The
examples of Muhammad
A Page from "A
World Apart"
By Ali
Sina
On
April 2004, four American contractors working in
Iraq
were assailed by the mob in Fallujah and after being killed; their
bodies were mutilated and set on fire.
The
New York Times published an article titled New Violence,
Old Problem. By Neil
MacFarquhar.
(June 6, 2004)
He
wrote:
”KHOBAR,
Saudi Arabia
— A recent fatwa posted on a popular Islamic Web site in
Saudi Arabia
explains when a Muslim may mutilate the corpse of an infidel.
The ruling, written by a Saudi religious sheik named
Omar Abdullah Hassan al-Shehabi, decrees that the
dead can be mutilated as a reciprocal act when the enemy is disfiguring
Muslim corpses, or when it otherwise serves the Islamic nation. In the
second category, the reasons include "to terrorize the enemy"
or to gladden the heart of a Muslim warrior.
The religious ruling was evidently posted to address
questions about the conflict in
Iraq
, but is not limited by geography. In fact, in each of two gruesome
attacks in
Saudi Arabia
last month that left 25 foreigners and 5 Saudis dead, a Western corpse
was dragged for some distance behind a car. One was the body of an
American engineer in Yanbu on May 1, the other a British businessman in
Khobar last weekend."
The above was posted by a cleric, which explains how
the most radical interpretations of the Quran flourish in Saudi Arabia
.
With
ruling such as "To terrorize the enemy or to gladden the heart of a
Muslim warrior” it is hard to imagine when mutilation can not be
justified.
In the "Ask the Scholar"
section of the popular Islamic site (www.islamonline.net)
it was asked: - "How Islam views the issue of
mutilating dead bodies of enemies." Sheik Faysal Mawlawi, the deputy
chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research answered by declaring that mutilation is "not allowable" under Islam. But
then came the loophole:
"It is
possible to mutilate the dead only in case of retaliation. . . . If he
inflicts any physical damage on anyone, he should be retaliated against
in the same manner. In case of war, Muslims are allowed to take
vengeance for their mutilated dead mujahids (fighters) in the same way
it was done to them." This, then he explained, is the teaching of
the Koran (16:126),
which recommends patience but authorizes revenge.
June
19 2004 Saudi Arabia: Paul Johnson an American Engineer was behead and
the gory picture of his severed head was posted on the Internet.
May
2004, Iraq: Nicholas Berg an American citizen in
Iraq
was caught and beheaded. The gruesome act was shown in Arab television
Al Jazeerah.
February
2002, Pakistan: Daniel Pearls suffered the same end. His assassins,
video taped their grim crime proudly and showed to the world the level
of savagery to which they can stoop.
Mutilations,
decapitations and other horrendous acts of barbarity have become the
hallmark of Islamic terrorism. But where these Muslims "fighters" get
their inspiration from?
To
answer this question we have to look into the history of Islam and more
importantly the examples set by Muhammad, the founder of Islam who
repeatedly urged his cohorts to follow his examples and do as he did.
"...If you love Allah, then follow me (Muhammad)..." (Sura
3:31).
"Ye have
indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct) for
anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day." (Sura 33:21).
"I leave
with you two things. If you hold fast by them both, you will never be
misguided - the Book of Allah and Sunnah of the Prophet." ("Mishkat"
I, page 173).
In
this chapter we shall see a few examples set by Muhammad in the hope
that they will make us understand better the Muslims and their world.
After
his success in Nakhlah, where for the first time after six failing
attempts, his followers managed to plunder a small merchant caravan,
Muhammad decided to raid a bigger caravan destined for Mecca that was coming
from Damascus. The population of Mecca was forewarned of the plot and they
went out to protect their property. The Caravan managed to escape and
reach Mecca safely, but the Quraish, pestered by continuous attacks at
their caravans, decided to confront Muhammad’s marauding gang who had
come for the kill. In this battle, that took place in Badr and
marks the begging of Muhammad’s rise to power, the Meccans lost 49 men
and about the same number of them was taken as hostage. (1)
How
Muhammad dealt with the injured and the captives in this war and in
other wars set the tone for the subsequent Islamic savagery that has
lasted up to this day.
Among
the people who were slain was Aba Hakam (Abu Jahl, as derogatorily he
came to be called by Muslims). Aba
Hakam was severely wounded but still alive when Abdullah,
the servant, of Muhammad, ran up, put his foot on Aba Hakam’s neck,
got hold of his beard and started insulting the fatally wounded man whom
his own people had named the father of wisdom.
Abdullah
cut off Aba Hakam’s
head and carried it to his master.
"The head of the enemy of .Allah!"
exclaimed Muhammad joyously; ---- "Allah! There is none other
god
but he!" - "Yea There is no other!" responded
Abdullah, as he cast the severed head at the Prophet’s feet. "It
is more acceptable to me;" cried Mohammad, hardly able to
contain his joy, "than the
choicest camel in all Arabia.”
It’s only by knowing these stories about Muhammad that we can
understand the fascinations that the terrorists have for cutting the
heads of their victims and why when a Muslim mob commits murder they
invoke the name of their god and cry out “Allah is great”. It is because
of the examples set by the Prophet himself.
According to some historians, Muhammad is said to have given orders for Aba Hakam’s body to be
mutilated and disfigured. (2)
Another man who fell in Badr and whose body was mutilated was Umaiya
bin Khalaf. The reference to his mutilation can be found in the Book
of Bukhari. (3)
These were men with whom Muhammad had personal enmity.
According to one Hadith, Muhammad had vowed to kill Umaiya long time
before the battle of Badr. (4)
After three days the bodies of the slain were dragged and dumped in
a well. Muhammad stood by the well and
looked on triumphantly, as the bodies were brought up and cast in. Abu Bakr stood by,
and examining their features, called aloud their names. Unable
to contain his joy Muhammad started calling them by name and bragged to
the corpses about his victory.
Anas
b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) let the
dead bodies of the unbelievers who fought in Badr (lie unburied) for
three days. He then came to them and sat by their side and called them
and said: O Abu Jahl b. Hisham, O Umayya b. Khalaf, O Utba b. Rab'ila, O
Shaiba b. Rabi'a, have you not found what your Lord had promised with
you to be correct? As for me, I have found the promises of my Lord to be
(perfectly) correct. Umar listened to the words of Allah's Apostle (may
peace be upon him) and said: Allah's Messenger, how do they listen and
respond to you? They are dead and their bodies have decayed. Thereupon
he (the Holy Prophet) said: By Him in Whose Hand is my life, what I am
saying to them, even you cannot hear more distinctly than they, but they
lack the power to reply. Then he commanded that they should be buried in
the well of Badr.
(5)
The
“promise” that Muhammad was talking about was a curse that the
vindictive prophet had laid on these men when he was in Mecca and they
had derided him when someone dumped the manure of camel on his
back. On that occasion Muhammad said:
"O
Allah! Punish Abu Jahl, 'Utba bin Rabi'a, Shaiba bin Rabi'a, Al-Walid
bin 'Utba, Umaiya bin Khalaf, and 'Uqba bin Al Mu'it. (6)
The following story can cast more
light on the revengeful and implacable character of Muhammad.
Among the captives was Abul Bokhtari.
He had shown kindness to Muhammad and was especially instrumental in
procuring his and his followers release from the quarters of Abu Talib,
in a time that the
Quraish had boycotted him and his family and they were living in a state of self-imposed house-arrest,
Muhammad, mindful of this
favor, proclaimed that he should not be harmed. However, Abul Bokhtari had
a companion whom Muhammad did not want to let go. He pleaded for his
friend’s life but Muhammad would not budge. So he exclaimed: "The
women of Mecca; shall never say that I abandoned my comrade through love
of life. Do thy work upon us both." Thus, Muhammad feeling released
from all moral obligations, killed both of them.
Here we see Muhammad not only
murdering his prisoners of war but he also kills someone to whom he owed
a favor because he could not let go of the pleasure of taking revenge
from his enemy.
In
order to understand the kind of sway that Muhammad had over his men it
is noteworthy to mention a couple of episodes in relation to the
battle of Badr.
One
is the zealotry of the two boys who murdered Aba Hakam. These two young
men were from Medina. They had never seen Aba Hakam before. But as the
story goes, they looked for him and when enquired about him from a
Meccan. He asked “What do you want from him?" (i.e. Aba
Hakam) one of them
responded: "I have been informed that he abuses Allah's Apostle.
By Him in Whose Hands my life is, if I should see him, then my body will
not leave his body till either of us meet his fate." When
they find Aba Hahakam, both of them attacked him and pierced his body
with their swords. (7)
Muslims
recount these stories gloatingly. Each Muslim tries to beat others
in blind obedience to Muhammad. Neither those lads who killed Aba Hakam,
nor other Muslims, ever wonder what the guilt of Aba Hakam was. The fact
that he disliked Islam and Muhammad hated him is enough proof to his
guilt and those boys vied with each other to kill him. Muslims for 1400
years relish listening to the details of this gruesome murder and
release a sigh of relief.
The
same mentality permeates the Muslims even today and if for example Salman
Rushdie, who in the eyes of the Muslims, is the equivalent of Abu Jahl
is murdered, a great number of them will celebrate.
Another
story about how Muhammad had brainwashed his followers is that of Abu
Hudhaifa
whose father’s corpse, along other victims of Badr was dragged and tossed into a pit. Abu Hudhaifa
was overtaken by emotions watching his own father dead and being thus
unceremoniously dumped into a hole in the ground, piled with other
corpses. Upon noticing his distress, Muhammad
turned to him and enquired:-" Perhaps you are distressed for
your father's fate?" "Not so, O Prophet
of the Allah! I do not doubt
the justice of my father's fate; but I knew well his wise and generous
heart, and I had trusted that the Lord would lead him to the faith. But
now that I see him slain, and my hope destroyed! ---- it is for that I
grieve” (8)
It
is difficult to know what moved Abu Hudhaifa to tears. Did he really
grieve the death of his father out of filial love and humanity or was he
distressed for him dying in disbelief? But that is not important. What
is important is to see the degree of zealotry and sycophancy of the
companions of Muhammad. They prided themselves in demonstrating bravado,
being heartless, ruthless and brainless.
Today
Muslims pride themselves for having the same qualities of zealotry and
mindless devotion. They congratulate the families of the terrorists
killed in action. The mothers of suicide bombers rejoice when the news
of their children reaches them. Showing emotions of grief is considered
lack of faith.
Among the captives was Nadhr ibn
Harith, a poet who was more popular than Muhammad when he was preaching
in Mecca. Muhammad was envious of him as his stories about the kings of Persia
gathered more crowd, a sin that cost him his life.
“The
prisoners were brought up before Muhammad. As he scrutinized each, his
eye fell fiercely on Nadhr, the son of Harith. "There was death in
that glance," whispered Nadhr, trembling, to a by-stander.
"Not so," replied the other; "it is but thine own
imagination." The unfortunate prisoner thought otherwise, and
besought Musab to intercede for him. Musab reminded him that he had
denied the faith and persecuted the believers. "Ah!" said
Nadhr, "had the Quraish made thee a prisoner, they would never have
put thee to death!" "Even were it so," Musab scornfully
replied, "I am not as thou art; Islam hath
rent all bonds asunder." Miqdad, the captor, seeing that the
captive, and with him the chance of a rich ransom, was about to slip
from his hands, cried out, "The prisoner is mine"! At this
moment, the command to "strike off his head!" was interposed
by Muhammad, who had been watching all that passed.-" And, O
Lord!" he added, "do thou of thy bounty grant unto Miqdad a
better prey than this?' Nadhr was forthwith beheaded by Ali.” (9)
To justify that murder, Muhammad made his Allah
reveal the following verse:
“Ye wished that the one
unarmed should be yours, but Allah willed to justify the Truth according
to His words and to cut off the roots of the Unbelievers”
(10)
References:
1- Other traditions put these numbers to 70 killed and 70
captured.Sahih
Bukhari Volume
4, Book 52, Number 276
2- Waqidi,
p. 85
3- Bukhari
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 193:
4-
Bukhari
Volume 4, Book 56, Number 826:
See also Bukhari Volume 5, Book 59, Number
286:
5-
Sahih
Muslim Book 040, Number 6869:
6-
Bukhari
Volume 1, Book 4, Number 241
7-
Bukhari
Volume 4, Book 53, Number 369:
8-
Waqidi,
106; Hishami 230; Tabari, 294
9- Muir on the authority of Waqidi p. 101. Hishami , p.251; Tabari,
p.297
10- Quran
8:7
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