The Muhammad’s hegira; the end of Jews era (2)

The Jew’s shadow in Muhammad and non-believers battles

“Jews say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days." Say: "Have you taken a covenant from Allah, so that Allah will not break His Covenant? Or is it that you say of Allah what you do not know?”
Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family) wanted to build a government by emigration to Medina. The Medina people had no experience about building a government and they always had inner fights. In this place, Jews attitude helped non-believers. Abu Jahl suggested to invade Medina and wrote a threatening letter to the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family). This letter was delivered to Muhammad 29 days before the battle of Badr. by noticing the details of the letter which is beyond the Arabs minds, this could be concluded that such lecture has been induced to Abu Jahl by Jews.
One. The battle of Badr
The orientalists have claimed that Islam has been the religion of sword and Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family) has developed his religion by the power of sword (force). These groups have neglected whole the history and have bolded just and only the battle of Badr and have claimed: the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) closed the way on joinery caravans of Koreysh so that they would have financial problems and finally they had to accept Islam; after that the non-believers defended themselves and the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) killed them all. Analysis of the battle of Badr shows us this battle was not an invasion and it was truly in purpose of a defense. This battle was a hard one for unbelievers. They needed to take away their army hundreds of kilometers far away from the city. On the other hand, they were pleasure-seeking people and they needed lots of purveyance and facilities and animals to ride; therefore, the leaders gathered together and made a joinery caravan so that the profits were going to be spent on battle with Medina. Most of the Badr fighters were the same investors of that caravan. Hence the God authorized the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) to jihad:
“Permission (to fight) has been granted to those against whom war has been waged because they have been treated unjustly, and Allah is certainly able to help them”;
While Abu Sufyan wanted to keep the caravan in Badr, he found out that the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) and his troops have figured out all about caravan and they knew the time and the road which the caravan had chosen to pass. Perforce the caravan passed from waterside and passed Medina. They returned to the main road in a region called Badr, but when Abu Sufyan recognized the prophet’s spies, he turned back to waterside and sent a herald to Mecca so that people of Mecca would send guardians for the caravan. The guardian army of Mecca was passing the main road; therefore, instead of confronting Abu Sufyan’s caravan, they met Islam corps. The prophet had gathered 313 men from Medina. Many had alibied that if this battle is just about loot, we would not attend. perhaps this verse argues that they truly were afraid.
“It was made obligatory upon you, to fight in the path of God and though it is disliked by you, and it may happen that anything may be disliked by you and that may be in your favour, and it may happen that anything may be liked by you and that may not be in your favour, and Allah knows and you do not know”.
Some say that Medina had a small population those days, but this is not accurate; because next year one thousand troops from the same Medina got ready for battle of Uhud and after that, three thousand troops attended for battle of Khandaq and six thousand troops attended for battle of Khaybar. Thus we could say Medina had enough population. However the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) had a law acceptability among the people and it gradually increased. When the messenger of God (Peace be upon him and his family) went to Yasreb, still lots of residents had not accepted Islam and normally in the beginning of hegira, the number of Muslims were few. During that time, groups of heathens and Jews and others were living in this city and were bothering the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family), but he was on mission to be patient.
The beginning of collapse of heresy
The prophet (Peace be upon him and his family)’s army had one or two horses with it. Each camel was for several men to ride and since one hundred kilometers was needed to be passed, they rode the camels in turn. More than three-quarter of army did not have sword and because of financial problems, they had wood instead.
Before the Islam army arrived to Badr and while everyone was waiting for joinery caravan, the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) was inspired and understood that the joinery caravan has escaped and instead of them, the armed leaders of heathens have been waiting there. The prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) by observing the new situation consulted with his army and said: are we going to fight with this corps or not? Meanwhile the great fear was among Muslim’s army, Abu Bekr upraised and said: these are Koreysh and their arrogant men and we have not come here because of war. The prophet told him: sit. Then Omar upraised and repeated Abu Bekr speech. The prophet told him to sit too. After these two men, Meghdad arose and said: O the messenger of God (Peace be upon him and his family) these are Koreysh and their arrogant men; and we have believed in you and acknowledged you and we testify that whatever you pass us from God is right; if you command to break this hard cliff, we will and we would not tell you those words which children of Israel told Moses (peace be upon him):
“They said, 'O Moses! We shall never go there until they are there, then go forth you and your Lord and you both fight, we are sitting here”.
Rather we would say: you and your Lord both fight and we will also fight. The prophet’s face lighted when he heard these words and he prayed for him. Then he turned to helpers (Ansar) and asked their opinion. Sa`d ibn Mu`adh arose and gave a heroic speech about the fight with heathens and he affirmed Meghdad’s speech.
The heathens could not even imagine confronting the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) in that way. They assumed that they can deracinate limited troops of Islam. It was a tradition of Arabs to fight hand to hand at first and then start the general attack. Three Koreysh warriors, who were perfectly armed, came out of the army and asked for competitors: Atbeh, Shibbeh,Walid.
The great prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) sent Ali (peace be upon him), and Hamzeh and Obeydeh who were all his relatives. Ali (peace be upon him) perished Walid and went to help Hamzeh and helped him kill Atbeh. After that they both went to help Obeydeh and killed Shibeh. It is not certain who was Hamzeh’s competitor, Atbeh or Shibeh, but it is absolute that Ali (peace be upon him) helped killing those three men who were Ommiad caliph’s relatives and later during his caliphate he wrote a letter to him and claimed that he was proud of his action. Obeydeh had a deep wound because of the war and during their return to Badr he became a martyr. By the dead of Koreysh main warriors, the Islam army became powerful and by the prophet command they attacked the heresy army which had become weak and there was a harsh battle among them. The heresy army collapsed and the heathens died one by one. In fact it was Ali (peace be upon him) who actually destroyed this army. Ali (peace be upon him) could kill half of seventy men on his own and helped killing the other half.

Captivation, contravene the Muhammad (Peace be upon him and his family) command

The Mecca army was a colony of heathen grandees and great capitalists of Mecca, and they were against Islam and did not let people join Islam. If this colony could have been collapsed, Islam could develop among the Arabian Peninsula as fast as possible and the nest battles would not occur. If Muslims had a bright insight and had obeyed the prophet commands, the heathens would have been destroyed at the begging point; but unfortunately the Muslim army did not have such a insight because an hour after the heresy army was dissipated which was the best opportunity for total destruct of heathens, suddenly the battled ended without any command from the prophet. The reason why was captivation of several heathens. When there are seventy captives it’s natural to spend time and energy on keeping them and so the battle will automatically end and the rest of the heathens can escape and be safe.
This verse depicts how disastrous this event was:
“It is not befitting to any Prophet that he should make captive to infidels, until he has immensely shed their blood in the land. You desire the goods of the world; and Allah desires the Hereafter. And Allah is Dominant, Wise”.
Role of Jews
Some have thought that the captivation has been because of Muslim’s avidity. It’s been conveyed that some of helpers went to the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) and asked him not to kill the captives and instead get ransom from them and then release them and they insisted on their demand. The prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) responded: if we do this, next year our men are going to be killed as many as them. They responded: that would be fine, this year we get ransom from them and take benefits and next year we will become martyr and go to heaven.
Acceptance of this fact that ordinary people are attracted to wealth and this physical world is easy. However disobedience of Badr warriors from prophet’s command is unlikely; hence we need to find a more delicate reason why. The Jews were always careful about the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) not to achieve hasty victories. If the heathens were totally destroyed in Badr, the Jews would have collapsed fast and the feudists could not assist them. The inner discord of Medina needed time; therefore the Islamic movement must have been delayed. Thus we need to find the factors of this disobedience among the Jews and inner discord of Medina because only these groups would have taken advantages. Absolutely the Jews could not act directly in this situation; so who were the main reason of captivation among the Muslims? Since the historic reports and interpretations are not very evident about this subject, we must find the answer by noticing the Badr battle events. There is a story in Tabari which has some evidences about this subject and it is also narrated by Ibn Abi l-Hadid. After Tabari describes Koreysh demand for Abu Bekr and Omar intercession about captives, he narrates in continue:
“After the battle, there was a disagreement about killing or releasing the captives. Some followed Abu Bekr’s opinion and some followed Omar’s. The prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) came out of the tent and mentioned: what can you say about your two hands (Abu Bekr and Omar). Let them comfort as there is one example for both of them. Abu Bekr is like Michael among the angles who asks for God’s forgiveness for creatures and he is like Abraham (peace be upon him) among prophets who was sweeter and smoother than honey with his folk. His folk prepared a great fire for him and threw him in it; and he just was saying: “Fie on you and on those deities, which you worship besides Allah, do you then have no wisdom?” And he asked the Lord: “then who sided with me is mine and who disobeyed me, then you are certainly Forgiving, Merciful”, and he is like Jesus (peace be upon him) who said: “If you punish them, they are your bondmen, and if you forgive them, then undoubtedly, you are only the Dominant, the Wise. The Omar is like Gabriel among the angles who descends on the Lord’s enemies and he is like Noah (peace be upon him) among prophets who was harder than stone with his folk and said: “And Noah submitted, 'O my Lord leave not of the infidels any inhabitant upon the earth”. And God drowned all the earth people because of his curse…then the prophet (Peace be upon him and his family) accepted ransom and mentioned: if there was a misery on Badr day, no one would have survived unless Omar”. Ibn Abi l-Hadid after describing this narration, writes: this verse which the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) mentioned in that moment “If You punish them, they are Your bondmen, and if You forgive them, then undoubtedly, You are only the Dominant, the Wise” is in surah Al-Maidah which was descended to him at the end of his life; while the battle of Badr occurred in the second year of hegira. Hence how could it be accepted that the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) has ratiocinated this verse?! Then he wavers about accuracy of this Hadis.
This has not been mentioned in any historic resource that the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) has asked others opinion about captives lives and the matter of what to do with them; and basically it is a question that why did only these two men talked with the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) about this subject? Why does not Ali (peace be upon him) or Meghdad’s name exist in this Hadis? if the principle matter had been voting about this subject, why did these two men insist so hard to convince others? Did they not notice well enough that if the first person asks forgiving the captives and the second one asks for their execution and they repeat their demands continuously, it would make populace impudent and there would be an anarchy among them and finally the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) could not mention his opinion about the captives? Anyway, as a conclusion of this event, the main enemies of Islam were released and found the opportunity to start a battle next year. The captives of Badr were people such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl, Talhah ibn Abi Talha, Suhayl ibn Amro who were leaders of both sides and leaders of heathens in the battle of Uhud. The survivors of Badr were the vital individuals of Koreysh who believed truly in the prophet (peace be upon him and his family), but their hatred of Islam made them start the battle of Uhud after freedom. Now considering whole these factors, could it be assumed that the captivation was a plan which specific number of Muslims in the army accomplished it? Beside this minor problem, the battle of Badr was a blessing for Medina. After this battle, the people of Medina believed in Islam power and utility and they believed that a prophet, who could handle such a battle and killed seventy men of enemy and captivated others, can definitely rule Medina. The Jews that had found out about the prophet’s (peace be upon him and his family) situation and its development, immediately acted against the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) by their first force. For this purpose, Bani Ghingha started disturbing the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and people; in a way that there was no way but fighting with them. And in this way the victory of Badr was forgotten by the battle of Bani Ghangha. This matter will be discussed in next part.
Tow. The battle of Uhud
The battle of Uhud was the second battle between the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the heathens. The Jews came to Medina and by negotiating with Abu Sufyan they encouraged him and promised him to attend the battle and to cooperate well if there was another one. Many investors of the caravan and the owners of joinery caravan of Mecca were killed in Badr and the properties belonged to no one anymore; also some got wounded and some returned ashamed. Next year Abu Sufyan gathered three thousand soldiers and three thousand supply force and some women to rebuild the heathen’s army.
The prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was informed. He consulted with his followers and he suggested fighting inside the Medina; since the heathens are a lot and they have more military equipment and they can surround us in open squares; but if we fight inside the city, since we know the place, when they come inside Medina alleys they will be divided and get weak. On the other hand the whole city and people will get involved in this and we can take the most benefit.
The heathens did not have city war instruments such as catapult and burning equipment for destroying the castles and they only had sword and javelin and arrow. Therefore, it was a complete and thoughtful reason which the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) suggested; but some helpers did not accept his opinion and called the city war disgraceful. It must be noticed the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) consulted with his helpers in order to develop them. If they knew him completely and well enough, they would have never rejected his opinions and even in the time he did not mention a word, they would have investigated his idea to take benefits.
Influence on people’s minds and changing their opinions
The helpers needed to have a rational and evident reason for disagreement with the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s opinion which was logical and martial, but as its been mentioned in the history, their reason was that it is a shame not to exit city; or the young people said: we did not attend the battle of Badr and now we tend to attend and recoup.
Their reasons were prejudicial and baseless. Irrationality of this speech and being reluctant to exit Medina depicts that something was going on and they wanted to cover it. The fact is they wanted the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) to exit the city because if the battle happened inside the city it would have been beneficial for the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the heathens would have been destroyed completely.
While Abu Sufyan was coming to Medina, he recognized the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s spies and he got worried about Muslims staying in Hashr, yet he continued. Does it show that he has been sure about the exit of the prophet’s army? In other words could this fact that he already knew some will force the prophet (peace be upon him and them) to exit the city, be a meaning of connection between him and some of Muslims?
In consulting process there was a split among people. Some people such as Abd-Allah ibn Abi Salul and his followers insisted on staying in the city and they supported the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s opinion and some disagree with it. At the end, the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) accepted to go out of the city, after prayer adduction, he and two other men went home to armor and take equipment. Meanwhile, people felt regret about forcing the prophet (peace be upon him and them) to exit the city. When the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) came out of his home, the opposition went to him and mentioned their regret, but the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did not accept it and told them: I invited you to this and you did not accept it. It is not honor for a prophet to armor and then take it off unless he fights with enemy.
There is a question in this part that why did people disagree and then regret it?
Could be any connection between those two men who went in home with the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and this subject? While those two were among people, everyone agreed with exiting the city but when those two were not among them, suddenly people’s opinion changed! So the main reason of disagreement about fighting inside the Medina was these two men. Therefor while they were not among people, every one decided to follow the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s opinion- fighting inside the city-.
This is a delicate point which needs more attention that why did the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) still decided on fighting outside the city while people showed him their complete agreement?
The prophet (peace be upon him and his family) realized that people’s mind have been changed because of those two and if they go among them again people might change their minds for the second time and each moment they might have a different thought. As a matter of fact, the idea of fighting outside was not people’s opinion and it was inspired to them. Precisely like yesteryear which the idea of captivation was inspired to them. Moreover, a leader such as the messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) could not change his idea each time. It must also be noticed that if the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) wanted to act without paying attention to people’s opinions, people would not cooperate with him well enough. Besides, the battle of Badr and attacking the caravan was the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s idea, thus he always mentioned his mind but this one was a defensive battle and the opinion of the fighters was definitely essential.
The prophet (peace be upon him and his family) who wished the Muslim’s victory, beside people disagreement, he accepted their inspired opinion so that he could calm the situation down and he said: from now on, you win if you obey my commands. A group of people leading by Abdo-Allah ibn Abi alibied and disobeyed the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and came out of the army. The action shook the rest of the army. This event depicts clearly that the discord had some processes and levels and each time discord was handled by the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s inspired wisdom, the next level would occur in order to destroy the new Islamic society.
Greed and cupidity, paths of enemy’s influence
The prophet chose foothill of the Uhud Mountain as war square; because the Uhud Mountains behind the Islam’s front was like a natural dam. The enemy’s purpose was not invading the Medina and setting fire to there; they only wanted the prophet (peace be upon him and his family). The only weakness of Uhud was Jabal al ramat; that split mountain which had made an impasse and the enemy could turn around of behind it and could get to the Muslims from their behind, and the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) also was aware of this matter. Hence he put 54 men in that split and told them: close this split and even if you saw us following the heathens to Mecca, you do not leave the place and if you saw that we had to retreat to Medina, still stay in this split.
The military arrangement was the same as Badr day. The heathens entered the war square with load noises. On one side there were no horses or equipment, Talhah ibn Abi Talhah who was the leader and hero of the heathens, came close and asked for a competitor. Ali (peace be upon him) fought with him and killed him and his brother. Then other heathens came and displayed their flag who were also killed by Ali (peace be upon him). There was no one left to display the flag. The stamen was felt and other heathens were just watching. When the heathen’s leaders were killed and the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) commanded to attack, the Muslims elevated and the enemies escaped. Women, slaves, money and lots of gold from enemy were left. The Muslims came after the loot but pure believers were still following the enemies. The split guardians, who saw the Muslims collecting the loot, left the split. Abdo-Allahi ibn Jeibar repeated the propeht’s speech to them, but his words did not influence them and only twelve men stayed by his side.
Khalid ibn Walid and his helpers who were watching the split, attacked and killed those left Muslim warriors, then attacked the Muslims from their behind. The enemy’s first goal was the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family). By Khalid’s attack the running heathens who were escaping, came back. Ali (peace be upon him) knew that their firs goal is the prophet (peace be upon him) who was in the square. So he went so fast to help the prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) was alone while lots of Muslims had escaped and Khalid and his helpers were attacking him. Ali (peace be upon him) did not tend to fight in this battle because he had killed lots of enemies in the battle of Badr and he did not get wounded; but in the battle of Uhud, he killed few men and he got wounded a lot; he had seventy wounds in a way that each of them were bandaged the other wound next to it started bleeding. All these wounds were because of the moment when he went to get to the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and help him. The holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) had prostrated and the heathens were so close to him that they threw him stones. The only obstacle for them was the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s grandeur. The prophet (peace be upon him and his family) who was defending himself just by stone, cleansed his forehead and said:” how can redemption be for men who made their prophet bleed?” meanwhile, he wanted to invite them to God (Dawah) which shows his perfect kindness for leading humans to redemption and bliss. Ali (peace be upon him) reached the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and expelled the heathens. A group of Muslims who found out that the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is still alive helped him.

The prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s death rumor

In the crises in middle of the battle, suddenly someone shouted the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is killed. Those Muslims who were fighting with low resistance heard the rumor and escaped and set the heathens free. Even the enemy had believed the rumor. The rumor was so confusing that even Abu Sufyan was not aware whether the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was alive or mot.
According to historic contexts, in several moments the Satan shouted:
1- The night of oath of Aghabe in Mena while the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was contracting with Medina’s folk, the Satan shouted: o Koreysh and o Arabs, this is Muhammad who wants to contract with Yasreb’s folk to fight with you. The heathens woke up because of this load shout and attacked them;
2- In a meeting which they decided to kill the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) the Satan disguised as an old man from Najd and suggested to have people from all tribes so that no tribe could take revenge.
3- In the battle of Uhud that he shouted: the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is killed.
We shall look at this subject doubtfully. This is a matter which only historians have written about and there is one Rewayat about it. On the other hand it is not clear that in historic contexts what the exact meaning of Satan is, is it real Satan or evil humans? As a matter of fact everywhere historians write about the Satan we must put a question mark in front and doubt it. In verbal and philosophical sight Does Satan have a right to appear this way and avert the religion way? The one who shouted the death of holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was not absolutely a jinn. And we are sure that it was not one of the heathens; because if this news was from them, Abu Sufyan would have realized and never doubted; thus, this rumor might have been from the Muslim infiltrators who wanted this battle to be a loss for the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Anyway, the battle of Uhud finished, but it caused a critical situation in Medina; because the people of Medina had undertaken to protect the holy prophet (peace be upon him and his family) with whole their ability and power in the night of Aghabe in Mena; but they broke their oath and abandoned the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and escaped. The Lord also blamed them. And this crisis was handled by the God’s forgiveness. The martyrdom of Hamzah was the worst event for Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) in the battle of Uhud.

Three. The battle of Hamra al-Asad

After the battle of Uhud, the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was told that the heathens have decided to return to Medina and invade it and depredate it. They were regretful of abandoning the battle while the prophet (the peace be upon him and his family) was still alive in the war and they could have easily won it.
When the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s warriors were burying the corpses, the prophet (peace be upon him and his family)’s herald declared: only the ones who were injured yesterday, get ready for chasing the enemy. While the most of the helpers had wounds and were bleeding, they tended to go to Koreysh. It seems like the reason why injured men had to attend the battle of Hamra al- Asad was disgrace of the escapees of Uhud day who were mostly the great individuals of emigrants.

The role of mental operation in advancement of the battle

While the heathens were returning, an individual reached them who was going from Medina to Mecca. They asked him about Medina. He said: I saw Muhammad and his helpers in Hamra al-Asad. His army is looking for you in a great wrath. They are strongly regretful of the battle of yesterday. He talked so much about the mental and spiritual state of Islam army that Abu Sufyan changed his mind and said: we have achieved a great victory; if we return, we would lose. He said to Naeem ibn Masood Ashjaee who was a merchant of Mecca and was going to Medina: that if you go through Hamra al-Asad and meet Muhammad and his helpers and change their minds not to chase us anymore, I will give you ten camels with lots of dates and currants. Naeem accepted and the moment he achieved the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and his helpers, he told them: go back the way that the Koreysh warriors and the ones who did not attend the battle of Uhud have joined the heathens; therefore, you cannot confront them. The Muslims with a strong believe said: we are not afraid of them.
“Those who obeyed the Lord and his messenger while they were wounded, the ones who are benefactors and afraid of God, have a great reward. The ones who were told that people have gathered to fight with you and be afraid, but this made their beliefs stronger and said: the Lord is enough for us who is the best aid”.
Gabriel descended to the prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and said: go back, God made Koreysh afraid of you and they have returned. The Muslim’s caravan met a joinery caravan and they deal some stuff and benefited; and this is the way how God reward the inwards and trusters in this life and afterlife.
“They returned after war, while they had God’s gifts and they were not injured at all. These are satisfied by God and God owns a great forgiveness”.