah, when Islam was dominant in North Arabia, that the Declaration of
Immunity, as it is called, was revealed. Its purport was that after that year
Muslims only were to make the pilgrimage, exception being made for such of the
idolaters as had an ongoing treaty with the Muslims and had never broken their treaties
nor supported anyone against those they had treaties with. Such, then, were to
enjoy the privileges of their treaty for the term thereof, but when their
treaty had expired they would be as other idolaters. This proclamation marked
the end of idol-worship in Arabia.
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Muhammad’s Biography (part 12 of 12): Bidding Farewell
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Description: The Pilgrimage of the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, and his death.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Feb 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
Viewed: 10518 (daily average: 8) - Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Rated by: 14
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Category: Articles
> The Prophet Muhammad
> His Biography
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The Farewell Pilgrimage
The end, however, was drawing closer, and in the tenth
year of the Hijra he set off from Medina with some 90,000 Muslims from every
part of Arabia to perform Hajj, the pilgrimage. This triumphal journey of the
aging man, worn by years of persecution and then by unceasing struggle, is
surrounded by a kind of twilight splendor, as though a great ring of light had
finally closed, encompassing the mortal world in its calm radiance.
In the tenth year of the Hijrah he went to Mecca as a pilgrim for the last time, referred to as his “pilgrimage of farewell” when
from the plain of Arafat he preached to an enormous throng of pilgrims. He reminded
them of all the duties Islam enjoined upon them, and that they would one day
have to meet their Lord, who would judge each one of them according to his work.
At the end of the discourse, he asked: “Have I not conveyed the Message?” And
from that great multitude of men who a few months or years before had all been
conscienceless idolaters the shout went up: “O God! Yes!” The Prophet said: “O
God! You be witness!” Islam had been established and would grow into a great
tree sheltering far greater multitudes. His work was done and he was ready, to
lay down his burden and depart.
Illness and Death of the Prophet
The Prophet returned to Medina. There was still work to
be done; but one day he was seized by a painful illness. He came to the mosque
wrapped in a blanket and there were those who saw the signs of death in his
face.
“If there is anyone among you,” he said, “whom I
have caused to be flogged unjustly, here is my back. Strike in your turn. If
I have damaged the reputation of any among you, may he do likewise to mine.”
He had said once:
“What have I to do with this world? I and this
world are as a rider and a tree beneath which he shelters. Then he goes on his
way and leaves it behind him.”
And now he said:
“There is a slave among the slaves of God who has
been offered the choice between this world and that which is with Him, and the
slave has chosen that which is with God.”
On 12 Rabī’ul-Awwal in the eleventh year of the
Hijrah, which in the Christian calendar is 8 June 632, he entered the mosque
for the last time. Abu Bakr was leading the prayer, and he motioned to him to
continue. As he watched the people, his face became radiant. ‘I never saw the
Prophet’s face more beautiful than it was at that hour,’ said his companion Anas.
Returning to Aisha’s apartment he laid his head on her lap. He opened his eyes
and she heard him murmur: ‘With the highest companion in Paradise . . .’ These
were his last words. When, later in the day, the rumor grew that he was dead.
Umar threatened those who spread the rumor with dire punishment, declaring it a
crime to think that the Messenger of God could die. He was storming at the
people in that strain when Abu Bakr came into the mosque and overheard him. Abu
Bakr went to the chamber of his daughter Aisha, where the Prophet lay. Having
ascertained the fact, and kissed the dead-man’s forehead, he went back into the
mosque. The people were still listening to Umar, who was saying that the rumor
was a wicked lie, that the Prophet, who was their life blood , could not be
dead. Abu Bakr went up to Umar and tried to stop him by a whispered word. Then,
finding he would pay no heed, Abu Bakr called to the people, who, recognizing
his voice, left Umar and came crowding round him. He first gave praise to God,
and then said those words which epitomize the creed of Islam: “O people! Lo! As
for him who used to worship Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. But as for him who
used to worship God, God is alive and dies not.” He then recited the verse of
the Quran:
“And Muhammad is but a messenger;
messengers the like of whom have passed away before him. Will it be that, when
he dies or is slain, you will turn back on your heels? He who turneth back
doth no hurt to God, and God will reward the thankful.”
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