An account of the dreadful, bloody activities of the so-called Islam's prophet of peace, after his arrival in Medina...
Introduction
This article tries to give what one might call a “macro” view on Muhammad's peaceful stay in Medina.
In particular I discuss how Muhammad dealt “wisely” with the Jewish tribes of Medina.
After thinking/claiming that he is the prophet of the almighty, Muhammad stayed in Mecca about thirteen years. He was not a happy camper. Most people thought he was a crazy man. He managed to have some followers (around a hundred), mostly low-class folks. He had in mind leaving Mecca all along. He sent a team to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and he himself tried Ta'if in 619. In both instances, he did not find it suitable for him to migrate to any of those two places. Finally, things worked out for him to go to Yathrib (Medina). Please do not be fooled by Muslims claiming great persecution and plots to kill Muhammad in Mecca. This is not true. The reader is advised to read M. A. Khan's discussion of this matter in his book “Islamic Jihad”.
The first couple of years in Medina were rough on Muhammad and the Muslim community (the Muhajiroon, “immigrants”, as well as the Ansar “the locals of the Medina area”). Some found menial jobs here and there. But, it was rough. Right from the start, Muhammad was looking for loots. He tried to ambush Meccan trade-caravans. His looting attempts did not meet much success at the beginning. However, the Nakhla raid proved to be the first success. Muhammad and his Sahaba Muslims (robbers!!) made a good loot out of that one. For more details on that raid, I refer the reader to my previously published article.
Now, Muhammad in Medina had many members of the Quraysh tribe with him. He had others from other tribes. He had an open invitation to others to join him. Many did join him as their tongues were dripping for greed of loots. They could just taste those loots. So, in a tribal environment, Muhammad established a tribal alternative called Islam. This was a very smart step on Muhammad's side. He established an “open” tribe system so that other individuals from other tribes join. You can call it Muhammad's tribe or Muhammad's cult. This was a good plan for Muhammad. It allowed him to give membership to more “warriors” and “robbers”. The more people he has, the more powerful his “tribe” is. Arabs lived in a tribal system. Power and physical force ruled the day. So, Muhammad's “cult” plan was sure to succeed. There is no shortage of individuals in different tribes to join Muhammad in his quest for loots, and, as an added bonus, Muhammad made it look like a holy cause commanded by the most high; Allah.
Medina's Makeup
There were two Arab tribes in the Medina area; the Aws and the Khazraj. Many of them worked for the more prosperous Jewish tribes in Medina. They worked in agriculture, warehouse and shop watchers. The three Jewish tribes in Medina were more educated and prosperous. Those tribes were Bani Qainuqa, Bani Nadeer, and Bani Qurayza. Those tribes had some power. Muhammad signed a pack of protection with them when he first came to Medina. It was not until he was in Medina for a year and a half that he realized that the Jewish tribes knew he was an imposter. So, he changed the Muslims' prayer direction from Jerusalem to Mecca, and decided that he was powerful enough to take down the Jewish tribes one by one, and enrich the Muslim Umma with their wealth and women. Below I narrate how he did that, one tribe at a time.
Bani Qainuqa
A Muslim woman goes to a Qainuqa tribe goldsmith shop. He flirts with her. She doesn't like that and rejects his advances. He pins her skirt, without her noticing, to the ground. When she gets up, her skirt stays down, and her private area gets exposed. Those who are present get a big laugh out of that incident. A present Muslim gets upset and kills the goldsmith. Jewish men rush to help and kill the Muslim man, who killed the goldsmith. A riot ensues. Muhammad hears the news. He orders besieging the Qainuqa tribe. About two weeks later they surrender to Muhammad on condition that they leave the city leaving all belongings behind except what their animals can carry. All the fortunes that the tribe left behind went to the immigrant Muslims in Medina. It was pretty much no hard-earned loot by any means.
It is clear that such a trivial incident could have been handled wisely by Muhammad. After all one man from each side was killed. Isn't that enough? Off course it is. But Muhammad was facing pressure from the immigrants who left Mecca and joined him. They had a lot of need. What’s better than loot from a rich tribe to satisfy their greedy hearts!
Bani Nadeer
Next in line were Bani Nadeer on Muhammad's mind. The prophet Muhammad goes to Bani Al-Nadeer, along with some leading companions, Abu Bakr, Umar and Ali, and asks them to help him in paying bloodwit money for two men of Bani Amer mistakenly killed by Muslims. It is important here to remember that Bani Al-Nadeer were under no obligation to help Muhammad here. The agreement between the Muslim camp and the Jewish tribes of Medina was to help each other in case there is an external threat to attack Medina (i.e. Quraysh coming to town to attack the Muslims, or the Medinan tribes).
Bani Al-Nadeer tell Muhammad that they will help him with money.
Muhammad leaves the other Sahaba in the meeting and vanishes. He actually went back home.
His Sahaba leave after they realize that Muhammad was not going to come back.
When the Sahaba see the prophet, he tells them that the Jews, Bani Al-Nadeer, were conspiring to kill him. How? By having someone go on the top of the wall that was behind them where they were meeting, and dropping a rock on him (Muhammad) thus killing him.
Muhammad gives orders to prepare for war against Bani Al-Nadeer, and marches against them. He lays siege upon Bani Al-Nadeer, who sought refuge in their forts. He also orders the burning and destruction of their palm trees (Bani Al-Nadeer were mostly farmers who tended the land and raised crops). Orders were carried out to the letter.
Bani Al-Nadeer receive some promises of help from other tribes that never materialized and finally struck an agreement with the prophet (PBUH) to allow them to leave town with all their belongings except their weapons and immoveable properties. This, in fact, came to pass. Some of them went to Khaiber and some went to Syria.
All of their left property and land became Muhammad’s. He distributed it amongst the first immigrants, and a couple of Ansars who were in need. (What a generous thief!!)
The above, pretty much sums up what happened. Please note that Bani Al-Nadeer were in no position to fight Muslims. Muhammad has become the main war lord of Medina by now. Earlier, he had successful attacks against the Meccan commercial caravans. Two years earlier, he had attacked and gotten rid of the Qainuqa tribe from Medina. He had just assassinated Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf, the Bani Al Nadeer leader. He suffered no consequences from all this. This, in my view, indicates that a farming community like Bani Al-Nadeer was in no position to put up a good fight against the Muslims.
So, when Muhammad went to them asking for money to help the Muslims, who killed two men from another tribe, Bani Al-Nadeer were under no obligation to help him financially. But they knew what Muhammad was up to. He was looking for their refusal to pay, so that he can have a reason to attack them in war and take their belongings. However they were smart enough to tell him that they’ll help him. That answer did not sit well with Muhammad, and so he leaves in a hurry and invents the story that they were plotting to kill him with a big rock dropped from the top of a wall behind where they were sitting. What a ridiculous story. Even a naïve person can read between the lines and see that they, Bani Al-Nadeer, if wanted, could have killed all the Muslims leaders who waited long after Muhammad left in a hurry. After all, Muhammad and his Sahaba in the meeting were probably no more than five or six men, sitting in the heart of Bani Al-Nadeer tribe. Bani Al-Nadeer could have killed them all right then during that meeting. This did not take place, and we are supposed to believe that ridiculous story about the Jews trying to kill his holiness, Prophet Muhammad the First, with a big rock! Only a man with no reflective thinking ability can believe such a story. The fact of the matter is: Muhammad wanted to attack them, one way or another. He hoped they will say no to his money request. When this did not work out, he invented the “rock from the top of the wall” story. And, amazingly enough, Muslim apologetics buy into such a story. Religious fervor blocks their brain cells, and no analytical thinking is done. They just believe a ridiculous story and move on.
Bani Qurayza
The divine command comes to Muhammad while taking a bath:
Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 52, Number 68:
Narrated 'Aisha: When Allah's Apostle returned on the day (of the battle) of Al-Khandaq (i.e. Trench), he put down his arms and took a bath. Then Gabriel whose head was covered with dust, came to him saying, "You have put down your arms! By Allah, I have not put down my arms yet." Allah's Apostle said, "Where (to go now)?" Gabriel said, "This way," pointing towards the tribe of Bani Quraiza. So Allah's Apostle went out towards them.
With around 3,000 Muslim worriers, and the Meccans out of sight (following the “Trench” events), no wonder Allah tells him to go unprovoked and take over the fortunes of Bani Qurayza. Who is there to stop him? Muhammad laid siege to Bani Qurayza for twenty five days, after which they surrendered unconditionally. They did not offer any resistance. Before they surrendered, they asked Abu Lubabah, who was doing the negotiations between them and Muhammad, since he was on friendly terms with them from previous dealings, if they should submit to Muhammad’s judgement. Abu Lubabah said yes, and gestured with his hand to his throat, telling them that Muhammad is adamant on finishing them up. Such a gesture could only mean one thing: beheading. Afterwards, Abu Lubabah felt bad that he had betrayed Muhammad, but again, he had some passion to his old Jewish friends. In history, the gesture is not disputed. What is in disputed is why Abu Lubabah felt that he betrayed Muhammad. I think the answer is simple: Abu Lubabah knew what the murderer prophet was up to.
In any case, Bani Qurayza probably felt they had no option but to surrender. Muhammad’s criminals were three thousand strong. The mighty Meccans could not take care of him and his cronies, would one tribe in Medina be able to do it on its own? Surely not! So, instead of dying fighting Muhammad, they chose to surrender in the hopes the Muhammad will take their belongings, but allow them to leave town, as he did with the previous tribes. However, this was not to be. Muhammad had become blood thirsty more and more as time passed by.
After the surrender of Bani Quaryza, Muhammad is pretty much forced to have someone other than himself to declare the judgment against Bani Qurayza. From the different books and hadiths I’ve seen, it seemed that Muhammad was adamant on killing them. He was forced, the Arab way, by Muslim leaders who had good Past with Bani Qurayza, to put someone else to declare a judgement against them. Muhammad finally agrees to name one person, Sa’d Bin Mu’ad. Muhammad does not allow the people who wanted someone else to name who the judge will be. He (Muhammad) names Sa’d and ends the discussion. One has to know, who Sa’d is, to understand why Muhammad named him. Sa’d was a born killer with very strong loyalty to Muhammad. He was mortally wounded in the battle of the trench. He was no friend to Bani Qurayza, or anyone who rejected the prophet. He would kill you or me in an instant if Muhammad just says the word. Such was Sa’d Bin Mu’ad. My suspicion is that he also knew what Muhammad desired to do with Bani Qurayza or Muhammad had instructed him on the verdict. He was very close to Muhammad. In fact history tells us that the prophet put up a tent in the mosque for Sa’d so he could personally take care of him and his (Sa’d’s) wound. As one would expect, Sa’d’s judgment was what Muhammad wanted. Here is a Hadith showing how Allah and Muhammad are working together like two sides of the same coin. Apparently, Allah loves bloody scenes of around seven hundred people being beheaded:
Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 52, Number 280:
Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri:
When the tribe of Bani Quraiza was ready to accept Sad's judgment, Allah's Apostle sent for Sad who was near to him. Sad came, riding a donkey and when he came near, Allah's Apostle said (to the Ansar), "Stand up for your leader." Then Sad came and sat beside Allah's Apostle who said to him. "These people are ready to accept your judgment." Sad said, "I give the judgment that their warriors should be killed and their children and women should be taken as prisoners." The Prophet then remarked, "O Sad! You have judged amongst them with (or similar to) the judgment of the King Allah."
Sure enough, Muhammad beheads all adult men. He took part in the beheading festivities. And, toward the evening, the Muslim Ummah men rape the poor women who had just lost all their husbands and adult male family members. Muhammad took an active role in the raping festivities. However, he had a good eye. He chose a young pretty one to rape; Rayhana. She was only fifteen years old.
What a great peaceful prophet for the Muslim Ummah to imitate!!
