Muhammad: an assassination
(from
Understanding Muhammad)
Today the world is
shocked to learn that some Muslims feel that the only way to deal with
the critics of Islam is to assassinate them. In
1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious decree) to assassinate Salman
Rushdie, because Rushdie had written a book, The
Satanic Verses,
that some believed insulted Islam. Some
condemned Khomeini and accused him of being an extremist. Amazingly,
many blamed Rushdie instead, for being �insensitive� to
Muslims� sensitivity. On
February 14, 2006, the Iranian state news agency reported that the
fatwa will remain in place permanently.
Since its inception, the Islamic regime of
Iran
has systematically eliminated its opponents by assassinating them,
whether those opponents live in
Iran
or in exile in other countries. Hundreds
of dissidents have been killed in this way, including Dr. Shapoor
Bakhtiar, a true democrat and the last Prime Minister appointed by the
Shah.
What most people
don�t know is that assassination was Muhammad�s way of dealing
with his opponents. Today�s Muslim assassins are merely following
their prophet�s example.
Ka�b bin Ashraf
was one of Muhammad�s victims. As
Muslim historians have reported, he was young and handsome, a talented
poet and a chief of the Banu Nadir, one of the Jewish tribes of
Medina
. After Muhammad banished
the Banu Qainuqa�, another Jewish tribe of
Medina
, Ka�b became concerned about his own people�s security vis-�-vis
the Muslims, so he visited
Mecca
to seek protection. He
composed poems and praised the Meccans for their bravery and honor. When
Muhammad heard about this, he went to the mosque, and after the
prayer, said:
�Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf who has
hurt All�h and His Apostle?" Thereupon
Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, "O All�h's Apostle! Would
you like that I kill him?" The
Prophet said, "Yes." Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Then
allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Ka�b).�
The Prophet said, "You may say it." Then
Muhammad bin Maslama went to Ka�b and said, "That man (i.e.
Muhammad) demands Sadaqa (i.e. Zakat [alms]) from us, and he has
troubled us, and I have come to borrow something from you." On
that, Kab said, "By All�h, you will get tired of him!"
Muhammad bin Maslama said, "Now as we have followed him, we do
not want to leave him unless and until we see how his end is going to
be. Now we want you to
lend us a camel load or two of food." �Muhammad bin Maslama and
his companion promised Kab that Muhammad [bin Maslama] would return to
him. He came to Kab at
night along with Kab's foster brother, Abu Na'ila. Kab invited them to
come into his fort, and then he went down to them. His
wife asked him, "Where are you going at this time?" Kab
replied, "None but Muhammad bin Maslama and my (foster) brother
Abu Na'ila have come." His
wife said, "I hear a voice as if blood is dripping from him.� Ka'b
said, "They are none but my brother Muhammad bin Maslama and my
foster brother Abu Naila. A
generous man should respond to a call at night even if invited to be
killed." �So Muhammad bin Maslama went in together with two
men, and said to them, "When Ka'b comes, I will touch his hair
and smell it, and when you see that I have got hold of his head, strip
him. I will let you smell
his head." Kab bin Al-Ashraf came down to them wrapped in his
clothes, and diffusing perfume. Muhammad
bin Maslama said, "I have never smelt a better scent than
this.� Ka'b replied,
"I have got the best Arab women who know how to use the high
class of perfume." Muhammad
bin Maslama requested of Ka�b, "Will you allow me to smell your
head?" Ka'b said, "Yes." Muhammad smelt it and made his
companions smell it as well. Then he requested of Ka'b again,
"Will you let me (smell your head)?" Ka'b said,
"Yes." When Muhammad got a strong hold of him, he said (to
his companions), "Get at him!" So they killed him and went
to the Prophet and informed him. (Abu Rafi) was killed after Ka'b bin
Al-Ashraf. [1]
The Prophet of All�h not only encouraged assassination, he advocated
deception and treachery, as well.
Another
victim of Muhammad�s assassination operations was an old man called
Abu Afak, who was said to be 120 years old. He
composed poetry, some of which lamented that people had become
followers of Muhammad. He
wrote that Muhammad was a crazed man who arbitrarily told people what
was prohibited and what was allowed, and who had caused them to
surrender their intelligence and become hostile to one another. Ibn
Sa�d reports this story as follows:
Then occurred the "sariyyah" [raid] of Salim
Ibn Umayr al-Amri against Abu Afak, the Jew, in [the month of] Shawwal
in the beginning of the twentieth month from the hijrah [immigration
from
Mecca
to
Medina
in AD 622], of the Apostle of All�h. Abu
Afak, was from Banu Amr Ibn Awf, and was an old man who had attained
the age of one hundred and twenty years. He was a Jew, and used to
instigate the people against the Apostle of All�h, and composed
(satirical) verses [about Muhammad].
Salim Ibn Umayr who was one of the great weepers and
who had participated in Badr, said, "I take a vow that I shall
either kill Abu Afak or die before him. He waited for an opportunity
until a hot night came, and Abu Afak slept in an open place. Salim
Ibn Umayr knew it, so he placed the sword on his liver and pressed it
till it reached his bed. The
enemy of All�h screamed and the people who were his followers, rushed
to him, took him to his house and interred him. [2]
The only �crime�
this aged man had committed was in composing satirical verses critical
of Muhammad.
When Asma bint
Marwan, a Jewish mother of five small children heard about this, she
was so outraged that she composed a poem cursing the men of
Medina
for letting a stranger divide them and for allowing him to assassinate
a venerable old man. Again
Muhammad went to the pulpit and cried out:
�Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?�
`Umayr bin. `Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and
that very night he went to her house and killed her. In
the morning he came to the apostle and told him what he had done and
he [Muhammad] said, "You have helped All�h and His apostle, O `Umayr!"
When he asked if he would
have to bear any evil consequences, the apostle said, �Two goats
won't butt their heads about her.� [3]
After
receiving praise from Muhammad for the assassination of Asma, the
killer went to her children, bragged about committing the murder, and
taunded those little kids and the clan of the victim.
Now there was a great
commotion among B. Khatma that day about the affair of bint [daughter
of] Marwan. She had five
sons, and when `Umayr went to them from the apostle he said, "I
have killed bint Marwan, O sons of Khatma. Withstand
me if you can; don't keep me waiting." That
was the first day Islam became powerful among B. Khatma; before that
those who were Muslims concealed the fact. The
first of them to accept Islam was `Umayr b. `Adiy who was called the
"Reader", and `Abdullah b. Aus and Khuzayma b. Thabit. The
day after Bint Marwan was killed the men of B. Khatma became Muslims
because they saw the power of Islam. [4]
After these assassinations, Muslims in
Medina
became more boastful, arrogant and imperious, as they had cast terror
in the hearts of their opponents. He wanted to send the message that
any opposition or criticism of him could mean death.[5]
That is exactly the same
modus operandi Muslims employ today, where the threat often only need
be implied. They follow
the model and example set by their prophet, who they regard as their
greatest strategist. They
want to create a boundary of fear so they may establish their
supremacy through
terror.
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