It is astonishing to see how some extremists love to cherry-pick verses out of the Quran in order to support their conclusion that Islam endorses violence against the innocent. Sadly, the ignorant, bigoted folk spew this further to the masses that Islam is a religion of violence. Letโs be clear โ
Muslims are never ordered to fight against the innocent. Neither the Quran nor the Hadith endorse violence against the innocent. However, as I have examined in many of verses in their historical context, the Quran does allow people to fight back in self-defence, in order to repel oppression, persecution, and tyranny.
The following verses below are used by critics who espouse that Islam is a religion of violence. I have provided scholarly commentaries on the verses, in order to better understand the verses and clarify them through their historical context. Click on the links for more information.
Opponents of Islam claim that Islam is not a religion of peace, that it is in fact a religion of violence, terrorism, and a faith that advocates wars against those who do not believe in this religion. One of the most common text they bring up to support their claim is that of Surah 9:29 (Surah Taubah). They claim this verse advocates violence, and war, against all those who do not believe in Islam, hence they conclude that Islam is an intolerant religion. Before refuting their claims, and their gross ignorance, let us first quote this passage:
YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
PICKTHAL: Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.
SHAKIR: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
To begin with, let us expose the Christian double standard, why do they firstly assume that fight has to completely mean physical only? Fighting those who do not believe in Islam can done in many other forms other than a physical fight or conflict, fighting someone can be done with the tongue, you refute and crush the persons lies,
and you preach the truth to them until they repent of their ways and come to the truth. There is not a single objection any Christian or other can bring against this point, because they have deceptively interpreted this verse to mean physical altercation only, in fact what will Christians say to this verse from their Bible:
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword
Christians will interpret this verse saying that sword doesn’t actually mean a physical sword, rather it is metaphorical language referring to the tongue, that by the tongue Christians shall spread the truth and crush the lies that have been propagated by satan. Therefore I must ask why don’t Christians leave this interpretation open to the Quran as well? Why do they immediately assume that Surah 9:29 must ONLY refer to physical altercation?
If a Christian objects to my claim that Surah 9:29 can also mean fighting unbelievers by the tongue, then it also throws out their own interpretation of Matthew 10:34 which means they no longer have any argument! So it is up to the Christian, if they want to argue honestly, or if they want to argue deceptively using double standards in interpretation.
Now let us examine the historical context of this verse, since Christians never want to take anything into context, they just quote and scream victory. We shall quote Maududi’s excellent commentary of the verse’s background and context:
Historical Background
Now let us consider the historical background of the Surah. The series of events that have been discussed in this Surah took place after the Peace Treaty of Hudaibiyah. By that time, one-third of Arabia had come under the sway of Islam which had established itself as a powerful, well organized and civilized Islamic State. This Treaty afforded further opportunities to Islam to spread its influence in the comparatively peaceful atmosphere created by it. After this Treaty, two events took place, which led to very important results:
Conquest of Arabia
The first was the Conquest of Arabia. The Holy Prophet was able to send missions among different clans for the propagation of Islam. The result was that during the short period of two years, it became such a great power that it made the old order of ignorance’ feel helpless before it. So much so that the zealous elements from among the Quraish were so exasperated that they broke the Treaty in order to encounter Islam in a decisive combat.
But the Holy Prophet took prompt action after the breach so as not to allow them any opportunity to gather enough force for this. He made a sudden invasion on Makkah in the month of Ramadan in A. H. 8 and conquered it. Though this conquest broke the backbone of the order of ignorance, it made still another attack on Islam in the battle-field of Hunain, which proved to be its death-knell.
The clans of Hawazin Thaqif, Naur, Jushm and others gathered their entire forces in the battle field in order to crush the reformative Revolution, but they utterly failed in their evil designs. The defeat of ‘ignorance’ at Hunain paved the way for making the whole of Arabia the ‘Abode of Islam’ (Dar-ul-Islam).
The result was that hardly a year had Passed after the Battle of Hunain, when the major portion of Arabia came within the fold of Islam and only a few upholders of the old order remained scattered over some corners of the country.
The second event that contributed towards making Islam a formidable power was the Campaign of Tabuk, which was necessitated by the provocative activities of the Christians living within or near the boundaries of the Roman Empire to the north of Arabia. Accordingly, the Holy Prophet, with an army of thirty thousand marched boldly towards the Roman Empire but the Romans evaded the encounter.
The result was that the power of the Holy Prophet and Islam increased manifold and deputations from all corners of Arabia began to wait upon him on his return from Tabuk in order to offer their allegiance to Islam and obedience to him. The Holy Quran has described this triumph in Surah AN-NASR: “When the succour of Allah came and victory was attained and you saw people entering the fold of Islam in large numbers… Campaign to Tabuk
The Campaign to Tabuk was the result of conflict with the Roman Empire, that had started even before the conquest of Makkah. One of the missions sent after the Treaty of Hudaibiyah to different parts of Arabia visited the clans which lived in the northern areas adjacent to Syria.
The majority of these people were Christians, who were under the influence of the Roman Empire. Contrary to all the principles of the commonly accepted international law, they killed fifteen members of the delegation near a place known as Zat-u-Talah (or Zat-i-Itlah). Only Ka’ab bin Umair Ghifari, the head of the delegation, succeeded in escaping and reporting the sad incident. Besides this, Shurahbll bin Amr, the Christian governor of Busra, who was directly under the Roman Caesar, had also put to death Haritli bin Umair, the ambassador of the Holy Prophet, who had been sent to him on a similar minion.
These events convinced the Holy Prophet that a strong action should be taken in order to make the territory adjacent to the Roman Empire safe and secure for the Muslims. Accordingly, in the month of Jamadi-ul-Ula A. H. 8, he sent an army of three thousand towards the Syrian border.
When this army reached near Ma’an, the Muslims learnt that Shurahbil was marching with an army of one hundred thousand to fight-with them and that the Caesar, who himself was at Hims, had sent another army consisting of one hundred thousand soldiers under his brother Theodore.
But in spite of such fearful news, the brave small band of the Muslims marched on fearlessly and encountered the big army of Shurahbil at M’utah. And the result of the encounter in which the Muslims were fighting against fearful odds (the ratio of the two armies was 1:33), as very favorable, for the enemy utterly failed to defeat them. This proved very helpful for the propagation of Islam.
As a result, those Arabs who were living in a state of semi. independence in Syria and near Syria and the clans of Najd near Iraq, who were under the influence of the Iranian Empire, turned towards Islam and embraced it in thousands.
For example, the people of Bani Sulaim (whose chief was Abbas bin Mirdas Sulaimi), Ashja’a, Ghatafan, Zubyan, Fazarah, etc., came into the fold of Islam at the same time. Above all, Farvah bin ‘Amral Juzami, who was the commander of the Arab armies of the Roman Empire, embraced Islam during that time, and underwent the trial of his Faith in a way that filled the whole territory with wonder.
When the Caesar came to know that Farvah had embraced Islam, he ordered that he should be arrested and brought to his court. Then the Caesar said to him, “You will have to choose one of the two things. Either give up your Islam and win your liberty and your former rank, or remain a Muslim and face death.” He calmly chose Islam and sacrificed his life in the way of the Truth.
No wonder that such events as these made the Caesar realize the nature of the danger that was threatening his Empire from Arabia. Accordingly, in 9 A. H. he began to make military preparations to avenge the insult he had suffered at M’utah. The Ghassanid and other Arab chiefs also began to muster armies under him.
When the Holy Prophet, who always kept himself well-informed even of the minutest things that could affect the Islamic Movement favorably or adversely, came to know of these preparations, he at once under- stood their meaning. Therefore, without the least hesitation he decided to fight against the great power of the Caesar.
He knew that the show of the slightest weakness would result in the utter failure of the Movement which was facing three great dangers at that time. First the dying power of ‘ignorance’ that had almost been crushed in the battle-field of Hunain might revive again. Secondly, the Hypocrites of Al: Madinah, who were always on the look-out for such an opportunity, might make full use of this to do the greatest possible harm to it.
For they had already made preparations for this and had, through a monk called Abu Amir, sent secret messages of their evil designs to the Christian king of Ghassan and the Caesar himself. Besides this, they had also built a mosque near Al-Madinah for holding secret meetings for this purpose. The third danger was of an attack by the Caesar himself, who had already defeated Iran, the other great power of that period, and filled with awe the adjacent territories.
It is obvious that if all these three elements had been given an opportunity of taking a concerted action against the Muslims, Islam would have lost the fight it had almost won. That is why in this case the Holy Prophet made an open declaration for making preparations for the Campaign against the Roman Empire, which was one of the two greatest empires of the world of that period.
The declaration was made though all the apparent circumstances were against such a decision: for there was famine in the country and the long awaited crops were about to ripen: the burning heat of the scorching summer season of Arabia was at, its height and there was not enough money for preparations in general, and for equipment and conveyance in particular.
But in spite of these handicaps, when the Messenger of Allah realized the urgency of the occasion, he took this step which was to decide whether the Mission of the Truth was – – going to survive or perish. The very fact that he made an open declaration for making preparations for such a campaign to Syria against the Roman Empire showed how important it was, for this was contrary to his previous practice.
Usually he took every precaution not to reveal beforehand the direction to which he was going nor the name of the enemy whom he was going to attack; nay, he did not move out of Al- Madinah even in the direction of the campaign.
All the parties in Arabia fully realized the grave consequences of this critical decision. The remnants of the lovers of the old order of ‘ignorance’ were anxiously waiting for the result of the Campaign, for they had pinned all their hopes on the defeat of Islam by the Romans.
The ‘hypocrites’ also considered it to be their last chance of crushing the power of Islam by internal rebellion, if the Muslims suffered a defeat in Syria. They had, therefore, made full use of the Mosque built by them for hatching plots and had employed all their devices to render the Campaign a failure.
On the other side, the true Believers also realized fully that the fate of the Movement for which they had been exerting their utmost for the last 22 years was now hanging in the balance. If they showed courage on that critical occasion, the doors of the whole outer world would be thrown open for the Movement to spread. But if they showed weakness or cowardice, then all the work they had done in Arabia would -end in smoke.
That is why these lovers of Islam began to make enthusiastic preparations for the Campaign. Everyone of them tried to surpass the other in making contributions for the provision of equipment for it. Hadrat Uthman and Hadrat Abdur Rehman bin Auf presented large sums of money for this purpose. Hadrat Umar contributed half of the earnings of his life and Hadrat Abu Bakr the entire earnings of his life.
The indigent Companions did not lag behind and presented whatever they could earn by the sweat of their labor and the women parted with their ornaments. Thousands of volunteers, who were filled with the desire of sacrificing their lives for Islam, came to the Holy Prophet and requested that arrangements for weapons and conveyance be made for them so that they should join the expedition.
Those who could not be provided with these shed tears of sorrow; the scene was so pathetic that it made the Holy Prophet sad because of his inability to arm them. In short, the occasion became the touchstone for discriminating a true believer from a hypocrite. For, to lag behind in the Campaign meant that the very relationship of a person to Islam was doubtful.
Accordingly, whenever a person lagged behind during the journey to Tabuk, the Holy Prophet, on being informed, would spontaneously say, “Leave him alone. If there be any good in him, Allah will again join him with you, and if there be no good in him, then thank Allah that He relieved you of his evil company”.
In short, the Holy Prophet marched out towards Syria in Rajab A. H. 9, with thirty thousand fighters for the cause of Islam. The conditions in which the expedition was undertaken may be judged from the fact that the number of camels with them was so small that many of them were obliged to walk on foot and to wait for their turns for several had to ride at a time on each camel.
To add to this, there was the burning heat of the desert and the acute shortage of water. But they were richly rewarded for their firm resolve and sincere adherence to the cause and for their perseverance in the face of those great difficulties and obstacles.
When they arrived at Tabuk, they learnt that the Caesar and his allies had withdrawn their troops from the frontier and there was no enemy to fight with. Thus they won a moral victory that increased their prestige manifold and, that too, without shedding a drop of blood.
In this connection, it is pertinent to point out that the general impression given by the historians of the campaigns of the Holy Prophet about the Campaign of Tabuk is not correct. They relate the event in a way as if the news of the mustering of the Roman armies near the Arabian frontier was itself false.
The fact is that the Caesar had begun to muster his armies, but the Holy Prophet forestalled him and arrived on the scene before he could make full preparations for the invasion.
Therefore, believing that “discretion is the better part of valor,” he withdrew his armies from the frontier. For he had not forgotten that the three thousand fighters for the cause of Islam had rendered helpless his army one hundred thousand strong at M’utah. He could not, therefore, even with an army of two hundred thousand, dare to fight against an army of thirty thousand, and that, too, under the leadership of the Holy Prophet himself.
When the Holy Prophet found that the Caesar had withdrawn his forces from the frontier, he considered thee question whether it would be worthwhile to march into the Syrian territory or to halt at Tabuk and turn his moral victory to political and strategical advantage. He decided on the latter course and made a halt for twenty days at Tabuk.
During this time, he brought pressure on the small states that lay between the Roman Empire and the Islamic State and were at that time under the influence of the Romans, and subdued and made them the tributaries of the Islamic State. For instance, some Christian chiefs Ukaidir bin Abdul Malik Kindi of Dumatul Jaiidal, Yuhanna bin D’obah of Allah, and the chiefs of Maqna, Jarba’ and Azruh also submitted and agreed to pay Jizyah to the Islamic State of Al- Madinah.
As a result of this, the boundaries of the Islamic State were extended right up to the Roman Empire, and the majority of the Arab clans, who were being used by the Caesar against Arabia, became the allies of the Muslims against the Romans.
Above all, this moral victory of Tabuk afforded a golden opportunity to the Muslims to strengthen their hold on Arabia before entering into a long conflict with the Romans. For it broke the back of those who had still been expecting that the old order of ‘ignorance’ might revive in the near future, whether they were the open upholders of shirk or the hypocrites who were hiding their shirk under the garb of Islam.
The majority of such people were compelled by the force of circumstances to enter into the fold of Islam and, at least, make it possible for their descendants to become true Muslims. After this a mere impotent minority of the upholders of the old order was left in the field, but it could not stand in the way of the Islamic Revolution for the perfection of which Allah had sent His Messenger.
So as you can see, it was a direct act of war by the neighbouring Christians that resulted with this verse, they killed innocent Muslim messengers who were simply passing a letter from the prophet Muhammad to them, and back then it was an international ruling and law that simple messengers carrying messages to other rulers would not be targeted or killed.
Secondly, during the war, Caesar killed an Arab commander for the Roman empire Favrah for converting to Islam, he was given an ultimatum to either leave Islam or die, he choose Islam and hence was martyred, this act shows the Romans evil hatred towards the Muslim nation that they would kill you for being Muslim!
So what do our Christian friends expect? Do they expect the Muslims to simply sit down and let this happen? God revealed this verse so that the Muslims could defend themselves against the onslaught of one of the worlds greatest empire at the time which were the Romans, Allah gave the Muslims permission to attack them, as they say, the best defence is an offence.
The Muslims were forced to act, the Muslims did not start the war, the Christians did, and they lost, the Muslims managed to take control of several areas which were held by the Romans, and these new captured lands were now part of the Islamic state and the inhabitants would have to pay the jizyah.
If Christians have a problem with this, then they should have never started the war with the Muslims, as they say, don’t start something you cant finnish, Muslims are not mere European Pagans who Christians could pick on, the Muslims had God on their side so the Christians picked on the wrong people to make war with.
Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri in his work of Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (THE SEALED NECTAR) Memoirs of the Noble Prophet [pbuh] writes:
The invasion and the conquest of Makkah was considered a decisive one between the truth and the error. As a result of which, the Arabs had no more doubt in Muhammad’s mission. Thus we see that things went contrary to the pagans’ expectations. People started to embrace Islam, the religion of Allโจฌ in great numbers. This is manifested clearly in the chapter ?
The delegations, of this book. It can also be deduced out of the enormous number of people who shared in the Hajjatul-Wadโฆฃ145; (Farewell Pilgrimage). All domestic troubles came to an end. Muslims, eventually felt at ease and started setting up the teachings of Allโจฆ#146;s Laws and intensifying the Call to Islam.
The underlying ReasonsThe Byzantine power, which was considered the greatest military force on earth at that time, showed an unjustifiable opposition towards Muslims. As we have already mentioned, their opposition started at killing the ambassador of the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh], Al-Harith bin ?Umair Al-Azdi, by Sharhabeel bin ?Amr Al-Ghassani.
The ambassador was then carrying a message from the Prophet [pbuh] to the ruler of Busra. We have also stated that the Prophet consequently dispatched a brigade under the command of Zaid bin Haritha, who had a fierce fight against the Byzantines at Mu’tah. Although Muslim forces could not have revenge on those haughty overproud tyrants, the confrontation itself had a great impression on the Arabs, all over Arabia.Caesar ?
who could neither ignore the great benefit that Mu’tah Battle had brought to Muslims, nor could he disregard the Arab tribes’ expectations of independence, and their hopes of getting free from his influence and reign, nor he could ignore their alliance to the Muslims ?
realizing all that, Caesar was aware of the progressive danger threatening his borders, especially Ash-Sham-fronts which were neighbouring Arab lands. So he concluded that demolition of the Muslims power had grown an urgent necessity.
This decision of his should, in his opinion, be achieved before the Muslims become too powerful to conquer, and raise troubles and unrest in the adjacent Arab territories.To meet these exigencies, Caesar mustered a huge army of the Byzantines and pro-Roman Ghassanide tribes to launch a decisive bloody battle against the Muslims.
General News about the Byzantines and Ghassanide Preparations for WarNo sooner news about the Byzantine’s preparations for a decisive invasion against Muslims reached Madinah than fear spread among them.
They started to envisage the Byzantine invasion in the least sound they could hear. This could be clearly worked out of what had happened to ?Umar bin Al-Khattab one day.The Prophet [pbuh] had taken an oath to stay off his wives for a month in the ninth year of Al-Hijra.
Therefore, he deserted them and kept off in a private place. At the beginning, the Companions of the Messenger of Allโจ were puzzled and could not work out the reason for such behaviour. They thought the Prophet [pbuh] had divorced them and that was why he was grieved, disturbed and upset. In ?Umar’s version of the very story he says:
“I used to have a Helper friend who often informed me about what happened if I weren’t present, and in return I always informed him of what had taken place during his absence. They both lived in the high part of Madinah. Both of them used to call at the Prophet alternatively during that time of suspense. Then one day I heard my friend, knock at the door saying:
“Open up! Open up!” I asked wondering, “What’s the matter? Has the Ghassanide come?” “No it is more serious than that. The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] has deserted his wives.” [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/730]In another version, ?Umar said, “We talked about Ghassanide preparations to invade us.
When it was his turn to convey the news to me, he went down and returned in the evening. He knocked at the door violently and said ?Is he sleeping?’ I was terrified but I went out to meet him. ?
Something serious had taken place.’ He said. ?Has the Ghassaindes arrived?’ Said I. ?No,’ he said, ?it is greater and more serious. The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] has divorced his wives.'” [Sahih Al-Bukhari 1/334]
This state of too much alertness manifests clearly the seriousness of the situation that Muslims began to experience. The seriousness of the situation was confirmed to a large degree by the hypocrites behaviour, when news about the Byzantines’ preparations reached Madinah.
The fact that the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] won all the battles he fought, and that no power on earth could make him terrified, and that he had always proved to be able to overcome all the obstacles that stood in his way – did not prevent the hypocrites, who concealed evil in their hearts, from expecting an affliction to fall upon the Muslims and Islam.
They used to harbour evil and ill-intentions against the whole process of Islam and the Muslims. On grounds of illusory hopes of destroying this great religious edifice, they erected a hotbed of conspiracy and intrigue in the form of a mosque ?
Masjid-e-Darar (the mosque of harm). They approached the Prophet [pbuh] with the request that he should come and consecrate the place by praying in it himself. As he was at the moment about to start for Tabuk, he deferred compliance with their request till his return.
Meanwhile he came to know through Divine Revelation that it was not a Mosque for devotion and prayer but a meeting place for the anti-Islamic elements. On his return, therefore, the Prophet [pbuh] sent a party to demolish the new structure.
Particular News about the Byzantine and Ghassanide Preparations for WarA magnified image of the prominent danger threatening the Muslims life was carried to them by the Nabateans who brought oil from Ash-Sham to Madinah.
They carried news about Heraclius’ preparations and equipment of an enormous army counting over forty thousand fighters besides Lukham, Judham and other tribes allied to the Byzantines. They said that its vanguard had already reached Al-Balqโฆฃ146;. Thus was the grave situation standing in ambush for the Muslims.
The general situation was aggravated seriously by other adverse factors of too much hot weather, drought and the rough and rugged distance they had to cover in case they decided to encounter the imminent danger.The Messenger of Allโจฆ#146;s [pbuh] concept and estimation of the situation and its development was more precise and accurate than all others.
He thought that if he tarried or dealt passively with the situation in such a way that might enable the Byzantines to paddle through the Islamic controlled provinces or to go as far as Madinah, this would ? amid these circumstances ? leave the most awful impression on Islam as well as on the Muslims’ military credibility.
The pre-Islamic beliefs and traditions (Al-Jahiliyah) which were at that time dying because of the strong decisive blow that they had already had at Hunain, could have had a way to come back to life once again in such an environment. The hypocrites who were conspiring against the Muslims so that they might stab them in the back whereas Byzantines would attack them from the front.
If such a thing came to light and they succeeded in their evil attempts, the Prophet and his Companions’ efforts to spread Islam would collapse and their profits which were the consequences of successive and constant fights and invasions would be invalidated. The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] realised all that very well. So ? in spite of the hardships and drought that Muslims were suffering from ?
the Prophet [pbuh] was determined that the Muslims should invade the Byzantines and fight a decisive battle at their own borders. He was determined not to tarry at all in order to thwart any Roman attempt to approach the land of Islam.
When the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] had made up his mind and took his final decision, he ordered his Companions to get ready for war and sent for the Makkans and the other Arab tribes asking for their assistance.Contrary to his habit of concealing his real intention of the invasion by means of declaring a false one, he announced openly his intention of meeting the Byzantines and fighting them.
He cleared the situation to his people so that they would get ready, and urged them to fight in the way of Allโจฎ On this occasion a part of Surat Bara’a (Chapter 9 ? The Repentance) was sent down by Allโจฌ urging them to steadfastness and stamina.On the other hand, the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] cherished them to pay charities and to spend the best of their fortunes in the way of Allโจฎ
No sooner had the Muslims heard the voice of the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] calling them to fight the Byzantines than they rushed to comply with his orders. With great speed they started getting ready for war. Tribes and phratries from here and there began pouring in Madinah. Almost all the Muslims responded positively. Only those who had weakness at their hearts favoured to stay behind.
They were only three people. Even the needy and the poor who could not afford a ride came to the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] asking for one so that they would be able to share in the fight against the Byzantines. But when he said:“…?I can find no mounts for you’ they turned back while their eyes overflowing with tears of grief that they could not find anything to spend (for Jihad).” [Al-Qur’an 9:92]
The Muslims raced to spend out money and to pay charities to provide this invasion. ?Uthman, for instance, who had already rigged two hundred, saddled camels to travel to Ash-Sham, presented them all with two hundred ounces (of gold) as charity. He also fetched a thousand dinars and cast them all into the lap of the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh], who turned them over and said:
“From this day on nothing will harm ?Uthman regardless of what he does.” [Jami’ At-Tirmidhi 2/211 (The virtues of ‘Uthman)] Again and again ?Uthman gave till his charity toped to nine hundred camels and a hundred horses, besides the money he paid.Abdur Rahman bin ?Awf, on his side, paid two hundred silver ounces, whereas Abu Bakr paid the whole money he had and left nothing but Allโจ and His Messenger as a fortune for his family. ?Umar paid half his fortune. Al-?
Abbas gifted a lot of money. Talhah, Sa?d bin ?Ubadah and Muhammad bin Maslamah, gave money for the welfare of the invasion. ?Asim bin ?Adi, on his turn, offered ninety camel-burdens of dates. People raced to pay little and much charities alike. One of them gave the only half bushel (or the only bushel) he owned. Women shared in this competition by giving the things they owned;
such as musk, armlets, anklets, ear-rings and rings. No one abstained from spending out money, or was too mean to grant money or anything except the hypocrites:“Those who defame such of the believers who give charity (in Allโจฆ#146;s cause) voluntarily, and those who could not find to give charity (in Allโจฆ#146;s cause) except what is available to them, so they mock at them (believers).” [Al-Qur’an 9:79]
The Muslim Army is leaving for TabukUpon accomplishing the equipment of the army, the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] ordained that Muhammad bin Maslamah Al-Ansari should be appointed over Madinah ? in another version Siba? bin ?
Arftah. To ?Ali bin Abu Talib he entrusted his family’s safety and affairs and ordered him to stay with them. This move made the hypocrites undervalue ?Ali, so he followed the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] and caught up with him. But the Prophet made ?
Ali turn back to Madinah after saying: “Would it not suffice you to be my successor in the way that Aaron (Harun) was to Moses’?” Then he proceeded saying: “But no Prophet succeeds me.”On Thursday, the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] marched northwards to Tabuk. The army that numbered thirty thousand fighters was a great one, when compared with the previous armies of Islam.
Muslims had never marched with such a great number before.Despite all the gifts of wealth and mounts the army was not perfectly equipped. The shortage of provisions and mounts was so serious that eighteen men mounted one camel alternatively. As for provisions, members of the army at times had to eat the leaves of trees till their lips got swollen. Some others had to slaughter camels ?
though they were so dear ? so that they could drink the water of their stomach; that is why that army was called “The army of distress”.On their way to Tabuk, the army of Islam passed by Al-Hijr ? which was the native land of Thamud who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley; that is “Al-Qura Valley” of today.
They watered from its well but later the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] told them not to drink of that water, nor perform the ablution with it. The dough they made, he asked them to feed their camels with. He forbade them to eat anything whatsoever of it. As an alternative he told them to water from that well which Prophet Salih’s she-camel used to water from.On the authority of Ibn ?
Umar: “Upon passing by Al-Hijr the Prophet [pbuh] said:“Do not enter the houses of those who erred themselves lest what had happened to them would afflict you, but if you had to do such a thing let it be associated with weeping.”Then he raised his head up and accelerated his strides till he passed the valley out.” [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/637]Shortage of water and the army’s need to it made them complain to the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] about that.
So he supplicated Allโจฌ who sent a rainful cloud. It rained and so all people drank and supplied themselves with their need of water.When they drew near Tabuk, the Prophet said: “If Allโจ will, tomorrow you will arrive at Tabuk spring. You will not get there before daytime.
So whoever reaches it should not touch its water; but wait till I come.” Mu?adh said: “When we reached the spring it used to gush forth some water. We found that two men had already preceded us to it. The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] asked them: ?Have you touched its water?’
They replied: ?Yes’. He said what Allโจ inspired him to say, then he scooped up little water of that spring, thin stream which gathered together, he washed his face and hand with it and poured it back into it; consequently plenty of water spouted out of it so people watered. ?Mu?adh’, said the Messenger of Allโจฌ ?if you were doomed to live long life you will see in here fields full of vegetation.'” [Sahih Muslim 2/246]
On the way to Tabuk, or as soon as they reached Tabuk, the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] said: ?Severe wind will blow tonight, so none of you should stand up. Whoever has a camel should tie it up.’ Later on when the strong wind blew, one of the men stood up and the wind carried him away to Tai’ Mountain. [ibid.
Sahih Muslim 2/246]All the way long the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] was intent on the performance of the combined prayer of noon and the afternoon; and so did he with sunset and evening prayers. His prayers for both were either pre-time or post-time prayers.
The Army of Islam at TabukArriving at Tabuk and camping there, the Muslim army was ready to face the enemy. There, the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] delivered an eloquent speech that included the most inclusive words. In that speech he urged the Muslims to seek the welfare of this world and the world to come. He warned and cherished them and gave them good tidings.
By doing that he cherished those who were broken in spirits, and blocked up the gap of shortage and mess they were suffering from due to lack of supplies, food and other substances.Upon learning of the Muslims’ march, the Byzantines and their allies were so terrified that none of them dared set out to fight. On the contrary they scattered inside their territory. It brought, in itself, a good credit to the Muslim forces.
That had gained military reputation in the mid and remote lands of Arabian Peninsula. The great and serious political profits that the Muslim forces had obtained, were far better than the ones they could have acquired if the two armies had been engaged in military confrontation.
The Head of Ailah, Yahna bin Rawbah came to the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh], made peace with him and paid him the tribute (Al-Jizya). Both of Jarba’ and Adhruh peoples paid him tribute, as well.
So the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] gave each a guarantee letter, similar to Yahna’s, in which he says:“In the Name of Allโจฌ the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.This is a guarantee of protection from Allโจ and Muhammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allโจฌ to Yahna bin Rawbah and the people of Ailah; their ships, their caravans on land and sea shall have the custody of Allโจ and the Prophet Muhammad, he and whosoever are with him of Ash-Sham people and those of the sea.
Whosoever contravenes this treaty, his wealth shall not save him; it shall be the fair prize of him that takes it. Now it should not be lawful to hinder the men from any springs which they have been in the habit of frequenting, nor from any journeys they desire to make, whether by sea or by land.”
The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] dispatched Khalid bin Al-Waleed at the head of four hundred and fifty horsemen to ?Ukaidir Dumat Al-Jandal and said to him: “You will see him hunting oryxes.” So when Khalid drew near his castle and was as far as an eye-sight range, he saw the oryxes coming out rubbing their horns against the castle gate.
As it was a moony night Khalid could see Ukaidir come out to hunt them, so he captured him ? though he was surrounded by his men ? and brought him back to the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh], who spared his life and made peace with him for the payment of two thousand camels, eight hundred heads of cattle, four hundred armours and four hundred lances.
He obliged him to recognize the duty of paying tribute and charged him with collecting it from Dumat, Tabuk, Ailah and Taima’.The tribes, who used to ally the Byzantines, became quite certain that their dependence oinn their former masters came to an end.
Therefore they turned into being pro-Muslims. The Islamic state had therefore enlarged its borders to an extent that it, touched the Byzantines’ and their agents’ borders. So we see that the Byzantine agents role was over.
Returning to MadinahThe Muslim army returned from Tabuk victoriously, undeceived or wronged. That was because Allโจ had sufficed them the evils of fight.On the way back and at a mountain road, twelve hypocrites sought the Prophet’s life and that was while he was passing along that mountain road with only Ammar holding the rein of his she-camel and Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman driving it, at the time that people had already gone down into the bottom of the valley.
The hypocrites seized that opportunity to seek the Prophet’s life. As the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] and his two companions were moving along, they heard thrusts of people coming towards him from behind with their faces veiled. Hudhaifa, who was sent by the Prophet to see what was going on, saw them and stroke their mounts’ faces with a crook in his hand and Allโจ cast fear into their hearts.
They fled away and overtook their people.However, Hudhaifa named them to the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] and informed him of their intentions. So that was why Hudhaifa was called the “confidant” of the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh]. About this event Allโจฌ the Exalted says:“And they resolved that (plot to murder Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]) which they were unable to carry out.” [Al-Qur’an 9:74]
When his headquarters, Madinah, began to loom at the horizon, the Prophet [pbuh] said: “This is a cheerful sight. This is Uhud, which is a mountain, we like it and it likes us.” When the Madinese learnt of their arrival they set out to meet the army.
Women, youths, youngsters and small children went out of town to celebrate their home-return wholeheartedly singing:“The full moon shone down upon us, through the traits of Al-Wada? Mountain. Thanks is due to us, as long as a supplicator invokes to Allโจฎ.
“The Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh] ‘s march to Tabuk was in Rajab and his return in Ramadan. So we see that this Ghazwah took fifty days, twenty days of which were spent in Tabuk and the others on the way to and fro. Tabuk Invasion was the last one made by the Prophet [pbuh].
The Invasion of Tabuk and its Far-Reaching RamificationsThe effect of this invasion is great as regards extending and confirming the Muslims’ influence and domination on the Arabian Peninsula. It was quite obvious to everybody that no power but Islam’s would live long among the Arabs. The remainders of Jahiliyin and hypocrites ?
who used to conspire steadily against the Muslims and who perpetually relied on Byzantine power when they were in need of support or help ? these people lost their expectations and desires of ever reclaiming their ex-influence.
Realizing that there was no way out and that they were to submit to the fait accompli, they gave up their attempts.From that time on, hypocrites were no longer treated leniently or even gently by the Muslims. Allโจ not only bade Muslims to treat them severely
but He also forbade them to take their gift charities or perform prayer on their dead, or ask Allโจฆ#146;s forgiveness for them or even visit their tombs. Allโจ bade the Muslims to demolish the mosque, which they verily appointed and used as a hiding place where they might practise their plots, conspiracy and deceit.
Some Qur’โฎฉc verses were sent down disclosing them publicly and utterly so that everybody in Madinah got to know their reality.The great impact that this invasion produced could be perceived in of the great number of delegations who came successively to meet the Messenger of Allโจ [pbuh].
Naturally, deputations used to come to meet him at the end of an invasion particularly after Makkah Conquest [Ibn Hisham 2/515-537; Za’d Al-Ma’ad 3/2-13; Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/633,635-637, 1/252, 414; Fath Al-Bari 8/110-126; Mukhtasar Seerat Ar-Rasool p.391-407]
but they were not as many as these nor were they as frequent as they were then in the wake of Tabuk event. It was certainly the greatest.
The Qur’โฎฉc Verses Relating to this InvasionMany a verse of Bara’a (Tauba)Chapter handling the event of Tabuk were revealed. Some verses were revealed before the march, while others after setting out for Tabuk, i.e. in the context of the battle. Some other verses were also revealed on the Prophet’s arrival in Madinah. All of which covered the incidents that featured this invasion:
the immanent circumstances of the battle, exposure of the hypocrites, the prerogatives and special rank earmarked for the strivers in the cause of Allโจฌ acceptance of the repentance of the truthful believers who slackened and those who hung back, etc.
This all refutes the assertions made by Christians and anti-Islamic’s, the Muslims were forced to act, and they did, Christians only attack this verse because they’re angry that they lost the wars. And it also seems that Christians think its okay for their people to kill and having the intention to destroy the Islamic nation, but when Muslims react we become criminals and an intolerant faith! How convenient!
We have already noted that when the Confederates came and camped outside Al-Madinah, Banu Qurayzah broke the covenant that existed between them and the Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him.
This happened by the agency of Huyay bin Akhtab An-Nadari, may Allah curse him, who entered their stronghold and would not leave their leader, Ka`b bin Asad, alone until he agreed to break the covenant.
Among the things that he said to him was, “Woe to you! This is the opportunity for glory. The Quraysh and their company of men from various tribes, and the Ghatafan and their followers, have come to you, and they will stay here until they eliminate Muhammad and his companions.” Ka`b said to him, “No, by Allah, this is the opportunity for humiliation.
Woe to you, O Huyay, you are a bad omen. Leave us alone.” But Huyay kept trying to persuade him until he agreed to his request. He laid down the condition that if the Confederates went away without doing anything, he Huyay would join them in their stronghold and would share their fate.
When Banu Qurayzah broke their covenant and news of this reached the Messenger of Allah, he and the Muslims were very distressed by that.
When Allah helped him by suppressing his enemy and driving them back disappointed and lost, having gained nothing, the Messenger of Allah returned to Al-Madinah in triumph and the people put down their weapons. While the Messenger of Allah was washing off the dust of battle in the house of Umm Salamah, may Allah be pleased with her, Jibril, upon him be peace, came to him wearing a turban of brocade, riding on a mule on which was a cloth of silk brocade.
He said, “Have you put down your weapons, O Messenger of Allah” He said, “Yes.” He said, “But the angels have not put down their weapons. I have just now come back from pursuing the people.” Then he said: “Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, commands you to get up and go to Banu Qurayzah.”
According to another report, “What a fighter you are! Have you put down your weapons” He said, “Yes.” He said, “But we have not put down our weapons yet, get up and go to these people.” He said: “Where” He said, “Banu Qurayzah, for Allah has commanded me to shake them.”
So, the Messenger of Allah Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him got up immediately, and commanded the people to march towards Banu Qurayzah, who were a few miles from Al-Madinah. This was after Salat Az-Zuhr. He said,
(No one among you should pray `Asr except at Banu Qurayzah.) So, the people set out, and the time for the prayer came while they were still on the road. Some of them prayed on the road, saying, “The Messenger of Allah only wanted to make us march quickly.” Others said, “We will not pray it until we reach Banu Qurayzah.” Neither of the two groups were rebuked for what they did.
The Messenger of Allah followed them. He left Ibn Umm Maktum, may Allah be pleased with him, in charge of Al-Madinah, and he had given the flag to `Ali bin Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. Then the Messenger of Allah went to them (Banu Qurayzah) laying siege to them for twenty-five days.
When this had gone on for too long, they agreed to accept the judgement of Sa`d bin Mu`adh, the leader of `Aws because they had been their allies during the Jฤhilฤซyah=pre-Islamic period.
So, they thought that he would treat them kindly as `Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul had done for his allies of Banu Qaynuqa` when he had asked the Messenger of Allah to set them free.
So, these people thought that Sa`d would do the same for them as Ibn Ubayy had done for those people. They did not know that Sa`d had been struck by an arrow in his medial arm vein during the campaign of Al-Khandaq.
The Messenger of Allah had had his vein cauterized and had brought him to stay in a tent in the Masjid so that he could keep a close eye on him. One of the things that Sa`d, may Allah be pleased with him, said in his supplication was:
“O Allah, if there is still anything that has to do with the war against Quraysh, then keep me alive for it, and if You decree that the war between us and them is over, then let the bleeding be renewed, but do not let me die until I get my satisfaction with regard to Banu Qurayzah.”
Allah answered his prayer and decreed that they would agree to be referred to him for judgement, and this was their own free choice. When this happened, the Messenger of Allah called him to come from Al-Madinah to pass judgement on them.
When he arrived, riding on a donkey that had been specially equipped for him to ride, some of the `Aws began to urge him not to be too harsh, saying, “O Sa`d, they are your clients so be kind to them, trying to soften his heart.”
But he kept quiet and did not answer them. When they persisted in their request, he said, “Now it is time for Sa`d to make sure that no rebuke or censure will divert him from the path of Allah.” Then they knew that he would not let them live. When he reached the tent where the Messenger of Allah was, the Messenger of Allah said:
(Stand up for your leader.) So, the Muslims stood up for him, and welcomed him with honor and respect as befitted his status and so that his judgement would have more impact. When he sat down, the Messenger of Allah said:
(These people) — and he pointed to them — (have agreed to accept your judgement, so pass judgement on them as you wish.) Sa`d, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “My judgement will be carried out” The Messenger of Allah said:
“Yes.” He said, “And it will be carried out on those who are in this tent” He said, “Yes.” He said, “And on those who are on this side” — and he pointed towards the side where the Messenger of Allah was.
But he did not look directly at the Messenger of Allah out of respect for him. The Messenger of Allah said to him: “Yes.” So, Sa`d, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “My judgement is that their fighters should be killed, and their children and wealth should be seized.” The Messenger of Allah said:
(You have judged according to the ruling of the Sovereign.) Then the Messenger of Allah commanded that ditches should be dug, so they were dug in the earth, and they were brought tied by their shoulders, and were beheaded. There were between seven hundred and eight hundred of them.
The children who had not yet reached adolescence and the women were taken as prisoners, and their wealth was seized. All of this is stated both briefly and in detail, with evidence and Hadiths, in the book of Sirah which we have written, praise and blessings be to Allah.
(Please read an important note about this section at the end of this article)
(And those who backed them, Allah brought them down) means, those who helped and supported them in their war against the Messenger of Allah.
ู ูููู ุฃููููู ุงููููุชููุจู
(Of the People of the Scripture) means, Banu Qurayzah, who were Jews from one of the tribes of Israel. Their forefathers had settled in the Hijaz long ago, seeking to follow the Unlettered Prophet of whom they read in the Tawrah and Injil.
(and cast terror into their hearts;) means fear, because they had supported the idolators in their war against the Messenger of Allah and the one who knows is not like the one who does not know. They had terrified the Muslims and intended to kill them so as to gain earthly power, but their plans backfired.
The idolators ran away and the believers were victorious while the disbelievers were losers; where they had aimed for glory, they were humiliated. They wanted to eradicate the Muslims, but they were themselves eradicated. In addition to all this, they are doomed in the Hereafter, so by all accounts they are counted as losers. Allah says:
(a group you killed, and a group you made captives.)Those who were killed were their warriors, and the prisoners were their children and women. Imam Ahmad recorded that `Atiyah Al-Qurazi said, “I was shown to the Prophet on the day of Qurayzah, because they were not sure about me.
The Prophet told them to look at me to see whether I had grown any body hair yet. They looked and saw that I had not grown any body hair, so they let me go and I was put with the other prisoners.” This was also recorded by the Sunan compilers, and At-Tirmidhi said it is Hasan Sahih.” An-Nasa’i also recorded something similar from `Atiyah.
(And a land which you had not trodden.) It was said that this was Khaybar, or that it was the lands of the Persians and Romans. Ibn Jarir said, “It could be that all of these are referred to
When Thinking about Quran (33-26-27) That is a punishment for the Jewish Traitors of Banu Qurayzah. Make sure Try to read this FIRST Please Deuteronomy (20:10)
10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. 14
As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
Allah knows Best
Note:
In Islam usually Slaves are those the non-Muslim enemy fighters and aggressors who started wars against Muslims. Once They are captured in become prisoners of war at the hands of the Muslim army. The Muslim Army have Four choices in dealing with those fighters and prisoners of war regardless of their gender:
Return them without a price and peacefully to their place of origin and that is illogical and will encourage them to fight Muslims again.
Kill all of them and that would be harsh.
Enslave them to work for Muslims AND emotionally humiliate them to make them regret fighting Muslims. Yet treat them well in terms of food, shelter, medication and show them the true teachings of Islam which they were opposing due to the brainwashing Islamophobic black propaganda they grow up with.
Exchange the Non-Muslim prisoners of war at the hands of the Muslim Army with the Muslim prisoners at the hands of non-Muslim army. Or Exchange certain benefits, lands, equipment, or any other beneficial things with prisoners of war.
1. Introduction 2. Background Of Quran 9:29 3. Rebuttal 4. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Glen Roberts, who runs the site โThe Religion Of Peaceโ has written a further article on the Quranic verse, 9:29. Glen devoted an article to our piece on 9:29 not long ago, which can be seen here: โAnswering Jihad: โFight Against Those Who Do Not Believeโ โ Quran 9:29โ. Then we wrote an article back in response to his claims, which can be seen here: โSurah 9:29 โ Tabuk | Response To โReligion Of Peaceโโ. He has returned with another piece, this time trying to respond to the evidences we presented.
Most of the claims he made are either misrepresentations of what we wrote or at times he deliberately misleads his readers. Much of the article he has written is his own commentary, rather than presenting historical scholars who are have the expertise on the subject. [1]
Before I move to the rebuttal part I need to inform Glen Roberts that the Byzantine Empire does not have a flowery history the way youโre trying to portray in your articles. Since you have devoted two articles on this subject, I need to remind you that the Byzantine Empire has a long history of massacres and pillaging of other countries in the region.
The Byzantineโs did indeed attempt to invade and attack Muslims in Madinah and elsewhere, as we showed in the previous articles, and I will show further evidence for this again in this rebuttal.
Glen, you may need to remember that this is the same Byzantine empire which invaded, pillaged, massacred and burned many Persians alive. The Byzantine army pillaging, burning and murdering Persians is mentioned in many non-Muslim early sources:
โHeraclius attacked the Persians, captured the city of Khusrau and took a great many prisoners. โฆ Then Heraclius gave permission for their camp to be plundered. Learning of the death of Rozbihan and his men, Khusrau fled from Ctesiphon (Mahuza and Madaโin). Heraclius arrived and entered it, took possession of the royal treasuries and carried off all that was in it.
Then he burned it, laid waste the surrounding villages and enslaved its people.โ (Theophilus of Edessaโs Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam [Translated with an introduction and notes by Robert G. Hoyland published by Liverpool University Press (2011)], page 75)
Heraclius himself ordered Jews to be forcefully converted to Christianity:
โForced conversion of Jews: MSyr: At this time King Heraclius ordered that all the Jews who were found in the lands of the Roman Empire should be baptised and become Christians. For this reason the Jews fled Roman territory. They came first to Edessa; expelled violently once again from this place, they fled into Persia.
A great number of them received baptism and became Christians.โ (Theophilus of Edessaโs Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, [Translated with an introduction and notes by Robert G. Hoyland, published by Liverpool University Press (2011)], Page 95)
Forceful conversion to Christianity continued against minorities in many regions under the control of the Byzantineโs throughout history:
โTheophanes: The king forced the Jews and the Montanists to accept baptism. The Jews for their part were baptised against their will and then washed off their baptism. They partook of Holy Communion on a full stomach and so defiled the faith. As for the Montanists, they made divination among themselves and, after determining a certain day, entered the houses appointed for their false worship and burned themselves.
Agapius: Leo, king of the Romans, began to convert the peoples in his realm of a different religion to him and opposed to Christianity. He made Christian all the Jews and Harranians and they called them new Christians.โ (Theophilus of Edessaโs Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, [Translated with an introduction and notes by Robert G. Hoyland, published by Liverpool University Press (2011)], page 221)
The fact that the Byzantineโs attacked and murdered Persians, what is so hard for them to do the same to the Muslims? Are Christian Kings immune from committing heinous crimes against humans?
2. Background Of Quran 9:29
โFight those of the People of the Book who do not [truly] believe in God and the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, who do not obey the rule of justice,until they pay the tax and agree to submit.โ โ Quran 9:29 (Abdul Haleem Eng. Translation)
Surah 9:29 is regarded by the earliest scholars of Islam to have been revealed on the occasion of Tabuk expedition. This is the opinion of Mujahid Ibn Jabr (645 โ 722) [2], Hud b. Muhakkam al-Huwwari (d. 893) [3], Al-Tabari (838 โ 923) [4], Al-Baghawi (1044 โ 1122), Ibn Kathir (1301 โ 1373) [5], Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292 โ 1350) [6] and others.
3. Rebuttal
In this current article, I will respond to some of the claims he has made in his recent piece on Surah 9:29. Glen Roberts starts by writing:
โEveryone agrees that there was no opposing Byzantine army at Tabuk when the Muslims arrived. It is highly doubtful that one was ever there, since it is supported neither by external sources nor the accounts of early Muslim historians. However, it is critical to DTTโs interpretation of verse 9:29 as pertaining to self-defense.โ
โEveryone agreesโ, who are they? Why arenโt any authentic reports mentioned in your article? Could you kindly show us the early authentic reports where it mentions that no Byzantine army was there when Prophet Muhammed (p) set off to Tabuk? You have not shown a single early source that is in agreement with your fictionalised history. We explained in our earlier pieces that the Muslim sources show that an army was there.
This is confirmed in Sahih Muslim, Ibn Saโd, Kitab Futuh al-Buldan, Al-Zurqani and other classical reports. You know very well that does that negate the fact that they fled. They left the area they wanted to engage in fighting. When the confirmed reports show that they were there, but when Muslims arrived, they fled โ how does that not support our position that they ran off?
Furthermore, your claim that our early Muslim sources do not point out that there was an army there, youโre clearly misleading your readers here. We showed a number of sources that said an army was there. Here are some of reports. The respected 9th century scholar Muslim Ibn al-Hajjaj (821 โ 875) states that the Muslims โhad to confront a large armyโ at Tabuk:
โโฆthis is my story of remaining back from Allahโs Messenger on the occasion of the Battle of TABUK. Never did I possess means enough and (my circumstances) more favourable than at the occasion of this expedition. And, by Allah, I had never before this expedition simultaneously in my possession two rides.
Allahโs Messenger set out for this expedition in extremely hot season; the journey was long and the land (which he and his army had to cover) was waterless and HE HAD TO CONFRONT A LARGE ARMY, so he informed the Muslims about the actual situation (they had to face), so that they should adequately equip themselves for this expedition, and he also told them the destination where he intended to go. โฆโ (Sahih Muslim Book 37, Hadith 6670)
There is a second source, this one is even earlier than the previous report. Scholar Ibn Saโd (784 โ 845) in his Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir writes that reports had reached Prophet Muhammed (p) that the Byzantine (Romans) had โconcentrated large forcesโ and Heraclius had sent some his military to โBalqaโ. This is when Muhammed (p) โsummonedโ his companions to Tabuk:
โThey (narrators) saud: It (report) reached the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, that the ROMANS HAD CONCENTRATED LARGE FORCES IN SYRIA had, that Heraclius had disbursed one yearโs salary to his soldiers, and that tribes of Lakhm, Judham, โAmilah and Ghassan had joined hands with him. THEY SENT HAD SENT THEIR VANGUARDS TO AL-BALQA. THE MESSENGER of Allah, SUMMONED THE PEOPLE TO MARCH.
He set out and informed them about the place which he intended, so that they could make necessary preparations. He sent (messengers) to Makkah and to the tribes of Arabia (asking them) to send help. This took place in the days of intense heat.โ (Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, [Translated by S. Moinul Haq (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2009)], by Ibn Saโd, volume 2, page 203 โ 204)
The third early source is reported by the 9th Century historian Aแธฅmad Ibn Yaแธฅya al-Baladhuri (D. 892), in his book โKitab Futuh Al-Buldanโ, he states in clear words that the Prophet (p) learned that the Byzantine army โhad assembled against himโ:
โTabuk make terms. When in the year 9 AH the Prophet marched to TABUK in Syria for the invasion of those of the Greeks, Amilah, Lakhm, Judham and others WHOM HE LEARNT HAD ASSEMBLED AGAINST HIM, he met no resistance. So he spent a few days in Tabuk, whose inhabitants made terms with him agreeing to pay poll-tax.โ
(The origins of the Islamic State, being a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations Geographic and historic notes of the Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Imam Abuโl Abbas Ahmad Ibn Jabir Al Baladhuri, [Translated by Phillip Khurti Hitti, PHD, 1916], volume 1, page 92)
In the version that is narrated by Muโjam az-Zawaโid โ Tabarani (873 โ 918) states that Christians said it is a โappropriate time to attack the Arabsโ (Muslims):
โThe Battle Of Tabuk
Rajab 9 A. H. On the authority of Imran Ibn Husayn that the Christian Arabs wrote to Hercules, the King Of Rome that Muhammad passed away and that the people were dying because of the drought that they were experiencing. It was therefore a very appropriate TIME TO ATTACK THE ARABS (MUSLIMS). Hercules immediately issued the order for preparations.
A fully equipped army of 40 000 was prepared.โ (Muโjam az-Zawaโid, by Tabarani, volume 6, page 191) (Siratul Mustafa [Translated by Maulana Mahomed Mahomedy โ Madrasah Arabia Islamia and Zam Zam Publishers โ Fifth Authorized Edition, 2015] by Hadrat Maulana Idris Sahib Kandehlawi, volume 3, page 96)
In another different narration we are told from the Egyptian scholar Ahmad Ibn Ali Maqrizi (1364โ 1442) that the Tabuk expedition was taken as a result of learning from Nabatean caravans that Heraclius was planning on attacking Muslims in their region:
โThe expedition of Tabuk was undertaken on learning from Nabatean caravans coming to Medina that Heraclius intended to invade Muslim territoryโ (Maqriziy, Imtaโ, volume 1, page 445). (The battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad โ With Maps, Illustrantions and Sketches โ A contribution To Muslim Military History [Kitab Bhavan โ Habib & Co., Hyderabad, 1992], by Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, page 131)
The 14th century scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292 โ 1350) too states that the Byzantineโs had amassed a large army:
โQala Ibn Saโd: The Messenger of Allaah was informed that the Romans had amassed a sizeable army in Syria, and that Heracules had provided his companions with enough provisions to last a year.
Thereafter, seven people came to the Messenger of Allah seeking transportation, so he said:
(I have no means of transporting you). As a result, they turned away and began to weep since they were unable to spend for the sake of Allaah.โ (Zaad al-Maโad, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 459)
Further down Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya states that the Prophet (p) โawaitedโ the enemy (Byzantineโs) at Tabuk:
โThis was the guidance of the messenger of Allaah and his companions as you see. As for the opinions of others, Ahmad has said: if one intends to reside for four days, he must perform prayer completely. However, if he intends to reside for less than four days, he may reduce his prayer. As for the previous narrations, it was his interpretation that the messenger of Allaah and his companions were uncertain when they would depart.
However, this is obviously questionable, because the messenger of Allaah conquered Makka where he layed the foundation of Islaam, and this definitely took time. Similarly, he AWAITED THE ENEMY AT TABOOK, and he knew that they would not arrive within four days.
As for Ibn Umar who resided in Azerbaijan for six months reducing prayer, he knew that the snow would not melt within four days, and what has preceded applies to Anas who resided in Syria for two years and the companions who resided at Ramhormoz for seven months.โ (Zaad al-Maโad, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 477)
So far we have shown 6 sources which agree that the Byzantineโs had assembled troops to attack the Muslim community and that the enemy army was there. But letโs not stop here.
Ibn Kathir (1301 โ 1373) which is Glen Roberts favourite in citing as reference in his articles, states that Heraclius had assembled troops and tried to assassinate the Prophet (p) just before Tabuk:
โMasjid Ad-Dirar and Masjid At-Taqwa The reason behind revealing these honorable Ayat is that before the Messenger of Allah migrated to Al-Madinah, there was a man from Al-Khazraj called โAbu `Amir Ar-Rahib (the Monk).โ This man embraced Christianity before Islam and read the Scriptures. During the time of Jahiliyyah, Abu Amir was known for being a worshipper and being a notable person among Al-Khazraj.
When the Messenger of Allah arrived at Al-Madinah after the Hijrah, the Muslims gathered around him and the word of Islam was triumphant on the day of Badr, causing Abu `Amir, the cursed one, to choke on his own saliva and announce his enmity to Islam. He fled from Al-Madinah to the idolators of Quraysh in Makkah to support them in the WAR AGAINST THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH.
The Quraysh united their forces and the bedouins who joined them for the battle of Uhud, during which Allah tested the Muslims, but the good end is always for the pious and righteous people. The rebellious Abu Amir dug many holes in the ground between the two camps, into one of which the Messenger fell, injuring his face and breaking one of his right lower teeth.
He also sustained a head injury. Before the fighting started, Abu Amir approached his people among the Ansar and tried to convince them to support and agree with him.
When they recognized him, they said, โMay Allah never burden an eye by seeing you, O Fasiq one, O enemy of Allah!โ They cursed him and he went back declaring, โBy Allah! Evil has touched my people after I left.โ The Messenger of Allah called Abu Amir to Allah and recited the Qurโan to him before his flight to Makkah, but he refused to embrace Islam and REBELLED.
The Messenger invoked Allah that Abu Amir die as an outcast in an alien land, and his invocation came true. After the battle of Uhud was finished, ABU AMIR realized that the Messengerโs call was still rising and gaining momentum, so HE WENT TO HERACLIUS, THE EMPEROR OF ROME, ASKING FOR HIS AID AGAINST THE PROPHET. HERACLIUS GAVE HIM PROMISES AND ABU AMIR REMAINED WITH HIM.
He also wrote to several of his people in Al-Madinah, who embraced hypocrisy, promising and insinuating to them THAT HE WILL LEAD AN ARMY TO FIGHT THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH TO DEFEAT HIM AND HIS CALL. He ordered them to establish a stronghold where he could send his emissaries and to serve as an outpost when he joins them later on.
These hypocrites built a Masjid next to the Masjid in Qubaโ, and they finished building it BEFORE the Messenger went to TABUK. They went to the Messenger inviting him to pray in their Masjid so that it would be a proof that the Messenger approved of their Masjid.โ (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, last accessed 27th February 2017,
This is also confirmed by 14th century scholar Ibn Juzayy (1321 โ 1357). He writes:
โโฆ (to create division between the muminun) They meant to separate the believers from the Mosque of Qubaโ. (and in readiness for those who previously made war on Allah and His Messenger ) i.e. waiting for the one WHO FIGHTS ALLAH AND HIS MESSENGER. He was Abu โAmir ar-Rahib who the Messenger of Allah called a fasiq.
He was one of the people of Madina. When the Messenger of Allah came to Madina, he FOUGHT with rejection and hyprocrisy, and then left for Makka and FORMED THE PARTIES OF THE IDOLATERS. When Makka was conquered, he went to Taโif. When the people of TAโIF became Muslim, he went to SYRIA AND SOUGHT THE HELP OF CAESAR. He died there.
The people of the Mosque of Harm said, โWhen Abu โAmir came to Madina, he prayed in this mosque.โ โBeforeโ indicates what he did with the Parties.โ (Tafsir Ibn Juzayy, last accessed 27th February 2017, online
The 11th century scholar Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi (d. 1075), has this account too:
โโฆ The Banu โAmr ibn โAwf built a mosque at Qubaโ and sent for the Messenger of Allah, to come to them. He went there and prayed in that mosque.
Their brothers from the Banu Ghunm ibn โAwf envied them resentfully and said:
โLet us built a mosque and send for the Messenger of Allah, to pray in it as he prayed in the mosque of our brothers, and let Abu โAmir al-Rahib (the monk) also pray in it when he comes back from Syriaโ. This Abu โAmir had embraced Christianity and became a monk in the pre-Islamic period.
But when the Messenger of Allah, moved to Medina, Abu โAmir rejected the religion of Islam and showed enmity toward it. The Prophet, called him then Abu โAmir al-Fasiq (the corrupt)โฆ ABU AMIR LEFT FOR SYRIA AND THEN SENT A LETTER TO THE HYPOCRITES in which he wrote:
โPREPARE YOURSELVES AND MAKE READY WHATEVER YOU CAN OF FORCE AND WEAPONS. Built a Mosque for me, for I AM GOING TO THE CAESAR TO REQUEST HIM TO SEND WITH ME BYZANTINE SOLDIERS SO THAT I DRIVE OUT MUHAMMAD AND HIS COMPANIONSโ. And so, they built for him a mosque by the Qubaโ mosque.
Those who built this mosque were 12 men: Khidham ibn Khalid (this mosque of opposition was an extension of his house), Thaโlabah ibn Hatib, Muโattib ibn Qushayr, Abu Habibah ibn al-Azโar, โAbbad ibn Hunayf, Jariyah ibn โAmir, his two sons Majmaโ and Zayd, Nabtal ibn Harith, Bahzaj ibn โUthman, Bijad ibn โUthman and Wadiโah ibn Thabit. When they finished building this mosque, they went to the Messenger of Allah, and said:
Tafsir al-Jalalayn (two 15/16th century scholars) affirms this incident:
โAnd, among them, those who have chosen a mosque โ these were twelve men from among the hypocrites โ by way of HARM, to cause distress for those of the mosque of Qubaโ, and disbelief, since they built it on the orders of the monk ABU โAMIR, as a sanctuary for him, so that whoever comes from his side may stay there:
HE HAD GONE TO THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR (QAYSAR) TO BRING TROOPS TO FIGHT AGAINST THE PROPHET (s), and to cause division among the believers, who pray in the mosque of Qubaโ, by having some of these pray in their [the hypocritesโ]
mosque, and as an outpost, an observation post, for those who waged war against God and His Messenger before, that is, before it was built โ meaning the above-mentioned Abu โAmir โ they will swear:
โWe desired nothing, by building it, but, to do, goodโ, by way of kindness towards the poor in times of [heavy] rain or [extreme] heat and in order to provide [a place of worship] for the Muslims; and God bears witness that they are truly liars,
in this [claim of theirs]. They had asked the Prophet (s) to perform prayers in it, and so the following was revealedโฆโ (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, last accessed 12th May 2017:
This is also reported by the 17th century Maliki scholar Muhammad al-Zurqani (1645 โ 1710):
โHE DIRAR MOSQUE The hypocrites were always planning to create dissensions amongst the Muslims. They had long been scheming to erect at this place a mosque, to rival that of Quba. Their pretet was that the People, who were unable to go to the Prophetโs mosque owing to their infirmity or for any other reason, might say their prayers there. ABU AMIR, a Medinite, who had turned Christian, had asked the Hypocrites to start their preparations
AS HE WAS GOING TO ASK HERACLEUS FOR MILITARY AID, SO THAT THE COUNTRY MIGHT BE PURGED OF ISLAM.โ (Zurqani, volume 3, page 91) (Sirat-Un-Nabi (โThe Life Of The Prophetโ] [Rendered Into English by M. Tayyib Bakhsh Budayuni โ Idarah-I Adabiyati-I Delli, 2009 Qasimjan St, Delhi (India), 1983] by Allama Sibli Nuโmani, volume 2, page 238 โ 239)
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292 โ 1350):
โAboo โAamir said to them: build your masjid and seek whatever defense you can, because I am going to meet Caesar. Thereafter, HE ARRIVED FROM ROME WITH AN ARMY AND TO BANISH MUHAMMAD AND HIS COMPANIONS. In any event, once the masjid was completed, they came to the prophet and said: we have completed the construction of our masjid and would like for you to pray therein and to supplicate for benediction.
As a result, Allaah the magnificent revealed the following: {never stand therein. Rather, you should stand within a masjid established upon reverenceโฆ} [At Tawba/108].โ .โ (Zaad al-Maโad, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 470)
So far we have shown 6 reports and 6 classical scholars that agree that Byzantineโs were preparing to attack the Muslim community. Glen Roberts was unable to respond to the classical scholars who were mentioned that the Byzantine army were ready to attack and murder Muslims, he went on to write:
โDTT offers four sahih hadith verses and a variety of other opinion from later or weaker sources which seem to embellish the Byzantine threat as the centuries progress.โ
I challenge Glen Roberts to show us one of our reports as being from โweaker sourcesโ. In his entire article, Glen did not show us one classical source which rejected any of our sources. In fact, we encourage our respected readers to type the names of those who have been mentioned in relation to Tabuk expedition, in Google search engine and reputable sites will point out that the people we presented are highly respected scholars who have been praised throughout the centuries to the very present day.
Glen continues:
โThe Tabuk expedition is addressed by early biographers. None portray it in terms of self-defense on the part of Muslims. Ibn Hisham even calls it a โraid on the Byzantines.โ This is an act of offensive warfare, with no indication of a threat.
Ibn Ishaq agrees: The apostle stayed in Medina from Dhuโl-Hijja to Rajab, and then gave orders to prepare to raid the Byzantinesโฆ The apostle ordered his companions to prepare to raid the Byzantines at a time when men were hard pressed; the heat was oppressive and there was a drought; fruit was ripe (To and shade was eagerly sought) and the men wanted to stay in the shade with their fruit and dislike traveling at that seasonโฆ
Notice from the screenshot below, Glen deliberately leaves out the page number and does not give the full account of Ibn Ishaq to mislead readers:
There are two points I need to address here:
3.1. Glen deceptively hides the rest of Ibn Ishaqโs report and does not give readers the page number for this quote, for if he did, readers would be aware that he is hiding important information for his readers not to read. Ibn Ishaq actually reports further down that the Prophet (p) was going to face a big army at Tabuk:
โThe Apostle ordered his companions to prepare to raid the Byzantines at a time when men were hard pressed; the heat was oppressive and there was a drought; fruit was ripe (T. and shade was eagerly sought) and the men wanted to stay in the shade with their fruit and disliked travelling at that season.
Now the Apostle nearly always referred allusively to the destination of a raid and announced that he was making for a place other than that which he actually intended. This was the sole exception, for he said plainly that he was making for the Byzantines because the journey was long, the season difficult, and THE ENEMY IN GREAT STRENGTH, so that the
men could make suitable preparations. He ordered them to get ready and told them that he was making for the Byzantines.โ ((The life of Muhammad: a translation of Isแธฅaqโs Sirat rasul Allah [Translator: Alfred Guillaume โ Oxford University Press], page 602)
This report clearly indicates that an army was already there. The claim that the enemy was not there has no historical bases. What was the point for the companions to make sure they were well equipped militarily if the Byzantineโs werenโt there? This shows that an army was there, by Ibn Ishaqโs own account.
3.2. The second point that needs addressing is his claim that โraidโ somehow shows that there is no indication of threat on the Byzantineโs part:
โraid on the Byzantines.โ This is an act of offensive warfare, with no indication of a threat.
This is quite a weak argument. Raiding an enemy does not equate to the party not threatening them in the first place. For example, a party could be ready or challenge the other party to warfare, however, if the second party gets to the first party and โraidsโ them, this would be classed as lawful or as self-defence in war. For example, Ibn Ishaq gives us a good example on this.
Ibn Ishaq reports that the Prophet (p) raided the Banu Mustaliq, however, further down he clarifies that this was done as a result of the โBanu al-Mustaliq were gathering together against himโ i.e., warfare. This clearly is self-defence even though the Prophet (p) got to them before they attacked him and his community:
โTHE RAID ON B. AL-MUSTALIQ The apostle stayed in medina during the latter part of Jumadaโl-Akhira and Rajab; then he attacked b. al-Mustaliq of Khuzaโa in Shaโban A.H. 6. Asim b, Umar b. Qatada and Abdullah b. Abu Bakr and Muhammad b. Yahya b. Habban each told me a part of the following story:
The apostle received news that B. al-Mustaliq were gathering together against him, their leader being al-Harith b. Abu Dirar, the father of Juwayriya d. al-Harith (afterwards) wife of the apostle. When the apostle heard about them he went out and met them at a watering place of theirs called al-Muraysi in the direction of Qudayd towards the shore.
There was a fight and God put the B. al-Mustaliq to flight and killed some of themโฆโ (The life of Muhammad: a translation of Isแธฅaqโs Sirat rasul Allah [Translator: Alfred Guillaume โ Oxford University Press], page 490)
Glen then goes on to cite a second source to substantiate his claims:
โIbn Kathir, a very respected historian, writes at length about Muhammadโs motivation in sending an army to Tabuk: When God Almighty decreed that the polytheists should be prevented from approaching the Sacred Mosque, whether in the pilgrimage or at other times,
the Quraysh said they would be deprived of the commercial activity that took place during the pilgrimage, and that they would therefore suffer financial loss. And so God compensated them for that by ordering them to battle the people of the scriptures so that they either accepted Islam or paid the jizya tax (โbeing in a state of submissionโ).
The Messenger of God therefore decided to battle the Byzantines. This was because they were the people nearest to him and those most appropriate to invite to the truth because of their proximity to Islam and to those who believed in it. God Almighty had stated, โ0 you who believe, fight those unbelievers who are near you. Let them see severity in you; and know that God is with those who are pious.โ (Ibn Kathir Vol.4 p.1)
In order to understand history surrounding these events we need to take the sources around this incident as a whole. Without it, we will not get the full picture of it. Taking snippet quote(s) of Ibn Kathir and ignoring other pages does not do justice to history. Ibn Kathir (1301 โ 1373) further down, several pages later writes that the Byzantine emperor along with Abu Amir were attempting to assassinate the Prophet (p) and sent an army to attack the Muslim community just before the Tabuk expedition:
โMasjid Ad-Dirar and Masjid At-Taqwa The reason behind revealing these honorable Ayat is that before the Messenger of Allah migrated to Al-Madinah, there was a man from Al-Khazraj called โAbu `Amir Ar-Rahib (the Monk).โ This man embraced Christianity before Islam and read the Scriptures. During the time of Jahiliyyah, Abu Amir was known for being a worshipper and being a notable person among Al-Khazraj.
When the Messenger of Allah arrived at Al-Madinah after the Hijrah, the Muslims gathered around him and the word of Islam was triumphant on the day of Badr, causing Abu `Amir, the cursed one, to choke on his own saliva and announce his enmity to Islam. He fled from Al-Madinah to the idolators of Quraysh in Makkah to support them in the WAR AGAINST THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH.
The Quraysh united their forces and the bedouins who joined them for the battle of Uhud, during which Allah tested the Muslims, but the good end is always for the pious and righteous people. The rebellious Abu Amir dug many holes in the ground between the two camps, into one of which the Messenger fell, injuring his face and breaking one of his right lower teeth.
He also sustained a head injury. Before the fighting started, Abu Amir approached his people among the Ansar and tried to convince them to support and agree with him.
When they recognized him, they said, โMay Allah never burden an eye by seeing you, O Fasiq one, O enemy of Allah!โ They cursed him and he went back declaring, โBy Allah! Evil has touched my people after I left.โ The Messenger of Allah called Abu Amir to Allah and recited the Qurโan to him before his flight to Makkah, but he refused to embrace Islam and REBELLED.
The Messenger invoked Allah that Abu Amir die as an outcast in an alien land, and his invocation came true. After the battle of Uhud was finished, ABU AMIR realized that the Messengerโs call was still rising and gaining momentum, so HE WENT TO HERACLIUS, THE EMPEROR OF ROME, ASKING FOR HIS AID AGAINST THE PROPHET. HERACLIUS GAVE HIM PROMISES AND ABU AMIR REMAINED WITH HIM.
He also wrote to several of his people in Al-Madinah, who embraced hypocrisy, promising and insinuating to them THAT HE WILL LEAD AN ARMY TO FIGHT THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH TO DEFEAT HIM AND HIS CALL.
He ordered them to establish a stronghold where he could send his emissaries and to serve as an outpost when he joins them later on. These hypocrites built a Masjid next to the Masjid in Qubaโ, and they finished building it BEFORE the Messenger went to TABUK.
Glen Roberts, you cannot cherry pick and misrepresent our history the way you do. Glen continues:
โThe real reason for the expedition then, is loot and tribute (jizya) to compensate for the loss of revenue from the haj.โ
If this was the case then the Muslims would have attacked the Byzantine months before this. Surah 9:28 was revealed several months before 9:29. Like we clarified in the previous article,
โThe verse 9:28 was revealed in connection with Hunayn incident which took place long before the expedition of Tabuk. No doubt they were going to get compensated, but this has no connection in relation to the said incident under discussion. Surah 9:28 did not trigger off the Muslims to fight for mere money. What started the war as we have seen from early sources is the aggression and hostility from the Byzantineโs.โ
The evidence for Byzantine hostility has clearly been demonstrated in a number of reports previously cited. Glen continues:
โDTTโs manipulation is sometimes more subtle than ignoring reliable accounts and putting forth others as if they are on equal standing. Sometimes they change the wording of hadith verses to better fit their agenda. As an example, DTT refers to a sahih hadith verse by Jami at-Termidhi:
The phrase โWe heard that the Ghassan were preparing their horses to attack usโ leaves out a word. Here is how it reads in the source:
The word โstoriesโ was deliberately dropped by DTT because it belies the fact that these were unsubstantiated rumors of an attack that did not materialize.
That is false. We may have not given the full account of the report, but nowhere did we claim that these reports were based on facts, and henceforth led to the expedition of Tabuk against the Byzantineโs. This was not our position. Our position of pointing out those reports were that these stories, or reports were circulating months before Tabuk expedition. Yet the Muslims did not initiate any fighting against the enemy. Here are our words:
Roberts also claims that the expedition was set out based on โrumoursโ and not factual evidence, then why did the Muslims few months before Tabuk expedition not set out against the pro-Byzantine the Ghassan tribe when the Muslims heard that they were advancing against them but the Muslims did not do anything but stayed, as shown in the above Hadith reports?
In fact, we attached a direct link to Ghassan and the โrumorโ claims. We addressed this and clearly said the report cited by Glen may have been a โrumorโ, here are our words(article was written in November 2016):
โWhat the critic(s) leave out deliberately, is that even though these reports may be a โrumorโ, the Muslims did not retaliate, nor got their troops ready to attack them. These very reports show that even though they may have been worried and anxious of hearing of the impending army of the Byzantineโs, they did not prepare themselves to deal with them since it was only a story circulating at the time.
Furthermore, if they found these โrumorsโ to be true (even though they are) in this instance, why didnโt the companions prepared themselves to engage the enemy? Why didnโt they ask the Prophet to get ready and set out against them? Why did they find the Prophet Muhammed (p) having some home issues more important than the enemies attacking and aiming to kill them?
As I mentioned, at this stage the story that was circulating was not confirmed by the Muslims, hence, they Byzantines were left alone.โ The fact of the matter is the Muslims only advanced months later when there was clear evidence of Byzantneโs impending army.โ
The above information shows what our stance was and it vindicates us from his lies against us. Clearly Glen Roberts is misleading his readers by making things up about us. We clearly wrote in our previous articles that these reports at the time may have been a โrumorโ and โstoryโ which were unconfirmed at the time. Glen continues:
โDiscover the Truthโs insistence on arguing history distracts from the most damning fact about verse 9:29, which is the textual context. The passage clearly defines targets of violence not by their threat to Muslims, but by their religious beliefs. There is no reasonable explanation for this.โ
The classical scholars are very clear that there was an army at Tabuk. Your claims that the Tabuk expedition was based on religious beliefs is not in accord with history. The historical context surrounding the Quranic verse refutes your claims.
โIt is also inconvenient that the next verse in the Quranโs โperfectly arrangedโ sequence, 9:30, explicitly curses Christians and Jews for their beliefs and also calls for their destruction. Neither verse makes mention of self-defense or an opposing army, which DTT claims is so critical to interpretation.โ
As we demonstrated in the earlier article, the companions of Prophet Muhammed (p) all agreed that Quran 9:30 was revealed in regards to some Jews in Madinah, who exalted Ezra. It had nothing to do with Quran 9:29 incident:
โIbn Abbas states: Sallam b. Mishkam, Nuโman b. Abi awfa, shas b. Qays, and Malik al-sayf [Jews] came to the Prophet Muhammad (p) and said: โHow can we follow you if you renounce that which came before you. You do not think that Ezra is the son of God?โ So Allah revealed to him the verse.โ (Tafsir al-Baghawi, (4/36), online source, http://islamport.com/l/tfs/799/1238.htm )
Quran 9:29 and 9:30 have no connections to each other. This is a historical fact. Glen tries to connect the two verses together in order to mislead readers. Even the Tabiโeen, those who met the Prophet Muhammedโs companions agree on this point. For example, Mujahid Ibn Jabr (645 โ 722) tells us that 9:29 was revealed in regards to Tabuk expedition:
โMujahid Said: โThis was when Muhammad (p) ordered his companions for Ghazwah Tabook.โ ุญูู ุฃู ุฑ ู ุญู ุฏู ูุฃุตุญุงุจู ุจุบุฒูุฉ ุชุจูู (Tafsir al-Tabari, on Surah 9:29, online source, http://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/sura9-aya29.html )
Mujahid Ibn Jabrโs report is also reproduced by the classical scholar Abu Ubaid al- Qasim Ibn Sallam (774 โ 838):
โMarwan Ibn Muโawiya al-Fazari related to us from Awf Ibn Abi Jumayla from Yazid al-Farasi from Ibn Abbas from Uthman, God have mercy on him, who said: โBaraโa was toward the end of the revelation of the Qurโan.โ Hajjaj related to us from Ibn Jurayj from Mujahid, about the words of the Exalted โฆ saying that โIt was revealed when the Messenger of God pbuh) and his Companions were commanded to engage in the Battle of Tabukโ. โI heard Hushaym saying, โTabuk was one of the last battles waged by the Messenger of God.’โ (Kitab al-Amwaal by Abu Ubaid al- Qasim Ibn Sallam, page 18)
Glen wants us to reject the whole history of Islam for his shallow and deceptive understanding of Islam in order to mislead innocent readers on Q. 9:29. As for his claim that:
explicitly curses Christians and Jews for their beliefs and also CALLS for their destruction.โ
When Glen does not have any evidence he throws in his own commentary. Notice the above, now compare it to Quran 9:30,
The Jews say, โEzra is the son of Allah โ; and the Christians say, โThe Messiah is the son of Allah .โ That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. MAY ALLAHdestroy them; how are they deluded?โ Quran 9:30 (Sahih International)
Readers would notice that the destruction is in the hereafter. It is God Almighty that imposes this punishment. Readers would be aware here, Glen is using โsleight of handโ to mislead readers.
In the following account, Glen continues this time round speaking about a Christian family:
โWhen confronted with this established account, in which a foreign army invades a peaceful community, lays in wait for a family to leave their home on a hunt, kills some and forces others into paying โprotectionโ money, DTT admits the event in their rebuttal but conjures up a vividly imagined scenario in which the unsuspecting family poses an eminent threat (to the well-equipped foreign army of 30,000 warriors).โ
We did provide scholar Shaykh Allamah Shibli Nomani (1857 โ 1914) who is not a modernist by any standard. The late respected scholar did explain that this tribe had close alliances with the Byzantines and even helped them during Tabuk:
โDumat al-Jandal (also pronounced as Daumat al-Jandal), which is five stages from Damascus, there was an Arab chief, UKAIDIR BY NAME, WHO OWED ALLEGIANCE TO THE ROMAN EMPEROR. Khalid Ibn Walid was despatched with four hundred and twenty men to subdue him. Khalid made captive, and later on released him on condition that he would personally appear before the Prophet (p) to settle terms. Accordingly, he arrived accompanied by his brother and was promised protection.โ (Sirat -un- Nabi [Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam] by Shaykh Allamah Shibli Nomani, volume 2, page 238)
An even earlier historian and scholar attests to this fact also. The 10th century historan Ali Ibn al-Husayn al-Masโudi (896 โ 956) states that Ukaydir Ibn Abdal Malik was a Christian who had recognised the โsupremacy of the Byzantine Emperorโ [7]:
โโฆUkaydir Ibn Abdal-Malik al-Sukuni, of the Kindah tribe, was the lord of the oasis. He was a Christian who had recognised the supremacy of the Byzantine emperor, Heraclius. Since Ukaydir was harassing the trade caravans bound for Madinah, the Prophet set out with his companions to punish him, but Ukaydir came to hear of the Prophetโs raid and fled with all the inhabitants of Dummat al-Jandal. When the Prophet entered the oasis, he found nobody, so he returned to Madinah.โ (Al-Tanbih wal Ishraf [Leiden, 1967], by Ali Ibn al-Husayn al-Masโudi, page 248)
Secondly, we showed historical sources where this tribe, along with their King had previously attacked Muslims before. This is recorded in a number of early sources. For example, Kitab al-tabaqat al-Kabir โ Ibn saโd (784 โ 845) reports:
โThen (occurred) the Ghazwah of the Apostle of Allah, to Dumat al-Jandal โฆ They (narrators) said: (The news) reached the Apostle of Allah, that a large number of men had assembled at DUMAT AL-JANDAL and that they treated cruelly the camel-riders when they passed by them, and INTENDED TO ATTACK AL-MADINAH.โ (Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, [Translated by S. Moinul Haq (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2009)], by Ibn Saโd, volume 2, page 76)
This is also confirmed by the 9th-century historian Abu Jaโfar Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (838 โ 923):
โIn this year he mounted an expedition against Dumat al-Jandal in the month of Rabiโi. The reason for it was that word reached the Messenger of God that a host had ASSEMBLED THERE AND HAD APPROACHED HIS TERRITORIESโฆโ (The History of Al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam: Muhammad at Medina (โTaโrikh al-rusul waโl-Mulukโ) โ [Translated by Michael Fishbein โ State University of New York Press, 1997], volume VIII (8), page 4 โ 5)
Sharh al-Mawahib โ Muhammed al-Zarqani (1645 โ 1710) has this account too:
โExpedition of Dawmatul-Jandal During Rabiโul-Awwal, Rasulullah received word that the inhabitants of Dawmatul-Jandal were preparing to launch an attack against Madinah. In the company of one thousand Sahabah Rasulullah set out for Dawmatul-Jandal on the 25th of Rabiโul-Awwal 5 AH. The moment they sensed the looming advent of the Muslim army, they rapidly scattered away.
Without any form of physical combat, Rasulullah returned to Madinah on the 20th of Rabโiuth-Thani.โ (Sharh al-Mawahib, by Zarqani, volume 2, page 95) (Siratul Mustafa [Translated by Maulana Mahomed Mahomedy โ Madrasah Arabia Islamia and Zam Zam Publishers โ Fifth Authorized Edition, 2015] by Hadrat Maulana Idris Sahib Kandehlawi, volume 3, page 306)
Glenโs final words,
The contorted rendering by modern-day apologists must have been lost on the Companions as well, since they went on to expand the Muslim empire through offensive Jihad in the way of their prophet.
โThis was a season when people were hard pressed; the heat was oppressive and the country was passing through a dry spell. At the time, fruit was ripe and shade was dearly sought. People love to stay where they have shade and fruit [trees], and find leaving them distasteful. The Messenger of God would seldom go out on a military expedition without alluding to a destination and announcing [publicly] that he meant [a placel342 other than that intended.
The Tabuk expedition was the exception, in that he explained [the particulars of the expedition openly] to the people. This was because of the long distance, the difficult season, and the enemyโs numerical superiority.
He wanted the people to be fully prepared, so he ordered them to make ready and informed them that his objective was the Byzantines. They prepared themselves despite their dislike for that approach and what it entailed, as well as their respect for the Byzantines and their fighting ability.โ (Tabari, volume 9, page 47 โ 48)
I think readers would know by now that we did acknowledge in our articles that the Sahaba (Companions) did conquer many lands by force. However, we explained that this was done as a result of those lands having Kings or rulers who prohibited the activity of missionary work i.e., Muslims were not allowed to invite people to Islam. As such, it lead to many of them being conquered.
Where there was freedom and security for Muslims, there was no war with that country. The fact that Sahaba (companions of the Prophet) never attacked Abyssinia in their entire lives proves our point. The Abyssinian Christian King not only gave freedom but security also to the minority Muslim community in their country. This was one of the main reasons the Prophet Muhammed (p) ordered to โLeave the Abyssinians aloneโ:
โLeave the Abyssinians alone, so long as they do not take the offensive (leave you at peace). Transliteration: utruk al-habasha ma tarkukum.โ (Al Sirah al Halabiyah, volume 3, page 294)
Sunan an-Nasaโi (829 โ 915):
โThe Messenger of Allah said at that point โLeave the Ethiopians alone so long as they leave you alone, and leave the Turks alone so long as they leave you alone.โโ (Sunan an-Nasaโi volume 1, Book 25, Hadith 3178. Eng. Tran., Hasan Darussalam, https://www.sunnah.com/nasai/25/92 )
Sunan Abi Dawud (817 โ 889):
โ(1594) Chapter: Prohibition Of Agitating The Turks And Abyssinians โNarrated from Abi Sukainah One of the Companions: The Prophet said: Let (leave) the Abyssinians alone as long as they let you alone, and let the Turks alone as long as they leave you alone.โ (Sunan Abi Dawud Book 38, Hadith 4288. Eng. Tran., Hasan Al-Albani, https://www.sunnah.com/abudawud/39/12 )
As we wrote in the previous article, the Prophet Muhammedโs entire life mission was to spread the message of Islam, stand up against injustice and oppression. The Prophet (p) fought those who persecuted/oppressed people. His words in a authentically transmitted Hadith shows this:
โ(O Allah, apportion to us such fear as should serve as a barrier between us and acts of disobedience; and such obedience as will take us to Your Jannah; and such as will make easy for us to bear in the calamities of this world.
O Allah! let us enjoy our hearing, our sight and our power as long as You keep us alive and make our heirs from our own offspring, and make our REVENGE RESTRICTED TO THOSE WHO OPPRESS US, and SUPPORT US AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE HOSTILE TO US let no misfortune afflict our Deen;
let not worldly affairs be our principal concern, or the ultimate limit of our knowledge, and let not those rule over us who do not show mercy to us).โ (Riyad as-Salihin Book 5, Hadith 834 Eng. Tran., https://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/5/21 )
4. Conclusion
Summing up the facts:
1. Quran 9:29 was revealed on account of the Byzantine army advancing to attack the Muslim community.
2. Quran 9:29 was revealed in self-defence.
3. Quran 9:29 was sent down in relation to Tabuk expedition, where the Byzantine army were assembling to attack.
4. Muslims were under attack, if the Prophet (p) and his companions had not headed towards Tabuk they would have succeeded in advancing in Muslim territory and murder many Muslims. When all the historical sources surrounding Quran 9:29 is read together, it thus agrees that the Byzantineโs were the aggressors. [8] [9] [10]
[1] The article of Glen Roberts, can be accessed here: http://web.archive.org/web/20170703123527/https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/games/discover-truth/verses/9-29.aspx [2] Tafsir Mujahid [Edition. Abu Muแธฅammad al-Asyuti โ Beirut, 2005], by Mujahid Ibn Jabr, page 99 [3] Tafsir Kitab Allah Al-Aziz [Edition. Balhaj b. Saโid Sharfi. Beirut, 1990] by Hud b. Muhakkam al-Huwwari, volume 2, page 125 โ 126 [4] A summary on 9:29 from At-Tabari (838 โ 923 CE): โุนููู ู ูุฌูุงููุฏู ููุงุชููููุง ุงูููุฐูููู ูุง ููุคูู ูููููู ุจูุงูููููู ูููุง ุจูุงููููููู ู ุงูุขุฎูุฑูโฆ ุญูููู ุฃูู ูุฑู ู ูุญูู ููุฏู ููุฃูุตูุญูุงุจููู ุจูุบูุฒูููุฉู ุชูุจูููู Mujahid reported concerning the verse, โFight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Dayโฆโ that it was revealed when Muhammad and his companions were commanded with the expedition of Tabuk.
[5] Tafsir Ibn Kathir [Abridged by A Group of Scholars Under The Supervision Of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri. Maktaba Dar-us-Salam โ Second Edition, 2003], volume 4, page 405) [6] Classical scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya alludes that the Jizya verse (Q. 9:29) was revealed in the year of Tabuk expedition. He writes: โThe Jizya was not introduced until the year of Tabook which was three years after Khaybar.โ (Zaad al-Maโad, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 304)
[7] Ali Ibn al-Husayn al-Masโudi (896 โ 956) is criticised by some scholars in the past being Shia/Mutazlitte. Putting his religious beliefs out of the way he is quoted by Sunni scholars on history sometimes as being a reliable historian. quote taken from: โA critical study of the archaeology of the Jawf region of Saudi Arabia with additional material on its history and early Arabic epigraphyโ [Durham University, 1988] by Khaleel Ibrahim Al-Muaikel, page 25 [8] Abu Ubaid al- Qasim Ibn Sallamโs (774 โ 838) opinion on โsaghirโ โ โsaghirunโ may be the closest meaning to its original word:
โAbu Ubayd said that about the words of the Exalted, โan yadin wa hum saghirin (readily, being brought low), there are three interpretations. Some of them say, โan yadin means cash, from hand to handโ; others say, โThey should walk up with it (Jizya)โ; while others say, โThey should stand up and deliver it.’โ (Kitab al-Amwaal by Abu Ubaid al- Qasim Ibn Sallam, page 18)
[9] Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya writes that the Prophet throughout his life only waged war with those who were hostile. The Prophet (p) was commanded by God to โavoidโ and to leave alone those who sought peace:
โIt has already been mentioned that the prophet began his mission without fighting or imposing the jizya. He remained as such for more than a decade while in Makka, he was then granted permission to wage war once he migrated to Al Madeena. Thereafter, HE WAS COMMANDED TO RETALIATE AND TO AVOID THOSE WHO WERE PEACEFUL. Once Baraaโa was revealed in the eighth year, he was commanded to fight Arabs who had not accepted Islaam AND HAD NOT ENGAGED IN A PEACE AGREEMENT. However, he was not commanded to impose the jizya.โ (Zaad al-Maโad, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 717 โ 718)
[10] โAt the battle of Mutah, the Christian Greeks learnt to their cost what it meant to put the valour of Allahโs warriors to the test; and in their hatred of Islamโs steady growth, they busied themselves in mustering a most terrible army to crush it. The Prophet heard of this. He resolved to be first in the field and attack. Only his unshaken confidence in divine protection could have inspired him with such temerity. How many thousands of soldiers must he gather together so as not to court irretrievable disaster? Now the moment was not in the least favourable:
a long drought had withered crops and herbage; flocks were decimated; horrible famine plunged the whole region in desolation; and the torrid heat of the second half of summer destroyed all energy. The harvest of the savoury fruit of each oasis, watered by inexhaustible wells, alone promised to be abundant and invigorating;
and it was precisely when the Faithful were about to profit by the only benefits of this lean year that the Apostle issued his marching orders. (THE LIFE OF MOHAMMAD โ THE PROPHET OF ALLAH BY E. DINET and SLIMAN BEN IBRAHIM, [PARIS โ THE PARIS BOOK CLUB, 11, RUE DE CHATEAUDUN], Chapter The Eighth,ย https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39523/39523-h/39523-h.htmย )
Previously I wrote on Quran 9:29, you can read it here. As I examined the passage in its historical context, using early Muslim sources, it was evident that the aggressors were the Byzantine (Roman) Empire who had mobilised troops in order to exterminate the Muslim community in Arabia.
The fighting that is mentioned in Q 9:29 was to a specific group of Christians and Jews in the life time of Prophet Muhammed (p), 1400 years ago. Moreover, Recently I finished reading a book by a well-known, respected Muslim Scholar. He pointed out that the Arabic words โMinal-ladhinaโ used in Q 9:29, can only be aimed at a group from among the People of the Book, that the verse is not aimed generally at all Jews and Christians.
Scholar Zakaria Bashier
Although the verse refers to the People of the Book, in a way that refers both to the Jews and Christians of the time, yet the Arabic text clearly indicates that this reference is not absolute or general. The Arabic expression (minal ladhina) clearly indicates that the reference here is to a certain faction, from among the People of the Book, who are characterized as:
Not believers in God;
Not believers in the last day;
Non-practicing (i.e. they did not observe what God had made forbidden);
Not acknowledging or recognizing anything in common with (the religion of Truth namely Islam).
If we put this verse in historical perspective, it becomes quite clear whom it is referring to. It is definitely not referring to the Christians of Arabia at that time, who were described elsewhere as believers in God and the last Day, who uphold religious values and obligations.
Most importantly, these people of the Book maintained peaceful and even cordial relations with the Prophet of Islam, and from the start opted for and accepted the citizenship of the Medinah State. Those were the Christians of Najran in the Yemen, to the south, and the Christians of the Banu Taghlib to the North of Madinah.
Both Christian groups were of Arabic stock, visited the Prophet (p) in his capital, and were very well received by him. Indeed, when the Christians of Najran came, the Prophet (p) attended to their needs, with special cordiality and kindness, and permitted them to perform their Christian rites and prayers in his own Mosque.
He conducted very elaborate dialogue with them, and when they indicated their desire of sticking to their faith, he accepted and respected their decision and choice in good faith and cheer, and bid them farewell, with warm feelings and even gifts. For their part, they accepted the peace of Islam, and declared themselves citizens of the new Muslim State, as well as their willingness to pay the Jizayah tax.
There were never any ill-feeling between the two groups. This was also the case with the Christians of Banu Taghlib to the North of Madinah. History does not record and such misunderstanding or tension between the Prophet (p) and those Arab Christians of Najran or Taghlib; never a single incident of conflict or discord. Most Probably, those Arab
Christians tolerated the new Islamic authority in Madinah because they recognized that it was closer to them than the Roman authority of Syria or the Persian Authority of al-Hirah, in southern Iraq. Moreover, the Islamic State was not aggressive but quite tolerant towards them, as Christians.
However, with the other people of the Book, namely the Jews, the story was quite different: First of all, the Jews of Madinah and other enclaves to the North of Madinah were not Arabic stock. If anything, they showed nothing but arrogance, intransigence, and contempt towards the Arabs, as and ignorant and backward lot.
Although they entertained friendly relations with the Prophet (p) and the Muslims in the first days of the inception of the Muslim State, and even signed an accord with the Prophet (p) (the Sahifah of Madinah) they later violated that accord. Not only that, they declared themselves as allies of the Qurayshite idolaters, and did all they could to incite them to engage in hostilities with the Prophet (p) and Muslims.
From the other perspectives, those Jews of Madinah were characterized with haughtiness. They were not particularly religious people either, and some of them took Judaism as a sort of nationalism. Together with this, they were given to belligerency and conflict.
They were quite rich, but a substantial source of their wealth came from the fact that they were makers and traders of weaponry. So it was in their interest to fan wars and military conflicts, out of which they stood to gain handsome dividends. They were also quite lax in their way of living, given to wine drinking, and the practice of usury.
Therefore, it was quite obvious that the Jews of that time and place were the ones meant in the above verse, and not the Arab Christians. The advocacy of hostilities with them was dictated by their belligerent and aggressive attitudes towards the Prophet and the Muslim State of Madinah. In a way, it is a reaction to their misdeeds, and scheming against the Muslims.
โฆ
For there is an abundance of Qurโanic verses which admonish the Muslims to maintain cordial relations with the People of the Scripture generally, so long as they do not wage war on, or start hostilities with the Muslims. We will quote just one clear comprehensive Qurโanic verse as an example:
God forbids you not, with regard to those who did not fight you because of your faith, nor did they drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them, for God loves those who are just! God only forbids you, with regard to those who fought you, because of your faith, drove you out of your homes, and supported others in driving you out that you turn to them for friendship and protectionโฆ [al-Mumtahinah 60:8-9]
These verses 8 and 9 of Surah Al-Mumtahinah; made it quite clear that there was nothing wrong, if the Muslims befriended the Jews or Christians, so long as these remained pacific in their intentions and actions.
โฆ
The prophet (p) used to treat the Jews of Madinah, who opted to stay after the banishment of their settlement, with obvious compassion and care. He continued to have commercial dealing with them, including borrowing money from them. It was said that when the Prophet (p) died, his shield was mortgaged to a Jew.
When the Prophet was living in Makkah before Hijrah he had a Jewish neighbour, who used to throw garbage in the Prophetโs yard, almost everyday day.
Then the throwing stopped for some time. The Prophet (p) went to visit his Jewish neighbour, to see what was wrong with him, that he stopped throwing garbage in his yard, and he found him ill in bed. The Prophet continued to visit him and send gifts to him, until he became well again. The Jew was so moved by the Prophetโs behaviour that he embraced Islam. โฆ
THE SPECIAL STATUS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
That the people of the Book have a special status in Islam is well-known. It is indeed a very privileged status. A Muslim will not be a Muslim, if he does not believe in the Prophethood of both Moses and Jesus Christ. Further, he is enjoined to show great veneration, respect and love for them.
The Prophet (p) used to allude to Moses and Jesus Christ as โmy dear brothersโ. So with such a conceptual, religious and legal framework, it would indeed be very odd for the Prophet (p) to have waged unprovoked war against the people of the Book.
The only feasible explanation for the outbreak of hostilities between the Prophet (p) and the Jews of Madinah, must be political one. The responsibility for these hostilities must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Jews themselves.
Some of orientalists cite the invasion of Byzantine and Persian Empires by the Muslims, as a conclusive proof that Islam is an aggressive and belligerent religion. However, it is well known that the Romans, in particular, were amassing huge forces on the Northern frontier of the Muslim State of Madinah. They had stationed large forces to invade Madinah, for this reason the Prophet (p) mounted the Muโtah and Tabuk expeditions.
The hostile intent if the Romans is borne out, not just by their amassing of soldiers, but by encouraging opposition inside Madinah itself. Apparently, they were able to monitor events inside Madinah, through their agents and spies:
A. When Jabalah ibn al Aytham apostatized they all summoned him to Constantinople and he went there. They were obviously monitoring every small event in the Muslim State.
When Kaโb ibn Malik, one of the three Muslims who failed to join the Tabuk expedition, and who was subsequently boycotted by the Muslims on the orders of the Prophet (p) and the instructions of the Quran, the Roman secret agents came to him in Madinah, with gifts and money, and told him that their Caesar would offer him political asylum with dignity and honour, if he chose to come to Constantinople. [1]
About Zakaria Bashier (b.1940). He obtained his BA and M.litt. in Philosophy from the Universities of Khartoum, Sudan and Durham, UK respectively, and his PhD on Islamic Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. Apart from holding faculty positions at the Universities of Sudan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, he had also been the Vice Chancellor of the University Of Juba, Sudan. [2]
Reference:
[1] War and Peace In the Life of the Prophet Muhammed, by Zakaria Bashier page 285 โ 292 [2] โAt the battle of Mutah, the Christian Greeks learnt to their cost what it meant to put the valour of Allahโs warriors to the test; and in their hatred of Islamโs steady growth, they busied themselves in mustering a most terrible army to
crush it. The Prophet heard of this. He resolved to be first in the field and attack. Only his unshaken confidence in divine protection could have inspired him with such temerity. How many thousands of soldiers must he gather together so as not to court irretrievable disaster?
Now the moment was not in the least favourable: a long drought had withered crops and herbage; flocks were decimated; horrible famine plunged the whole region in desolation; and the torrid heat of the second half of summer destroyed all energy.
The harvest of the savoury fruit of each oasis, watered by inexhaustible wells, alone promised to be abundant and invigorating; and it was precisely when the Faithful were about to profit by the only benefits of this lean year that the Apostle issued his marching orders.
(THE LIFE OF MOHAMMAD โ THE PROPHET OF ALLAH BY E. DINET and SLIMAN BEN IBRAHIM, [PARIS โ THE PARIS BOOK CLUB, 11, RUE DE CHATEAUDUN], Chapter The Eighth,
1. Introduction 2. Background on Quran 9:29 3. The Verse โ Historical context 4. Jizya (Jizyah) 5. Conclusion
1. Introduction
This article examines chapter 9, verse 29 of the Quran, in its historical context. Some claim that the verse (Q. 9:29) endorses and โsanctions Muslims to kill innocent Christians and Jewsโ. This is simply not true. We undertook the task to investigate the verse (Q. 9:29) as a result of some critics misusing, and twisting the verse to mean something it has never intended to say.
It is only appropriate to respond to their claims, given the fact that, not even Prophet Muhammed (p) interpreted it as such during his own life.
2. Background
It is agreed by some of the earliest classical to modern commentators on the Quran that this verse (Q. 9:29) was revealed concerning the expedition to Tabuk, to face Byzantine (Roman) Empireโs army (Mujahid Ibn Jabr (645-722 AD), Hud b. Muhakkam Hawwari [1], Al-Tabari (838-923 AD) [2], Baghawi (1044-1122 AD), and Ibn Kathir (1301-1373 AD)).
3. The Verse โ Historical Context
Let us read the verse [Muhammed Asad Translation]:
โ[And] fight against those who โ despite having been vouchsafed revelation [aforetime] โ do not [truly] believe either in God or the Last Day, and do not consider forbidden that which God and His Apostle have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth [which God has enjoined upon them] till they [agree to] pay the exemption tax with a willing hand, after having been humbled [in war].โ โ Qurโan 9:29
So the verse tells Muhammed (p) to fight against those who were revealed previous scripture. Who does the verse refer to? As mentioned previously, some of the earliest Islamic exegesis on the Quran say that the verse (9:29) was revealed concerning Tabuk expedition.
The Hadith, collections of reports from what Prophet Muhammed (p) said, approved off, or sometimes what the Companions of the Prophet (p) said. According to Sahih Muslim (Hadith) and Riyad us-Saliheen, they report to us that the Tabuk expedition was undertaken as a result of the impending army of the Byzantineโs (Romans) who were advancing on the Syrian border for war. Sahih Muslim:
โI never remained behind Allahโs Messenger from any expedition which he undertook except the Battle of Tabuk and that of the Battle of Badr. So far as the Battle of Badr is concerned, nobody was blamed for remaining behind as Allahโs Messenger and the Muslims (did not set out for attack but for waylaying) the caravan of the Quraish, but it was Allah Who made them confront their enemies without their intention (to do so).
I had the honour to be with Allahโs Messenger on the night of โAqaba when we pledged our allegiance to Islam and it was more dear to me than my participation in the Battle of Badr, although Badr was more popular amongst people as compared with that (Tabuk). And this is my story of remaining back from Allahโs Messenger on the occasion of the Battle of TABUK.
Never did I possess means enough and (my circumstances) more favourable than at the occasion of this expedition. And, by Allah, I had never before this expedition simultaneously in my possession two rides. Allahโs Messenger set out for this expedition in extremely hot season; the journey was long and the land (which he and his army had to cover)
was waterless andย HE HAD TO CONFRONT A LARGE ARMY, so he informed the Muslims about the actual situation (they had to face), so that they should adequately equip themselves for this expedition, and he also told them the destination where he intended to go. โฆโ (Sahih Muslim Book 37, Hadith 6670)
โAbdullah bin Kaโb, who served as the guide of Kaโb bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) when he became blind, narrated: I heard Kaโb bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) narrating the story of his remaining behind instead of joining Messenger of Allah when he left for the battle of Tabuk. Kaโb said:
โI accompanied Messenger of Allah in every expedition which he undertook excepting the battle of Tabuk and the battle of Badr. As for the battle of Badr, nobody was blamed for remaining behind as Messenger of Allah and the Muslims, when they set out, had in mind only to intercept the caravan of the Quraish.
Allah made them confront their enemies unexpectedly. I had the honour of being with Messenger of Allah on the night of โAqabah when we pledged our allegiance to Islam and it was dearer to me than participating in the battle of Badr, although Badr was more well-known among the people than that. And this is the account of my staying behind from the battle of TABUK.
I never had better means and more favourable circumstances than at the time of this expedition. And by Allah, I had never before possessed two riding-camels as I did during the time of this expedition.
Whenever Messenger of Allah decided to go on a campaign, he would not disclose his real destination till the last moment (of departure). But on this expedition, he set out in extremely hot weather; the journey was long and the terrain was waterless desert; and HE HAD TO FACE A STRONG ARMY, so he informed the Muslims about the actual position so that they should make full preparation for the campaign.โ (Riyad as-Salihin Book 1, Hadith 21)
Notice, in the above two reports we read that the Byzantine army were already there, ready, and equipped to go to war. These following reports (below) also shed information that news had reached the Muslims that the Ghassanid tribe, which was part of the Byzantine (Roman) empire were preparing to attack the Muslim community.
Sahih al-Bukhari:
โโฆ I left her (and went home). At that time I had a friend from the Ansar who used to bring news (from the Prophet) in case of my absence, and I used to bring him the news if he was absent. In those days we were afraid of one of the kings of GHASSANID TRIBE.
We heard that he INTENDED TO MOVE AND ATTACK US, so fear filled our hearts because of that. (One day) my Ansari friend unexpectedly knocked at my door, and said, โOpen Open!โ I said, โHas the king of Ghassan come?โ He said, โNo, but something worse; Godโs Messenger has isolated himself from his wives.โ โฆโ (Sahih al-Bukhari volume 6, Book 60, Hadith 435)
Sahih Muslim:
โI had a friend from the Ansar. When I had been absent (from the company of the Prophet) he used to bring me the news and when he had been absent I used to bring him the news, and at that time we dreaded a KING OF GHASSAN. It was mentioned to us that he INTENDED TO ATTACK US, AND OUR MINDS WERE HAUNTED BY HIM.
My friend, the Ansari, came to me, and he knocked at the door and said: Open it, open it. I said: Has the Ghassanid come? He said: (The matter is) more serious than that. The Messenger of Allah has separated himself from his wives. โฆโ (Sahih Muslim Book 9, Hadith 3508)
Jami at-Tirmidhi:
โโMy house was in Al-Awali among those of Banu Umayya, and I had a neighbour among the Ansar, and he and I would take turns visiting the Messenger of God.โ He said: โOne day I would visit him and bring the news of the Revelation, and one day he would visit him and bring the same. We heard that GHASSAN WERE PREPARING THEIR HORSES TO ATTACK US. He said:
โOne day he came to me in the evening and knocked on my door, so I went out to him. He said: โA horrible thing has happened.โ I said: โGhassan has come?โ He said: โWorse than that. The Messenger of God has divorced his wives.โ โฆ โ(Jami` at-Tirmidhi volume 5, Book 44, Hadith 3318)
In relation to this, Ibn Saโd (784-845 AD), in his book Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir states that news had reached Prophet Muhammed that the Byzantine (Romans) had โconcentrated large forcesโ, and Heracluis had sent some his military to โBalqaโ. This is when the Muhammed (p) โsummonedโ his people to the expedition of Tabuk:
โThey (narrators) saud: It (report) reached the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, that the ROMANS HAD CONCENTRATED LARGE FORCES IN SYRIA had, that Heraclius had disbursed one yearโs salary to his soldiers, and that tribes of Lakhm, Judham, โAmilah and Ghassan had joined hands with him.
THEY SENT HAD SENT THEIR VANGUARDS TO AL-BALQA. THE MESSENGER Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, SUMMONED THE PEOPLE TO MARCH. He set out and informed them about the place which he intended, so that they could make necessary preparations. He sent (messengers) to Makkah and to the tribes of Arabia (asking them) to send help. This took place in the days of intense heat.โ (Ibn Saโd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 2, pp. 203-204) [3]
9th Century historian Aแธฅmad Ibn Yaแธฅya al-Baladhuri (D. 892 AD), also reports in his book, โKitab Futuh Al-Buldanโ, in clear words that the Prophet (p) learned that the Byzantine army โhad assembled against himโ:
โTabuk make terms. When in the year 9 AH the Prophet marched to TABUK in Syria for the invasion of those of the Greeks, Amilah, Lakhm, Judham and others WHOM HE LEARNT HAD ASSEMBLED AGAINST HIM, he met no resistance. So he spent a few days in Tabuk, whose inhabitants made terms with him agreeing to pay poll-tax.โ (Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan, vol. 1, p. 92) [4]
In the version that is narrated by Muโjam Tabarani (873 โ 918 CE), he states that Christians said it is a โappropriate time to attack the Arabsโ (Muslims):
โThe Battle Of Tabuk
Rajab 9 A. H. On the authority of Imran Ibn Husayn that the Christian Arabs wrote to Hercules, the King Of Rome that Muhammad passed away and that the people were dying because of the drought that they were experiencing. It was therefore a very appropriate TIME TO ATTACK THE ARABS (MUSLIMS).
Hercules immediately issued the order for preparations. A fully equipped army of 40 000 was prepared.โ (Muโjam az-Zawaโid, volume 6, page 191) (Siratul Mustafa [Translated by Maulana Mahomed Mahomedy โ Madrasah Arabia Islamia and Zam Zam Publishers โ Fifth Authorized Edition, 2015] by Hadrat Maulana Idris Sahib Kandehlawi, volume 3, page 96)
Fath al-Bari โ Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1372 โ 1449):
โThe Battle Of Tabuk โฆthe Byzantines had gathered together large forces against them, including fighters from among the Banu Lakhm, Judham,and other Christian Arabs who were under their influence , and that their vanguards had reached Balqa (a region of Syria).
Having learned of this development, the Prophet called his people against the Byzantine army.โ (Fath al-Bari, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, volume 8, page 87) (Cited in, โThe Jurisprudence Of The Prophetic Biography & A Brief History Of The Rightly Guided Caliphate, [Dar Al Fikr โ Translated by Nancy Roberts, 2007] by Dr. M. Saโid Ramadan al-Buti, page 513 โ 514)
Moreover, we also want to include the episode of Masjid al-Dirar, in relation to Tabuk expedition. To get a better understanding of Byzantine armyโs intend to attack the Muslim community in Madinah.
Masjid al-Dirar was a mosque built by the hypocrites with the help of Abu Amir (Amr), a Christian monk, who had in previous years fought against the Muslims. Abu Amir went to Syria, and had a close relationship with the Byzantine leader. Abu Amir having hatred and enmity towards Muhammed (p) asked Heraclius to give him men, money and weapons so that he could assassinate Muhammed (p).
With the help of Heraclius, a Mosque was built, and the hypocrites invited the Prophet (p) to come to this Mosque and pray, so that they could assassinate him. However, the Prophet declined and was busy with Tabuk expedition. Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi (d. 1075 AD), states the following:
โโฆ The Banu โAmr ibn โAwf built a mosque at Qubaโ and sent for the Messenger of Allah, to come to them. He went there and prayed in that mosque. Their brothers from the Banu Ghunm ibn โAwf envied them resentfully and said: โLet us built a mosque and send for the Messenger of Allah, to pray in it as he prayed in the mosque of our brothers, and let Abu โAmir al-Rahib (the monk) also pray in it when he comes back from Syriaโ. This Abu โAmir had embraced Christianity and became a monk in the pre-Islamic period.
But when the Messenger of Allah, moved to Medina, Abu โAmir rejected the religion of Islam and showed enmity toward it. The Prophet, called him then Abu โAmir al-Fasiq (the corrupt)โฆ ABU AMIR LEFT FOR SYRIA AND THEN SENT A LETTER TO THE HYPOCRITES in which he wrote:
โPREPARE YOURSELVES AND MAKE READY WHATEVER YOU CAN OF FORCE AND WEAPONS. Built a Mosque for me, for I AM GOING TO THE CAESAR TO REQUEST HIM TO SEND WITH ME BYZANTINE SOLDIERS SO THAT I DRIVE OUT MUHAMMAD AND HIS COMPANIONSโ. And so, they built for him a mosque by the Qubaโ mosque.
Those who built this mosque were 12 men: Khidham ibn Khalid (this mosque of opposition was an extension of his house), Thaโlabah ibn Hatib, Muโattib ibn Qushayr, Abu Habibah ibn al-Azโar, โAbbad ibn Hunayf, Jariyah ibn โAmir, his two sons Majmaโ and Zayd, Nabtal ibn Harith, Bahzaj ibn โUthman, Bijad ibn โUthman and Wadiโah ibn Thabit.
When they finished building this mosque, they went to the Messenger of Allah, and said: โWe have built a mosque for the sick and the needy and also for use in rainy and wintry nights, and we would like you to come and pray in itโ.โ [5]
The respected scholar Abu l-Fidaสพ Ismail Ibn Umar Ibn Kathir (1301-1373 AD), also mentions that Abu Amir got the backing of Heraclius to launch an attack on the Muslim community:
โMasjid Ad-Dirar and Masjid At-Taqwa
The reason behind revealing these honorable Ayat is that before the Messenger of Allah migrated to Al-Madinah, there was a man from Al-Khazraj called โAbu `Amir Ar-Rahib (the Monk).โ
This man embraced Christianity before Islam and read the Scriptures. During the time of Jahiliyyah, Abu Amir was known for being a worshipper and being a notable person among Al-Khazraj.
When the Messenger of Allah arrived at Al-Madinah after the Hijrah, the Muslims gathered around him and the word of Islam was triumphant on the day of Badr, causing Abu `Amir, the cursed one, to choke on his own saliva and announce his enmity to Islam. He fled from Al-Madinah to the idolators of Quraysh in Makkah to support them in the WAR AGAINST THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH.
The Quraysh united their forces and the bedouins who joined them for the battle of Uhud, during which Allah tested the Muslims, but the good end is always for the pious and righteous people. The rebellious Abu Amir dug many holes in the ground between the two camps, into one of which the Messenger fell,
injuring his face and breaking one of his right lower teeth. He also sustained a head injury. Before the fighting started, Abu Amir approached his people among the Ansar and tried to convince them to support and agree with him. When they recognized him, they said, โMay Allah never burden an eye by seeing you,
O Fasiq one, O enemy of Allah!โ They cursed him and he went back declaring, โBy Allah! Evil has touched my people after I left.โ The Messenger of Allah called Abu Amir to Allah and recited the Qurโan to him before his flight to Makkah, but he refused to embrace Islam and REBELLED.
The Messenger invoked Allah that Abu Amir die as an outcast in an alien land, and his invocation came true. After the battle of Uhud was finished, ABU AMIR realized that the Messengerโs call was still rising and gaining momentum, so HE WENT TO HERACLIUS, THE EMPEROR OF ROME, ASKING FOR HIS AID AGAINST THE PROPHET. HERACLIUS GAVE HIM PROMISES AND ABU AMIR REMAINED WITH HIM.
He also wrote to several of his people in Al-Madinah, who embraced hypocrisy, promising and insinuating to them THAT HE WILL LEAD AN ARMY TO FIGHT THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH TO DEFEAT HIM AND HIS CALL. He ordered them to establish a stronghold where he could send his emissaries and to serve as an outpost when he joins them later on. These hypocrites built a Masjid next to the Masjid in Qubaโ, and they finished building it BEFORE the Messenger went to TABUK. They went to the Messenger inviting him to pray in their Masjid so that it would be a proof that the Messenger approved of their Masjid.โ [6]
โAnd, among them, those who have chosen a mosque โ these were twelve men from among the hypocrites โ by way of HARM, to cause distress for those of the mosque of Qubaโ, and disbelief, since they built it on the orders of the monk ABU โAMIR, as a sanctuary for him, so that whoever comes from his side may stay there:
HE HAD GONE TO THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR (QAYSAR) TO BRING TROOPS TO FIGHT AGAINST THE PROPHET (s), and to cause division among the believers, who pray in the mosque of Qubaโ, by having some of these pray in their [the hypocritesโ]
mosque, and as an outpost, an observation post, for those who waged war against God and His Messenger before, that is, before it was built โ meaning the above-mentioned Abu โAmir โ they will swear: โWe desired nothing, by
building it, but, to do, goodโ, by way of kindness towards the poor in times of [heavy] rain or [extreme] heat and in order to provide [a place of worship] for the Muslims; and God bears witness that they are truly liars, in this [claim of theirs]. They had asked the Prophet (s) to perform prayers in it, and so the following was revealedโฆโ [7]
Likewise, 9th century Islamic scholar Abu Jaโfar Muแธฅammad ibn Jarir al-แนฌabari (838-923 AD) has this story in his Tafsir, in detail [8]. These incidents were not the first time the Byzantine had engaged in war against the Muslims. When the Prophet (p) sent one of his messengerโs with a letter to the King of Busra, he was intercepted by Shurabbil Ibn Amr al-Ghassani and his men, they executed Muhammedโs messenger, and those who were with him. Which led to the battle of Muโtah (Mutah).
From the evidences, we gather Muhammed (p) was well aware of the Byzantine armyโs approach towards Madinah. What he did not know was that some of the hypocrites, Abu Amir the monk, and with the help of Heraclius, were attempting to assassinate him in the Masjid al-Dinar mosque, in Madinah. All this took place before the Muhammed (p) set out to Tabuk.
In view of all the that has been mentioned so far, all the historical evidences shown supports the fact that the expedition to Tabuk, was started as a consequence of the Byzantine (Roman) Empireโs army advancing, to attack the Muslim community. Thus, 9:29 is understood historically that the verse was aimed at those who were hostile, and aimed to harm the Muslims.
Moreover, when the Muslims got to Tabuk, to face the enemy, the Muslims found that the Byzantine army had fled. So what did the Muslims do to those Christians and Jews that were allies of the Byzantine, and had sided with them against the Muslims? Did Muslims start killing them indiscriminately? No harm was inflicted on any Christian or Jew. Sahih al-Bukhari and Kitab Futuh al-Buldan report to us the following:
โWe accompanied the Prophet in the Ghazwa of Tabuk and the king of โAila presented a white mule and a cloak as a gift to the Prophet. And the Prophet wrote to him a peace treaty allowing him to keep authority over his country.โ (Sahih al-Bukhari vol. 4, Book 53, Hadith 387)
Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan:
โTabuk make terms. When in the year 9 AH the Prophet marched to Tabuk in Syria for the invasion of those of the Greeks, Amilah, Lakhm, Judham and others whom he learnt had assembled against him, he met no resistance. So he spent a few days in Tabuk, whose inhabitants made terms with him agreeing to pay poll-tax.โ (Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan vol. 1, p. 92) [9]
With the Prophet (p) and his armyโs arrival there, we read that he made peace treaties with the tribes that had allegiance to Byzantine Empire. These two reports are very interesting! It thoroughly debunks the myth perpetuated by some that Prophet Muhammed (p) conquered, and converted them the sword.
We have to remember that these tribes were guilty of siding with the Byzantine in harming the Muslims, yet when the Prophet (p) had the opportunity to avenge them for what they did (i.e., siding with Byzantine in killing Muslims), he left them alone.
Part of this peace-treaty was that they will live in their territory peacefully, no harm will come to them as long as they do not harm the Muslims. They also got full protection, and freedom from the Muslim Government.
Another intriguing part of this treaty (which is mentioned in this section, Bukhari quotes) was that the Prophet (P) allowed the Christian King Yuhanna (John) of Aila to have full control over his territory, as long as he remained peaceful and paid the poll-tax due to the Prophet (p).
Some claim that the poll-tax (Jizyah) levied on them was โdiscriminatoryโ and โoppressiveโ. For those readers who are not aware of what โJizyaโ is, Jizyah is a tax on Christians and Jews who live under the Protection of the Muslim government. This is not imposed on all of them. It is only levied on the men. Women, children, old men and handicapped or the poor are exempted from paying this.
Similarly, the Muslims were also obliged to pay similar tax called โZakatโ yearly. If the non-Muslim men joined the Muslim military service, they were exempt from paying Jizya. Whereas, even if the Muslims paid Zakat, they were still obliged to join military service, it was compulsory on the Muslims.
As mentioned, the non-Muslims got full freedom, and protection from the Islamic Government, as in the case of the Christian King Yuhanna (John) of Aila, he had full control over his territory. Part of this โfull-protectionโ was that if an enemy country were to think of attacking non-Muslims, the Muslims would have protected them. The enemy would have to fight the Muslims first before they could harm the non-Muslim citizens.
This payment (tax) in turn would have paid for hospitals, schools, military defence of the country, helping the poor and needy. Both of these taxes (Jizya and Zakat) was needed for the Government to function, and adequate care for its citizens be met.
The claim that โJizyaโ was oppressive is found by those who are pushing a certain agenda to paint the Islamic faith negatively.
In-fact, anyone who hurts or be โoppressiveโ towards a dhimmi (modern terminology non-Muslim citizen) will be held accountable, and has gone against God and the Prophetโs teachings. The Prophet states, as it is reported in Tabarani:
โHe who hurts a dhimmi hurts me, and he who hurts me annoys Allah. (Narrated by at-Tabarani in Al-aswat on good authority)
And
โWhoever hurts a dhimmi, I am his adversary, and I shall be an adversary to him on the Day of Resurrection.โ (Narrated by Khatib on good authority)
Abu Dawud:
โOne the Day of Resurrection I shall prove to be wrong anyone who oppresses a person from among the People of the covenant, or infringes on his right, or puts a responsibility on him which is beyond his strength, or takes something from him against his will.โ (Narrated By Abu Dawud)
These sayings are from Muhammedโs (p) own mouth, he categorically forbade the harming, hurting or imposing something beyond the ability the non-Muslim citizen. The Prophetโs companions [10], his successors safeguarded these rights and sanctities of non-Muslim citizens. The Maliki jurist, Shihab ad-din al-Qarafi states:
โThe covenant of protection imposes upon us certain obligations toward ahl adh-dhimmah. They are our neighbours, under our shelter and protection upon the guarantee of Allah, His Messenger (p), and the religion of Islam. Whoever violates these obligations against any of them by so much as an abusive word, by slandering his reputation, or by doing him some injury or assisting in it, has breached the guarantee of Allah, His Messenger (p), and the religion of Islam. (Al-Qarafi, Al-furuq)
โIf the enemy of a dhimmi comes with his forces to take him, it is our obligation to fight this enemy with soldiers and weapons and to give our lives for him, thus honouring the guarantee of Allah and His Messenger (p). To hand him over to the enemy would mean to dishonour this guarantee.โ (Ibn Hazm, Maratib al-ijma) [11]
The Quran calls for non-Muslims to be treated with goodness and be just to them:
โGod does not forbid you, with regard to those who do not fight you on account of your religion nor drive you out of your homes, to treat them with goodness and to be just to them; truly, God loves those who are just. โฆโ โ Quran 60:8
This same Quran also permits Muslims to marry Christian and Jewish woman:
โโฆ The food of those who were given Scripture (before you) is permitted to you and your food is permitted to them. And (lawful to you in marriage are) chaste women from among the Believers and chaste women from among those who were given the Scripture (Christians and Jews) before youโฆโ โ Quran 5:5
In the same book, God Almighty informs us that through marriage HE has put love and mercy between the coupleโs.
โโฆand He has put love and mercy between you.โ โ Quran 30:21
5. Conclusion:
We see that chapter 9, verse 29 of the Quran, that God Almighty only permitted the fighting, in the context of Byzantine (Roman) Empireโs impending army to attack the Muslims. The verse does not in any-way allow or permit aggression against peaceful people. Rather the injunction in the verse has to be understood within the historical context that it was revealed at the time of Prophet Muhammed (p).
As explained, the context of which was to do with the aggression and the hostilities of the Byzantine Empireโs actions, as we showed in a number of historical reports. Which led to Prophet Muhammedโs (p) decision in confronting the enemy head-on in Tabuk.
For some to claim that the verse allowed aggression and warfare against innocent people, this has no historical truth to it. The evidences shown tell us, Islam respects, and treats those who adhere to other religions with kindness, care and goodness. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
[1] Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought By Asma Afsaruddin, page 75 โ 76 [2] A summary on 9:29 from At-Tabari: โุนููู ู ูุฌูุงููุฏู ููุงุชููููุง ุงูููุฐูููู ูุง ููุคูู ูููููู ุจูุงูููููู ูููุง ุจูุงููููููู ู ุงูุขุฎูุฑูโฆ ุญูููู ุฃูู ูุฑู ู ูุญูู ููุฏู ููุฃูุตูุญูุงุจููู ุจูุบูุฒูููุฉู ุชูุจูููู Mujahid reported concerning the verse, โFight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Dayโฆโ that it was revealed when Muhammad and his companions were commanded with the expedition of Tabuk. The expedition of Tabuk was preceded by the battle of Muโtah which began when the emissary of the Prophet was assassinated while delivering a letter to a Roman ally. (Tafseer At-Tabari 9:29 Online source)
[3] Ibn Saโdโs Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Translated by S. Moinul Haq (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2009) Volume 2, page 203-204 [4] The origins of the Islamic State, being a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations Geographic and historic notes of the Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Imam Abuโl Abbas Ahmad Ibn Jabir Al Baladhuri, By Phillip Khurti Hitti, PHD, [1916], volume 1, page 92
[9] The origins of the Islamic State, being a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations Geographic and historic notes of the Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Imam Abuโl Abbas Ahmad Ibn Jabir Al Baladhuri, By Phillip Khurti Hitti, PHD, [1916], volume 1, page 92
[10] Umar Ibn Khattab: โI also recommend that he do good to the โArab bedouin, as they are the origin of the โArabs and the material of Islam. He should take from what is inferior, amongst their properties and distribute that to the poor amongst them. I also recommend him concerning Allahโs and His Apostleโs protectees (i.e. Dhimmis) to fulfill their contracts and to fight for them and not to overburden them with what is beyond their ability.โ (Sahih al-Bukhari vol. 5, Book 57, Hadith 50)
[11] The quotes from Tabarani, Khatib, al-Qarafi, and Ibn Hazm were taken from Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawiโs book, โThe Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Al-Halal Wal Haram Fil Islam)โ, page 333 โ 341 [12] Tafsir al-Maraghi โ Sh. Ahmad Mustafa al-Maraghi:
fight those mentioned when the conditions which necessitate fighting are present, namely, aggression against you or your country, oppression and persecution against you on account of your faith, or threatening your safety and security, as was committed against you by the Byzantines, which was what lead to Tabuk.โ ( Tafsir al-Maraghi, by Ahmad Mustafa al-Maraghi, volume 10, page 95)
[13] โo1 1.4 The minimum non-Muslim poll tax is one deinar (n: 4.235 grams of gold) per person )A: per year). The maximum is whatever both sides agree upon. It is collected with leniency and politeness, as are all debts, and is not levied on women, children, or the insane.โ (Reliance of the Traveller โ The classic manual of Islamic Sacred Law โUmdat al-Salik By Shaykh Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, page 608)
[14] โIbn Abbas states, they should pay the jizya with their own hands and not have it sent, arriving on foot and not mounted on an animal.โ (Al-Wasit, by Ali Ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi, volume 2, page 489)
[15] โNo one from the dhimmis would be beaten in extracting jizyah from them; nor would they be made to stand in the sun nor would any persecution be inflicted upon their bodies. Instead kindness will be shown to them. They would be restrained till they paid what was incumbent upon them and they would not be released from this detention till jizyah is taken from them in full.โ (Kitab ul-Kharaj, by Abu Yusuf, page 123)
[16] โIn the ninth year of Hijri, the traders who crossed the route between Madinah and Damascus informed the Prophet that Hercules, the Roman Emperor, was preparing an army to attack Madinah. The Prophet took it seriously and took immediate action.โ (al-Sirah al-Halabiyyah by Halabi, volume 3, page 99. See also al-Mawahib al-Ludaniyyah, by Qastallani, volume 1, page 346)
The answer is no! This verse (Q. 9:29) is by far the most problematic I have come across when reading the Quran. I say itโs โproblematicโ because this verse is the only one that I know of which does not give context. When looking at any other verses in the Quran, reading the verses before and after have always happened to give an explanation. However, this passage (Q. 9:29) does not. Letโs read it below:
โFight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture โ [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled. โ Qurโan 9:29
Some misguided critics who happen to always come across this verse, and show it to people who know little about Islam. They give the impression that Islam sanctions the killing of Jews and Christians at all times. It is important to always get info from the most authentic sources i.e., by reading and collecting information from Muslims, rather than Islamophobes who spread hate, since their job is to bash Islam and Muslims.
For example, would someone go to a Nazi to learn about Judaism โ or would you do so to a better source such as a Jew who practices their religion on a daily basis? The answer would be obvious, is that you would learn from a Jewish person about Judaism. Upon commenting on this particular verse, one of the staunchest critics of Islam, Reverend E.M. Wherry, writes:
Vers. 29-128 refer to the events connected with the expedition to Tabuq, which occurred in Rajab of A.H. 9. They were not, however, all enunciated at one time, but partly before the expedition, partly on the march, and partly after the return. Vers. 29-35 may be referred to the time of arrival at Tabuq, when the Christian prince, John of Aylah, tendered his submission to Muhammad, paying tribute (Jazya). [1]
When reading this passage in its historical context, it is clear that it was sent down by God to Prophet Muhammad (p) to fight against the Byzantine (Roman) empire, who mobilised troops in order to attack the Muslims. In one of our authentic early Islamic sources, โSahih Muslimโ, it says:
He (Hadrat โUmar further) said: I had a companion from the Ansar and, we used to remain in the company of the Messenger turn by turn. He remained there for a day while I remained there on the other day, and he brought me the news about the revelation and other (matter), and I brought him (the news) like this.
And we discussed that the Ghassanids were shoeing the horses in order to attack us. Id y companion once attended (the Apostle). And then came to me at night and knocked at my door and called me, and I came out to him, and he said: A matter of great importance has happened. I said: What is that? Have the Ghassanids come? He said: No, but even more serious and more significant than that: the Prophet has divorced his wives. [2]
From the above narration, there is clear evidence that the Muslims were informed of an impending invasion by the Ghassanids, who were part of the Byzantine Empire. Additionally, Ibn Saโd in his book Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir writes:
โThey (narrators) saud: It (report) reached the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, that the Romans had concentrated large forces in Syria, that Heraclius had disbursed one yearโs salary to his soldiers, and that tribes of Lakhm, Judham, โAmilah and Ghassan had joined hands with him.
They had sent their vanguards to al-Balqa. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, summoned the people to march. He set out and informed them about the place which he intended, so that they could make necessary preparations. He sent (messengers) to Makkah and to the tribes of Arabia (asking them) to send help. This took place in the days of intense heat.โ [3]
In the version that is narrated by Muโjam Tabarani (873 โ 918 CE), he states that Christians said it is a โappropriate time to attack the Arabsโ (Muslims):
โThe Battle Of Tabuk
Rajab 9 A. H. On the authority of Imran Ibn Husayn that the Christian Arabs wrote to Hercules, the King Of Rome that Muhammad passed away and that the people were dying because of the drought that they were experiencing. It was therefore a very appropriate TIME TO ATTACK THE ARABS (MUSLIMS).
Hercules immediately issued the order for preparations. A fully equipped army of 40 000 was prepared.โ (Muโjam az-Zawaโid, volume 6, page 191) (Siratul Mustafa [Translated by Maulana Mahomed Mahomedy โ Madrasah Arabia Islamia and Zam Zam Publishers โ Fifth Authorized Edition, 2015] by Hadrat Maulana Idris Sahib Kandehlawi, volume 3, page 96)
Again, we see clear evidence that it was the Byzantine (Roman) empire who started this war. It was on this instance the Prophet Muhammad (p) assembled the Muslim community to go out and fight against these aggressors. In another early Islamic source, Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan, written by the eminent 9th Century Imam, Aแธฅmad Ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri, the author says:
โTabuk make terms. When in the year 9 AH the Prophet marched to Tabuk in Syria for the invasion of those of the Greeks, Amilah, Lakhm, Judham and others whom he learnt had assembled against him, he met no resistance. So he spent a few days in Tabuk, whose inhabitants made terms with him agreeing to pay poll-tax.โ [4]
So far, as we have read early Islamic sources, when one reads the passage (9:29) in its historical perspective, it is a fact that the Byzantines (Romans) were the ones who intended to wage war against the Muslims. Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri in his work of Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar) writes:
The invasion and the conquest of Makkah was considered a decisive one between the truth and the error. As a result of which, the Arabs had no more doubt in Muhammadโs mission. Thus we see that things went contrary to the pagansโ expectations. People started to embrace Islam, the religion of Allah in great numbers.
This is manifested clearly in the chapter. The delegations, of this book. It can also be deduced out of the enormous number of people who shared in the Hajjatul-Wadโฆฃ145; (Farewell Pilgrimage). All domestic troubles came to an end. Muslims, eventually felt at ease and started setting up the teachings of All Laws and intensifying the Call to Islam.
THE UNDERLYING REASONS
The Byzantine power, which was considered the greatest military force on earth at that time, showed an unjustifiable opposition towards Muslims. As we have already mentioned, their opposition started at killing the ambassador of the Messenger of Allah [pbuh], Al-Harith bin, Umair Al-Azdi, by Sharhabeel bin, Amr Al-Ghassani. The ambassador was then carrying a message from the Prophet [pbuh] to the ruler of Busra.
We have also stated that the Prophet consequently dispatched a brigade under the command of Zaid bin Haritha, who had a fierce fight against the Byzantines at Muโtah. Although Muslim forces could not have revenge on those haughty over proud tyrants, the confrontation itself had a great impression on the Arabs, all over Arabia.
Caesar, who could neither ignore the great benefit that Muโtah Battle had brought to Muslims, nor could he disregard the Arab tribesโ expectations of independence, and their hopes of getting free from his influence and reign, nor he could ignore their alliance to the Muslims, realizing all that, Caesar was aware of the progressive danger threatening his borders, especially Ash-Sham-fronts which were neighbouring Arab lands.
So he concluded that demolition of the Muslims power had grown an urgent necessity. This decision of his should, in his opinion, be achieved before the Muslims become too powerful to conquer, and raise troubles and unrest in the adjacent Arab territories.
To meet these exigencies, Caesar mustered a huge army of the Byzantines and pro-Roman Ghassanide tribes to launch a decisive bloody battle against the Muslims.
GENERAL NEWS ABOUT THE BYZANTINES AND GHASSANIDE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
No sooner news about the Byzantineโs preparations for a decisive invasion against Muslims reached Madinah than fear spread among them. They started to envisage the Byzantine invasion in the least sound they could hear. This could be clearly worked out of what had happened to, Umar bin Al-Khattab one day.
The Prophet [pbuh] had taken an oath to stay off his wives for a month in the ninth year of Al-Hijra. Therefore, he deserted them and kept off in a private place. At the beginning, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah were puzzled and could not work out the reason for such behaviour.
They thought the Prophet [pbuh] had divorced them and that was why he was grieved, disturbed and upset. In Umarโs version of the very story he says: โI used to have a Helper friend who often informed me about what happened if I werenโt present, and in return I always informed him of what had taken place during his absence.
They both lived in the high part of Madinah. Both of them used to call at the Prophet alternatively during that time of suspense. Then one day I heard my friend, knock at the door saying: โOpen up! Open up!โ I asked wondering, โWhatโs the matter? Has the Ghassanide come?โ โNo it is more serious than that. The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] has deserted his wives.โ [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/730]
In another version, Umar said, โWe talked about Ghassanide preparations to invade us. When it was his turn to convey the news to me, he went down and returned in the evening. He knocked at the door violently and said Is he sleeping?โ I was terrified but I went out to meet him. Something serious had taken place.โ He said. Has the Ghassaindes arrived?โ I Said โNo,โ he said, it is greater and more serious. The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] has divorced his wives.’โ [Sahih Al-Bukhari 1/334]
This state of too much alertness manifests clearly the seriousness of the situation that Muslims began to experience. The seriousness of the situation was confirmed to a large degree by the hypocritesโ behaviour, when news about the Byzantinesโ preparations reached Madinah.
The fact that the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] won all the battles he fought, and that no power on earth could make him terrified, and that he had always proved to be able to overcome all the obstacles that stood in his way โ did not prevent the hypocrites, who concealed evil in their hearts, from expecting an affliction to fall upon the Muslims and Islamโฆ.
PARTICULAR NEWS ABOUT THE BYZANTINE AND GHASSANIDE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
A magnified image of the prominent danger threatening the Muslims life was carried to them by the Nabateans who brought oil from Ash-Sham to Madinah. They carried news about Heracliusโ preparations and equipment of an enormous army counting over forty thousand fighters besides Lukham, Judham and other tribes allied to the Byzantines. They said that its vanguard had already reached Al-Balq. Thus was the grave situation standing in ambush for the Muslims.
The general situation was aggravated seriously by other adverse factors of too much hot weather, drought and the rough and rugged distance they had to cover in case they decided to encounter the imminent danger. The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] concept and estimation of the situation and its development was more precise and accurate than all others.
He thought that if he tarried or dealt passively with the situation in such a way that might enable the Byzantines to paddle through the Islamic controlled provinces or to go as far as Madinah, this would, amid these circumstances, leave the most awful impression on Islam as well as on the Muslimsโ military credibility.
The pre-Islamic beliefs and traditions (Al-Jahiliyah) which were at that time dying because of the strong decisive blow that they had already had at Hunain, could have had a way to come back to life once again in such an environment. The hypocrites who were conspiring against the Muslims so that they might stab them in the back whereas Byzantines would attack them from the front.
If such a thing came to light and they succeeded in their evil attempts, the Prophet and his Companionsโ efforts to spread Islam would collapse and their profits which were the consequences of successive and constant fights and invasions would be invalidated.
The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] realised all that very well. So in spite of the hardships and drought that Muslims were suffering from the Prophet [pbuh] was determined that the Muslims should invade the Byzantines and fight a decisive battle at their own borders. He was determined not to tarry at all in order to thwart any Roman attempt to approach the land of Islam.
When the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] had made up his mind and took his final decision, he ordered his Companions to get ready for war and sent for the Makkans and the other Arab tribes asking for their assistance.
Contrary to his habit of concealing his real intention of the invasion by means of declaring a false one, he announced openly his intention of meeting the Byzantines and fighting them. He cleared the situation to his people so that they would get ready, and urged them to fight in the way of Allah. On this occasion a part of Surat Baraโa (Chapter 9 The Repentance) was sent down by Allah urging them to steadfastness and stamina. On the other hand, the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] cherished them to pay charities and to spend the best of their fortunes in the way of Allah.
No sooner had the Muslims heard the voice of the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] calling them to fight the Byzantines than they rushed to comply with his orders. With great speed they started getting ready for war. Tribes and phratries from here and there began pouring in Madinah.
Almost all the Muslims responded positively. Only those who had weakness at their hearts favoured to stay behind. They were only three people. Even the needy and the poor who could not afford a ride came to the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] asking for one so that they would be able to share in the fight against the Byzantines. But when he said:
โโฆI can find no mounts for youโ they turned back while their eyes overflowing with tears of grief that they could not find anything to spend (for Jihad).โ [Al-Qurโan 9:92]
The Muslims raced to spend out money and to pay charities to provide this invasion. Uthman, for instance, who had already rigged two hundred, saddled camels to travel to Ash-Sham, presented them all with two hundred ounces (of gold) as charity.
He also fetched a thousand dinars and cast them all into the lap of the Messenger of Allah[pbuh], who turned them over and said: โFrom this day on nothing will harm Uthman regardless of what he does.โ [Jamiโ At-Tirmidhi 2/211 (The virtues of โUthman)] Again and again Uthman gave till his charity toped to nine hundred camels and a hundred horses, besides the money he paid.
Abdur Rahman bin Awf, on his side, paid two hundred silver ounces, whereas Abu Bakr paid the whole money he had and left nothing but Allah and His Messenger as a fortune for his family. Umar paid half his fortune. Abbas gifted a lot of money. Talhah, Saโd bin Ubadah and Muhammad bin Maslamah, gave money for the welfare of the invasion. Asim bin Adi, on his turn, offered ninety camel-burdens of dates. People raced to pay little and much charities alike. One of them gave the only half bushel (or the only bushel) he owned.
Women shared in this competition by giving the things they owned; such as musk, armlets, anklets, ear-rings and rings. No one abstained from spending out money, or was too mean to grant money or anything except the hypocrites: โThose who defame such of the believers who give charity (in Allahโs cause) voluntarily, and those who could not find to give charity (in Allahโs cause) except what is available to them, so they mock at them (believers).โ [Al-Qurโan 9:79]
THE MUSLIM ARMY IS LEAVING FOR TABUK
Upon accomplishing the equipment of the army, the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] ordained that Muhammad bin Maslamah Al-Ansari should be appointed over Madinah. In another version Siba bin Arftah. To Ali bin Abu Talib he entrusted his familyโs safety and affairs and ordered him to stay with them.
This move made the hypocrites undervalue Ali, so he followed the Messenger of Allah pbuh] and caught up with him. But the Prophet made Ali turn back to Madinah after saying: โWould it not suffice you to be my successor in the way that Aaron (Harun) was to Mosesโ?โ Then he proceeded saying: โBut no Prophet succeeds me.โ
On Thursday, the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] marched northwards to Tabuk. The army that numbered thirty thousand fighters was a great one, when compared with the previous armies of Islam. Muslims had never marched with such a great number before.
Despite all the gifts of wealth and mounts the army was not perfectly equipped. The shortage of provisions and mounts was so serious that eighteen men mounted one camel alternatively. As for provisions, members of the army at times had to eat the leaves of trees till their lips got swollen.
Some others had to slaughter camels, though they were so dear, so that they could drink the water of their stomach; that is why that army was called โThe army of distressโ. On their way to Tabuk, the army of Islam passed by Al-Hijr, which was the native land of Thamud who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley; that is โAl-Qura Valleyโ of today.
They watered from its well but later the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] told them not to drink of that water, nor perform the ablution with it. The dough they made, he asked them to feed their camels with. He forbade them to eat anything whatsoever of it. As an alternative he told them to water from that well which Prophet Salihโs she-camel used to water from.
On the authority of Ibn ?Umar: โUpon passing by Al-Hijr the Prophet [pbuh] said: โDo not enter the houses of those who erred themselves lest what had happened to them would afflict you, but if you had to do such a thing let it be associated with weeping.โ
Then he raised his head up and accelerated his strides till he passed the valley out.โ [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/637] Shortage of water and the armyโs need to it made them complain to the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] about that. So he supplicated to Allah who sent a rainfall cloud. It rained and so all people drank and supplied themselves with their need of water.
When they drew near Tabuk, the Prophet said: โIf Allah will, tomorrow you will arrive at Tabuk spring. You will not get there before daytime. So whoever reaches it should not touch its water; but wait till I come.โ Muadh said: โWhen we reached the spring it used to gush forth some water. We found that two men had already preceded us to it. The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] asked them: Have you touched its water?โ
They replied: โYesโ. He said what Allah inspired him to say, then he scooped up little water of that spring, thin stream which gathered together, he washed his face and hand with it and poured it back into it; consequently plenty of water spouted out of it so people watered. Muadhโ, said the Messenger of Allah, if you were doomed to live long life you will see in here fields full of vegetation.’โ [Sahih Muslim 2/246]
On the way to Tabuk, or as soon as they reached Tabuk, the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] said: Severe wind will blow tonight, so none of you should stand up. Whoever has a camel should tie it up.โ Later on when the strong wind blew, one of the men stood up and the wind carried him away to Taiโ Mountain. [ibid. Sahih Muslim 2/246]
All the way long the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] was intent on the performance of the combined prayer of noon and the afternoon; and so did he with sunset and evening prayers. His prayers for both were either pre-time or post-time prayers.
THE ARMY OF ISLAM AT TABUK
Arriving at Tabuk and camping there, the Muslim army was ready to face the enemy. There, the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] delivered an eloquent speech that included the most inclusive words. In that speech he urged the Muslims to seek the welfare of this world and the world to come.
He warned and cherished them and gave them good tidings. By doing that he cherished those who were broken in spirits, and blocked up the gap of shortage and mess they were suffering from due to lack of supplies, food and other substances.
Upon learning of the Muslimsโ march, the Byzantines and their allies were so terrified that none of them dared set out to fight. On the contrary they scattered inside their territory. It brought, in itself, a good credit to the Muslim forces. That had gained military reputation in the mid and remote lands of Arabian Peninsula. The great and serious political profits that the Muslim forces had obtained, were far better than the ones they could have acquired if the two armies had been engaged in military confrontation.
The Head of Ailah, Yahna bin Rawbah came to the Messenger of Allah [pbuh], made peace with him and paid him the tribute (Al-Jizya). Both of Jarbaโ and Adhruh peoples paid him tribute, as well. So the Messenger of Allah [pbuh] gave each a guarantee letter, similar to Yahnaโs, in which he says: โIn the Name of Allah the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
This is a guarantee of protection from Allah and Muhammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah to Yahna bin Rawbah and the people of Ailah, their ships, their caravans on land and sea shall have the custody of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, he and whosoever are with him of Ash-Sham people and those of the sea.
Whosoever contravenes this treaty, his wealth shall not save him, it shall be the fair prize of him that takes it. Now it should not be lawful to hinder the men from any springs which they have been in the habit of frequenting, nor from any journeys they desire to make, whether by sea or by land.โ
The Messenger of Allah [pbuh] dispatched Khalid bin Al-Waleed at the head of four hundred and fifty horsemen to Ukaidir Dumat Al-Jandal and said to him: โYou will see him hunting onyxes.โ So when Khalid drew near his castle and was as far as an eye-sight range, he saw the onyxes coming out rubbing their horns against the castle gate. As it was a moony night.
Khalid could see Ukaidir come out to hunt them, so he captured him, though he was surrounded by his men, and brought him back to the Messenger of Allah [pbuh], who spared his life and made peace with him for the payment of two thousand camels, eight hundred heads of cattle, four hundred armours and four hundred lances. He obliged him to recognize the duty of paying tribute and charged him with collecting it from Dumat, Tabuk, Ailah and Taimaโ.
The tribes, who used to ally the Byzantines, became quite certain that their dependence on their former masters came to an end. Therefore they turned into being pro-Muslims. The Islamic state had therefore enlarged its borders to an extent that it, touched the Byzantinesโ and their agentsโ borders. So we see that the Byzantine agentsโ role was over.
THE INVASION OF TABUK AND ITS FAR-REACHING RAMIFICATIONS
The effect of this invasion is great as regards extending and confirming the Muslimsโ influence and domination on the Arabian Peninsula. It was quite obvious to everybody that no power but Islamโs would live long among the Arabs. The remainders of Jahiliyin and hypocrites, who used to conspire steadily against the Muslims.
And who perpetually relied on Byzantine power when they were in need of support or help, these people lost their expectations and desires of ever reclaiming their ex-influence. Realizing that there was no way out and that they were to submit to the fait accompli, they gave up their attempts.
THE QURโANIC VERSES RELATING TO THIS INVASION
Many verses of Baraโa (Tauba) Chapter handling the event of Tabuk were revealed. Some verses were revealed before the march, while others after setting out for Tabuk, i.e. in the context of the battle. Some other verses were also revealed on the Prophetโs arrival in Madinah.
All of which covered the incidents that featured this invasion: the immanent circumstances of the battle, exposure of the hypocrites, the prerogatives and special rank earmarked for the strivers in the cause of Allah acceptance of the repentance of the truthful believers who slackened and those who hung back, etc. [5]
From that historical point, Quran 9:29 was a war of self-defence. If the Muslims had not done nothing and sat back, the Muslim community as a whole would have been wiped off in Arabia by the Byzantine (Romans) and other enemies.
More Muslim and non-Muslim scholarly commentaries on Quran 9:29
Dr. Mustafa As-Sibaaโie, โThe life of Prophet Muhammad highlights and lessonsโ writes,
The Battle of Tabook This is also known as Ghazwat al-Usrah (the campaign of hardship). It took place in Rajab 9 AH. Tabook is a place between Wadi al-Qura, in the Hijaz, and Syria. The reason for this battle was that the Byzantines had gathered a huge number of troops in Syria, including the tribes of Lakhm, Judhaam, โAamilah and Ghassan, who were Christianized Arabs.
They did so because Heraclius intended to attack Madeenah and put an end to the state that was developing in the Arabian Peninsula, as the news of this state and its victories had filled Heraclius with fear and terror. So the Prophet ordered the people to prepare for a campaign.
That was a time of great and intense heat. The sincere Muslims responded willingly, but three of them remained behind, even though their faith was sincere. The Prophet commanded the rich to provide equipment for the army, and they brought a huge amount of money. Abu Bakr brought all of his wealth, which was forty thousand dirhams. Umar brought half of his wealth, and Uthmaan gave a large amount in charity that day equiped one-third of the army.
The prophet prayed for him and said, โNothing that Uthmaan does can harm him after this day.โ A number of the poor Sahaabah came to him who had no animals to ride, and the Messenger said, โ I do not have anything that I can give you to ride.โ
They turned away with tears streaming dwn their faces because they did not have the means to prepare themselves to join the army. Eighty-odd of the hypocrites stayed behind, and a number of Bedouin gave invalied excuses, but the Prophet accepted them.
The Messenger of Allah set out with the people. There were thirty thousand warriors with him, and ten thousand horses. This was the greatest army that the Arabs had seen at that time. He marched until he reached Tabook, where he stayed for twenty days, during which he did not engage in any fighting. [6]
Scholar Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi
What was the genesis of this expedition? It is related that the Apostle got reports of Byzantine forces converging in the northern frontiers of Arabia with the intention of mounting an attack on the Muslims. Ibn Saโad and Waqidi had reported that the Apostle was informed by the Nabataeans that Heraclius was intending to come upon him and that his advance party had already reached Balqa. This was after storing on yearโs provision for his army and drafting the pro-Byzantine tribes of Lakhm, Jodham, Amla and Ghassan under his banner. [7]
Maulana Muhammad Ali in his book, โThe Holy Quran, Arabic Text with English Translation, Commentary and comprehensive Introductionโ,
29a โThe last word on the wars with the idolaters of Arabia having been said, this verse introduces the subject of fighting with the followers of the Book. Though the Jews had for a long time assisted the idolatrous Arabians in their struggle to uproot Islam, the great Christian power, the Roman Empire, had only just mobilized its forces for the subjection of the new religion, and the Tabuk expedition followed, which constitutes the subject-matter of a large portion of what follows in this chapter.
As the object of this Christian power was simply the subjection of the Muslims, the words in which their final vanquishment by the Muslims is spoken of are different from those dealing with the final vanquishment of the idolatrous Arabians. The Qurโan neither required that the idolaters should be compelled to accept Islam, nor was it in any way its object to bring the Christians into subjection.
On the other hand, the idolaters wanted to suppress Islam by the sword, and the Christians first moved themselves to bring Muslim Arabia under subjection. The fate of each was, therefore, according to what it intended for the Muslims.
The word jizyah is derived from jaza, meaning he gave satisfaction, and means, according to LL, the tax that is taken from the free non-Muslim subjects of the Muslim Government whereby they ratify the compact that ensures them protection; or, according to AH, because it is a compensation for the protection which is guaranteed them, the non-Muslim subjects being free from military service.
The phrase โan yad-in has been explained variously. The word yad (lit., hand) stands for power or superiority, the use of the hand being the real source of the superiority of man over all other animals, and the apparent meaning of the phrase is in acknowledgement of your superiority in protecting their lives, etc. (AH).
It may also be added that the permission to fight, as given to the Muslims, is subject to the condition that the enemy should first take up the sword, Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you (2:190).
The Holy Prophet never overstepped this limit, nor did his followers. He fought against the Arabs when they took up the sword to destroy the Muslims, and he led an expedition against the Christians when the Roman Empire first mobilized its forces with the object of subjugating the Muslims.
And so scrupulous was he that, when he found that the enemy had not yet taken the initiative, he did not attack the Roman Empire, but returned without fighting. Later on, however, the Roman Empire, like the Persians, helped the enemies of Islam and fomented trouble against the newly established Muslim Kingdom, as a result of which both these
empires came into conflict with the Muslims and, notwithstanding the fact that both the Persians and the Romans were very powerful nations with unlimited resources and strong military organizations, and that they both tried at one and the same time to subjugate Islam, the result was what is predicted here in clear words โ they were both reduced to a state of subjection by an insignificant nation like the Arabs.โ [8]
Professor John Andrew Morrow
โฆ..the early Muslims had to fend of all sorts of aggressive assaults of the unbelievers from the Quraysh and their allies among the bedioun and Jewish tribes, in such well-known Battles as those of Uhud, Al-Khandaq, Muโtah and Tabuk. [9]
Malik Ghulam Farid commentary on Quran 9:29
1175. The expression โAn Yadinโ means (1) Willingly and in acknowledgement of the superior power of Muslims. (2) In ready money and not in the form of deferred payment.
* In this verse โฆ is not translated. After the translation โฆ will read as: โand Allah is most Forgivving, Merciful.โ (3) Considering it as a favour from Muslims; the practice โan meaning, on account of, and Yad denoting power and favour (Lane).
The verse refers to those People of the Book who lived in Arabia. Like the idolaters they too had been actively hostile to Islam and had planned and plotted to exterminate it. Muslims were, therefore, ordered to fight them unless they agreed to live as loyal and peaceful subjects.
The Jizyah was a tax which these non-Muslims had to pay as free subjects of the Muslim state in return for the protection they enjoined under it. It may be noted that as against Jizyah which was imposed on non-Muslims, a much heavier tax- Zakat was levied on the Muslims, and in addition to Zakat they had to perform military service from which non-Muslims were exempt.
Thus the latter in a way fared better, for they had to pay a lighter tax and were also free from military duty. The word Saghirun expresses their subordinate political status; otherwise they enjoyed all social rights equally with Muslims.
The idolaters of Arabia and Jews and Christians who lived in their neighbourhood were the principal adversaries of Islam. After having dealt with the believers relations with the People of the Book, especially with their religious beliefs and doctrines. [10]
Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali states in his commentary on surah nine,
Muslims are therefore basically opposed to war and are never the ones to start it. By the imperative of their own religion, they are taught not to impose their beliefs on others by force. Their mission is to impart and communicate Godโs message, leaving people free to decide whether to believe or reject it.
Those who refuse to believe are free to pursue their lives in peace as long as they do not pose any obstacle or threat to Islam and the Muslims, who perceive their faith as the strongest and most vital binding relationship between God and humankind and that it is their responsibility to make others aware of it and provide them with the opportunity to understand and appreciate it.
This is the basis of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in Islamic society. God says elsewhere in the Qurโan: โTherefore if they (the unbelievers) do not trouble you and cease their hostility towards you and offer you peace, God gives you no authority over themโ [al-Nisa: 90].
Those who take up arms against a Muslim state or parts of it must be met by force, and if they are overcome, they should be disarmed. Once that is achieved, they are free to lead their own lives and practise their beliefs in peace and security under the protection of the Muslim authorities, in return for which they have to pay a levy.
This is the background against which prescription of the Jizyah, or exemption tax, came into being. It is not due from those who are neutral and have never taken arms against the Muslim state. The surah gives ample explanation for the reasons behind the establishment of this tax, for it stipulates who should pay it.
They are those โwho do not believe in God and the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, and who do not follow the true religion, until they pay the exemption tax unreservedly and with humility. [11]
In the book โConflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopediaโ, Alexander Mikaberidze, commenting on 9:29 writes,
The following verses are widely acknowledged to be the first to grant Muslims permission to bear arms: Permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged, and indeed, God has the power to help them:
those who have been driven from their homes against all right for no other reason than their saying, โOur Provider is God!โ For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques- in all of which Godโs name is abundantly glorified- would surely have been destroyed. (22:39-40)
In these verses, the Koran asserts, if people were not allowed to defend themselves against aggressive wrongdoers, all the houses of worship- it is worthy of note here that Islam is not the only religion indicated here- would be destroyed and thus the word of God extinguished. Another verse states:
They ask you concerning fighting in the prohibited months. Answer them: โFight therein is a serious offence. But to restrain men from following the cause of God, to deny God, to violate the sanctity of the sacred mosque, to expel its people from its environs is in the sight of God a greater wrong than fighting in the forbidden month. [For] discord and strife (fitna) are worse than killing.โ (2:217)
Wrongful expulsion of believers- Muslims and other monotheists- from their homes for no other reason than their avowal of belief in one God is one of the reasons- jus ad bellum- that justify recourse to fighting, according to these verses.
Earlier revelations (Koran 42.40-43) had allowed only non-violent self-defence against wrongful conduct of the enemy. In another verse (2:291), the Koran acknowledges the enormity of fighting, and thus the potential taking of human life, but at the same time asserts the higher moral imperative of maintaining order and challenging wrongdoing.
Therefore, when both just cause and righteous intention exist, war in self-defence becomes obligatory. Fighting is prescribed for you, while you dislike it, but it is possible that you dislike. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But God knows and you know not. (2:216) The Koran further asserts that it is the duty of Muslims to defend those who are oppressed and cry out to them for help (4.75), except against a people with whom the Muslims have concluded a treaty (8.72)
With regard to initiation of hostilities, the Koran has specific injunctions. Koran 2.190 reads, โFight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression, for God loves not aggressors,โ which forbids Muslims from initiating hostilities. Recourse to armed combat must be in response to a prior act of aggression committed by the opposite side.
In the month of Ramadan in the third year of the Islamic calendar (624), full-fledged hostilities broke out between the Muslims and the pagan Meccans in what became known as the Battle of Badr. In this battle, the small army of Muslims decisively trounced a much larger, and more experienced, Meccan army.
Two years later, the battle of Uhud was fought in which the Muslims suffered severe reverses, followed by the Battle of Khandaq in 627. Apart from these three major battles, a number of other minor campaigns were fought until the Prophetโs death in 632.
Some of the most trenchant verses exhorting the Muslims to fight were revealed on the occasions of these military campaigns. One such verse is 9.5, which is one of what have been termed the โSword versesโ (Ayat al-sayf), states, And when the sacred months are over, slay the Polytheists wherever you find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place.
Another verse that is often conjoined to the previous verse runs: Fight against those who- despite having been given revelation before- do not believe in God nor in the Last Day, and do not consider forbidden that which God and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of the truth, until they pay Jizyah with willing hand, having been subdued. (9.29).
The first of the sword verse verses (9.5), with its internal reference to the polytheists who may be fought after the end of the sacred months, would circumscribe its applicability to only the pagan Arabs of Muhammadโs time; this is how in fact manu medieval jurists, such as al-Shafii (d. 820), understood the verse.
The second of the sword verses is seemingly at the People of the Book, that is, Jews and Christians, but again, a careful reading of the verse clearly indicates that it does not intent all the people of the Book but only those from among them who do not, in contravention of their own laws, believe in God and the Last Day and, in a hostile manner, impede the propagation of Islam.
The Koran, in another verse (2.193), makes clear, however, that should hostile behaviour on the part of the foes of Islam cease, then the reasons for engaging them in battle also lapses. This verse states: โAnd fight them on until there is no more chaos (fitna) and religion is only for Gd, but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression.โ [12]
โDebating the War of Ideasโ, written by two Scholars, John Gallagher and Eric D. Patterson say that the Quran โforbids aggressive warfareโ,
The Quran also developed a just war ideology. It forbids aggressive warfare and the pre-emptive strike, and makes it clear that self-defence was the only possible justification for hostilities. War was always a terrible evil, but it was sometimes necessary in order to preserve decent values, such as freedom of worship. Even here, the Quran did not abandon its pluralism: synagogues and churches as well as mosques should be protected.
The Quran insists on the importance of mercy and forgiveness, even when during armed conflict. While engaged in hostilities, Muslims must fight steadfastly in order to bring the war to a speedy end, but the moment the enemy asked for peace, Muslims must lay down their arms. They must accept any truce, even if they suspect the enemy of double-dealing. And it is always better to sit DOWN AND solve a problem by rational, courteous discussion.
True, retaliation was permitted as in the Jewish tradition- eye FOR EYE, tooth for tooth- but it must be strictly confined to those who had actually perpetrated the atrocities and โhe who shall forgo it out of charity will atone better for some of his past sins.โ
Later Islamic Law developed additional principles of humane warfare. It forbids war against a country where Muslims are permitted to practice their religion freely; it outlaws the killing of civilians, the deliberate destruction of property, and the use of fire in warfare.
Holy war was not one of the essential principles of Islam The word Jihad does not refer to armed conflict but to the โeffortโ and โstruggleโ required to implement Godโs will in a flawed and violent world. Muslims are exhorted to strive in his endeavour on all fronts: intellectual, social, economic, spiritual, moral, and domestic. Sometimes they would have to fight, but this was not their chief duty.
An oft-quoted tradition recalls Muhammad telling his companions after a battle: โWe are returning from the lesser Jihad (the battle) and going to the Greater Jihad,โ the immeasurably more important and difficult struggle to reform their own society and they own hearts.
It is true that Muslim rulers often engaged in wars for territorial aggrandizement and personal interest and dignified their military activities by calling it a Jihad, but, like other Kings and imperialists, they were motivated by political ambition rather than by religion. [13]
โOut of darkness into light: Spiritual guidance in the Quran with reflections from Christian and Jewish sourcesโ written by Ann Holmes Redding, Jamal Rahman and Kathleen Schmitt Elias,
The Jihad that is so feared in Western society is known in Islam as the โlesser jihadโ, and again, the fear is based on misinterpretation not only by non-Muslims but also by Muslim extremists who carry jihad lengths that were never sanctioned or condoned by the Quran.
This lesser Jihad is about defending and protecting oneself and others when under attack- and only when under attack. โFight in the way of God those who fight you,โ says the Quran, โbut begin not hostilities, for God loves not the aggressorsโ (2:190). This verse has also been interpreted to mean โdo not transgress limits in the fight.โ War is permitted only in self-defence, and the limits are well defined:
no hostilities toward women, children, and the aged, no destruction of trees and crops, and no continuation of war once the enemy sues for peace. In the brutal world of the seventh century the terms of lesser Jihad were remarkably enlightened, but in any age there are those who ignore the words of scriptures and prophets, wreaking havoc on the earth by over-reaching their role as vice-regents of our compassionate and merciful God.
Properly understood, the lesser Jihad of self-defence is entirely legitimate, but it will always be secondary to the greater Jihad of self-realization as a beautiful manifestation of the Divine. In Rumiโs metaphor, the Lion who breaks the enemyโs ranks is a minor hero compared with the lion who over-comes himself. [14]
In the book, โThe History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Eraโ, Professor Micheline R. Ishay,
The notion of specified limits on the use of violence is also embedded in Islamic teaching, as the Quran echoes the biblical standard of โlife for life, eye for eye, ear for ear, tooth for tooth and wound for wound equal for equal.โ Yet following the teaching of Jesus and Mohammad, one can still โremit retaliation by way of charityโ (Surah 5:45). While retaliation against an evil must be proportionate to that evil (Surah 42:40),
there are instances in which retaliation by means of war, or Jihad (literally meaning โexertionโ) is, as in the Christian notions of just war, legitimated. The Quran justifies wars for self-defence to protect Islamic communities against internal or external aggression by non-Islamic populations, and wars waged against those who โviolate their oathsโ by breaking a treaty (Surah 9:12, 9:13, 42:40-43).
If God commands us to go to war, a better afterlife, exhorts the Quran, is promised to the true soldiers of faith: โAnd if ye are slain or die, in the way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are fare better than all they could amass [in wealth]โ (Surah 3:157).
If some modern Islamic religious zealots, such as Osama Bin laden, have found in the concept of the holy war a justification for terrorist activities, they have overlooked the fact that the same Quran, drawing from the Hebrew Bible, urges a soldier of faith โto protect the life of non-combatants, aged ones, children and women, as well as the life of imprisoned soldiers.โ
Temperance, the Quran states, I also mandated: โFight in the name of God those who fight you; but exceed not the limit. For God loves not those who exceed the limitโฆ. Fight till there is no persecution, and the judgement be Godโs. But if they desist, let there be no hostilities save against the unjust.โ
One should not forget, after all, that Islamic juridical writings urging tolerance and moderation in war, such as the Abbou Hassan of Baghdad (1036), the Hedaya (1196), and the Vikayat printed in Spain (1280) were composed five hundred years before Grotius and the Christian humanists. Those views live on in the contemporary Islamic writings of the Lebanese Sobhi Mahmassani. [15]
Conclusion: the above evidence refutes the assertion made by some critics that the Muslims fought the Jews and Christians (Byzantines/Romans) for no reason. The claims that Muslims initiated warfare are not true once the historical context was shown. In summary, the Quranic verse 9:29 commanded Muslims, 1400 years ago to fight only those that were involved in aggression against them, as shown by its historical context. Muslims only fought the Byzantines in self-defence, to save the themselves from oppression and extinction.
[1] A comprehensive commentary on the Quran โ by Reverend E. M. Wherry, volume 2 page 274 [2] Sahih Muslim Book 9, Hadith 3511 http://sunnah.com/muslim/18/44 [3] Ibn Saโdโs Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Translated by S. Moinul Haq (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2009) Volume 2, page 203-204 [4] The origins of the Islamic State, being a translation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations Geographic and historic notes of the Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Imam Abuโl Abbas Ahmad Ibn Jabir Al Baladhuri, By Phillip Khurti Hitti, PHD, [1916], volume 1, page 92 [5] Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar) Memoirs of the Noble Prophet [pbuh] by Saifur Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri page 272- 280 [6] The life of Prophet Muhammad highlights and lessons by Dr. Mustafa As-Sibaaโie page 116 โ 117 [7] Muhammad Rasulullah The Apostle of Mercy By S. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, page 320 [8] The Holy Quran, Arabic Text with English Translation, Commentary and comprehensive Introduction [Year 2002 Edition] by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Page 404 [9] Islamic Images and Ideas: Essays on Sacred Symbolism, by Professor John Andrew Morrow, page 31 [10] The Holy Qurโan Arabic Text with English Translation & Short Commentary, Malik Ghulam, Farid Page 383 โ 384 [11] A Thematic Commentary on the Qurสผan โ by Shaykh Muแธฅammad Ghazฤlฤซ, page 182 โ 183 [12] Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia [Copyright 2011] by Alexander Mikaberidze page Volume 1, 929 โ 930 [13] Debating the War of Ideas by John Gallagher, Eric D. Patterson page 57 [14] Out of darkness into Light: Spiritual guidance in the Quran with reflections from Christian and Jewish sources Ann Holmes Redding, Jamal Rahman, Kathleen Schmitt Elias. page 53 [15] The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era By Micheline R. Ishay, page 45 โ 47
I have decided to take on โThe Religion Of Peaceโ (TROP) website, which is owned by a Christian missionary by the name of Glen Roberts. I want to dedicate a series of articles to refute their so called responses to DTT (discover the truth site). Glen Roberts made several poor and very badly worded โrefutationsโ to DTT. The majority of them were actually commentary and not actual refutation. Here I will address their sources one by one and I will provide arguments as to why their โrefutationโ is a work of a layman.
The first article TROP wrote to DTT was in regards to Banu Qaynuqa incident, where the Jews of Madinah attempted to assassinate the Muslims, betrayed them, and waged war on them.
Glen Roberts decided to take the approach of commentary on some of DTTโs arguments, but later decided to cite Al-Tabari without authenticating what he said or giving sanad to the narrations he was citing. I have already shown why we should take whatever Tabari (those that are not authentic) said with grain of salt in my responses to TMA with that being said let us proceed.
Their commentary on DTT sources goes as follows:
Glen Roberts starts off,
โDTT quotes from five historians, each of whom seems to be repeating what the one before says. The earliest is probably Ibn Ishaqโs account, since the next most reliable account (Kitab Futuh al-Buldan) directly references it. One of their sources, al-Waqidi, is widely regarded as a fabricator.โ
Apart from the part regarding Al-Waqidi being fabricator which can be regarded as correct criticism (and about the only good point Roberts made) we should not leave out Ibn Ishaq and several other sources DTT used We will comment later on, but one comment they made that send the most shock to me is the following,
โNone of these accounts say that the Qaynuqa killed Muslims. None even name a third party, much less say that the Qaynuqa took sides against the Muslims in a battle. In fact, the tribe seem to have been on friendly terms with other Muslimsโ
We will explore how wrong this is later, but first letโs see what Kaโab Bin al-Ashraf did,
โwhen the Prophet was done from the battle of Badr he sent Zaid Bin Harith and Abdullah bin Rowaha to tell the ummah of Muslims of the victory, and when this reached Kaโab Bin al-Ashraf he told the one who informed him of it: how could you say that, these are the kings of Arabs and masters of the people (referring to Quraish), the he left to Makkah and he was crying over the corpses of Quraish dead soldiers and he (Kaโb) was instigating the people to fight the Prophet.โ (Sunnan Al-Kubra by Baihaqi volume 9, page 183)
However is it correct that they never killed a Muslim? This is not correcting letโs explore some sources apart from their treason,
โa muslim woman was selling something in banu qaynaqua market for a gold and jewry maker, so the jews wanted her to uncover her face, so the muslim woman didnโt allow this, so the jewry maker took part of her clothes and torn it from back and when she stood up her privte parts were exposed naked so they laughed, so she screamed, so a man of muslims went to the jewry maker and killed him, and the jews gathered around the muslim and killed him, and the muslims saw this and was enraged and a fight happened between the jews and muslimsโ (Sira Ibn Hisham, volume 2, page 47)
Glen Roberts makes the following childish comment in light of growing evidence,
โIf the Banu Qaynuqa actually broke the agreement in some meaningful way, then it would have been included in the historical account. Against this reality, the statement that they โviolatedโ the treaty seems to be an editorial comment that got repeated without supporting detail.โ
The part regarding Tabari which as I said before should always be taken with grain of salt was the following,
โTabari, whom DTT quotes as proof that the Qaynuqa โviolatedโ the agreement actually uses a word that can be interpreted as โdisagree.โ This is important because the full account offered in his work suggests that Muhammad required that he be recognized as a prophet, and they refused: What happened with regard to the Banu Qaynuqaโ was that the Messenger of God assembled them in the Market of the Banu Qaynuqaโ and said, โ0 Jews, beware lest God bring on you the like of the retribution which he brought on Quraysh.
Accept Islam, for you know that I am a prophet sent by God. You will find this in your scriptures and in Godโs covenant with you.โ They replied, โMuhammad, do you think that we are like your people? Do not be deluded by the fact that you met a people with no knowledge of war and that you made good use of your opportunity. By God, if you fight us you will know that we are real men!โ (Tabari v.7 p.85)โ
Due to some people being unable to have access to the voluminous books of Tabari, Glen Roberts thinks he can deceive his audience and change words to suit his propaganda against Islam. The word โdisagreeโ is not even in there (screenshot from Tabari, vol.7, p.85-86):
Letโs forget the fact that they didnโt give the sanad of the narration. Letโs forget the fact that no where did the narration suggest that they โdisagreedโ but rather that they instigated to go to war with with the Muslims. But letโs forget that, letโs explore TROPโs ability to do research and find if a narrator is regarded as authentic, did they do that with Tabari?
Or did they treat it as authentic as Sunnis view Sahih Bukhari? The answer is no, in fact this narration is regarded as non-authentic because of Ibn Hamid (which they removed from the chain of narration list, Muhammad Bin Hamid Bin Hyan was one of the narrators of this story and he is regarded as matruk meaning not authentic or literally (dropped) (Online source)
In fact what makes it funnier is that if we read further (using the same weak narrations) we actually see that Tabari refutes Glen Roberts,
โAccording to Ibn Humayd-Salamah-Muhammad b. Ishaq-โAsim b. โUmar b.Qatadah: The Banu Qaynuqaโ were the first Jews to infringe the agreement between them and the Messenger of God;ย they took to arms between Badr and Uhud.โ (Tabari, volume 7, page 85 โ 86)
Screenshot from the book:
Readers, notice the level of deception on Glen Robertsโ part. He delibrately hides these facts to deceive his readers. Glen Roberts, your own source just affirmed what DTT said that Banu Qaynuqa broke the treaty and took up arms against the Muslims.
Glen Roberts continues,
โHere is how Tabari explains it: According to Al-Zuhri-โUrwah : Gabriel [the angel] brought the following verse down to the Messenger of God : โAnd if thou fearest treachery from any folk, then throw back to them their treaty fairly. โโWhen Gabriel had finished delivering this verse, the Messenger of God said, โI fear the Banu Qaynugaโ.โ โUrwah says: It was on the basis of this verse that the Messenger of God advanced upon them. (Tabari v.7 p.86)
Hmmmโฆ An angel tells Muhammad that if he simply fears treachery then itโs OK to break the treaty. Why say that if the treaty were already broken? Muhammad promptly says he fears treachery and then advances on the Qaynuqa community with an army. This is a very strange way of saying that he was under attack, as Discover the Truth fantasizes.โ
Yet another citation of Tabari with no authentication or verification at all. But letโs have a comment on this like how Glen Roberts loves to do too DTT. Muhammad (p) here simply implied that Banu Qaynuqa might break the treaty and se he advanced upon them, Roberts seems to make the argument that this was the only motivation Muhammad had to attack them.
But that is incorrect because if we recall few paragraphs earlier, we seen Tabari clearly laying out that they broke the treaty and โtook up armsโ against the Muslims at Badr and Uhud? Is the above narration cited by Roberts authentic? The answer might shock you because it laughs at the credibility of TROP, remember when they discredited DTT for using Waqidi? Yup, here they used a narration that was narrated through Waqidi. According to Sahih wa daโif tarikh Tabari in daโif section volume 7 page 101,
โwithin itโs sanad exist waqidi, and he is matrukโ (literally means โAbandonedโ e.g., the technical meaning: that the Hadith in which there is such a narrator who has been blamed for lying or falsehood in matters other than narrating Hadithโ).
โ
Glen Roberts criticizes DTT for using Waqidi and then goes on to use it himself. Letโs quote Tabari again himself again, he refutes Glen Roberts and states that Banu Qaynuqa took up arms against the Muslims:
โAccording to Ibn Humayd-Salamah-Muhammad b. Ishaq-โAsim b. โUmar b.Qatadah: The Banu Qaynuqaโ were the first Jews to infringe the agreement between them and the Messenger of God; they took to arms between Badr and Uhud.โ (History of al-Tabari: The: The Foundation of the Community: volume 7, page 85 โ 86)
So here Tabari clearly states that they took arms preparing to infringe on the agreement between them and the Messenger (p).
So clearly when we piece the evidence together, Muhammad (p), based on the evidence from Tabari alone we see that the Banu Qaynuqa advanced, they took arms against the Muslims and infringed upon the agreement. Somehow Glen Roberts wants to deceive his readers, deliberately hiding facts related to Tabari to fool innocent readers? So much for โThe Qaynuqa were fighting defensively according to every accountโ.
Glen Roberts later states,
โTabari continues: The Messenger of God besieged them for fifteen days and prevented any of them from getting out. They then surrendered at the discretion of the Mesenger of God . They were fettered, and he wanted to kill them, but โAbd Allah b. Ubayy spoke to him on their behalfโฆ
Four hundred men without armour and three hundred with coats of mail, who defended me from the Arab and the non-Arab alike, and you would mow them down in a single morning? By God, I do not feel safe and am afraid of what the future may have in store (Tabari v.7 p.86)
Muhammad โfearsโ treachery, has a private conversation with an โangelโ and the next thing you know, 700 people are tied up and waiting to be beheaded. Which party would you fear? โ
You donโt know the party that instigated a war? The party that threatened to fight Muhammad? The party that took arms in preparation for battle? The party that humiliated the Muslims by attacking an innocent woman? Letโs see yet again if this is an authentic narration. According to Sahih Wa Daโif Tarikh Tabari volume 7 page 102 โit contains Waqidi and he is matrukโ
Isnโt it ironic for the second time that TROP uses Waqidi after criticizing DTT for using him?
So far TROP has not shown what part of the agreement or treaty did Muhammad broke or invoked โThe Qaynuqa were fighting defensively according to every accountโ.
No, they were not, they saw the might of the Prophet (p) who defeated the Quraish tribe and instigated to fight him, remember Kaโab Ibn al-Ashraf, earlier?
But let us see the full account and not take parts of what Glen Roberts deceptively left out,
โThe Messenger of God besieged them until they surrendered at his discretion. โAbd Allah b . Ubayy b. Salul rose up when God had put them in his power, and said, โMuhammad, treat my mawdli wellโ; for they were the confederates of al-Khazraj . The Prophet delayed his answer, so โAbd Allah repeated, โMuhammad, treat my mawali well.โ
The Prophet turned away from him, and he put his hand into (the Messengerโs) collar. The Messenger of God said, โLet me go! โ-he was so angry that they could see shadows in his face (that is, his face coloured ). Then he said, โDamn you, let me go!โ He replied, โNo, by God, I will not let you go until you treat my mawali well.
Four hundred men without armour and three hundred with coats of mail, who defended me from the Arab and the non-Arab alike, and you would mow them down in a single morning? By God, I do not feel safe and am afraid of what the future may have in store .โ
Soย THE MESSENGER OF GOD SAID, THEY ARE YOURS.โ (Tabari, volume 7, page 86)
Hold on, so Muhammad actually let them go and didnโt keep them on besiege and didnโt behead them? Hmmmmmm sounds like Glen Roberts is hiding important details to spread his propaganda.
However, the account I gave above is also weak for having waqidi in itโs narration
โIf the Banu Qaynuqa actually broke the agreement in some meaningful way, then it would have been included in the historical accountโ
Either Glen Roberts is blind or deliberately deceives his readers. The very source TROP quotes, such as Tabari in fact states clearly that Banu Qaynuqa broke the treaty. Tabari went further and also showed that they took up arms against the Muslim community.
Here are the earliest documented reports (before Tabari) that state that the Banu Qaynuqa broke the treaty and waged war.
1. Kitab Futuh al-Buldan โ al-Imam abu-l Abbas Ahmad Ibn-Jabir al-Baladhuri (d. 892 CE):
โIt is reported that at the arrival of the Prophet in al-Madinah he wrote an agreement and made a covenant with the Jews of Yathrib. The Jews of Kainuka, howeverย were the first to violate the covenant, and the Prophet expelled them from al-Madinah.โ (Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan, By al-Imam abu-l Abbas Ahmad Ibn-Jabir al-Baladhuri, (Translated by Philip Khuri Hitti, PH. D.), [New York โ Columbia Univeristy, Longmans, Green & Co., Agents โ London: P. S. King & Son, LTD. 1916], volume 1, page 33)
2. Ibn Hisham (d. 833 CE):
โAmong the Jews of Madฤซnah, theย Banu Qainuqaโ were the first to break the treatyย which had been settled between them and the Holy Prophet.โ (As-Siratun-Nabawiyyah, ย Abu Muแธฅammad โAbdul-Malik bin Hisham, page 514)
3. Zurqani (1645 โ 1710 CE):
โWhen the battle of Badr took place the Jews (Banu Qainuqa) manifested their malevolence and their spirit ofย revoltย and retracted from their plighted word (i.e., broke the treaty).โ (Zurqani, volume 1, page 529)
4. Ibn Ishaq (704 โ 768 CE):
โAsim b. Umar b. Qatada said that theย banu Qaynuqa were the first of the Jews to break their agreements with the apostle and to go to war, between Badr and Uhud, and the Apostle besieged them until they surrendered unconditionally.โ (Ibn Ishaqโs Sirat Rasul Allah โ The Life of Muhammad [Translated by A. Guillaume], page 363)
5. Tabaqat al-Kabir โ Ibn Saโd (784 โ 845 CE):
โThe Banu Qainuqaโฆ after Badr, theyย began to rebel fiercelyย and openly expressed their rancour and malice andย broke their treaty and agreement.โ3 (Aแนญ-แนฌabaqatul-Kubra, By Muแธฅammad bin Saโd, volume 2, page 264)
6. Kitab al-Amwaal โ Abu Ubayd al-Qasim Ibn Sallam (774 โ 838 CE):
(519) โโฆ The People of the Book were in three groups:ย Banu Qaynaqa, al-Nadir and Qurayza. Theย FIRST GROUP revolted and annulled the treaty. They were allies of AbdโAllah Ibn Ubayy. The Messenger of God (p) expelled them from Madina.โ (Kitab al-Amwaal by Abu Ubayd al-Qasim Ibn Sallam, page 205)
7. In another classical source it states that the Banu Qaynuqa even challenged the Muslims to war (1559 CE):
โDo not become arrogant over your victory at Badr. When you are to fight us you shall come to know the real likes of warriors.โ (Tarikhul-Khamis Fi Aแธฅwali Anfasi Nafis, By แธคusain bin Muแธฅammad bin แธคasan, volume 1, page 409)
8. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292 โ 1350 CE):
โHe (the Prophet) made an agreement with the Jews of Al-Madinah, butย Banuย Qainiqaโ fought against him after the Battle of Badr, going over to theย east (i.e. to the polytheists forces of Makkah) after it took place,ย revealing their injustice and envy.โ (Zaad al-Maโad, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 324)
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292 โ 1350 CE) gives a up bit more info on page 481 as well:
โAnd he made a number of judgements regarding the Jews: Heย made a covenant with them when he first arrived in Al-Madinah,ย thenย Banu Qainuqaโ made war on him and so he conquered them,ย then he freed them. (Zaad al-Maโad, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, page 481)
In conclusion for this,
Glen Roberts cited a weak narration by Tabari regarding the Jews of Banu Qaynaqua claiming they will fight back. Glen Roberts misquoted and bluntly took two narrations out of context, removed a complete narration from the section in the book, cited Tabari without sanad and based on the work of Waqidi who is a weak narrator as they admitted.
Made several deceptive comments. Glen Roberts failed to tackle DTTโs sources (apart from Waqidi). Cited yet another weak narration by Tabari, used waqidi twice after criticizing DTT for using him, there is literally not a single valid narration TROP made here.
Nearly all of Roberts citations of Tabari have been discredited (except those narrations that are reported in other classical book which state that Banu Qaynuqa broke the treaty and waged war against the Muslims), and almost all their objections were mere comments, there is no indication of โself defenseโ as he deceptively claims, and he ignored all DTTโs citations to how the Banu Qaynaqua broke the treaty.
And to add on top of that, they ignored a similar narration from Tabari that refutes their argument and clearly state that the Banu Qaynuqa took arms after infringing upon the treaty. [2] [3]
[2] Scholar Umari al-Madni, โThe reasons for their deportation have to be looked into their continued HOSTILITY TOWARDS Islam and MUSLIMS. That led to a lack of security in Madinah as is evidenced by what they did the Muslim lady.โ (Umari: Al-Mujtama, Al-Madni, page 138)) [3] A brief comment on the Banu Qaynuqa by Tawfiq Wahbah: โal-Dhahabi, fighting broke out in the market and a Jew and a Muslim were killed in this incident because a Jew โstealthily pinned [a Muslim womanโs] skirt to the back of her upper garments so that when she stood up she exposed herself.โ (Al-Harb fi al-Islam wa fi al-Mujtamaโ al-Dawli al-Muโasir, [Kutub Islamiyyah, Issue 145 (Cairo: Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, 1973/1393], by Tawfiq Wahbah, page 57)
