05 December 2010

05 December 2010

Seerah of Muhammed*
*: May the Peace, Blessings & Mercy of Allah be upon him
TMQ: Translation to the nearest meaning of the Qur’an

Medina receives the news of victory
Abdullah bin Rawahah (to Upper Medina) and Zaid bin Harithah (to lower Medina) were despatched to Medina, to convey the glad tidings of victory to the Muslims there. There were different reactions. Rumour-mongers amongst the Jews and hypocrites (Munafiqeen) spread news to the effect that the Prophet* had been killed, and tried to impress their false assumption on the fact that Zaid bin Harithah was riding Al-Qaswa’, the Prophet*’s she-camel. This exposed some of the enemies of the Prophet*. Having reached different parts of the city, the two messengers imparted to the Muslims the happy news of victory, and gave accounts of the battle in order to establish the sense of reassurance deep in the hearts of the anxious, but now, joyous Muslims. They immediately started acclaiming Allah’s Name and entertaining His praise at the top of their voices. Their chiefs later went out of the city to wait and receive the Prophet* on the road leading to Badr.
 
Prisoners of war
The Prophet* advised his companions before the battle not to kill Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib and Abu Bukhtari bin Hisham. He ordered the Muslims to capture, but not to kill them. Abu Al-Bukhtari bin Hisham had already done his best to restrain the Mecca from committing any act of folly against the Prophet* while the latter was still in Mecca. He also neither hurt nor was reported to have uttered anything repugnant with regard to the Prophet*. He was also among the people who cancelled the boycott taken against Banu Hashim and Banu Abdul Muttalib. Here, however, in the battle of Badr he insisted on fighting unless his compatriot was spared. Al-Mujdhir bin Ziyad Al-Balwi, with whom he was engaged in combat, replied that the other was not included in the Prophet*’s recommendation. The combat went on to end in Al-Bukhtari’s death.

When the war activities had been concluded, Mus‘ab bin Umair Al-Abdari saw his brother, still a polytheist, being handcuffed by a Ansari. Mus‘ab recommended that the Helper tighten the knot for the prisoner’s mother was wealthy enough to ransom her son. Abu Aziz, Mus‘ab’s brother, tried to appeal to his brother through the family ties, but the latter firmly replied that the Helper was more eligible for brotherhood than him.
The Prophet* told the Muslims to treat the prisoners well. The Muslims obeyed him to such an extent that the captors used to give the captives their bread (the more valued part of the meal) and keep the dates for themselves, or walk whilst some of the prisoners would ride the camels. This would embarrass some of the prisoners and helped others in seeing the greatness of Islam and to convert to Islam – something that accompanied many of the battles.

Revelation about the Prisoners

Prisoners of war were a new problem because it was a new phenomenon in the history of Islam. The Prophet* consulted Abu Bakr and Umer bin Al-Khattab as to what he should do with the prisoners. Abu Bakr suggested that he should ransom them, explaining this by saying: "They are after all our relatives, and this money would give us strength against the disbelievers, moreover, Allah could guide them to Islam." Umer advised killing them, saying, "They are the leaders of Kufr (disbelief)." The Prophet* preferred Abu Bakr’s suggestion to that of Umer’s stating that Abu Bakr was like Ibrahim and Isa, whereas Umer was like Nuh and Musa in the way they treated their followers. The following day, Umer called on the Prophet* and Abu Bakr to see them weeping. He showed extreme astonishment and inquired about the situation so that he might weep if it was worth weeping for, or else he would pretend to weep in sympathy.
The Prophet* said that a Qur’anic verse had been revealed rebuking them for taking ransom from the captives rather than slaying them: "It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war (and free them with ransom) until he had made a great slaughter (among his enemies) in the land. You desire the good of this world (i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allah desires (for you) the Hereafter. And Allah is All- Mighty, All- Wise. Were it not a previous ordainment from Allah, a severe torment would have touched you for what you took." [Al-Qur'an 8:67,68]
The previous revelation: "Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (i.e. free them without ransom) or ransom." [Al-Qur'an 47:4] allowed them to ask for ransom - that is why no penalty was imposed. They were rebuked only for taking prisoners before subduing all the land of disbelief. Apart from this, the polytheists taken to Medina were not only prisoners of war but rather arch-criminals of war whom modern war penal law brings to justice to receive their due sentence of death or prison for life. The ransom for the prisoners ranged between 4000 and 1000 Dirhams in accordance with the captive’s financial situation.
In captivity, there was also an eloquent orator called Suhail bin Amr. Umer suggested that they pull out his front teeth to disable him from speaking, but the Prophet* turned down his suggestion for fear Quraish should retaliate in the same manner on one hand, and on the other for fear of Allah’s wrath on the Day of Resurrection. This also shows how the Muslims treated the prisoners – and all this compares differently to how the ‘civilised’ West treats Muslim prisoners – like the torture in Abu Ghraib in Iraq or Bagram in Afghanistan.
The most eminent of the captives was the chief of Amir, Suhayl, cousin of Sawdah and brother of her first husband. Others more closely connected with the Prophet were his uncle Abbas, his son-in-law, Zaynab's husband Abu l-Aas, and his cousins Aqil and Nawfal.
 

The sworn enemies of the Prophet*

Early next morning he set off for Medina with his army and the spoils. Two of the most valuable captives, that is those whose families could be relied upon to pay the full ransom of 4,000 dirhems, were An-Nadr bin Al-Harith and Uqbah bin Abi Muait. But these were two of the worst enemies of Islam because they had persecuted the Muslims in Mecca, and had deep hatred towards Allah and His Messenger*. An-Nadr bin Al-Harith had gone to Persia to learn tales from their ancient past to compete with the Prophet* when he would talk in public. He had been dispatched specifically to learn these stories and turn people away from Islam. Uqbah had thrown the intestines on the Prophet* and strangled the Prophet* so hard that said he felt that his eyes would pop. In a nutshell, they were criminals of war in modern terminology, and their execution was a lesson to oppressors. ‘Uqbah forgot his pride and cried out, "Who will look after my children O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet* answered, "The fire (of Hell). These two were at the forefront of oppression and lies against the Prophet and denigrating him and his message. This compares with the treatment the Prophet* insisted for the other prisoners of war, at that he ordered his followers to treat well, and even asked them not to kill certain non-Muslims during battle. One of the main lessons here is that Muslims should treat others appropriately – being kind and considerate to those that are kind with the Muslims.

Hadith

Number 11 of Nawawi's 40 Hadith: The Doubtful and Certain

On the authority of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah*, and the one much loved by him, who said: I memorised from the Messenger of Allah*: Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt. [at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasai]

This hadith is related to some previous hadith but had a slightly different angle to it. As Muslims and strong believers we should stick to those things that we are certain about in our Islam - and if we have a good and strong understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah, then by doing the certain things our hearts will fill with peace and tranquillity. If we were to approach things that have some doubt then we would feel anxious and worry about whether this is a desirable thing. This does not apply to those Muslims who do not understand or practice Islam – as they feel no shame when they sin against themselves and Allah.

We must be strong to resist the whispering (Waswasa) of the Shaytan especially in acts of worship (Ibadah). We should consider what is right based upon what we know for sure and do not let the doubts from Shayton put us off doing the worship altogether. For example, whilst praying – if we forget how many Rakah we have prayed we should continue based upon how many we know for sure that we have prayed and not be distracted to give up the prayer. Likewise when doing Tawaf around the Kaaba. Also, when performing wudu we should assume that the water is pure unless we know for certain that is is impure.

Also, when we make the intention for an act of worship – we should be certain that the conditions are fulfilled. Hence, we can only start Ramadhan with the new moon sighting or after 30 days Shaban, or pray when we are sure that it is the right time for prayer.

We should try to live our life in certainties and not doubt or uncertainties.

News Topic

Wikileaks

A brief discussion about some of the information being made available through the Wikileaks disclosures. These include how little respect the puppet Muslim leaders have from their own people and how much these corrupt puppet rulers of Muslim countries are constantly ttrying to please the West ern countries (like America) rather than looking after the affairs of the Muslim people.

Homework from 5 December 2010:

1. Discuss the reaction in Mecca to the news of the great victory at Badr. Some peope welcomed it whilst others didn't....

2. What do you understand from the next (number 12) of Nawawi's 40 Hadith:

On the authority of Abu Hurairah, who said : The messenger of Allah said: "Part of someone's being a good Muslim is his leaving alone that which does not concern him." [at-Tirmidhi and others]

3. News Topics from this week:

Any interesting news articles from the week that relate to Islam or the Muslims?
Bring a clipping or print out if you can...