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6-
Permission to Wage War
When
Allah gave His apostle permission to wage war, the promise to fight immediately
became a condition of allegiance to Islam. This had not been so at the
first meeting on the hillside, when homage was paid 'in the manner of
women'; Allah had not then given His apostle permission to fight. He had
given permission neither to wage war nor to shed blood, but only to call
men to Allah, to endure insults patiently, and to pardon the ignorant.
Some of the followers of the apostle had therefore been forced to flee
from persecution into the countryside, some to Abyssinia, others to
Medina
and elsewhere. When the Quraysh rejected the mercy of Allah and spurned
His prophet, they tormented or drove away men who proclaimed
the One‑ness of Allah, believed in His prophet, and adhered to His
religion.
Allah therefore
permitted Muhammad to fight and to aid his against those who tyrannized
over them. The first verse which came down permitting him to wage
war and to shed began, 'Permission is granted unto those who fight
they have been oppressed, and Allah may aid those who have been driven
from their homes merely for saying “Our Lord is Allah”. The verse
continued by explaining that they had committed no crime against the
people except that they worshipped Allah, and when they made Islam
universal they would observe the appointed times of prayer, give alms, and
enjoin all men to do good and to abstain from evil. Then a further verse
was recorded: ‘Fight against them until there be no more temptation’
‑ until Believers shall no more be tempted to abandon their religion
‑ ‘and until the religion be Allah’s’, that is, until Allah
alone shall be worshipped and none else besides Him.
Since permission to
fight had now been granted, the apostle of Allah accepted allegiance at
the second meeting on the hill only from people who swore to fight for him
and his Lord against all men. He promised paradise as a reward.
‘After the act of
allegiance was over, Satan roared from the top of the hill in such a loud
voice as I had never heard. He cried to the people of Mina [the
surrounding countryside]: “Beware of this despicable apostate and his
followers! Verily they are assembled to attack you!” And the apostle of
Allah replied “This is the Contemptible One of the hill. Hearken to me,
o enemy of Allah! I shall make an end of thee yet!” Then the apostle
told the people to depart to their caravans again, but one of them said,
“If thou wish it, tomorrow we shall attack these people of Mina with our
swords.” The apostle of Allah replied, “We have not been commanded to
do that.” Accordingly we returned to our caravans and slept there till
the morning.
‘When we rose in
the morning some of the most distinguished Quraysh paid our encampments a
visit and said they had heard we meant to take Muhammad from them and had
pledged ourselves to attack them. Then several of the idolaters among our
people rose, knowing nothing of the night’s work, and swore that such
was not the case, and that we knew nothing about it.
Herein they spoke the truth, but only on their own account.’
After the Helpers
had left for
Medina
, the Quraysh made inquiries about the rumour and found confirmation of
it. Accordingly, they set off
in pursuit and overtook two of the
twelve ‘leaders’. One of these escaped, but they captured the other,
tied his hands to his neck with thongs from his camel, and took him to
Mecca
, where they beat him and dragged him about by his abundant hair. Later he
told how ‘some Quraysh men approached and among them was one of handsome
appearance, neatly dressed. So I said to myself, if there be good in any
of these people, it will be in this man; but when he approached me he
raised his hand, and struck me a violent blow. Then I said to myself,
“There is no good among them.” But one man had pity on me and said,
“Is there no alliance between thee and any man of the Quraysh?” I
replied, “There are some whom I have protected or defended against
those who wished to oppress them in my country”, and he said, “Then
shout out the names of these men and tell what has taken place.” So he
went in search of them and they came and delivered me from the hands of
the Quraysh,
When
on the hill, the Helpers swore allegiance to the apostle, to adopt Islam,
to aid him and those who followed him as well as any other Muslims who
might seek shelter with them, he ordered his companions and others who
were with him in
Mecca
to emigrate to
Medina
, that they might meet their Helper brothers. He said: ‘Allah has marked
out for you kinsmen and homes where you may find refuge.’ Accordingly,
the Meccan followers left the city in groups. These were afterwards known
as the Emigrants, and were then over one hundred in number.
But the apostle of Allah
remained in
Mecca
, waiting for his Lord’s command to leave
Mecca
and to migrate to
Medina
.
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