Muhammad & Islam : Stories not told before

MUHAMMAD & ISLAM: Stories not told before.

By Mohammad Asghar

PART - 11

Some writers, Sir John Glubb being among them, tell us a different story. They say that Muslims were defeated in the battle, which incited such anger in the Muslims of Madina as to make them throw dirt at the army when it returned home.

THE CAPTURE OF MECCA

Muslims by this time had reached a stage where consecutive victories in their battles had given them great confidence, both in themselves and in their leader. They felt confident in facing any enemy who dared to challenge Muhammad's authority. He, on his part, felt no qualm in subduing any opponent, either by force of arms or by the sheer quality of his deceptive diplomacy. He, therefore, turned his attention to Mecca, his native city, from which he had so ignominiously escaped some eight years ago, and decided to take it over in order to restore it to the worship of one true God as well as to make it a rallying point of his religion.

Although he was prepared to implement his decision without delay, but a term of the treaty of Hudaybiyya that he had concluded two years ago proved to be an impediment. It provided for peach between the contracting parties for ten years. He began, therefore, to look for an opportunity that would help him achieve his goal. And the opportunity came his way, rather too soon.

One of the clauses of the treaty authorized both Muhammad and the Meccan Quraish to sign treaties with any tribe that desired to join them for whatever reason. Such treaties, when concluded, meant that the tribes concerned became parties to the ten-year truce. On this basis, the Quraish had made a treaty with the tribe of Kinana, while Muhammad had done the same with the tribe of Khuzza.

It so happened that a clan of Kinana, known as Bani Baker, killed a man of the tribe of Khuzza in fulfillment of an old blood feud that had existed between them. As its consequence, sporadic clashes took place between the parties in which, the Quraishites were alleged to have aided their ally, the tribe of Bani Kinana. It were the actions of the Quraish and Kinana which are claimed to have led Muhammad to conquer Mecca in order to punish, in particular, the Quraish people for their alleged violation of the treaty.

We believe that the charge levied against the Quraish and the tribe of Bani Kinana was spurious: it might have been concocted in order to support the Muslim claim that it were the Quraish and their ally, and not Muhammad, who had violated the terms of the treaty, forcing him to retaliate against them and to capture Mecca. At least, Abu Sofian's helpless approach to him and the ignominious treatment that he received from him supports our statement.

At any rate, Muhammad decided to take action against the tribe of Quraish and to take over Mecca to rid it of the nuisance that the Quraish people had been creating ever since he had begun his mission of preaching Islam in this city.

The Quraishites by this time learned of the developments, relative to their welfare, that were taking place in Madina and decided to send Abu Sofian there to explain away the truth of the matter to Muhammad who, in the meantime, had become the emissary's son-in-law. Abu Sofian, accordingly, went to his house and wished to see his daughter, Umm Habiba, through whom he thought he could motivate his son-in-law to resolve the issue peacefully. He had come to the person he despised most for the reason the welfare of the Meccans was very dear to his heart. Snubbed by his daughter, Abu Sofian went to Muhammad directly, but he refused to talk to him. He felt humiliated, yet he continued his efforts. Finding no easy way to present his case to Muhammad, he sought the intercession of Abu Baker, Ali and Omar. But all of them rebuked him and refused to help. Eventually, conceding defeat, he mounted his camel and trekked back to Mecca with a heavy heart.

Scarcely had Abu Sofian left Madina when Muhammad issued orders for all to prepare for a march on Mecca. He also summoned his allies from all quarters to join him in the foray. He had all routes leading to Mecca blocked to prevent any information on his impending march from being carried to the Meccans.

Hence Muhammad departed for Mecca in 630 A.D. with ten thousand men at his command. They reached the valley near the sacred city and pitched tents in the darkness of night to avoid detection by their enemy. Abu Sofian somehow came to know about the arrival of the invading army and reached out to meet Muhammad at his campsite. However, a scouting party seized him and delivered him to its Commander-in-chief. Seeing his inveterate enemy within his reach, Muhammad felt immensely delighted, but he set Sofian free when he embraced Islam and acknowledged him as the Prophet of God.

Abu Sofian, now a Muslim, obtained favorable terms from Muhammad for the people of Mecca. One such term provided that none were to be hurt should they remain quietly in their homes or take refuge in the house of Abu Sofian. Returning to Mecca, Abu Sofian assembled his people and told them of the massiveness of Muhammad's army that had assembled at their doorsteps, not only to take over their city, but also to annihilate its entire population. He also told them about his covenant with Muhammad and asked them either to stay indoors or to take refuge in his house. His words had the desired effect on the people, and the majority agreed to witness the entry of their conqueror into the city without offering any resistance.

The following morning at sunrise, Muhammad approached the sacred grounds, seated on his camel and reciting verses from his compositions. With reverence he rode to the holy shrine of Ka'aba, circling it seven times. The Ka'aba still housed all the pagan idols and deities within and without its vicinity.

Next Muhammad ordered the doors of the shrine opened and proceeded to destroy all the idols and deities around which he had circumambulated with veneration a whole ago. All the idols and deities were thrown out and destroyed nevertheless. The shrine's inside walls, covered with pictures of other pagan deities, also displayed the icon of the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus and a painting of an old man, thought to be Abraham who, Muhammad believed, was the original founder of Islam. Placing only these two images under his protection, he ordered Othman, his son-in-law, to destroy all the others.

While Muhammad was busy destroying the idols of Mecca, he sent Khalid to Nakhla to demolish the temple of al-Uzza, which was one of the three eminent shrines of paganism in Arabia. At the news of his approach, the guardian of the temple hung his sword on the statue of the goddess and called upon her to defend herself from the wrath of the destroyer. When Khalid had razed the temple and its idol to the ground, he saw a black woman, entirely naked, with long and wildly flowing hair, emerging from the debris of the ruins. He instantly recognized the figure to be of al-Uzza herself; and drawing out his sword, he cut her into pieces.

Muhammad, after destroying the pagan idols, declared the shrine of Ka'aba purified: a suitable object of pilgrimage that is to be revered so long as the religion of Islam should continue to motivate its adherents to perform all of their religious rites. It is, in fact, a liturgy that was borrowed from the Jews and pagans in order to give Islam an appearance of completeness in respect to various dogmas that every Muslim is required to follow in his or her daily life.

After the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad directed his military commanders to various destinations to spread his religion, at the point of sword, if necessary. While the campaign of proselytization was being pursued, some tribes of mountains united together to check the growing power of Islam and its founder, which was threatening their existence. Placing the general command of the united force in the hands of one of their own, the chiefs of the component tribes agreed to assemble at the valley of Autas, between Honein and Taif, to launch their attack on the Muslims. In order to ensure their adhesion to the cause, the participating members of the troop were asked to bring along their women, children and cattle to the site of assembly. Four thousand of them came as directed, their number and belongings crowding the camp. Unwittingly, the Bedouins turned their camps into a tempting target for the predatory forces of Islam.

As in the past, Muhammad learned about the preparation of the tribes and decided to storm them with his force of approximately twelve thousand men, who were ever willing to perform any task as long as it offered them booty, or in the event of death, Paradise.

Mounting his favorite white mule, Duldul, given him as gift by Muquauqis, the ruler of Alexandria, alongwith two sisters, Muhammad led his forces into the mountains. While moving forward to the enemy camp, he came to a deep valley in the confines of Honein. As the Muslim forces were pouring into the valley, men from the opposing forces suddenly sprang out from the hills on both sides and charged down on the unsuspecting Muslim forces.

Struck with a sudden panic, Muslims turned and fled. When all seemed lost, al Abbas - - Muhammad's uncle - - known to have strong lungs, put up a shout that echoed through the narrow valley. Hearing the voice of al-Abbas, the fugitives rallied and immersed themselves into a bloody battle. The three-to-one superiority that the Muslim forces enjoyed began to show its effect when the infidels were first brought to a halt and then driven back; finally they broke and fled. The chiefs of the fleeing troops and some of their accomplices took shelter in the city of Taif, while others retreated to their camps in the valley of Autas.

Muslims won the battle because, as the Quran says, in which God helped them with his invisible soldiers, without whom they could not have achieved their victory.
Muhammad stayed in the valley, dispatching some of his lieutenants with a strong force to take over the enemy's camps. After a fierce fighting, the Muslims won. The capture of the camps furnished the victors with great booty, consisting - - as the Arabian writers say - - of twenty four thousand camels, forty thousand sheep, four thousand ounces of silver, and six thousand captives, most of them young females.
At this period in time, some of the Muslim soldiers became concerned with a moral question that pricked their conscience, even though they had the reputation of committing lewdness at whim. The asked Muhammad how could they have sex with those captive women who were married and had their husbands in confinement elsewhere, without committing the sin of adultery.

Muhammad had no answer. As he had been doing all along in his difficult moments, he produced a declaration, in the name of God, the contents of which squelched their moral scruples. It forbade Muslims from having sex with free married women, but permitted, nay, encouraged them to indulge in the act with those women who become captives of the wars. This decree from God was good at the time it came; it still remains valid for the Muslims who have permission from heaven to enslave their enemies in the wars and to have sex with their female captives without any moral qualm.

The moral issue thus solved and the safekeeping of captives and booty ensured, Muhammad set out in pursuit of the fugitive chiefs who had taken shelter in the city of Taif. The sight of the city brought to his memory the insult with which its people had once humiliated him together with the expulsion that he had suffered at their hands. He felt himself overtaken by a sentiment of vengeance, which forced him to storm the city, but its strong protective walls prevented him from achieving his goal easily. The defenders of the city put up a strong resistance to Muhammad's fierce attack in which he used, for the first time, catapults, devised by the genius Salman al-Farsi. The fierce forces failing to flush out the beleaguered pagans from within the walls, Muhammad decided to lay siege upon the city.

To compel the besieged enemy to surrender, Muhammad laid waste their fields, orchards, and vineyards. At the same time, he declared freedom to all slaves who would desert the city. His efforts, however, bore him no fruit and he was disappointed.
The siege, nonetheless, continued for twenty days, during which Muhammad spent most of his time in prayers and between the tents of his two wives to whom it had fallen by lot to accompany him in this campaign. His prayers, however, failed to induce intervention from heaven and, in spite of his all efforts; he could not take over Taif through force.

Muhammad's patience finally ran out and he broke the siege, promising his troops to renew his efforts at a future date. Journeying to the place called Jirana, where the spoils and the captives from his previous expedition had been deposited; he distributed the spoils and the captives among his soldiers, retaining one fifth for him and God. Dictated, however, by political expediency, Muhammad is reported to have restored his share subsequently to its original owners.

From the camp at Jirana, Muhammad rode into Mecca and again performed his lesser pilgrimage. This accomplished, he returned to Madina, leaving the affairs of Mecca in the hands of his appointed governor.

Muhammad remained in Madina for seven months, during which time he witnessed the death of his daughter Zainab and the birth of a son, named Ibrahim, from his Coptic slave girl, Maria Qibtia. He had placed high hopes in this child, but to his dismay, the infant died at the age of fifteen months.

From the time of his flight to Madina in 622 A.D. until his death in 632 A.D., Muhammad is said to have launched thirty-eight expeditions and raids against the Jews and the pagans, twenty-seven of them he personally led. The raids undertaken by him, together with the capture of Mecca, spread his fame - - either as a Prophet or a conqueror - - to the outermost parts of Arabia. Consequently, envoys from distant tribes began to pour into Madina, some acknowledging him as a Prophet and embracing Islam, others submitting to him as a temporal sovereign and agreeing to pay him tribute in lieu of converting themselves to his faith.

While the proselytization was continuing at a rapid pace and tribe after tribe of the Arabs was pledging its allegiance to Muhammad, the defiant fugitives who had taken shelter behind the walls of Taif persisted in their worship of the idol of al-Lat, believing it to be one of the three daughters of God. But though safe within the walls, the pagans found themselves gradually driven into confinement and isolation by the Muslims. Ultimately, they found themselves compelled to send their ambassadors to Muhammad, entreating him for a pact of peace. He was delighted by their approach, but because of the resentment he harbored against the people of Taif, he declined to give them any concession and insisted on their unqualified submission and conversion. Finding themselves completely at his mercy, they bowed down to his demands, and impulsively embraced Islam in order to save themselves from certain death and destruction.

By this time, Muhammad had become a sovereign of nearly all of Arabia, joining the former warring tribes together in the bond of Islam. His apostolic role gave him absolute authority and a formidable power that flourished unchecked in the inhospitable atmosphere of the desert. He exercised complete control over the minds and bodies of the people who converted to his faith, seducing them to his following by the prospect of booty in this world and by the promise of Paradise in the next. Had Muhammad not assumed the role of a prophet, and promised people the bliss of the world hereafter, he might not have succeeded in the mission that he had set for himself, and to earn for him a place in history for doing what he did in the name of God.

With various allurements that he offered to his followers, Muhammad was able to raise, by this time, such a level of ecstasy in them where they could be engaged in any struggle that would engender power to him by any means--be it conversion or subjugation of his adversaries through the use of force. Thus prepared, he issued orders, perhaps in October of 630 A.D, to assemble a force for an expedition to the Byzantine frontier. But, in spite of most of the people's absolute royalty to him, his call this time to take up arms failed to evoke much enthusiasm in his warriors, for they still remembered the havoc that they faced at the battle of Muta.

Another reason for their malingering was the season of summer heat: the earth was parched and the springs and brooks were dried up. Yet another factor that prevented the people from responding to Muhammad's call was the date-harvesting time, which would arrive when they were gone on their campaign. This they could not do, for dates was their staple food and they needed to stay home to gather the fruit at the proper time.

Abdullah Ibn Ubay, who still remained Muhammad's covert enemy, vowed to seizing every occasion to counteract his plans, it is alleged, artfully planted all those objections, in the people's mind. He is also believed to have urged the people not to take part in his war efforts by putting forward myriad causes to which they responded favorably, resulting in a series of setbacks to Muhammad's call to arms.

As it had been his wont, Muhammad resorted to revelation and produced one which told the unwilling people of Madina of the fierceness of the fire of hell where they would be burning if they avoided taking part in the raid on the pretext of the summer heat. The revelation had its desired effect, and many of his devotees responded to his call by delivering to him large sums of money and other valuables, in lieu of their own participation, to enable him to finance his expedition against the Greeks.

Abdullah's alleged intrigues notwithstanding, Muhammad succeeded in gathering an army of ten thousand horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers, both from Madina and the settlements of the dessert, to march on a momentous mission. Appointing Ali the caretaker of Madina, he left the city with his army and pitched a camp at Farewell Pass, a defile just north of Madina, where expeditions traditionally assembled before setting out for Syria. Abdullah Ibn Ubay, followed by his adherents, accompanied Muhammad's convoy but set up his tent at some distance in the rear of the main army. When Muhammad marched forward in the morning, Abdullah first lagged behind and then led his troops back to Madina.

Undeterred by Abdullah's defection, the Muslim expeditionary army continued the journey toward its destination, braving all difficulties of the desert and the discomforts caused by the sultry heat. At last the stolid convoy reached Tabuk, a small town within the confines of the Roman Empire, about half way between Madina and Damascus. Here, the Commander-in-chief ordered a halt. He pitched his tents near a fountain, and having refreshed, he dispatched his lieutenants to various principalities either to enforce Islam or to exact tribute. Some of the princes either acknowledged the divinity of Muhammad's mission or submitted to his temporal dominion. Those who dared to defy were made to obey by force.

When the army brought some neighboring territories into subjection, Muhammad wished to reach into the heart of Syria to accomplish the main object of his campaign. While he was making the preparations, he received intelligence on the preparedness of a massive Greek force and its assembly at the border to confront his forces. The report disheartened his troops, which forced Muhammad to go back to Madina without realizing his ardent desire.

Soon after Muhammad's return to Madina, Abdullah Ibn Ubay, his long time enemy and "the Chief of the Hypocrites" as Muhammad named him, fell sick and died. Muhammad followed his dead body to the grave and prayed to god for the forgiveness of his sins. On being remonstrated by Omar for praying for a hypocrite, Muhammad is quoted to have answered him in the following words:

It does not matter, if you pray for a hypocrite or not. If you pray all day and all night, and the man is a hypocrite, God knows it and will not forgive him.

Muhammad's statement, if true, carried in itself a hypocritical implication. He knew that God does not forgive a hypocrite, yet still he prayed for Abdullah's salvation to display his concern for the welfare of the deceased in the world hereafter. He intended his display of piety to act as an olive branch for those who knew that he was a ruthless person; its enactment, especially, designed to soften their attitude.

While Muhammad kept himself busy with public and his domestic affairs, the sacred month of yearly pilgrimage knocked at the door. He sent, therefore, a large contingent of Madinese pilgrims to Mecca under the leadership of Abdullah Athek Ibn Abu Qahafa, popularly known by the appellation of Abu Bakr.

Soon after the departure of the delegation, Muhammad decided to announce an important message the to the large congregation of pilgrims who had gathered at Mecca in order to ensure its wide circulation. Accordingly, he summoned Ali, his son-in-law, and asked him to hasten with all speed to Mecca, so as to reach there before the pilgrims departed upon completion of their pilgrimage. Ali mounted the fastest dromedary and reached Mecca before the pilgrims could disperse. He stood up before the assembled multitude and read out the announcement, of which he was the bearer and through which Muhammad declared Islam, in all its vigor, to be the religion of the sword.

According to the announcement, Muhammad would be free- - after the expiration of a four-month period- -of all responsibility toward the idolaters, who he would attack, kill and plunder wherever met. The ties of blood and friendship alike were to be discarded: the believers barred from holding communion with their nearest relatives and dearest friends unless the infidels renounced their idolatry. The announcement further required that no unbeliever to be permitted to tread the sacred grounds of Mecca, or to enter the temple of God- - a prohibition that continues to remain in force even to the present day.

When the returning pilgrims spread the news that Muhammad declared war with the intention of killing all polytheists, the remaining tribes of the infidels became alarmed and began to throng the gates of Madina with the sole purpose of converting themselves to Islam. Envoys also started pouring in from distant tribes and potentates, some submitting to his apostolic mission, others to his temporal authority. To those tribes of the idolaters who still remained outside Muhammad's domain he sent his captains to subdue them and to bring them to the fold of Islam or to make them agree to pay tribute. All of his gallant soldiers performed their duties, in a short time, to his entire satisfaction.

THE FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE

His sway established over the whole of Arabia and part of the Yemen, Muhammad decided to perform his pilgrimage or hajj at the holy temple of Mecca; accordingly, one day he declared his wish to his followers. The announcement of his intention brought to Madina devotees from all parts of Arabia to follow him on his pilgrimage. One day, some say on the 20th of February, 632 A.D., Muhammad, accompanied this time by his nine wives, set out from Madina for Mecca, surrounded by an immense crowd of the faithful, some on foot and some mounted on camels, extended as far as eye could see in every direction. They journeyed some two hundred and fifty miles in the fervid heat of the desert, ultimately reaching the House of God to perform the antiquated rites, sans the idols of the past. As this was to be a model pilgrimage, Muhammad is believed to have observed rigorously all the ancient rites that his ancestors perpetuated, including those, which he himself established. Because he was in a frail health, he performed the seven circuits around the Ka'aba and the concomitant journeys between the hills of Safa and Marwa, riding on the back of his camel.

The rites of hajj completed, Muhammad sacrificed sixty-three camels with his own hand, one for each year of his age, and then he shaved his head. The shorn locks were divided among his disciples, one of which found its way to the valleys of Kashmir in India, where it is even now preserved in absolute reverence as a sacred relic of Muhammad.

During his sojourn in Mecca, he preached frequently. In course of this activity, he is said to have laid down many doctrines of his faith, which he had neglected to mention earlier. He is also believed to have given numerous guidelines to his followers, many of which they failed to mention to the ascribes when the latter were compiling the Quran. Consequently, Muslims observe many important rituals of their faith based not on the Quran, but on the practice that they happened to know or learn from their parents or mentors.

His Farewell Pilgrimage completed, Muhammad returned to Madina, never to see Mecca again.

Before concluding our presentation of Muhammad's life, we will like to examine his conjugal life in order to complete our narrative. Without this examination, we feel Muhammad's biography, whatever its length, will remain incomplete.

SUBSEQUENT MARRIAGES

A saying in the East says: There is a woman behind every successful man.The word "woman" denotes strictly a "woman," and not a wife. It could also mean a mother, a sister or a daughter. But the word "woman" mentioned in the saying does not mean either of them; it means a woman who has a relationship with a man without getting married. Moreover, the saying does not apply to the monogamous men, many among whom attained stellar successes with the encouragement, help and cooperation of their mothers and wives.

Technically speaking, a promiscuous man may have a number of wives, but a husband traditionally bestows the status of wifehood only on a single woman. By doing so, the husband divides the role of his women in two categories: one that of a wife, who is required to bear children for him and to look after his household affairs. The other role that he allots to his girlfriends, paramours or concubines does not normally require them to do what he has already allotted to his wife.

Most promiscuous men, who do not own a number of wives, may, instead, possess a number of girl friends or concubines. Technically speaking again, men tend to have much less responsibility towards their girl friends or concubines than they have towards their "contracted" wives. Because men do not normally feel fully committed to their girlfriends or concubines, they naturally feel more relaxed in their company. Their meetings take place in congenial atmosphere where the usual and regular household concerns do not interrupt their pleasures. Because most men do not like their girlfriends or concubines to bear their children, their encounters remain free from discussions that generally occur in situations where men have children from their wives. Consequently, many men prefer the company of their girlfriends or concubines to that of their wives.

There is another group of men who marry a large number of women to meet their political needs. This is what at least one historical fact points to. Emperor Akbar is said to have married no less than 5,000 women (accroding to CNN, the number was between 900-1000 women) from different Indian communities in order to foster his relationships with the communities his wives came from. The policy of marrying women from different segments of the society proved very successful for Akbar; he ruled India longer, and more effectively, than any other Mogul emperors.

There is a third group of men who possess a number of women--as wives; girlfriends or concubines--to satisfy, among others, one of their psychological deficiencies. Those men lacked patting in their childhood, especially, from their mothers, to recoup which, they collect around them a large number of women to get patted, without which, modern scientific finding tells us, many such men may feel greatly disadvantaged in their lives.

The fourth group of men takes a number of women as wives or concubines to fulfill their sadistic inclinations. They derive pleasure from tormenting women, sexually, physically, and financially. Sexual torment consists not only of overindulgence in sexual activities; it also consists of denying women their sexual pleasures as well as the pleasure of motherhood.

Muhammad was one such person whose mother abandoned him when he was five years old; the women of the families in whose households he spent his childhood and youth not only did not give him love, they also mistreated him on account of his misfortunes.

Having discussed briefly the probable causes that force a man to take a multiple of women as wives, girlfriends or concubines, we will now revert to Muhammad's conjugal life. We are indulging in this exercise with a view to determining why he took so many wives; why he treated them so badly and also why he issued those commandments, which were intended to degrade and injure women. Our discussion on Muhammad's conjugal life is based on information that we gathered from his biographies, written by Muslim as well as by the non-Muslim writers.

According to some of his biographers, the number of wives that Muhammad took cannot be determined with certainty. Some conservative writers limit it to fifteen, though some make it as many as twenty- five (Washington Irving, op. cit. p. 197). Ali Dashti, an Iranian scholar of our time, named, in his book, twenty-one women, who he says were Muhammad's wives (Twenty-three Years, pp. 123 to 125).

Part 12


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