A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihad' Part 16

[Footnote 175: Sir W. Muir, II, p. 265.]

[Footnote 176: Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, p. 79.]

[Footnote 177: Remarks on the character of Mohammad (suggested by Voltaire's Tragedy of Mahomet) by Major Vans Kennedy. _Vide_ Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay for 1821, Vol. III, p.

453, reprint Bombay, 1877.]

[Footnote 178: "Mahomet did not send the Medina converts on any hostile expedition against the Koreish, until they had warred with him at Badr, and the reason is, that they had pledged themselves to protect him only at their homes."--K. Wackidi, 48; Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, p.

64, _note_.]

[Footnote 179: "K. Wackidi, 98-1/2. The provisions are noted only generally, "that neither party would levy war against the other, nor help their enemies." The version quoted by Weil binding the Bani Dhumra to fight _for the faith_, &c., is evidently antic.i.p.atory and apocryphal.

It is not given by the Secretary of Wackidi in his chapter of treaties."--Muir's Life of Mahomet, III, p. 67, _note_.]

[Footnote 180: Contributions to Political Science by Francis Lieber, LL.D., Vol. II of his miscellaneous writings, p. 251, London, 1881.]

_The Jews._

[Sidenote: 27. The Jews broke treaties.]

Mohammad, on his first arrival at Medina, made a treaty of alliance with the Jews, by which the free exercise of their religion and the possession of their rights and property were guaranteed. It was stipulated in the treaty that either party, if attacked, should come to the a.s.sistance of the other. Medina should be sacred and inviolable for all who joined the treaty. But the Jews broke their treaty and rebelled.

They a.s.sisted the enemy during the siege of Medina, and committed treason against the city.

[Sidenote: 28. Bani Kainukaa, Bani Nazeer, Koreiza, Khyber, and Ghatafan.]

The Bani Kainukaa were the first among the Jews who broke the treaty and fought against Mohammad between the battles of Badr and Ohad.[181]

The Bani Nazeer broke their compact with Mohammad after his defeat at Ohad. They had also made a conspiracy to kill Mohammad. They were banished; some of them went over to Khyber. The Jewish tribe of Koreiza had defected from their allegiance to Mohammad, and entered into negotiations with the enemy, when Medina was besieged by the Koreish and Bedouin tribes at the battle of the Ditch. They were afterwards besieged by Mohammad. They surrendered at the discretion of Sad, who pa.s.sed a b.l.o.o.d.y judgment against them. The Jews of Khyber (including those of Nazeer) and Bani Ghatafan, who had lately besieged Medina with the Koreish in the battle of the Ditch, made alliance against Mohammad,[182]

and were making preparations for an attack on him. They had been inciting the Bani Fezara and other Bedouin tribes in their depredations, and had combined with Bani Sad-Ibn Bakr to attack upon Medina. They were subjected at Khyber, and made tributaries, paying _jizya_ in return of the protection guaranteed to them.

[Sidenote: 29. Notices of them in the Koran.]

The treachery of the Bani Kainukaa, Nazeer and Koreiza, and Khyber is noticed in the Koran in the following verses:--

58. "They with whom thou hadst leagued, but who ever afterwards break their league, and fear not G.o.d!"

59. "And if thou capture them in battle, then (_by the example of their fate_) put to flight those who are behind them--they will perhaps be warned:"--

60. "Or, if thou fear treachery from any people, throw back _their treaty_ to them in like manner: verily, G.o.d loveth not the treacherous."

61. "And think not that the infidels shall get the better of Us! Verily, they shall not find G.o.d to be weak."

62. "Make ready then against them what force ye can, and squadrons of horse whereby ye may strike terror into the enemy of G.o.d and your enemy, and into others beside them whom ye know not, _but_ whom G.o.d knoweth; And all that you expend for the cause of G.o.d shall be repaid you; and ye shall not be wronged."

63. "But if they lean to peace, lean thou also to it; and put thy trust in G.o.d: He verily is the Hearing, the Knowing."

64. "But if they seek to betray thee, then verily G.o.d will be all-sufficient for thee. He it is who strengthened thee with his help and with the faithful and made their heart one. Hadst thou spent all the riches of the earth, thou wouldst not have united their hearts; but G.o.d hath united them: He verily is Mighty, Wise."

65. "O Prophet! G.o.d and such of the faithful as follow thee will be all-sufficient for thee!"

66. "O Prophet! stir up the faithful to the fight...."--Sura, viii.

26. "And He caused those of the people of the Book (the Jews) who had aided _the confederates_, to come down out of their fortresses, and cast dismay into their hearts: a part ye slew, a part ye took prisoners."--Sura, x.x.xiii.

29. "Make war upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given,[183] as believe not in G.o.d, or in the last day, and who forbid not that which G.o.d and his apostles have forbidden, and who profess not the profession of the Truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled."

124. "Believers! wage war against such of the unbelievers as are your neighbours, and let them a.s.suredly find rigour in you: and know that G.o.d is with those who fear Him."--Sura, ix.

[Sidenote: 30. The judgment of Sad.]

The Bani Koreiza had surrendered themselves to the judgment of _Sad_, an _Awsite_ of their allies, Bani Aws. To this Mohammad agreed. Sad decreed that the male captives should be slaughtered. Mohammad, disapproving the judgment, remarked to Sad: "Thou hast decided like the decision of a king," meaning thereby a despotic monarch. The best authentic tradition in Bokhari (Kitab-ul-Jihad) has the word '_Malik_,' monarch; but in other three places of Bokhari, Kitabul Monakib, Maghazi, and Istizan, the narrator has a doubt whether the word was _Allah_ or _Malik_.

Moslim, in his collection, has also '_Malik_,' and in one place the sentence is not given at all. It was only to eulogize the memory of Sad after his death, that some of the narrators of the story gave out that Mohammad had said that Sad had decided like the decision of a _Malak_, angel; or some narrators interpreted the word _Malik_, king, as meaning G.o.d; and therefore put the word _Allah_ in their traditions. Mohammad never said _Malak_, meaning angel, or _Malik_, allegorically meaning _Allah_; he simply said _Malik_, literally meaning a king or monarch.

[Sidenote: 31. Defensive character of the expedition against the Jews of Khyber.]

The expedition against the Jews of Khyber was purely defensive in its character. They had, since the Jews of the tribe of Nazeer and Koreiza being banished from Medina in consequence of their treason against the Moslem commonwealth, had joined them, been guilty of inciting the surrounding tribes to attack upon Medina, and had made alliance with the Bani Ghatafan, who had taken a prominent part among the confederates who had besieged Medina at the battle of the Ditch, to make a combined attack upon Medina. They, especially Abul Hukeik, the chief of Bani Nazeer, had excited the Bani Fezara and other Beduoin tribes to commit incursions on Medina. They had made a combination with the Bani Sad-Ibn Bakr to make inroads on the Moslims. Bani Sad, a branch of Hawazin, were among the confederates who had besieged Medina. Lately, Oseir Ibn Zarim, the chief of Nazeer at Khyber, maintained the same relations with Bani Ghatafan, as their former chief had, to make a combined attack on Medina. The Bani Ghatafan, with their branches of Bani Fezara and Bani Murra, in league with those of Khyber, were always plotting mischief in the vicinity of Fadak at Khyber. They (the Ghatafan) had continued for a long time to alarm Medina with threatened attacks. At the seventh year of the Hegira timely information was received by Mohammad of the combined preparation of Khyber and Ghatafan. He rapidly set forth in his defence, and marched to Khyber at once. He took up a position at Raji, between Khyber and Ghatafan, to cut off their mutual a.s.sistance. So it was not a sudden and unprovoked invasion, as Sir W. Muir calls it. He writes: "Mahomet probably waited for some act of aggression on the part of the Jews of Kheibar (it was the fertile lands and villages of that tribe which he had destined for his followers), or on the part of their allies, the Bani Ghatafan, to furnish the excuse for an attack. But no such opportunity offering, he resolved, in the autumn of this year, on a sudden and unprovoked invasion of their territory."[184] It will appear from what I have stated above, that the invasion of Khyber was purely defensive in its character.

[Footnote 181: Hishamee, p. 545. Gottengen, 1859; or, The Life of Muhammad, by Abd etl Malik ibn Hisham. London: Trubner and Co., 1867.]

[Footnote 182: Hishamee, p. 757.]

[Footnote 183: The Jews of Khyber, if it does not relate to Tabook. Sir W. Muir calls this hostile declaration against Jews and Christians, and says,--"The exclusion and growingly intolerant position of Islam is sufficiently manifested by the ban issued against the Jews and Christians, as unfit for the sacred rites and holy precincts of the Meccan temple; and by the divine commands to war against them until, in confession of the superiority of Islam, they should consent to the payment of a tribute."--Life of Mahomet, Vol. II, p. 289. The command referred to by Sir W. Muir refers to the treatment of those who took up arms against the Mussalmans, rather than to their ordinary condition. No ban was issued against the Jews and Christians, as unfit for the sacred rites and holy precincts of the Meccan temple. On the contrary, the Christians of Najran, when arrived at Medina, were accommodated by the Prophet in his Mosque, and they used to say their prayers there.]

[Footnote 184: Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 61.]

_The Christians or Romans._

[Sidenote: 32. Tabuk, the last expedition.]

The last expedition of Mohammad was that of Tabuk, and it was also purely defensive. The travellers and traders arriving from Syria brought news of the gathering of a large army on the borders of Syria. A year's pay, they said, had been advanced by the Greek or Roman Emperor, who was then at Hims, in order that the soldiers might be well-furnished for a long campaign; the tribes of the Syrian desert, the Bani Lakhm, Judzam, Amila, and Ghussan were flocking around the Roman Eagles, and the vanguard was already at Balca. Mohammad at once resolved to meet this danger. When he arrived in the vicinity of the Syrian border at Tabuk, he found no troops to oppose him. There were no signs of impending danger, and he therefore returned with his army to Medina. This was in the ninth year of the Hegira.

[Sidenote: 33. The conclusion.]

This concludes the description of all the wars of the Prophet. I hope I have shown, on good and reasonable grounds, and from the surest and most authentic sources, that the wars were not of an offensive and aggressive character; but, on the contrary, they were wars of defence and protection. The early Moslems were wronged, because they believed in the faith of Mohammad; they were deprived of their civil and religious rights, were driven forth from their homes and their properties, and after all were attacked first, by the Koreish and their confederates, the Jews and other Arabian tribes. They fought neither for revenge, nor to impose the faith of Mohammad by force of arms, nor for the plunder of the caravans which pa.s.sed in proximity to their city. The permission to fight was only given to the believers because they were fought against or were attacked first, and had been wronged and driven from their homes without just cause. They therefore took up arms against those who first compelled them to fly from their homes, and then attacked them. This was in full accordance, therefore, with the law of nations and the sacred law of nature. The people of Medina had only pledged themselves to protect Mohammad from his enemies. They could not, and would not, have gone forth or allowed Mohammad and his _ansars_ to go forth to plunder the caravan of the Koreish pa.s.sing by Medina.

_The Intolerance._

[Sidenote: 34. Mohammad never taught intolerance.]

Those people are greatly mistaken who say, that "the one common duty laid upon the Faithful is to be the agents of G.o.d's vengeance on those who believe not. These are to be slaughtered until they pay tribute, when they are allowed to go to h.e.l.l in their own way without further molestation."[185] Mohammad did not wage war against the Koreish and the Jews because they did not believe in his mission, nor because he was to be the instrument of G.o.d's vengeance on them; on the contrary, he said, "He was no more than a warner."

"The truth is from your Lord, let him then who will, believe; and let him who will, be an unbeliever."[186]

"Let there be no compulsion in religion."[187] "Verily, they who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabeites, and the Christians, whoever of them believeth in G.o.d and in the last day, and doth what is right, on them shall come no fear, neither shall they be put to grief."[188] Even during active hostilities, those who did not believe were allowed to come and hear the preaching, and were then conveyed to their place of safety.[189] Nor were the wars of Mohammad to exact tribute from the unbelievers. The tribute was only imposed upon those who had sought his protection, and even then they were exempted from other regular taxes which the Moslems paid to their Commonwealth.

On the contrary, as has already been shown, Mohammad merely took up arms in the instances of self-preservation. Had he neglected to defend himself after his settlement at Medina against the continued attacks of the Koreish and their allies, he with his followers would, in all probability, have been exterminated. They fought in defence of their lives as well as their moral and religious liberties.