The Prophet of Islam emphasized this on many occasions. Once a man asked him, “Guide me to such a deed as equals Jihad [in reward].”
Muhammad answered: “I do not find such a deed.”99
Allah told Muhammad that the true Muslims did not hesitate to wage jihad, even to the point of risking their property and their very lives. The ones who refused to do this weren’t even believers at all:
Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day would not ask permission of you to be excused from striving with their wealth and their lives. And Allah is Knowing of those who fear Him. Only those would ask permission of you who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and whose hearts have doubted, and they, in their doubt, are hesitating. (Qur’an 9:44–45)
This “striving with their wealth and their lives” was, in the context of Muhammad’s circumstances, unmistakably a military command—particularly in light of the fact that Allah was guaranteeing Paradise to those who would “fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain” (Qur’an 9:111)—the Arabic word for “striving” being a form of the word “jihad.” On another occasion he said: “I have been commanded to fight against people, till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and believe in me [that] I am the messenger [from the Lord] and in all that I have brought. And when they do it, their blood and riches are guaranteed protection on my behalf except where it is justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.100 The obverse was also true: if they did not become Muslims, their blood and riches would not be guaranteed any protection from the Muslims.
“IF YOU ACCEPT ISLAM YOU WILL BE SAFE”
Muhammad was now the undisputed master of Arabia. The Arabian rulers and tribes that had not yet submitted to his authority now began to journey to Medina to accept his religion and pay him homage. To the lands of those who did not come, Muhammad sent jihad warriors. He sent the fearsome fighter Khalid bin al-Walid to the al-Harith tribe, instructing him to call them to accept Islam three days before he attacked them, and to call off the battle if they converted. Khalid duly told the tribe leaders: “If you accept Islam you will be safe”—whereupon the tribe converted. Khalid notified the Prophet of Islam and sent a deputation from the tribe to Medina to see Muhammad, who told them: “If Khalid had not written to me that you had accepted Islam and had not fought I would throw your heads beneath your feet.”101
From Himyar in south Arabia came a letter informing Muhammad that the kings of the region had accepted Islam and waged war in Allah’s name against the remaining pagans in the area. Muhammad was pleased, sending them a response informing them that “your messenger reached me on my return from the land of the Byzantines and he met us in Medina and conveyed your message and your news and informed us of your Islam and of your killing the polytheists. God has guided you with His guidance.”
He detailed their obligations as Muslims and directed that Jews and Christians in their domains should be invited to convert to Islam, but if they refused, they were “not to be turned” from their religions. Rather, the Jew or Christian in these newly Muslim lands “must pay the poll tax—for every adult, male or female, free or slave, one full dinar”—and he gave instructions for how that amount—“or its equivalent in clothes”—was to be calculated. He reminded the kings that the lives of the Jews and Christians depended on their payment of this tax: “He who pays that to God’s apostle has the guarantee of God and His apostle, and he who withholds it is the enemy of God and His apostle.”102
Ultimately the Prophet of Islam determined that Jews and Christians would no longer be allowed in Arabia at all. “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula,” he told his companions, “and will not leave any but Muslims.”103 He gave just such an order on his deathbed.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE JIZYA
The jizya tax was so important because, besides raiding, which produced inconsistent results, it was the Muslims’ chief source of income. This is clear in a letter Muhammad sent to a Jewish tribe, the Banu Janbah. He assured them that “under the guarantee of Allah and the guarantee of His Apostle there will be no cruelty or oppression on you. Verily, the Apostle of Allah will defend you.” However: “Verily, for the Apostle of Allah will be the booty which you receive on making peace [with some party] and every slave you get, as well as animals and other objects, except that which the Apostle of Allah or his envoy remits. Verily, it is binding on you to pay one-fourth of the yield of your date-palms, and one-fourth of your game from the rivers, and one-fourth of what your women spin.” But that was all: “besides that you will be exempt from jizyah and forced labour.”104 Likewise, to a Christian ruler Muhammad wrote:
I will not fight against you unless I write to you in advance. So, join the fold of Islam or pay the jizyah. Obey Allah and His Apostle and the messengers of His Apostle, honour them and dress them in nice clothes.… Provide Zayd with good clothes. If my messengers will be pleased with you, I shall also be pleased with you.… Pay three wasaq of barley to Harmalah…105
The onerous tax burdens that Jews and Christians in Muslim domains bore simply for the privilege of being allowed to live in relative peace would become the key source of income for the great Islamic empires that carried Muhammad’s jihad into Africa, Europe, and Asia. The dhimmis (or zimmis) were the “protected people” in the Islamic state, who paid the jizya and accepted discrimination and humiliation in exchange for permission to remain in their ancestral religions rather than convert to Islam.
MUHAMMAD’S BATTLES
Muhammad, according to Islamic tradition, died in 632. Ibn Ishaq reports that he had participated in twenty-seven battles. The parenthetical material below beginning with “T.” refers to the version of the same material as recorded by another Muslim historian, Tabari.
The apostle took part personally in twenty-seven…raids:
Waddan which was the raid of al-Abwa’.
Buwat in the direction of Radwa. ‘Ushayra in the valley of Yanbu’.
The first fight at Badr in pursuit of Kurz b. Jabir.
The great battle of Badr in which God slew the chiefs of Quraysh (T. and their nobles and captured many).
Banu Sulaym until he reached al-Kudr.
Al-Sawiq in pursuit of Abu. Sufyan b. Harb (T. until he reached Qarqara al-Kudr).
Ghatafan (T. towards Najd), which is the raid of Dhu Amarr. Bahran, a mine in the Hijaz (T. above al-Furu’).
Uhud.
Hamra’u’l-Asad.
Banu Nadir.
Dhatu’l-Riqa’ of Nakhl.
The last battle of Badr.
Dumatu’l-Jandal.
Al-Khandaq.
Banul Qurayza.
Banu Lihyan of Hudhayl. Dhu Qarad. Banu’l-Mustaliq of Khuza’a.
Al-Hudaybiya not intending to fight where the polytheists opposed his passage.
Khaybar.
Then he went on the accomplished pilgrimage.
The occupation of Mecca.
Hunayn.
Al-Ta’if.
Tabuk.
In truth, he actually fought in nine engagements: Badr; Uhud; al-Khandaq; Qurayza; al-Mustaliq; Khaybar; the occupation [of Mecca]; Hunayn; and al-Ta’if.106
CHAPTER TWO
THE AGE OF THE
GREAT CONQUESTS
Jihad in the Seventh Century
Shortly after the generally accepted date of Muhammad’s death, 632, the Arab armies swept out of Arabia with immense force and embarked upon a series of conquests unparalleled in human history for their rapidity and scope. In detailing what happened, early historians contradict one another on numerous particulars, such that no reliable sequence of events can be definitively established, but there is no doubt that the two great world powers of the day, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the Persian Empire, suffered a series of staggering defeats, and by the end of the seventh century, the Arab invaders had amassed a huge empire of their own. Sassanid Persia was conquer
ed altogether, and the Eastern Roman Empire was substantially reduced in size and placed in a state of ongoing siege, a state it would endure for the next seven hundred years.
These conquests began during what Muslim scholars generally regard as the first Islamic Golden Age, the period of the “Rightly-Guided Caliphs,” Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. Spanning 632 to 661, this period is held up to this day as the quintessential example of what an Islamic state is and ought to be.
It was anything but peaceful.
THE FIRST CALIPHATE CONTROVERSY
When Muhammad died, who should lead the nascent Muslim community was by no means clear. One party of the believers insisted that Muhammad had chosen Ali ibn Abi Talib, his son-in-law (the husband of Muhammad’s daughter Fatima) and one of his earliest followers, to succeed him. They presented as evidence a tradition in which Muhammad asked Ali, “Aren’t you satisfied with being unto me what Aaron was unto Moses?”1 The Qur’an depicts Moses saying to Aaron, “Take my place among my people” (7:142), so this meant, they argued, that Ali was to be Muhammad’s successor (khalifa, or caliph).
Not everyone was convinced. Aisha, Muhammad’s youngest and favorite wife, waved away Ali’s claim to be Muhammad’s successor by invoking her own closeness to the prophet in his dying moments. When, she asked, did Muhammad appoint Ali his successor? “Verily, when he died he was resting against my chest [or, in my lap] and he asked for a washbasin and then collapsed while in that state, and I could not even perceive that he had died, so when did he appoint him by will?”2 She produced her own quotation from Muhammad regarding who should become the leader of the believers: “It is not befitting that a group, among whom is Abu Bakr, be led by other than him.”3 (This is, however, classified as a “weak” hadith, meaning that its authenticity is doubted.)
Meanwhile, the ansar (helpers), that is, those who became Muslim after Muhammad’s hijrah to Medina, asserted that there should now be two rulers, one for them and one for the muhajiroun (emigrants), those from among the Quraysh tribe who had become Muslim in Mecca before the hijrah. The ansar chose one of their own, Sa’d ibn Ubadah, as their leader, but one of the ansar argued that there should be one ruler, and that ruler should be from among the muhajiroun: “In truth Muhammad was from Quraysh, and his people are more entitled…and more suitable.”4
This was no staid gathering of courtly parliamentarians. The ansar, convinced that the muhajiroun should lead, rushed to swear their allegiance to Abu Bakr; in the excitement, Sa’d ibn Ubadah, who still refused allegiance, was pushed to the ground. Some of his followers exclaimed: “Be careful not to step on Sa’d!”5
At that, Umar, one of the muhajiroun and a fierce partisan of Abu Bakr, cried out, “Kill him! May God slay him!” He stepped on Sa’d’s head and snarled: “I intend to tread upon you until your arm is dislocated.” Sa’d, though caught on the ground, spat back: “By God, if you remove a single hair from it you’ll return with no front teeth in your mouth.” But then Abu Bakr urged Umar to show compassion—after all, Sa’d had a following that Abu Bakr wanted to bring into his fold—and a measure of calm was restored.6
Abu Bakr was one of Muhammad’s closest and most fanatical followers. When a skeptic had doubted Muhammad’s story about traveling to Jerusalem and then to Paradise on a winged white horse with a human head, Abu Bakr demonstrated the strength of his devotion: “If he says so then it is true. And what is so surprising in that? He tells me that communications from God from heaven to earth come to him in an hour of a day or night and I believe him, and that is more extraordinary than that at which you boggle!”7
But Abu Bakr’s faith wasn’t centered upon Muhammad. When the prophet of Islam died, Abu Bakr stood before the weeping Muslims and declared: “Whoever worshipped Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, then Allah is alive and shall never die.”8
Once he was definitively the caliph, Abu Bakr addressed the Muslims, making sure they knew that he was not claiming to have inherited Muhammad’s prophetic powers: “Oh people, I am just like you…God chose Muhammad above the worlds and protected him from evils, but I am only a follower, not an innovator. If I am upright, then follow me, but if I deviate, straighten me out.… I have a Satan who takes possession of me; so when he comes to me, avoid me so I may have no effect on your hair and your skins”—that is, not harm them.9
Abu Bakr exhorted the Muslims: “Abandon not jihad, when the people hold back from jihad, they are put to disgrace.”10
THE APOSTASY WARS
Not all the Muslims were impressed. Self-proclaimed prophets, disdaining to be ruled by a mere successor of a prophet, had already arisen all over Arabia during the time of Muhammad’s final illness. After Abu Bakr became caliph, they rejected not only his authority but Islam itself. Maslama bin Habib (derisively dubbed “Musaylima” or “little Maslama” in Muslim accounts) and his wife Sajah bint al-Harith declared themselves to be new prophets in the eastern Arabian oasis of Yamamah. Aswad al-Ansi in Yemen and Tulayhah ibn Khuwaylid of the Asad tribe in north central Arabia announced that they were new prophets as well. They began demanding the allegiance of those who had been Muslim.11
Many of the tribes of Arabia that Muhammad had recently subdued saw in his death their chance to reassert their autonomy. Numerous, and sometimes all, members of every Arab tribe except two—the Quraysh and the Thaqif—left Islam at this point.12 They declared that their pledge of allegiance to Muhammad had ended with his death, and that neither Abu Bakr nor anyone else had any right to claim it. Some declared that they would maintain Islamic prayers but withhold sadaqah, the supposedly voluntary alms-giving that was in effect a payment of tribute to the leaders of the Muslims.
Abu Bakr rejected this proposal. He and his followers countered that these Arabs had not pledged allegiance to Muhammad as a person but as a prophet, and that the religion they had embraced still existed. What’s more, Muhammad himself had mandated that anyone who left that religion should be put to death: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”13
Abu Bakr sent his most skillful warrior, Khalid ibn al-Walid, to subdue the apostates and bring them back into the fold of Islam. Abu Bakr gave these instructions to the Muslim armies: “When you come upon one of the people’s abodes, and then hear the call to prayer in it, desist from its people until you have asked them for what reason they were hostile. But if you do not hear the call to prayer, then launch a raid such that you kill and burn.”14 He added that if Muslims did not hear a people make the call to prayer, they had no choice but to “raid them” and “kill them by every means, by fire or whatever else.” And if they refused to pay the alms tax, there would be no choice but to “raid them without any word” of warning.15
Khalid carried out his assignment with dispatch, aided by some skillful diplomacy that turned some of the rebels back to Islam and considerably swelled his ranks. He marched across Arabia subduing the rebellious tribes with relative ease, calling people to Islam and killing those who resisted.16
The Muslims captured one of the chieftains of the rebels, Malik ibn Nuwayrah; Malik made the Islamic profession of faith, but Khalid had him beheaded anyway and took his wife, Umm Tamim bint al-Minhal, for himself. Back in Medina, the headquarters of Muslims, Abu Bakr’s lieutenant and eventual successor Umar was incensed. He hurried to Abu Bakr and raged against Khalid: “The enemy of God transgressed against a Muslim man, killing him and then leaping upon his wife.”17 Abu Bakr kept his counsel.
Khalid returned to Medina as a conquering hero, wearing as a trophy his turban festooned with the apostate arrows that had been shot at him. But instead of marveling at his valor, Umar in fury pulled the arrows from his turban and broke them, and raged at Khalid: “What hypocrisy, to kill a Muslim man and then leap upon his wife! By God, I would pelt you with stones.”18
The Qur’an (which, according even to Muslim accounts, had not been collected by this time) forbids a Muslim to k
ill a fellow Muslim (4:92). In the face of Umar’s anger, Khalid said nothing, but he worried that Abu Bakr would agree with Umar; however, when granted an audience with the caliph, Khalid found himself pardoned. Abu Bakr explained to his lieutenant: “Oh Umar, I will not sheathe a sword that God has drawn against the unbelievers.”19
That sword was still needed. The Muslims met the forces of the rival “prophet” Musaylima at Yamamah. Amid the battle melee, one of the Muslim commanders made it very clear what the fight was about: “Oh company of the Muslims, you are the party of God, and they are the parties of Satan.”20 The apostates were defeated, and the rebellion collapsed. It was all over by March 18, 633, just a year after the death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr ordered Khalid to have all the adult men of the Banu Hanifah, a powerful tribe that had supported Musaylima, put to death.
Khalid, however, concluded a treaty with them instead, and pressed one of the Banu Hanifah chieftains, Mujja’ah: “Give me your daughter in marriage.” Mujja’ah warned Khalid that he was destroying his reputation in the eyes of Abu Bakr. Khalid had no patience for this, shouting, “Marry her to me, man!”21 But Mujja’ah was right: soon a letter arrived from Abu Bakr, reminding him of the Muslims’ losses in the apostasy wars: “Upon my life, oh son of Khalid’s mother, are you so free as to marry women, while in the court of your house is the blood of 1,200 men of the Muslims that has not yet dried?”22
Khalid thought he detected the influence of his rival, muttering, “This is the work of the little left-handed man”—that is, Umar23 Abu Bakr’s most notable achievement may have been maintaining an uneasy peace between the little left-handed man and the great general, as both played a large role in what was to come next. Umar declared that Abu Bakr (not Khalid) had “successfully waged the apostasy wars, and thanks to him, Islam is now supreme in Arabia.”24 But the apostasy wars were simply a process of recapturing what had already been won for Islam, and then lost again; now the Muslims’ gaze turned outward. There were many, many more unbelievers outside Arabia than there had ever been within it, and Khalid would soon unsheathe the sword of Allah against them.
The History of Jihad- From Muhammad to ISIS Page 5