Military career of Muhammad

A series of articles on Prophet of Islam Muhammad

Life In Mecca · Hijra · In Medina · Conquest of Mecca · Wives · Farewell pilgrimage · Family tree · Career Qur'an · Hadith · Early reforms under Islam · Diplomacy · Military · Persecution by Meccans · Migration to Abyssinia · Miracles Isra and Mi'raj · Relics · Splitting of the moon · Al-Masjid al-Nabawi · Views by subject Jewish · Christian · Slavery · Succession Farewell sermon · Saqifah · Pen and paper · Family · Companions · History · Praise Durood · Na'at · Mawlid · Haḍra · Madih nabawi · Ya Muhammad · Perspectives Islamic · Jewish · Bible · Medieval Christian · Historicity · Criticism · Prophetic biography · Depictions · Films · Depictions in film · v · d · e

The military career of Muhammad lasted for the final ten years of his life when he served as the leader of the ummah at Medina.

History

Muhammad spent his last ten years, from 622 to 632, as the leader of Medina in a state of war with pagan Mecca. Muhammad and his Companions had earlier migrated from Mecca to Medina in what is known as the Hijra following years of persecution by the Meccans. Through raids, sieges, and diplomacy, Muhammad and his followers allied with or subdued some of the tribes and cities of the Arabian peninsula in their struggle to overcome the powerful Banu Quraish of Mecca.

They also sent out raiding parties against Arabic-speaking communities ruled under the Roman Empire. Muhammad was believed by the Muslims to be divinely chosen to spread Islam in Arabia, and Muhammad ultimately permitted warfare as one aspect of this struggle.^[1] After initially refusing to accede to requests by his followers to fight the Meccans for continued persecution and provocation, he eventually proclaimed the revelations of the Qur'an:

"Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged -truly Allah has the power to come to their support- those who were expelled from their homes without any right, merely for saying, 'Our Lord is Allah'..." (Qur'an, 22:39-40)"

After the first battle of Badr against the Quraysh, he is reported as having said "We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad (i.e. the struggle against the evil of one's soul)."^[2] John Esposito writes that Muhammad's use of warfare in general was alien neither to Arab custom nor to that of the Hebrew prophets, as both believed that God had sanctioned battle with the enemies of the Lord.^[3]

Lead up to armed conflict

Upon arrival in Medina he set about the establishment of a pact known as the Constitution of Medina, to regulate the matters of governance of the city, as well as the extent and nature of inter-community relations, and signatories to it included the Muslims, the Ansar and the various Jewish tribes of Medina.^[4]

Significant clauses of the constitution included the mutual assistance of each other if one signatory were to be attacked by a third party, the resolution that the Muslims would profess their religion and the Jews theirs, as well as the appointment of Muhammad as the leader of the state.^[5] Muslims who did not migrate were subject to increased persecution,^[6]

and the threat to the life of both the Ansar and the Muslims was such that they were reported as having to sleep by their weapons all night.^[7] ‘Abdullah bin Uabi bin Salul, who was the Madinan chief of the tribes ‘Aws and Khazraj before Muhammad's emigration was sent an ultimatum to either fight or expel Muhammad, or face action in the form of a military campaign that would exterminate his people and enslave his women.^[8]

Sa'd ibn Mua'dh, an Ansar, went to Mecca to learn how to perform the Umrah and there was accosted by Abu Jahl at the Kaaba who threatened he would kill him, had he not been in the company of Omaiya bin Khalaf. Sa‘d then challenged him to commit any such folly if he wanted to court a risk to the Meccan trading caravans.^[9]

As tensions escalated the Muslims began to take defensive measures such as stationing guards around Muhammad and sending out reconnaissance patrols.^[8] The Muslims, who fled Mecca's persecution to Medina, had left all their possessions and houses in Mecca, which were unlawfully expropriated by the Meccans. The Muslims were initially not given permission to fight. Small groups of men were only sent for intelligence gathering, but are reported as not having followed orders to engage in violence-free missions.^{[citation needed]}

Raids on Meccan caravans

Main article: Caravan raids

The Caravan raids refer to a series of raids which Muhammad and his Companions participated in. The raids were generally offensive^[10] and carried out to gather intelligence or seize the trade goods of Caravans financed by the Quraysh, (such thefts were rationalized as being legitimate actions because many Muslims left their possessions behind when they migrated from Mecca).^[11][12] The Muslims declared that the raids were justified and that God gave them permission to defend against the Meccans' persecution of Muslims.^[13][14]

Raids against other tribes

The Muslims also set their new military organization against various non-Meccan groups.

As a result of these campaigns, some nomadic tribes decided that it was in their best interests to ally with the Muslims.^{[citation needed]} They accepted Islam, subsequently destroying their own cult figures and shrines.

Muslim alliance versus Meccan alliance

By expanding their military operations and negotiating with the nomads, the Muslims had created an alliance with greater resources than Mecca, alone, could muster.^{[citation needed]} The Meccans in their turn made alliances with Bedouin tribes. Two large alliances faced each other, poised for further warfare.

Hudaybiyyah

Main article: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

By old custom, during the months of pilgrimage, tribal hostilities stopped and all were free to visit Mecca^{[citation needed]}. In March of 628, Muhammad put on the garb of a pilgim and taking a force and camels for sacrifice, set out for Mecca^{[citation needed]}.

According to the early chronicler Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad took 700 men (Guillaume 1955, p. 500). According to Watt, Muhammad took 1400 to 1600 men (Watt 1957, p. 46).

The Meccans did not accept the Muslim professions of peaceful intent and sent out an armed party against them. The Muslims evaded them by taking a side route through the hills around Mecca, and then camped outside Mecca, at Hudaybiya. Ibn Ishaq describes a tense period of embassies and counter-embassies, including a bold foray by Uthman ibn Affan into the city of Mecca, where he was temporarily held as a hostage. The Meccans told the Muslims that Uthman had been killed and open warfare seemed imminent.^{[citation needed]}

Then the situation shifted radically. Uthman was revealed to be alive, and the Meccans expressed their willingness to negotiate a truce. The Muslims wanted to attack, but Muhammad held out for a peaceful resolution.^{[citation needed]}

The treaty of Hudaybiyyah committed both sides to a ten-year truce. The Muslims were to be allowed to return the next year, to perform the pilgrimage.^{[citation needed]}

Muslim alliance expands

Free of the Meccan threat, the Muslims expanded their activities against other oases and tribes. They conquered the rich oasis of Khaybar (see Battle of Khaybar) and sent raiding parties against the Ghatafan, Murrah, Sulaym, and Hawaizin (Watt 1957 pp. 52–53).

Muslims take Mecca

Main article: Conquest of Mecca

Less than two years after the truce of Hudaybiyyah, the truce was broken by a squabble between tribes allied to the Meccans and Medinans. There had long been bad blood between the Khuza'ah and the Banu Bakr bin Abd Manat, and the two groups lined up on opposite sides, the Khuza'ah with the Muslims and the Banu Bakr with the Meccans. Watt (p. 62) says that some of the Quraysh helped the Banu Bakr ambush the Khuza'ah.

Shortly afterwards, a large Muslim force of some 10,000 men headed for Mecca. They camped outside Mecca and the usual round of emissaries and negotiations began. Apparently Abu Sufyan had negotiated, then or earlier, a promise that he and those under him would not be attacked if they submitted. A few Meccans, from the Makhzum faction, prepared to resist.

On or near January 11, 630, Muhammad sent four columns of troops into Mecca. Only one column met any resistance. Twenty-eight Meccans were killed and the rest of those opposing the Muslim entry fled. The remaining Meccans surrendered to Muhammad. The Meccans, even those who had been notable for their opposition to Islam, were spared.

The Kaaba was cleansed of all the idols of Arabian gods, such as Hubal, which were placed in it and the area was established as a Muslim sanctuary.^[15] While destroying each idol, Muhammad recited ^{[Quran 17:81]} which says "Truth has arrived and falsehood has perished for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish." ^[16][17] According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was built by Adam as a place of worship, and then later reconstructed by Ibrahim (Abraham) and Isma'il (Ishmael).

Last two years

after the fall of Mecca, other tribes hastened to submit to the Muslims. Those who did not submit were harried until they submitted. The historian Fred Donner, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests, argues that the early Islamic state organized the nomads, the Bedouin, under the leadership of urban Arabic-speakers. This arrangement was inherently unstable as long as there were any nomads outside Muslim rule. Otherwise, any rebellious tribe had only to move its flocks and tents outside the area that the Muslims controlled in order to be free again. The Muslims would have to control the entire Syro-Arabian steppe in order to be secure. Muhammad, and the caliphs that followed him, Abu Bakr and Umar al-Khattab, put a great deal of effort into extending and solidifying these tribal treaties and conquests.

Statistics

Casualties

The sum total of all casualties on all sides in all the battles of Muhammad range from 1200 to 1500 dead according to the most authoritative sources^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

His efforts led to the unification of the Arabian peninsula.

Views

Muslim View

Muslims view that the Muslims fought only when attacked, or in the context of a wider war of self-defense. They argue that Muhammad was the first among the major military figures of history to lay down rules for humane warfare, and that he was scrupulous in limiting the loss of life as much as possible.

Javed Ahmed Ghamidi writes in Mizan that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to Muhammad against Divinely specified peoples of his times (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews, Christians, et al.) as a form of Divine punishment—for they had persistently denied the truth of Muhammad's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by Allah through Muhammad, and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam, hence now, the only valid reason for war is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. (jihad)^[1][18]

Non-Muslim view

Michael H. Hart, in his hotly debated and widely copied book, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" (1978) ranked Muhammad as the most influential, attributing this to the fact that Muhammad was successful in both the religious and political realms and had a significant role in the development of Islamic theology.^[19]

Muhammad's critics often hold that the Muslims engaged in wars of aggression. Conversely, other non-Muslim academics believe that Muhammad was a reluctant warrior, such that he disliked fighting except when he believed it to be absolutely necessary.^[20]

See also

• Rules of war in Islam
• Jihad
• Itmaam-i-hujjat
• Muslim conquests

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Mizan, Chapter:The Islamic Law of Jihad, Dar ul-Ishraq, 2001. OCLC: 52901690 [1]
2. ^ BBC Article - Religion & Ethics Islam, last accessed 23 September 2006. The authenticity of this quote is the focus of some debate, however it is quite widely reported and of significant influence among Sufi's.
3. ^ John Esposito(2005), Islam: The Straight Path, p.15
4. ^ Ibn Hisham, as-Seerat an-Nabawiyyah, Vol. I p. 501.
5. ^ al-Mubarakpuri (2002) p.230
6. ^ al-Mubarakpuri (2002)
7. ^ "When the Holy Prophet and his Companions came to Madina, and the helpers gave them shelter, all the Arabs combined to fight them. The Companions had to sleep by their weapons, till the morning" (Hakim and Darimi, quoted in Shibli's Sirat an-Nabi, p. 308)
8. ^ ^{a b} al-Mubarakpuri
9. ^ Sahih Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, 5:59:286
10. ^ Montgomery Watt, William (21 Jan 2010). Muhammad: prophet and statesman. Oxford University Press, 1974. p. 105. ISBN 978-0198810780. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RV7uAAAAMAAJ&dq=caravan+raids+offensive&q=offensive. 
11. ^ Mubarakpuri, When the Moon Split, p. 146.
12. ^ Gabriel, Richard A. (2008), Muhammad, Islam's first general, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 73, ISBN 9780806138602, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nadbe2XP2o4C&pg=PA73 
13. ^ Welch, Muhammad, Encyclopedia of Islam
14. ^ See:
    • Watt (1964) p. 76;
    • Peters (1999) p. 172
    • Michael Cook, Muhammad. In Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986, page 309.
15. ^ Karen Armstrong (2000,2002). Islam: A Short History. p. 11. ISBN 0-8129-6618-x. 
16. ^ Islam, iconography and the Taliban
17. ^ Conquest of Makkah - USC MSA
18. ^ Misplaced Directives, Renaissance, Al-Mawrid Institute, Vol. 12, No. 3, March 2002.[2]
19. ^ Hart, Michael H. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Revised and Updated for the Nineties. New York: Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press; first published in 1978 reprinted with minor revisions 1992. ISBN 9780806510682
20. ^ Forward (1998) Muhammad: A Short Biography. Oxford: OneWorld Publishers. ISBN 1-85168-131-0. p. 27

References

• Donner, Fred, The Early Islamic Conquests, Princeton University Press, 1981
• Guillaume, A., The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press, 1955
• Watt, Montgomery, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford University Press, 1957
• al-Mubarakpuri, Saif-ur-Rahman (2002). al-Raheeq al-Makhtoom, "The Sealed Nectar". Islamic University of Medina. Riyadh: Darussalam publishers. ISBN 1-59144-071-8.

External links

• Imam Muhammad Shirazi, "War, Peace and Nonviolence: An Islamic Perspective"