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Allah revealed that, as it had been a bloodless victory, all that the Jews had left behind belonged to the Prophet and that he was to share it with the poor. Now the Emigrants were financially independent of the Helpers.
The Jews made their way to Khaybar further north in the Hejaz and determined to get back their homes. To show that his influence could reach as far as Khaybar, Muhammad sent some men there to kill the aged Jew Atu Rafi. They struck him in his bed.
Zayd, the adopted son of Muhammad, had divorced his wife Zaynab who was in love with the Prophet. He had seen her in a state of undress and felt very strongly attracted toward her. However, custom forbade marriage to the former wife of a foster son and, moreover, the Prophet already had four wives, the maximum that Islamic law permits. It was several months before he received a Revelation from God:
"And when Zayd had divorced her We married her to thee, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons once the affair is settled." (33:37)
"O Prophet! We allow thee... any believing woman (a non-believing woman could be taken as a concubine) ... if the Prophet desires to wed her... a Privilege for thee above the rest of the Faithful." (33:49)
However, having been married to the Prophet, it would be an enormity in the eyes of God for his wives to ever be given in marriage to another man (33:53) At the time of his death in 632 CE, Muhammad had ten wives, apparently dressed in widows' weeds for the rest of their lives.
In December 626 CE at the well of Muraysi the Muslims surprised the army of the Banu l-Mustaliq. The Muslims lost one man dead and the unbelievers ten. The booty was excellent: two thousand camels, five thousand sheep and goats and two hundred women. A very beautiful captive was Juwayriyya, daughter of the chieftain. Muhammad saw her and she became wife number six.
The victors wanted to have sex with their captives but the women were to be ransomed and not kept as slaves. Muhammad agreed that his men could use azl, that is to go into the women but withdraw before ejaculation. When a Jew called coitus interruptus ~the lesser child-murder" the Prophet said: "The Jews lie."25
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The Prophet had taken his thirteen year old wife, A'isha, with him on the expedition. One morning before breaking camp she went looking for a necklace which she had lost while relieving herself. The troop left with her howdah empty.
A straggler, Sufwan came along and offered her his camel but they did not catch up with the party until the next camp. Scandal-mongers spread rumours about A'isha and Sufwan. The Prophet was upset for some time but Allah revealed to him the innocence of his young wife, and he ordered the slanderers to be whipped.(24:11-15).
All's remarks to A'isha had been unsympathetic and that may have led to his assassination twenty years later. In future if the accusers of any fornication or adultery could not support their evidence with four witnesses they would be punished with eighty lashes. (24:4)
Some people of the tribe of Uraina came to the Prophet and he told them that they could go to the camels of Sadaqa and drink their milk and urine (used to cure certain diseases). At first all was well but then they fell upon the shepherds and killed them, turned apostates to Islam and drove off the camels of Muhammad. He sent men to bring them in. The Holy Prophet had their hands cut off, their feet cut off, their eyes put out and had them thrown on stony ground until they died. (Hadith Muslim Chap. 669)
In March 627, the "Confederates" consisting of the exiled Banu Nadir and other Jews, and the Quraysh and other Arabs who hated the Prophet raised an army often thousand with a thousand horses. To impede the cavalry, at the suggestion of Salman, a Persian convert, a long deep trench was dug with the help of all the believers including the Prophet himself.
During the digging of the trench, which lasted six days, four miracles occurred. Jabir came across a rock which he could not loosen. The Prophet spat into a little water, sprinkled it on the rock which turned into sand. Umar came across another obstinate rock. The Prophet hit it with a pick three times each time conducting lightning. On the third strike the rock split into many pieces. One evening the Prophet told Jabir to invite all the diggers to his home. There a ewe and some bread were multiplied to feed the scores of workers. On another day the Prophet multiplied a handful of dates so that everyone ate their fill.
The army of the Lord numbered three thousand men and these lined the trench. There was no grass for the horses and camels of the Confederate cavalry which was therefore pressed for time. Coming up to the trench they quickly retreated under a hail of arrows.
Meanwhile at the fort of Hassan, Sofiya, the daughter of Abdul-Muttalib, spotted a Jew looking around inquisitively. She was worried that he would report back that, apart from Hassan, there were only women and children in the fort. When Hassan did nothing she went down with a stick and killed the Jew.
The Meccans were able to convince a tribe of Jews, the Bani Qurayzah to break their pact with the Prophet so that he had to garrison their town with three hundred cavalry. This stretched the defence of the trench and in one place four horses were able to cross. Two of the enemy were killed and two managed to escape back across the trench. The exchange of arrows dragged on for two weeks and the horses of the unbelievers were dying. The weather became very cold, wet and windy and the tents of the infidels would not stay up.
One night the army of the Confederates melted away. At noon on the same day, Gabriel came to the Prophet telling him: "O Messenger of God. The Angels have not laid down their arms, and return from pursuing the foe. God... commandeth thee to go against the Qurayzah..."26
A thousand Muslims besieged the fortress of the Bani Qurayzah for 25 days when the Jews eventually opened their gates and threw themselves on Muhammad's mercy. They agreed to a chieftain of a Medinan tribe, Sa'd ibn Muadh, judging them for their treachery to the young Islamic state.
The Mosaic law applied to the Jews and their punishment should have been total extermination: "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth" (Deuteronomy 20, 16). Allah was more merciful than Jehovah however (33:26) and Sa'd's adjudication was to slay the men and take the women and children into captivity. The Prophet was pleased and replied to Sa'd: "Thou hast judged with the judgement of God from above the seven heavens."
In the morning Muhammad ordered long, deep and narrow trenches to be dug in the market place. The seven hundred or so men from Bani Qurayzah were brought in small groups to kneel beside the trench. Then the younger and stronger believers cut off the Jews' heads each with a stroke of a sword. The last to die were beheaded by torchlight.
The women, children and property were divided amongst those who had taken part in the siege. The Bani Nadir ransomed many of their kin but Muhammad kept for himself, as concubine, a beautiful Jewess named Rayhanah.
"And He made you heirs of their lands, their houses and their goods, and of a land which ye had not frequented before, And Allah has power over all things." (33:27)
At the Battle of the Trench, Sa'd had been wounded by an arrow which cut an artery and, several days after the punishment of the Jews, the angel Gabriel came to tell Muhammad that Sa'd was dead. When his bearers carried his bier to the cemetery they remarked how light it was and the Prophet told them that he had seen angels helping them.
"The Throne of Allah shook at the death of 'Sa'd Muadh." (hadith Muslim 6033~)
Dying from his wound, Sa'd was a martyr: "The handkerchiefs of Sa'd in Paradise are better than this." (hadith M. 6036) (Apparently one still gets sniffles in Heaven.)
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In February 628 CE, Muhammad decided to make the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca. He took a thousand Muslim pilgrims with him. The Quraysh were in a quandary what to do but sent out two hundred horsemen to prevent their entry. The Muslims re-directed their route to the pass of Hudaybiyah. However there was almost no water in the soak. There the Prophet performed a miracle: he spat into a bucket of the water and had a helper pour it back into the empty dam and stir it with an arrow. Thereupon a gush of clear, fresh water filled the waterhole, enough to satisfy all the men and all the animals.
The Muslims were not allowed to proceed past Hudaybiyah but a ten-year non-aggression pact was drawn up and they could make the pilgrimage, unarmed, the following year. The Prophet received a Revelation that Allah was well-pleased with this agreement and counted it a clear victory. (Sura 48, The Victory)
The Meccans now had no objection to the Muslims proselytizing and Islam doubled in two years. The poor and homeless gravitated towards Medina.
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The Jews had not forgiven Muhammad. One, by the name of Labid was gifted in sorcery. He obtained some combings of the Prophet's hair and tied eleven knots in it. His daughters breathed curses upon each knot. The hair he attached to a male date-palm flower and threw it in a deep well. The magic could only be countered by undoing the knots.
The health of the Prophet declined drastically. He lost his memory and began to imagine things. He felt very weak and could not stomach food. He prayed to Allah for His assistance and, in his sleep, heard two angels discussing the reason for his illness. Gabriel verified his dream and gave him Suras 113 and 114.
"I seek refuge in the Lord of Daybreak. ... against the mischief of women who blow on knots." (133:1-5)~~... Against the mischief of Satan... against djinn and man." (114:3-6)
These two suras total eleven verses and as each verse was recited one of the eleven knots was loosened. Soon the Prophet had made a full recovery.
Muslims call them "the two takings of refuge" and recite them for protection against the evil eye.
With their south secure, the Muslims decided to march on the Jewish fortresses of Khaybar. The Muslim force was only sixteen hundred men and the Jews totalled fourteen thousand. The Prophet decided to tackle the smallest fortress first and the other Jews did not come to its aid. The Muslims were in luck as inside they found machines for scaling and breaching the walls of fortresses.
The Prophet agreed to kill none of the Jews provided that they vacated Khaybar leaving all possessions behind. For concealing treasure two Jews, Kinana and his cousin were executed. Kinana's beautiftil seventeen year old widow, Safflyah was attractive to Muhammad and he married her. "He was as twenty men."27
The whole of Khaybar became the property of Islam and Muhammad allowed some of the Jews to remain behind and pay a rent of half their farm produce. On the same terms, the Prophet became landlord of the Jewish settlements of Fadah and Wadi 1-Qura. Now that his tenants had handed over their weapons, the Prophet had to protect them from marauding Bedoums.
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The ruler of Egypt replied to the Prophet's letter. As far as converting to Islam was concerned, he was non-committal but he did send some fine presents including two Christian slave girls. One of these, Mariyah, the Prophet kept as a concubine and he visited her several times a day. His wives became so jealous that he was forced to swear that he would not see her again.
A Revelation now known as "The Forbidding" rebuked the Prophet for submitting to the pressure of his wives. It was quite lawful for him to take a concubine and "perhaps if he divorces you, God will give him in exchange better wives than you... penitent, obedient... both known of men and virgins. O believers, save yourselves... from the Fire whose fuel is men and stones" (66:5-6)
And in another Revelation each wife was given two choices. Firstly she could have fine things in this world. He would give them to her and release her, OR instead she could chose God, His Messenger and the Hereafter. They all chose the latter alternative.
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A year had passed since Hudaybiyah and two thousand Muslim pilgrims trekked to Mecca to make the lesser Pilgrimage. For three days the Quraysh vacated the whole of the town leaving it to the pilgrims. The Prophet touched the Black Rock with his rod, made seven circuits of the Ka'bah, made seven trips between the foot of Safa hill and the hill of Marwah. At Marwah he sacrificed a camel and had his head shaved.
The Prophet wished to enter the Ka'bah but the locals would not give him the key as that was not in the contract. Muhammad came home with an extra wife as he had met the widow, Maymunah in Mecca.
The messenger carrying the Prophet's letter to the Governor of Syria had been killed by the Ghassanids, who were mainly Christian. Muhammad sent an army of three thousand to punish them. However, the enemy had been reinforced by Byzantine troops and the total was perhaps as many as a hundred thousand men. The Prophet saw the battle at Mu'tah in his mind's eye.
The small force attacked the Christians bravely and were able to withdraw in orderly fashion with the loss of only eight men. The Prophet told the families of the martyrs of their loved ones' deaths and that night he saw a vision of the eight in Paradise.
On the next Muslim incursion into Syria, Caesar's forces were not present and the Christians left a trail of broken camps. The only Arabs to meet them were friendly.
Some allies of the Quraysh with the aid of several individual Qurayshi made a night raid on some allies of Medina, killing one person. The Prophet was livid with rage. Abu Sufyan was sent by the Meccans to placate him but to no avail. Indeed it looked as though Muhammad was glad for the excuse to fight. He set off for Mecca with ten thousand men.
Abu Sufyan was sent out to parley but he saw the strength of Islam and submitted to Islam. He hastened back to Mecca with the Prophet's message: "Whoso entereth the house of Abu Sufyan shall be safe and whoso locketh upon himself his door shall be safe and whoso entereth the Mosque shall be safe."28
A small group of unbelievers made a stand outside the city but the streets of Mecca were deserted. The Prophet prayed, rested and then went to the Ka'bah. He touched the Black Stone with his rod and called out: "Allah is greater". The call was taken up and Mecca resounded with it. The Prophet completed the seven circuits of the Ka'bah saying "the false is ever a vanisher" referring to the idols surrounding the Ka'bah.
One by one, the three hundred and sixty idols toppled over as he pointed at them with his rod. He made it known that all idols in homes were to be destroyed and that His former enemies had been forgiven by God and could embrace Islam at the nearby hill of Safa.
The Prophet sent Khalid to Naklah to destroy the temple of al-Uzza. He did this and smashed the idol but he was sent back again. This time a wild black woman, completely naked, came charging at him but he was able to cut her down. Within two weeks two thousand Qurayshites had joined the Prophet's army. Hawajin who had a temple to al-Lat raised an army of twenty thousand men to defend their goddess. Three scouts sent out by the Hawajin came back in a terrible state shattered by what they had seen: "White men on piebald horses", "People of Heaven", "An unbearable sight."
The two armies met at Hunayn. At first the battle did not favour the Muslims but the Prophet prayed to Allah and threw some pebbles in the direction of the enemy just as he had done at Badr. Allah revealed later that he had sent down, unseen, angels to punish the disbelievers. (9:25-7)
The Hawazin had brought their families and property with them. The booty consisted of six thousand women and children, four thousand ounces of silver, twenty four thousand camels and perhaps forty thousand sheep and goats. The Prophet gave substantial presents to the rich Qurayshites who had not yet been cpnverted, as a recent Revelation had said that such people should be reconciled in the cause of Allah. (9:60)
A deputation came from the Hawazin and, on professing Islam, their women and children were returned to them. Tribes came from as far away as the Yemen and the borders of Syria and Persia to submit themselves to Muhammad.
The Prophet determined to march on Tabuk, an outpost of the Byzantine empire. It was, however, a time of great heat, and food and fodder were in short supply. Some of the faint-hearted did not wish to set out. God lambasted the Hypocrites thus:
"They said, "Do not march out into the heat!" We say, "The Fire of Hell will be hotter!"
Let them therefore laugh a little now, For they will weep much hereafter." (9:81)
At al-Hijr the people had no water so Allah sent a cloud and it rained so that the people had water in plenty. At Tabuk no army came to meet them but John, the Christian governor made peace with the Prophet and paid him tax.
Near Medina they came upon a mosque which had been built by unrighteous people. Allah said: "And those who erected a mosque out of opposition and unbelief and to cause a schism among the Believers... Enter no such mosque." (9:107-8) So Prophet burned and destroyed it, although there were people in it.
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This was the Year of Deputations. Now that the Quraysh were Muslims, tribe after tribe came from all directions to profess Islam. Amir ibn Tufayl was sent by the Bani Amir saying that his people would convert to Islam if the Prophet named him as his successor. When Amir had gone, Muhammad prayed: "O Allah, guide the Bani Amir and rid Islam of Amir." Before he reached home, Amir was afflicted with an abscess and died. His tribe entered Islam unconditionally.
Allah gave immunity to the idolaters for a while, but "When the four sacred months have elapsed
"Kill the idolaters wherever you find them;
Make them prisoners...
But if they repent and pray according to the commands Of Allah,
and pay the tax, then set them free,
As Allah is Often Forgiving and Merciful." (9:5)
"After this year, no idolater will be allowed to make the pilgrimage
or walk around the Ka'bah naked." (9:28)
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The Prophet sent his followers to instruct the newcomers in Islam. Khalid and his sword were sent out to convert the remaining stragglers to the faith. Usually they were given three days to make up their minds. Jews and Christians were allowed to remain as such provided that they paid a golden dinar or its equivalent. The presence of all Muslims at Friday prayers was compulsorv.
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Muhammad's only remaining son, Ibrahim, died as a toddler. Soon after his burial there was a solar eclipse. Some attributed he eclipse to the Prophet's loss but he replied: "The sun and the moon are two signs of Allah. Their light is not dimmed for any man's death. If ye see them eclipsed, ye should pray until they be clear." The implication is nevertheless, that they are not natural phenomena relying on the mathematical laws of science.
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The next pilgrimage was an exultant one. The Prophet set out from Medina at the head of thirty thousand men. One of the many rites he performed was the Stoning of the Devil, represented by three pillars, in the valley on Mina. This was in remembrance of the Prophet Abraham.
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The Prophet was sixty three and he often talked of Paradise. One night he told his freedman, Abu Muwayhibah that Allah had offered him a choice. Firstly he could have the treasuries of the world and be immortal until the Day of Judgment when he would ascend into Paradise. The other alternative was to go straight to Allah in Paradise. Muhammad chose to go straight to Heaven rather than wait for the Final Hour.
Too ill to lead the prayer, Muhammad delegated the task to Abu Bakr. At noon on Monday, the eighth of June 632 CE, Muhammad died. A great calamity befell the Muslims. A'isha, who lived until 679 CE, recorded that: "When the apostle of Allah died many Arabs relapsed into idolatry; Judaism and Christianity rose again, and Hypocrisy became common, so that Muslims seemed like a flock of sheep on a wintry night... Then Allah roused them again under Abu Bakr." Within two years the first caliph had conquered Mesopotamia (Iraq) and was poised on Syria.
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Fundamentalists believe that Allah sent Muhammad as the Model of Behaviour (Uswa-e-Hasna, Qur'an 33:21). The Prophet is seen not as a man of the Seventh Century CE but as a role model for all time to come.
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