A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihad' Part 38

[Sidenote: Ikrama.]

Ikrama (died 107 A.H.), another liar, had only surmised before Mukatil that Mohammad might have admired Zeinab. His words, as related by the traditionists, Abd bin Hamid and Ibn-al-Munzar, are "as if she had fallen deep in his mind."[378] But Mukatil has converted this hazardous conjecture into a fact.

Abd Allah Ibn al-Harith relates as follows:--

"I went to visit Ali, the son of Abd Allah Ibu Abbas, and I saw Ikrama tied up at the door of a privy, on which I said: 'Is it thus that you treat your slave?' To which he replied. 'Know that that fellow has told lies of my father.'"[379]

[Sidenote: Mohammad bin Yahya.]

Mohammad bin Yahya bin Habban[380] (died 121 A.H.) has also given the tradition of Mohammad's admiring Zeinab at Zeid's house, but does not give his authority. He was not a contemporary narrator, therefore his narration is apocryphal and technically _Mursal_.

[Sidenote: Katada's conjectural interpretation not warranted.]

25. All these silly fables, wild romances, and scandalous conjectures have their origin in Katada's improper interpretation of these words, "and thou didst hide in thy mind what G.o.d would bring to light" (Sura x.x.xIII, 37). Katada (died 117 A.H.) conjectured that the Prophet concealed his desire that Zeid should divorce Zeinab. But all other authors[381] have found fault with Katada in his surmise, which is not supported by any word in the text or by any contemporary evidence. This interpretation of Katada is contradicted by the very words of Mohammad to Zeid in the same verse: "Keep thy wife to thyself and fear G.o.d."

[Sidenote: Other conjectures.]

26. Many have been the conjectures as to what did Mohammad hide in his mind. There is one by Katada already explained. Another is this, that he knew Zeid would divorce her, but concealing this in his mind, he interdicted Zeid from doing so. A third conjecture is this, that he concealed in his mind that if Zeid, contrary to his (Mohammad's) advice, were to divorce her (Zeinab), he (Mohammad) would marry her. These conjectures are all far-fetched and arbitrary, but it appears more probable that the social inharmony and domestic disturbances between Zeid and Zeinab, and their resolve of separation, were withheld from the public by Mohammad, fearing the scandal it might give rise to among his enemies. This is the only secret referred to in the verse so often cited.

[Footnote 336: _Annals of the Early Caliphate_. By Sir W. Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D., D.C.L., page 75, London, 1883.]

[Footnote 337: "It is to ransom the captive."--XC, 13.

"There is no piety in turning your faces towards the east or the west, but he is pious who believeth in G.o.d and the Last Day, and the Angels and the Scriptures and the Prophets; who for the love of G.o.d disburseth his wealth to his kindred and to the orphans and the needy, and the wayfarer and those who ask; and for ransoming," &c.--II, 172.]

[Footnote 338: "And to those of your slaves who desire a deed of _manumission_, execute it for them, if ye know good in them, and give them a portion of the wealth of G.o.d which He hath given you. Force not your female slaves into sin, in order that ye may gain he casual fruitions of this world, if they wish to preserve their modesty. Yet if any one compel them, then verily, after their compulsion, will G.o.d be Forgiving, Merciful."--XXIV, 33.]

[Footnote 339: "A believer killeth not a believer but by mischance: and whoso killeth a believer by mischance shall be bound to free a believer from slavery," &c.--IV, 94.]

[Footnote 340: "And those who _thus_ put away their wives, and afterwards would recall their words, must free a captive before they can come together _again_," &c.--LVIII, 4.]

[Footnote 341: "But alms are only _to be given_ to the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and to those whose hearts are won _to Islam_, and for ransoming and for debtors, and for the cause of G.o.d, and the wayfarer," &c.--IX, 60.]

[Footnote 342: "G.o.d will not punish you for a mistaken word in your oaths; but He will punish you in regard to an oath taken seriously. Its expiation shall be to feed ten poor persons with such middling _food_ as ye feed your families with, or to clothe them; or to set free a captive: but he who cannot find the means shall fast three days. This is the expiation of your oaths when ye have sworn. Keep then your oaths. Thus G.o.d maketh his signs clear to you. Haply ye will be thankful."--V, 91.]

[Footnote 343: _Vide_ Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, page 223.]

[Footnote 344: According to Hishami, p. 745, a party of fifty or forty Koreish went round about Mohammad's camp at Hodeibia, seeking to cut off any stray followers; and having attacked the camp itself with stones and arrows, they were caught and taken to Mohammad, who pardoned and released them.--_Vide_ Muir's Life of Mahomet, IV, p. 31, _f.n._; and Moslim's collection of genuine traditions _Kitab-ul Jihad vas-Siyar_, chapter on _Tanfeel_ and _Ransom_.]

[Footnote 345: All the prisoners of Hawazin at Honain were released without taking any ransom and were not made slaves. See Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp. 148-149. That Mohammad had presented three female slaves to Ali, Othman, and Omar from the captives of Bard Hawazin, as stated by Sir W. Muir, Vol. IV, p. 149, is void of all truth. The captives were not enslaved. They were mere prisoners, as Sir W. Muir himself calls them so (_ibid_, pp. 148-149); yet he styles these three of them "female slaves." The captives together with the captured camp were removed to the valley of Jierana, pending negotiations (_ibid_, p.

142). At the end of the negotiations the prisoners were released. Thus there could be no distribution of prisoners to anyone.]

[Footnote 346: Sir W. Muir writes:--"Hishamee says that from the time of Kheibar _slaves_ became very plentiful among the Moslems, p. 333. I do not find that, excepting the family of Kinana, any mention is made of slaves taken at Kheibar. But money, which the victors obtained plentifully at Kheibar, could purchase them cheaply in any part of Arabia." (The Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp. 73-74, and _footnote_.) But the word originally used by Hishamee, "_sabaya_," means captives and property captured, and not slaves, though captives, if not ransomed, were used to be made slaves under the Arab International Law. Besides this even the family of Kinana was never enslaved. Kinana was taken captive and executed, because he had killed Mahamud bin Muslama. _Vide_ para. 75 of this book. The story that Mohammad immediately on Kinana's execution sent for her and cast his mantle over her, signifying that she was to be his own, and consummated his marriage with her, and that her dower was her freedom (_vide_ Muir, _ibid_, pp. 68-69), is not genuine and authentic. His family, by which is meant Sofia and her cousin, was not enslaved, and there is no tradition, genuine or apocryphal, to corroborate it. I here take the opportunity of quoting a speech ascribed to Mohammad while addressing Sofia, the widow of Kinana, copied by Abul Mo'tamar Soleiman (died A.H. 143) in his "Campaigns of Mohammad."

Mohammad addressed her thus:--"I give thee choice either of Islam, or of Judaism. If thou acceptest Islam, perhaps I may keep thee for myself.

But if thou preferest Judaism, I may perhaps liberate thee, and join thee to thy family." _Vide_ Wakidi's "Campaigns of Mohammad," page 393, Calcutta, 1856. This speech shows amply that Mohammad had no intention of enslaving Sofia.

The story of Mohammad's marriage with Sofia after her being given to and purchased from Dihya, emanates from Anas, who cannot be relied upon.

Anas had very recently been a.s.sociated with Mohammad. He entered Mohammad's service only the other day when he started for the expedition of Khyber, and was but a boy only a dozen-years old at that time. It is related by Bokhari from Anas himself, who said that the Prophet had asked Abu Tulhah to get him a boy to serve him during the Khyber expedition. So he took me to him, and I was a boy close to maturity (_Bokhari-Kitabul Jihad_). Anas has given two contradictory accounts about Sofia; in one he says, "Dihya asked Mohammad's permission for a captive girl, and took Sofia. When Mohammad heard about Sofia, he asked Dihya to take another one; and having liberated Sofia married her, and her freedom was her dower." In another tradition, Anas relates that "Sofia fell to the lot of Dihya, and Mohammad purchased her from him for seven camels." He says:--"The people did not know whether he had married her, or had made her a concubine-slave, but when she rode on a camel, and Mohammad put veil round her, the people knew from this that she was his wife." Both these traditions are narrated from Anas by Moslem in his _Saheeh_ (Book on Marriage).

The idea that Mohammad married Sofia under the circ.u.mstances noted above is not satisfactorily established. It was only the fancy of the people, or was a conjecture of Anas. Yet Sir W. Muir has the effrontery to remark against Mohammad that: "Indeed, he is not free from the suspicion of being influenced in the destruction of Kinana by the desire of obtaining his wife." (The Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, page 68, _footnote_.) Kinana was executed for killing Mahmood bin Muslama, and Sofia was neither enslaved nor married by Mohammad. Even if it be shown that Mohammad married her afterwards under some other circ.u.mstances, it (Sir W. Muir's presumption) is an idle guess unwarranted by any reasonable argument.

The traditionists, Anas and others, have probably confounded Sofia, the aunt of Mohammad, who was with him during the expedition of Khyber (_vide_ Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, page 66, _footnote_), with Kinana's widow of the same name, whom they fancied Mohammad might have married and carried with him on the same camel. The lady for whom Mohammad lowered his knee to help her to ascend the camel (_ibid_, page 70) was most probably Sofia, his aunt.]

[Footnote 347: Vol. III, pp. 278-279.]

[Footnote 348: _Vide_ The Biographical Dictionary of Persons who knew Mohammad, by Ibn Hajar. In _Biblotheca Indica_. A collection of oriental Series, published by the Asiatic Society, Bengal, No. 215, Vol. IV.

Fasciculus 7, Calcutta, 1866; Art. Rehana, No. 444.]

[Footnote 349: The Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, page 278.]

[Footnote 350: "The days of Ignorance, that is, the period preceding Islam."]

[Footnote 351: "Two such are named by Tabari, I, page 248."

"A light ransom was fixed for each Arab slave--seven camels and six young ones. In the case of some tribes which had suffered most severely (as the Beni Hanifa, the Beni Kinda, and the people of Oman discomfited at Daba) even this was remitted."

Annals of Early Caliphate. By Sir W. Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D., D.C.L., London, 1883, pp. 63, 64.]

[Footnote 352: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, page 56.]

[Footnote 353: _Ibid_, page 57, footnote.]

[Footnote 354: _Vide_ Hishamee, page 972.]

[Footnote 355: _Ibid_, page 971.]

[Footnote 356: _Vide Takrib_ by Ibn Hajar.]

[Footnote 357: _Vide_ History of Muhammad's Campaigns by Wakidi; edited by Von Kremer, Calcutta, 1856, from p. 360 to the end.]

[Footnote 358: Vol. III, page 62.]

[Footnote 359: _Vide_ Mizan-ul-Etedal by Zahabi.]

[Footnote 360: _Vide_ Nos. 976, 977, and 978 in the Biographical Dictionary of Persons who knew Mohammad, by Ibn Hajar, published by the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Calcutta, 1870, Vol. IV, pp. 779, 780, and 781.]

[Footnote 361: _Vide_ Mizan, by Zahabi.]

[Footnote 362: "An eclipse of the sun occurred on the same day, and the people spoke of it as a tribute to the death of the Prophet's son. A vulgar impostor would have accepted and confirmed the delusion; but Mahomet rejected the idea."--"The Life of Mahomet" by Sir W. Muir, Vol.

IV, page 166.]

[Footnote 363: "Meaning the company of his female slave."]

[Footnote 364: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp. 161 and 162.

Taking concubine-slaves was an established and recognized inst.i.tution of the Arab society, until Mohammad abolished it. Practically the custom has prevailed up to the present time. No blame attached to such alliances in the social system of the Arabs. "The Caliphs of the House of Abbas were all of them the children of concubines except as--Saffah, Al-Mahdi, and Al-Amin" (History of Caliphs. By Sayute. Translated by Major Jarret, page 20, Calcutta, 1880). If the story regarding Mohammad be true, there was no fear of exposure or offending the wives.]

[Footnote 365: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. I, Introduction, page ciii.]