|
EARLY
MILITARY EXPEDITIONS
The
circumstances in the early days in Madina
With
the arrival of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, in Madina, the struggle between Islam and unbelief
entered a new phase. In Makka, the Prophet devoted himself
almost exclusively to expounding the basic principles of
Islamic faith and to the moral and spiritual training of his
Companions. After the Emigration, however, people belonging to
different tribes and regions of ‘Arabia, who had embraced
Islam, began to concentrate in Madina. Although the Muslims
held only a tiny piece of the land, the whole of Arabia, under
the leadership of the Quraysh, moved against them, bent upon
their extermination.
In
these circumstances, the very survival, let alone the success,
of this small group of believers depended upon several
factors. First, that they should propagate their beliefs with
the utmost conviction in order to convert others. Second, that
they should demonstrate the falsity of their opponents’
standpoint so convincingly that there could remain no
justifiable ground for any intelligent person to entertain any
doubt on the question. Third, that they as the followers of
the Prophet should not become disheartened because they had
been driven out of their homes and were faced, through the
hostility and opposition of the whole country, with economic
stringency, hunger, and constant insecurity and danger, but
that they should confront the situation with patience and
fortitude. Fourth, that they should be able to find a way to
retake all their wealth and goods usurped by the Makkans
during Emigration. Fifth, that they should be prepared to
resist with both courage and the force of arms the violent
assault by which the enemy intended to frustrate their
movement, and that in this resistance they should not heed the
enemy’s superiority in either numbers or material resources.
In
addition to the threats coming from Makka and its allied
tribes, there were, in Madina itself, three tribes of the
Jews. As explained earlier, the Jews held the control of the
economic life of the city. Although they had been waiting for
the emergence of a Prophet, they severely opposed God’s
Messenger because he did not appear from among them, among the
descendants of the Prophet Isaac. They felt constrained to
sign a pact with God’s Messenger but, entertaining feelings
of hatred against him, they never refrained from conspiracies
to exterminate Islam. For example, among their poets, Ka’b
ibn Ashraf composed poems to satirize God’s Messenger and
instigate his enemies against him.
In
Madina, another element of enmity against Islam also began to
emerge in the form of hypocrisy. One group of hypocrites
consisted of those who had no faith in Islam but had entered
the ranks of the Muslim community merely in order to create
mischief. Another group of hypocrites, conscious of the
political dominance of the Muslims in Madina, considered it
advantageous to gain acceptance as fellow-Muslims. At the same
time, they maintained contacts with the enemies of Islam so
that they could secure all the advantages of friendship with
the two opposite camps and thus remain safe from any
hostilities. There was still another group of hypocrites -
those who were in a state of ambivalence and indecision
between Islam and Ignorance but who had accepted Islam because
the majority of their tribe or family had done so. The final
group consisted of those who, although they believed Islam to
be true, found it difficult to forsake their inherited way of
life, their superstitions, their customs and usages, and to
discipline themselves to observe the moral restraints and
fulfill the obligations prescribed by Islam.
Military
expeditions
In such
severe circumstances, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, dispatched, as military measures, expeditions into
the heart of the desert. In dispatching them, he had several
aims, some of which are as follows:
-
Unbelievers
tried to extinguish the Light of God ‘with their mouths’
but, although they were averse, God willed to perfect His
Light (al-Saff, 61.8). So, God’s Messenger
desired to demonstrate that it was impossible for
unbelievers to exterminate Islam, and to show that Islam
was a reality that could not be ignored.
-
Makka
enjoyed a central position in the heart of the Arabian
peninsula. It was the most formidable power of the time in
Arabia and all the other tribes felt some sort of
adherence to it. By dispatching military expeditions to
neighboring areas, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace
and blessings, also desired to demonstrate the power of
Islam and to break the dominance of the Quraysh in Arabia.
-
During
human history, the concept of ‘might is right’ has
usually been a norm. This has been so because ‘right’
has usually not had enough power to hold the dominance of
the world. The case was the same fourteen centuries ago in
Arabia. Since the Quraysh enjoyed might and wealth, the
neighboring tribes obeyed them. However, Islam came to
make right might, and, in order to demonstrate this and to
break the pressure of the Makkan polytheists on
neighboring tribes to prevent them from embracing Islam,
God’s Messenger dispatched military expeditions through
the desert one after the other.
-
The
mission of God’s Messenger was not restricted to a fixed
period, nor to one nation only; rather, he was sent as a
mercy for all the worlds. So, he was charged to
communicate the Message of God as far as the remotest
corners of the world. However, since he began his mission
in Arabia, he had, certainly, to know the conditions
surrounding him. These expeditions were, therefore,
vanguards to be acquainted with those conditions and pave
the way for the preaching of Islam in the peninsula.
-
One
of the most effective ways of crushing the enemy is to
stir them to unpremeditated, premature movements and
thereby to always have the initiative. God’s Messenger
was surely informed of the contacts the Quraysh
established with ‘Adbullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the head
of the hypocrites in Madina, to frustrate him in his
mission, and he was alert to their possible attacks on
Madina. Meanwhile a military force of the Quraysh was able
to penetrate as far as the suburbs of Madina and, after a
plunder, returned to Makka. So, by dispatching military
expeditions, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace, also
desired to agitate the Quraysh to an unprepared,
unpremeditated action against Madina to nip their plots in
the bud.
-
The
Quraysh lived on international trade. They sent trade
caravans to Syria and to the Yemen. So, it was a vital
importance for them that their trade routes should be
absolutely secure. However, thanks to the situation of
Madina, God’s Messenger was able to threaten their trade
and, therefore, while strengthening his position in Madina
on the one hand, he was, on the other, dispatching
military expeditions to paralyze the hopes and plans of
the Quraysh to deal him any blow.
-
Islam
guarantees security of life and property. Its commandments
aim to guarantee the security of life, the security of
property, the security of, in addition to physical health,
mental and spiritual health, the security of chastity, and
the security of belief. Therefore, it strictly prohibits
murder, theft, robbery and plundering, and also usurpation
and interest or usury and gambling, alcohol, every kind of
illicit sexual intercourse, anarchy and propagation of
atheism. The Arabic original of ‘belief’ is iman
and means giving security. Therefore a mu’min
(believer) is the one who never cheats and from whose
tongue and hand all people are in utmost security. He
never lies, never breaks his word, and never breaches a
trust. Also, he never conceives of earning his life by
stealing or other un-Islamic ways like usurpation and
interest-involving transactions. He is convinced that the
one who has killed a man is as if he killed the whole of
humankind.
-
When
God’s Messenger was raised as a Prophet, there was in
Arabia no security, neither of life or property, nor of
chastity or health, nor of belief, nor indeed in the rest
of the world. However, he had to establish absolute
security in every aspect of life. Once, he had said to
Adiy ibn Khatam:
-
A
day will come when a woman will travel, riding in a
litter, from Hira to Makka and fear nothing except God
and wolves.1
-
By
dispatching military expeditions through the desert, God’s
Messenger also aimed to establish security therein and
wanted to show to everyone, friend and foe, that security
was not possible but by Islam.
Expeditions
The
first military expedition sent after the Emigration was toward
Sif al-Bahr. When Hamza, the commander of the expedition,
reached Sif al-Bahr, a trade caravan of the Quraysh was
returning from Damascus. The Quraysh had usurped all the
possessions of the Emigrant Muslims left in Makka, and used
them in trade. In order to threaten their trade, and weaken
them economically, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, desired to make a show of power in the desert. No
clash took place in this first confrontion with the Quraysh,
but the desert tribes witnessing the incident showed an
inclination to acknowledge a second power in the peninsula
besides the Quraysh.
This
first expedition was shortly followed by the second sent under
the command of ‘Ubayda ibn Harith. With the same purpose as
in the first expedition, ‘Ubayda went as far as Rabigh, a
valley on the route to Makka. The Muslim expedition of sixty
cavalrymen met there with a force of the Quraysh consisting of
two hundred armed men. An exchange of arrows took place
between the parties; in the end, fearing a possible defeat,
the Makkan troops withdrew towards Makka.2
Military
expeditions followed one another, some of them commanded by
God’s Messenger himself, upon him be peace and blessings. In
two of the expeditions he commanded, he went to Abwa and Buwat
respectively and aimed to threaten the trade caravans of the
Quraysh and intimidate them.3 In the former, he
also had the purpose of signing a treaty with Banu Damra.
According to the conditions of the treaty, neither of the
sides would take up arms against the other, and the tribe of
Banu Damra would not help any aggressive force against the
Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings.
Shortly
before the Battle of Badr, God’s Messenger sent an
expedition of about ten persons under the command of ‘Adbullah
ibn Jakhsh to Nakhla, a place between Makka and Ta’if, a few
miles away from Makka. He ordered them to follow the movements
of the Quraysh and gather information about their plans. While
they were staying in Nakhla, a trade caravan of the Quraysh
coming from Ta’if halted there. Something happened
unexpectedly and the Muslims killed one of the Makkans and
captured the rest except one, and their belongings, and took
them to Madina. They did this at a time when the month of
Rajab was approaching its end and Sha’ban about to begin. It
was, therefore, doubtful whether the event took place in Rajab,
one of the sacred months, or not. But the Quraysh, and the
Jews who were secretly in league with them, as well as the
hypocrites, made great use of this as a weapon in their
propaganda campaign against the Muslims. They claimed that the
Muslims shed blood in a sacred month, when bloodshed is
forbidden.
Since
the incident had taken place without his approval, God’s
Messenger expressly pointed out to those who had participated
in the campaign that he had not ordered them to fight. Also
the other Muslims reproached them for doing something not
commanded. However, the verses revealed consoled them on
account of their purity of intention with hope for the mercy
of God:
They
question you concerning the holy month, and fighting in
it. Say: ‘Fighting in it is a heinous thing, but to
bar from God’s way, and unbelief in Him, and denying
entry into the Holy Mosque, and to expel its people from
it - that is more heinous in God’s sight; and
persecution is more heinous than killing.’ They will
not cease to fight with you till they turn you from your
religion, if they are able; and whoever of you turns
from his religion and dies unbelieving - their works
have failed in this world and the next; those are the
inhabitants of the Fire; therein they shall dwell
forever. But the believers, and those who emigrate and
struggle in God’s way - those have hope of God’s
Mercy; and God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (al-Baqara,
2.217-8) 4
The
verses aimed to answer the objections raised by the Quraysh
and the Jews and hypocrites. The essence of the matter is that
fighting during the holy months is an evil act. However, those
people who had continually subjected the believers to
indescribable wrong for thirteen years merely because they
believed in the One God could have no right and justification
to make such an objection. They had not only driven the
Muslims from their homes, they had closed to them the way to
the Holy Mosque, a bar which had not been imposed by anyone
during the course of some two thousand years. With this record
of mischief and misconduct it was not for them to raise such
an outcry at a small incident, and especially so when the
incident had taken place without the approval of the Prophet,
upon him be peace and blessings.
A
general evaluation of the expeditions
Until
the Battle of Badr, which took place two years after the
Emigration, God’s Messenger arranged around twenty military
expeditions. By these expeditions he seized control of the
desert and paralyzed the morale of the Makkan polytheists.
Second, most of the desert tribes began to acknowledge the
power of Islam and take the side of God’s Messenger. In none
of the expeditions, except one, did the Muslim warriors shed
blood, nor did they wound anyone. They neither plundered the
caravans nor usurped something from desert peoples. They
showed in practice that Islam is the guarantee of security.
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, formed an
intelligence network and was informed of everything happening
in the desert and in Makka itself. So sophisticated a system
did he establish that probably none of his Companions in
Madina even knew that, for example, his uncle, ‘Abbas, was
left in Makka as a member of his intelligence service. When he
set out on a military campaign, no one knew, up to a certain
point, his real intention and where they were going.5
Besides, he used couriers in communication with his soldiers
fighting at the front. A courier carried the news to some
certain point, where he trusted it to another one waiting to
carry it to the other station. With this system, he got the
news of his expeditions in the shortest time possible.
All the
expeditions he dispatched until the Battle of Badr consisted
of the Emigrants exclusively. For first of all, the Quraysh
were at war with the Emigrants. They did not want them to be
sheltered in Madina. Besides, those who were driven from their
homes with everything they had left behind were the Emigrants.
Second, the Helpers had sworn allegiance to God’s Messenger
so that it was expected that the Helpers should perceive by
themselves the necessity of taking part in any military action
in the way of God.
The
military genius of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, showed itself also in his choice of commanders of
the expeditions. His uncle, Hamza, was appointed the commander
of the first military expedition. Besides his courage and
strength, Hamza was a man of sound judgment, good opinion and
high administrative ability. In addition, until the whole of
his community appropriated his ideas and adopted his opinions,
God’s Messenger chose to practice them in the persons of his
relatives. Since the military dimension of his mission showed
itself for the first time in Madina, God’s Messenger, upon
him be peace and blessings, was to put his own relatives on
the front line until everyone was wholly accustomed to it. It
should, however, also be noted that all of the commanders he
chose were able and eminent generals and highly qualified for
the job. They were, in addition, very upright persons wholly
devoted to the cause of Islam.
Hamza
was martyred in Uhud after having killed more than twenty
soldiers of the enemy. ‘Ubayda ibn Harith was martyred
because of the wounds he received in the Battle of Badr.
Before his martyrdom, he asked God’s Messenger: ‘O God’s
Messenger, I did not die in fighting at the front. Am I
regarded then as having died a martyr?’6
Hamza
was the uncle of the Prophet; ‘Ubayda his cousin. The
commander of the expedition he sent to Nakhla, ‘Adbullah ibn
Jakhsh, was the son of his paternal aunt. In the second stage
of the Battle of Uhud, he fought heroically. He came across Sa‘d
ibn Abi Waqqas and told him: ‘Come; you pray and I’ll
invoke ‘Amen’ for your prayer. Let me pray, and you invoke
‘Amen’ for my prayer.’ Sa‘d prayed: ‘O God, make me
encounter one of the strongest soldiers of the enemy, and let
me overcome him!’ Ibn Jakhsh invoked ‘Amen’ for this
prayer, and then himself prayed: ‘O God, let me encounter
one of the strongest soldiers of the enemy. After I wounded
him severely, let him kill me, and cut my ears and nose and
lips so that I shall come to Your Presence bleeding profusely.
You ask me, “‘Abd Allah, where are your ears, nose and
lips?” and I’ll answer You: “O God, I was ashamed to
come to Your Presence with my members with which I had sinned,
and I sacrificed them while fighting in the way of Your
Beloved One.”‘ When the battle ended, ‘Adbullah was
found lying with his ears, nose and lips cut off and his
abdomen lanced.7
Lastly,
by sending military expeditions one after the other, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, agitated the
Quraysh to an unpremeditated action, and, as will be explained
below, on the pretext of securing the return of their trade
caravan, they formed an army of one thousand and left Makka
for Badr some ninety miles to the south of Madina.
1. Bukhari, “Manaqib,”
25.
2. I. Hisham, Sira, 2.241; I. Sa‘d, Tabaqat,
2.7.
3. I. Hisham, 2.241, 248. “ “
4. I. Hisham, 2.252.
5. I. Hisham, 4.39-42; I. Kathir, al-Bidaya, 4.332-5.
6. Hakim, Mustadrak, 3.188; I. Kathir, 3.334.
7. I. Hajar, al-Isaba, 1.286-7.
|
|
