CHAPTER II
THE MADINA PERIOD
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IN the year A.D. 622, probably in the month of June, Muhammad made his public entry into Madina, 93 accompanied by about one hundred and fifty persons. The people were willing to receive him though they were not at one as regards his claim to be a prophet. Owing to their clannish spirit and the tribal feuds existing among them, Muhammad wisely held himself aloof from all their parties and selected, under divine guidance it is said, an isolated neutral spot for his future abode. 94 He also soon erected a mosque in this same place, which thus became the centre of Islam and from which proceeded in due course many political and military orders.
The Muslim community was made up of two parts, one consisted of the Immigrants from Mecca, called the Muhajirun; the other of the first Madina converts, who were called the Ansar or Helpers.
The Muhajirun are said to be referred to in Sura An-Nahl (xvi) 95 , 43, 111:—
As to those who when oppressed have fled their country for the sake of God, we will surely provide them a goodly abode in this world, but greater the reward of the next life, did they but know it. 43. [41]
To those who after their trials fled their country, then fought and endured with patience, verily thy Lord will in the end be forgiving, gracious. 111. [110]
The climate of Madina did not suit the Immigrants who longed for their native air, and so it was necessary to induce them to settle down by bringing them into greater unity with the Ansar. A feast of fraternity was made between the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and about fifty men from each party entered into a bond of brotherhood so close that in the event of one dying his adopted brother became his heir. This custom lasted about a year and a half, after which it was not needed and the usual law of inheritance was carried out.
The next step was to form a constitution, and a treaty offensive and defensive between all the Muslims (into which Jews for war purposes were admitted). 96 The general purport of it was that they were to help one another, to avenge even on a believer the slaughter of a believer, to pay their own expenses in war, to hold Madina sacred and inviolable, to receive privileges for those under their protection, and in all matters of dispute to submit to the decision of the Prophet. The Jews were allowed to retain their own religion, but were not permitted to go to war without the express sanction of Muhammad. He thus, at this early stage, became the dictator in all matters, religious, civil and military, and made use of the Jews as auxiliaries in war. At this period, however, he did all he could to conciliate them. Margoliouth gives several instances from Muslim authorities which show this. 97 When the chief of the Bani Najjar died, the Jews came to Muhammad and asked him to appoint a successor. He said, 'You are my maternal uncles, I belong to you, I will be your chief.' 98
It was at this time when Muhammad was feeling his way in Madina that the famous verse, 'Let there be no compulsion in religion,' 99 was revealed. Whether it refers to the attitude then to be adopted towards the pagans or the Jews of Madina, it is clear that it must have been said during this earlier part of his residence in that city. It could not have been delivered after the battle of Badr when its spirit was so completely set aside.
The state of affairs in Madina now is thus described by the historian Ibn Ishaq, 'When Muhammad had found a safe abode in Mecca [Madina], when his friends, the Immigrants, had united round him, and when the concerns of the Ansar had been arranged, Islam became firmly established. Public prayers were performed, fasts and poor-rates were established, penal laws were executed, things lawful and unlawful were determined, and Islam gained strength amongst the tribe of the Ansar. 100 It had, in fact, become the chief power now in Madina, ruling over the Muslims in all matters, and powerfully influencing those who as yet held aloof from it.
But all its professors were not equally hearty and sincere. The ancient feuds were professedly forgotten, but it was not so in practice, and many a nominal believer was still influenced by the memory of former strife. Still, there was no actual open opposition, but in the hearts of many men there were doubt and misgiving. They are described by Ibn Ishaq as men 'who were in reality little removed from the idolatry of their fathers and the rejection of the true faith; only that Islam had by its prevalence overpowered them, the mass having already gone over to it. They, to save themselves from death, were compelled to accept Islam, at least in appearance; but in secret they were traitors, and their hearts were with the Jews in the rejection of the Prophet. 101 Thus early was force employed and a profession of Islam used as a 'shield from death.' These men were called the Munafiqun, or Hypocrites, and continued for a while to exercise an adverse influence. A few years later on, when Muhammad's power increased, he openly denounced them. Sura Al-Munafiqun (lxiii), which is said to have been delivered about the year A.H. 6, contains the Prophet's final sentence against them:—
When the Hypocrites come to thee, they say, 'we bear witness that thou art the sent one of God.' God knoweth that thou art His sent one, but God beareth witness that the Hypocrites do lie.
Their faith have they used as a cloak and they turn aside others from the way of God! Evil are all their doings. 1-2.
These are they who say to you of Madina, 'Spend not aught upon those who are with the Apostle of God, and they will be forced to quit him.' Yet the treasures of the heavens and of the earth are God's. But the Hypocrites have no understanding.
They say, 'If we return to the city, the mightier will assuredly drive out the weaker from it.' But might is with God, and with the Apostle, and with the Faithful. Yet the Hypocrites understand not. 7-8.
The Jews in Madina were a large and important section of the community on whom, at first, Muhammad placed great hopes, for to them the idea of a revelation was familiar. Muhammad had maintained that Islam and the Jewish and Christian religions in their purity had one common source—the Books from heaven. He seemed to expect that the Jews would admit the divine origin of Islam and acknowledge that he was a divinely-commissioned prophet, at least for the Arab people. As we have already seen he admitted them to certain privileges, used them as confederates and allowed them religious liberty. Nöldeke 102 I considers that verse forty-five [46] of Sura Al-'Ankabut (xxix), a late Meccan one, is a Madina verse and that it applies to this time. It reads thus:—
Dispute not with the people of the Book, except in kindly manner, except against such of them as deal evil with you. 103
However this may be, there is no doubt that now he was very anxious to gain their allegiance and so in several ways he strove to win them to his side. They turned towards Jerusalem in prayer, so did he; they observed the Feast of the Atonement on the tenth day of the month by sacrifice and fasting, he ordered his followers to do the same. Thus he made it easy for certain Jews to pass over to Islam. These men proved most useful, for they could supply him with much needed information about the ancient Scriptures and they led him to believe that there were in them passages relating to his advent. These men are constantly referred to as his 'witnesses.' But the great body of the Jews did not accept him nor admit his claim. The prophet for whom they looked was to come of the house of David. Thus they formed a standing protest against the position he assumed, which was that their own Scriptures testified of him. Still, as Islam grew, it was clear that all else must give way. Many pagan Arabs and some of the Jews left the city. Ibn Ishaq says, ' Under these circumstances the Rabbis of the Jews became Muhammad's enemies. They were filled with envy because God had chosen his ambassador from amongst the Arabs.' Some Jews, however, from fear accepted Muhammad and the new religion. They are described by the Arab historian as those 'who sought shelter in Islam and accepted it only in appearance, whilst they were hypocrites at heart.' Thus there were Munafiqun both amongst the pagan and the Jewish converts. The enmity of the Jews was as dangerous to him as that of the idolaters, since the former did him hurt not only in war and politics but by sharp criticism and pointed sayings concerning Islam. Seeing that it was hopeless to win over the Jews as a body, Muhammad now changed his position with reference to them, and accused them of unbelief and of dishonesty in tampering with their Scriptures.
The Sura Al-An'am (vi) is almost the latest Meccan one, but verse ninety-one was evidently added at Madina:—
Say, who sent down the Book which Moses brought, a light and a guidance to man, which ye set down on paper, publishing part, but concealing most: though we have now been taught that which neither ye nor your fathers knew? Say, Allah; then leave them in their discussion to play. 91.
These words show that Muhammad did not charge them with the corruption of the text, for that they 'set down on paper,' but with suppressing or concealing portions of it to evade his claims. 104 Sura Al-Baqarah (ii), the earliest Madina Sura, revealed in the early part of the second year of the Hijra, 105 embodies many revelations against the Jews. It is far too long for detailed study, but a few extracts from it and other Suras will make the matter clear:—
O children of Israel! remember my favour wherewith I showed favour upon you, and be true to your covenant with me; I will be true to my covenant with you; me, therefore, revere, and believe in what I have sent down confirming your Scriptures, and be not the first to disbelieve it (i.e., Qur'an), neither for a mean price barter my signs: therefore, fear ye me! and clothe not the truth with falsehood and hide not the truth when ye know it. 38. [40-42]
This second Sura also contains a long passage recounting God's mercy to the Jews under Moses and in the wilderness. There is a verse in it which has given rise to much controversy:—
Verily they who believe (Muslims), and they who follow the Jewish religion and the Christians and the Sabians—whosoever of these believeth in God and the last day, and doeth that which is right, shall have their reward with their Lord: fear shall not come upon them, neither shall they be grieved. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 59 [62]. 106
This seems to show that all these religions are equally good, but this is not the generally received idea, for some commentators 107 say that the words ' believeth in God and the last day; and doeth that which is right,' mean that non-Muslims must forsake their errors and become Muslims; others hold that the passage is abrogated by the verse:—
Whoso desireth any other religion than Islam it shall not be accepted of him, and in the next world he shall be of those who perish 108 . Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 79. [85]
The hypocrisy of some of the Jews who had become Muslims is referred to in:—
When they fall in with the faithful they say, ' We believe,' but when they are apart one with another they say, ' Will ye acquaint them with what God hath revealed to you, that they may dispute with you about it in the presence of your Lord?' Understand ye their aim. 109
Know they not that God knoweth what they hide, as well as what they bring to light.
But there are illiterates among them who are unacquainted with the Book, 110 but with lies only and have but vague fancies. Woe to them who transcribe the Book corruptly 111 and then say, 'This is from God,' that they may sell it for some mean price. Woe to them for that which their hands have written, and woe to them for the gains they have made.
They say, 'Hell fire shall not touch us but for a few days.' Say, have ye received such a promise from God? for God will not revoke His promise, or speak ye of God that which ye know not?
But they whose gains are evil works and who are environed by their sins—they shall be inmates of the fire, therein to abide for ever—Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 71-5. [76-81]
In other ways the Jews gave offence. Baidawi says that Abu Bakr asked a Jew for a loan, saying 'Who will lend God a good loan? 'The Jew said, 'If God wants a loan, then He must be poor.' Abu Bakr struck him and the Jew forthwith complained to the Prophet, but got no redress. Then this verse came:—
Now hath God heard the saying of those who said, 'Aye, God is poor and we are rich.' We will surely write down their sayings and their unjust slaughter of the prophets and we will say, ' Taste ye the torment of the burning.' Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 177. [181]
The demand of the Jews for a prophetic sign is referred to in the following verse:—
To those who say, 'Verily God hath enjoined us that we are not to credit an apostle until he presents us a sacrifice which fire out of heaven shall devour.' Al-'Imran (iii) 179. [183]
The Jews said that the fire which descended from heaven on the altar of the Tabernacle (Leviticus ix. 24) and afterwards on the altar at the dedication of Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles vii. 1) was constantly kept alive until the Chaldeans destroyed the Temple. They seemed to expect that a true prophet would re-kindle it.
Muhammad at once in the next [same] verse replied to their demand thus:—
Say, already have apostles before me come to you with miracles and with that of which ye speak, Wherefore slew ye them? Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 180. [183]
The commentators say that he here refers to Zachariah and Vahya (John the Baptist) 112 and so argues that, if they slew prophets who had miraculous powers why should he gratify their wishes and cause fire to come down from heaven.
Those who did not admit that any part of the Scriptures referred to Muhammad are thus addressed:—
Believe ye then part of the Book and deny part? 113 But what shall be the meed of him among you who doth this, but shame in this life? And on the day of the resurrection they shall be sent to the most cruel of torments, for God is not regardless what ye do., Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 79. [85]
They would not recognize the Qur'an as a book of authority, a state of obstinacy which called forth from the Prophet the bitter imprecation:—
The curse of God be on the infidels—Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 83. [89]
He then goes on to say:—
For a vile price have they sold themselves, that they should not believe in that which God sent down, envious of God's sending down His grace on such servants as He pleaseth, and they have brought upon themselves wrath upon wrath. 114 Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 84. [90]
The protection of God is promised to Muhammad against all such as cut themselves off from him:—
If therefore they believe even as ye believe, then have they true guidance; but if they turn back then do they cut themselves off from you, and God will suffice to protect thee against them. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 131. [137]
The accusation about hiding the testimony of the Scriptures to Muhammad is made in:—
Who is more in fault than he who concealeth the witness 115 which he hath from God? Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 134. [140]
The next Sura in order is Sura Al-Baiyinah (xcviii) and here again the same charge is repeated:—
The unbelievers among the people of the Book and the polytheists did not waver until the clear evidence had come to them;
A messenger from God, reciting to them the pure pages wherein are true Scriptures.
Neither were they unto whom the Scriptures were given divided among themselves, till after this clear evidence had reached them. 1-3 [1-4] 116
The following verses continue the charge:—
And truly are there among them who torture the Scriptures with their tongues, 117 in order that ye may suppose it to be from the Scripture, yet it is not from the Scripture; and they say, ' This is from God,' yet it is not from God; and they utter a lie against God, and they know they do so. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 72. [78]
In the latest Sura of all we have:—
They shift the words of Scripture from their places and have forgotten part of what they were taught. Sura Al-Ma'ida (v) 16. [13]
O people of the Scriptures! Now is our Apostle come to you to clear up to you much that ye concealed of these Scriptures and to pass over many things. Now hath a light, and a clear Book come to you from God by which God will guide him who shall follow after His good pleasure to paths of peace, and will bring them out of the darkness to the light, by His will; and to the straight path will He guide them. Sura Al-Ma'ida (v) 18 [15-16]. 118
The charge in all these verses is not that of altering the written text of the Scriptures, but of hiding its truth, by which Muhammad meant allusions to himself which he asserted were contained therein.
It is not stated that the Scriptures themselves are so corrupted as to cease to be genuine. Indeed the evidence is all the other way:—
Verily we have sent down the Law (Torah) wherein are guidance and light. Sura Al-Ma'ida (v) 48. [44]
It is said that this statement is exclusively for Jews and Christians and that for Muslims all other religions are abrogated by the verse:— 119
Whoso desireth any other religion than Islam, that religion shall not be accepted from him. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 79. [85]
In this way conservative Muslims excuse themselves from paying that attention to previous Scriptures which the Qur'an so clearly enjoins. Other statements in the Sura Al-Ma'ida (v) to this effect are:—
But, if the people of the Book believe and have the fear of God, we will surely put away their sins from them and will bring them into gardens of delight, and, if that they observe the Law and the Evangel and what hath been sent down to them from their Lord, 120 they shall surely have their fill of good things from above them and from beneath their feet. 70. [65-66]
Say, O people of the Book, ye have no ground to stand on, till ye observe the Law, the Injil and that which 121 hath been sent down to you from your Lord. 72. [68]
Here obedience to the Old and New Testaments, as well as to the Qur'an, is inculcated, which would not have been the case had the text of the former Books been tampered with. In. fact, no Books have been, according to Muhammad's own testimony as given in the Qur'an, so well safeguarded:—
And to thee have we sent down the Qur'an with truth, confirmatory of previous Scriptures and their safeguard. 122 Sura Al-Ma'ida (v) 52.[48]
It is clear from this that the Scriptures had not been corrupted before the time of Muhammad for the Qur'an confirms them; they cannot, from a Muslim standpoint, have been corrupted since for the Qur'an has been their safeguard, their 'trusty keeper.' Thus Muslims who make rash statements on this subject not only show great ignorance of the Qur'an itself, but treat it with the utmost disrespect when they thus impute failure to it in this most important duty which it claims to fulfil.
If then the Scriptures have been corrupted the Qur'an has failed of its purpose and has not been their safeguard. The fact is, that Muhammad had no real doubt about the authenticity and genuineness of the Scriptures, but now that he had no further use for the Jews it was necessary to discredit them and to show that they were not worthy of credit. 123 It is instructive to note that all these passages about the perversion of the meaning of the Bible and the charge of concealing its predictions were revealed at Madina.
The Jews having been thus rebuked and set aside as no longer likely to be useful or necessary, there was no object whatever in assimilating the customs and practices of Islam to those of Judaism; so the Qibla (i.e., the direction towards which the prayers should be said) was now changed back again 124 from Jerusalem to Mecca and, as usual, a revelation came to authorize the change.
It is immediately preceded by a long passage in the second Sura to show that the Ka'ba and the religion of Abraham, of which Islam is declared to be the revival, is better than the Qibla of the Jews and Judaism. The Christians, too, have a hint given them in the expression, 'The baptism of God have we received,' 125 that in the reception of Islam consists the true regeneration of man. Then the change of the Qibla is openly stated in the verses: 126 —
We appointed the Qibla, thou formerly hadst, only that we might know him who followeth the Apostle from him who turneth on his heels. The change is a difficulty, but not to those whom God hath guided. But God would not let your faith be fruitless for unto man is God merciful, gracious.
We have seen thee turning thy face towards every part of heaven; but we will have thee turn to a Qibla which shall please thee. Turn then thy face towards the sacred Mosque and, wherever ye be, turn your face towards that part. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 138-9. [143-144]
The Traditionists relate many stories connected with this event in the Prophet's life. One is, that 'when he found the Jews obstinate he said to Gabriel, "I wish God would change the Qibla to the Ka'ba;" Gabriel replied, "Thou hadst better ask God thyself for thou art highly esteemed by Him." The Prophet after this always looked up to heaven, waiting for tidings to change the Qibla.'
The Ramadan fast, 127 also was now substituted for the one hitherto kept simultaneously with the Jewish fast.
As for the month Ramadan, in which the Qur'an was sent down to be man's guidance and an explanation of that guidance, and of that illumination, as soon as any one of you observeth the moon let him set about the fast. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 181. [185]
A stern warning is given to the Jews in:—
Those who conceal aught that we have sent down, either of clear proof or guidance, after what we have so clearly shown to men in the Book, God shall curse them, and they who curse shall curse them. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 154 [159]. 128
Either in connexion with these charges or on more general grounds, some of the converts from Judaism desired still to observe portions of the Jewish Law. Husain says that Ibn Salam and his friends were converts to Islam who still wished to keep the laws of the Pentateuch. They are thus rebuked and warned:—
O believers, enter completely into the true religion and follow not the steps of Satan, for he is your declared enemy; 129
But if ye lapse after that our clear signs have come to you, know that God is mighty, wise.
Ask the children of Israel how many clear signs we have given them; but if any man alter the gift of God, 130 after it shall have reached him, certainly God will be vehement in punishing him. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 204-5, 207. [208-209, 211]
This antagonism between Muhammad and the Jews was perfectly natural. Not only were they unable to admit his claims, but on one great principle of action they were fundamentally opposed. He, as we shall see, desired to conserve the old Arab customs and even allowed much of the old pagan ceremonial to remain in Islam; they were conservative upholders of the ceremonies of their revealed Law and of the customs based on the interpretations of it. The time had now come when the breach with Judaism must be complete, and Muhammad made changes with, as is alleged by Arabian writers, the express object of abolishing from Islam resemblances to Judaism. 131
Coincident with this rejection of the Jews is the attempt to conciliate the Meccans by sanctioning the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba:—
Accomplish the pilgrimage and the visitation of the holy places in honour of God. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 192. [196]
Divine approval is also obtained for the retention of the pagan ceremonies of going round the hills Safa and Marwa:—
Verily, Safa and Marwa are among the monuments of God: whoever then maketh a pilgrimage to the temple, or visiteth it, shall not be to blame if he go round them both. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 153. [158]
It is, however, probable that these verses are interpolations here and that they were really revealed later on when the first pilgrimage was made.
This second Sura, Sura Al-Baqarah, then, throws a clear light on the changing policy of Muhammad at this early period of his Madina career and is itself illustrated by the history of the period. It is also an excellent example of the way in which the revelations were timed to meet the exigencies of the varying social and political situations of the Prophet and his cause. It also shows that he had already, at this early stage of his residence in Madina, realized that open war with his countrymen was unavoidable and must soon come. At all events, it was time to prepare the minds of his followers for cares and troubles of this kind and to stimulate their zeal and courage by examples from Jewish history:—
Think ye to enter Paradise, when no such things have come upon you, as on those who flourished before you? Ills and troubles tried them. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 210. [214]
Hast thou not thought on those who quitted their dwellings—and they were thousands—for fear of death? God said to them, 'Die'; then He restored them to life, for full of bounty towards man is God. But most men are thankless.
Fight for the cause of God. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 244-5. [243-244]
This exhortation is followed by a description of the wars of Moses and of Saul. Muhammad shows his ignorance of Old Testament history by confusing Saul and Gideon together. Still these examples of men of old served now to inflame the zeal of his followers.
The antipathy thus excited against the Jews increased after the battle of Badr, when, flushed with victory, Muhammad called upon the Jews of the Bani Qainuqa' tribe to believe in Islam, lest God should visit them as he had done the Quraish in the recent battle. 132 They had boasted that in their case defeat would not have been so easy and that they could successfully have resisted the Muslims. So the revelation came:—
If thou fear treachery from any people throw back their treaty to them as thou fairly mayest for God loveth not the treacherous.
And think not that the infidels shall escape us. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 60-1. [58-59]
They refused, and were all expelled from the country and their goods and property were confiscated. The Bani Nadir were a wealthy people, one of whose chief Rabbis, Ka'b ibn Ashraf, had been friendly with Muhammad until the change of the Qibla was made, when he became his opponent. He was assassinated in July A.D. 624 with the connivance of Muhammad. A few months after the battle of Uhud, the whole tribe, in June 625, was thus addressed: 'Thus saith the Prophet of the Lord, ye shall go out of my country within the space of seven days; whosoever shall remain behind after that shall be put to death.' They declined, and said, 'We will not go.' The Jews unfortunately did not maintain this courageous spirit. They made no attempt at mutual resistance, and so were subjugated in detail. This is referred to in the verse:—
They (the Jews) will not fight against you in a body, except in fenced towns, or behind walls. Mighty is their valour amongst themselves, but their hearts are divided. Sura Al-Hashr (lix) 14.
The Muslims justly showed contempt for their boasting and as they themselves were now powerful these Jews were exiled and their fertile fields and property were divided amongst the Muhajirun. The divine sanction for this proceeding is found in Sura Al-Hashr (lix) thus:—
He it is who caused the unbelievers among the people of the Book to quit their homes and join those who had emigrated previously. 133
And were it not that God had decreed their exile, surely in this world would He have chastised them; but in the next the chastisement of fire awaiteth them.
Your cutting down some of the palm trees and sparing others was by God's permission and to put the wicked to shame. Sura Al-Hashr 2, 3, 5.
It was quite contrary to Arab usages of war to destroy the palm-trees and it was prohibited by the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy xx. 19). So Muhammad had by this revelation to justify his conduct after the deed was done. A special revelation also warranted him in giving great part of the booty to the Muhajirun: 134 —
To the poor refugees also doth a part belong, who have been driven from their homes and their substance, and who seek favour from God and His goodwill and aid God and His Apostle. These are the men of genuine virtue. Sura Al-Hashr (lix) 8.
As for those who have believed and fled their country, and fought on the path of God, and given the Prophet an asylum, and been helpful to him, these are the faithful: mercy is their due and a noble provision.
And they who have believed and fled the country since and have fought at your side, these also are of you. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 75-6. [74-75]
The Jews are also thus denounced and warned in these bitter cruel words:—
Verily, those who disbelieve in our signs, we will surely broil them in hell fire; as often as their skins shall be well burned, we will give them other skins in exchange, that they may taste the torment— Sura An-Nisa'. (iv) 59. [56]
The commentator Husain (vol. ii, p. 396) says that certain of the Hypocrites (Munafiqun) Ibn Ali, Ibn Bautal and others had promised to help the Bani Nadir, but failed to keep their promise. They are likened to Satan, who persuaded man to be an Infidel and said, 'I share not thy guilt' [Sura Al-Hashr (lix.) 16]; and so Muhammad justified his exclusion of these men from a share in the booty thus:—
Hast thou not observed the disaffected (Munafiqun) saying to their unbelieving brethren among the people of the book, 'If ye be driven forth, we will go forth with you; and in what concerneth you, never will we obey any one; and if ye be attacked, we will certainly come to your help.' But God is witness that these are liars. Sura Al-Hashr (lix) 11.
In the fifth year of the Hijra the Bani Quraiza, a large Jewish tribe, was exterminated. At the time of the siege of Madina by the Meccans they had great inducements held out to them to join with the opponents of Muhammad and doubtless, like all Jews at this time, they were sullen and discontented. As a matter of fact they did not aid the besiegers, but remained quiet. They had also refused to aid the Bani Nadir, but it was not remembered in their favour. Had they been braver and have stood by their brethren when attacked, these Jews could probably have made much better terms with Muhammad.
Their presence in Madina may have been a source of political danger; but still nothing can justify the savage treatment they received. They offered to emigrate; they pleaded for their lives, but they pleaded in vain. They appealed to their Arab friends and allies, the Bani Aws, to intercede for them. They did this most earnestly. Muhammad, to conciliate this powerful Arab tribe, suggested that a member of it should decide the case, thus adroitly shifting the responsibility from himself: but he, took good care that the choice of the referee should not rest with the Jews. Muhammad chose Sa'd bin Mu'adh 135 who had been formerly a friend of the Jews, but having just before been wounded in a skirmish, he was vexed with them for remaining quiet instead of helping to repel the Meccans, and so had already reported unfavourably of them to Muhammad. The decision now was a foregone conclusion. Sa'd decided that the men should be slain and that the women and children should be sold as slaves. Muhammad declared the sentence to be 'the judgement of God.' The men were then taken to Madina and all slaughtered in cold blood in batches of five or six at a time in the presence of Muhammad himself. The market-place at last was drenched with the blood of nearly eight hundred men. Under the personal direction of the Prophet trenches were dug in the market-place, to the brink of which the captives were led, then forced to kneel down and so were beheaded. Their bodies were then cast into the trenches and covered over. Some of the females were divided amongst the Muslims and the rest were sold as slaves. The fifth portion which fell to the Prophet's lot came to about two hundred women and children, who were sold to the Bedouins for horses and arms. A beautiful widow, whose husband had just been slaughtered, was reserved by Muhammad for his own harem. Thus, when two tribes had been exiled and one exterminated, the power of the Jews was broken for ever in Madina, and Muhammad was free to look farther afield for fresh conquests. There was a time when Muhammad had desired the friendship of the Jews, but each victory won, and each lot of booty captured made him less dependent on them for recognition and for funds. 'The change from a basis of reason to a basis of force had taken place gradually, but now was finally achieved.' 136
Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii), in verses nine to twentyseven, deals with the defeat of the besiegers of Madina in what is known at the 'battle of the ditch.' The two concluding verses of the passage make God responsible for the massacre of the Jews:—
He caused the people of the Book (the Jews) who had aided the confederates (i.e., Meccans) to come down out of their fortresses and cast dismay into their hearts; some ye slew, others ye took prisoners. 137
And He gave you their land and their dwellings and their wealth for an heritage. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 27-8. [26-27]
Raihana, the beautiful Jewess, whom Muhammad reserved to himself, refused to marry him, saying, 'Nay, O Prophet, but let me remain as thy slave: this will be easier for me and for thee.' She also refused to abandon her faith. It is reasonable to suppose that she had some aversion to becoming the wife of a man, who had not only sanctioned but had been present at the cruel massacre of her husband and her relatives. She had no power to refuse the position of a slave; so Muhammad took her as his concubine and justified his action by the verse:—
O Prophet! We allow thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth out of the booty which God hath granted thee. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 49 [50]. 138
Suras al-Hadid (lvii), al-Hashr (lix), as-Saff (lxi), al-Jamu'ah (lxii), and at-Taghabun (lxiv) commence as songs of praise and were all delivered about this time to celebrate the subjection of the Jews and the infidels.
We must now go back a little and refer to the most important of the military efforts made by the Prophet. The battle of Badr, though it was not the first of his warlike expeditions, was the greatest of all that had yet been undertaken. 139 Previous to the engagement at Badr the Prophet himself headed four free-booting expeditions and three more were conducted by his lieutenants, 140 but they failed of their object, for the Quraish received little harm and the Muslims gained little or no booty. The only relatively successful expedition was one conducted in the month Rajabu'l-Arab—a month sacred from time immemorial to peace and immunity from tribal attacks. In it a Quraish caravan at Nakhla was attacked and plundered and some prisoners were taken. The victory, however, did not compensate for the fear created in the minds of the Muslims by so daring a violation of Arab custom. At first Muhammad denied that he had given any command for the attack to be made in that month, but, as the dismay still prevailed in the hearts of the people, a revelation came condoning the offence. Thus:—
They will ask thee concerning war in the sacred month; say, ' to war therein is bad, but to turn aside from the cause of God, and to have no faith in Him, and in the sacred temple, and to drive out its people is worse in the sight of God; and civil strife is worse than bloodshed.' Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 214. [217]
Ibn Ishaq says this means, 'If you make war in the holy month, they keep you from the way of God, they are unbelievers and debar you from the holy temple. This is more serious before God than the death of some men whom ye have killed.' The Quraish were very angry and said, 'Muhammad and his companions have desecrated the holy month by shedding blood, seizing goods and making captives in it;' but this violation of the sacred months lost him no followers, for the actors in it retained four-fifths of the plunder for themselves.
These small warlike expeditions provided the booty which was so necessary, for the Muslims were then very poor. 141 They also prepared the way for greater efforts, and in the revelations of this period a distinct advance is made in inculcating the spirit of retaliation and in stirring up a feeling of military ardour. Sura Ar-Ra'd (xiii) is the latest Meccan one, but the forty-first verse belongs to the Madina period and must have been inserted in this Sura afterwards either by Muhammad himself, or by compilers of the Qur'an. It refers to the encroachments of the Muslims over the territories of the pagan Arabs:—
See they not that we come into their land and cut short its borders? God pronounceth a doom, and there is none to reverse this doom. Sura Ar Ra'd (xiii) 41.
Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) is most probably a Meccan one, but some verses are clearly of a later date and belong to Madina, such as:—
A sanction is given to those who because they have suffered outrages have taken up arms, and verily God is well able to succour them.
Those who have been driven from their homes wrongfully only because they say, 'Our Lord is the God.' 40-1. [39-40]
In the second year at Madina Muhammad saw clearly that open war with his countrymen was now unavoidable. So in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) the earliest Madina one, we read:—
War is prescribed for you, but it is hateful to you; yet haply ye hate a thing which is better for you. 212-3. [216]
Fight for the cause of God. 245. [244]
There are in the same Sura verses of a similar character, but they probably belong to a somewhat later period, the time of the first pilgrimage to Mecca in the year, A.H. 7, and if so, they refer to the people of Mecca only, and in their case only if they should prove faithless to the treaty of Hudaibiyah. 142 The verses are:—
Fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you; but commit not the injustice of attacking them first. 143 God loveth not such injustice.
And kill them wherever ye shall find them, and eject them from whatever place they have ejected you, for civil discord is worse than carnage. 187-8. [190-191]
Fight, therefore, against them until there be no more civil discord, 144 and the only worship be that of God, but if they desist 145 then let there be no hostility, save against the wicked. 189. [193]
The warlike spirit is also stirred up by a reference to the wars of the children of Israel and of Saul who in one case is confounded with Gideon, showing that Muhammad's knowledge of Old Testament history was very confused. The Israelites are represented as saying:—
Why should we not fight for the religion of God, seeing We are dispossessed of our habitations, and our children are driven forth.
How oft, by God's will, hath a small host vanquished a large host, and God is with the patiently persevering.
Such are the signs of God. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 247, 250, 253. [246, 249, 252]
Thus, just as the small host under Gideon overcame the Midianites, so would the small host of Muslims overcome the Meccans, and such victories were God's signs or witnesses to the truths which His prophets inculcated. In this way and by such teaching Muhammad encouraged his followers.
Thus he justified the command:—
A sanction is given those who, because they have suffered outrages, have taken up arms and verily God is well able to succour them. Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) 40. [39]
An argument is based on the fact that as in other religions men had defended their places of worship, so Muslims should do the same:—
Those who have been driven out from their homes wrongfully, only because they say 'Our Lord is the God.' If God had not repelled some men by others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques, wherein the name of God is ever commemorated, would surely have been destroyed. And him who helpeth God will God surely help. Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) 41 [40]. 146
The Quraish had practically expelled the Muslims from Mecca and this may be said to justify the hostilities, but now the injunction passed beyond that, and war was to be carried on until 'the only worship be that of God,' that is, until the Meccans embraced Islam. The true faith was to be established by the sword. No other forms of religion were to be tolerated at all. Still the people were timid and the 'Hypocrites' were opposed to this war policy. Then a little later on Sura Muhammad (xlvii) was revealed which urges the faithful to fight and threatens the cowards and 'Hypocrites' with the terrors of hell. Thus:—
When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads, till ye have made a great slaughter amongst them, and of the rest make fast the fetters.
And afterwards let there be either free dismissals, or ransomings till the war hath laid down its arms. 147 . . . Whoso fight 148 for the cause of God, their work He will not suffer to miscarry. 4-5. [4]
Fight then against them till all strife be at an end, and the religion be all of it God's—Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 40 [39]. 149
The timid are referred to in the verse:—
The believers say, 'Oh, would that a Sura were sent down; but when a peremptory Sura is revealed, whose burden is war, thou mayest see the diseased of heart look toward thee, with a look of one on whom the shadows of death have fallen.
Be not faint-hearted then: and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand. Sura Muhammad (xlvii) 22, 37. [20, 35]
Thus was the ground prepared and the inhabitants of Madina stirred up to take their part for the first time in an aggressive war. The distress in Madina was very great at this time, and supplies had to be obtained from some source. 150 The immediate cause of the battle of Badr (A.D. 624) was the desire of Muhammad to capture a rich caravan known to be on its way from Syria to Mecca. 151 It was escorted by about forty armed men. Addressing his followers Muhammad said: 'Let us take it by surprise, perhaps Heaven has given us this booty.' A body of three hundred and forty-seven men went forth on this looting expedition. The Ansar were under no liability to go forth to fight, for in the first pledge of 'Aqaba, made when Muhammad was first invited to Madina, no condition as regards fighting was laid down. But now attachment to his cause, devotion to his person, the love of adventure and the desire for plunder led many Ansar to volunteer their services. On hearing of the danger the caravan was in, a large body of men set out from Mecca for its protection and it was with this relieving force that the battle of Badr was fought. This uncalled for aggression on the part of Muhammad has been apologized for on the ground that the Meccans made a raid against Madina. This is not the case. They came out solely to protect their property. The night before the battle it rained a little and Muhammad dreamed that enemies were few in number. Both incidents are referred to in the Qur'an:—
When sleep, a sign of security from Him, fell upon you and He sent down upon you water from heaven that He might cleanse you, and cause the pollution of Satan to pass from you.
Remember, when God showed them to thee in thy dream as few; had He shown them numerous, ye would certainly have become faint-hearted, and would certainly have disputed about the matter; but from this God kept you. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 11, 45. [11, 43]
The Quraish were utterly beaten and many prisoners were cruelly murdered by the Muslims. The booty was very large and the division of it led to much dispute. A beautiful red vestment disappeared and some of the Munafiqun said that Muhammad had taken it, but this charge, according to Tirmidhi, 152 was rebutted by a special revelation:—
It is not for the Prophet to cheat. 153 Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 155. [161]
The Traditionist Rawi says 154 that to clear the Prophet of the imputation cast upon him this verse came:—
Shall he who hath followed the good pleasure of God be as he who hath brought upon himself wrath from God. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 156. [162]
In order to put an end to the murmuring about the division of the spoil, the will of God was indicated in the following verses which were now revealed:—
They will question thee about the spoils; say, the spoils are God's and the Apostle's. Therefore, fear God and settle this among yourselves, and obey God and His Apostle, if ye are believers. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 1.
Having thus laid down his absolute right to the booty, the Prophet somewhat modifies the claim and says:—
When ye have taken any booty, a fifth part belongeth to God and to the Apostle, and to the near of kin, and to the orphans, and to the poor and to the wayfarer, if ye believe in God and in that which we have sent down to our servant on the day of victory, 155 the day of the meeting of the hosts. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 42. [41]
This is the law of Islam on the subject to the present day.
The victory of Badr was needed to strengthen Muhammad's position in Madina, which had now become much weakened by the small success of his previous warlike expeditions and no efforts were now spared to attribute this great success to miraculous intervention on the part of God. Thus:—
When ye sought succour of your Lord, He answered you, 'I will verily aid you with a thousand angels, rank on rank.' 156 And God made this promise as pure good tidings, and to assure your hearts by it; for succour cometh from God alone. 157 Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 9-10.
Later on, this aid is referred to as a support to the Prophet's claim and as an encouragement and a warning to his followers.
Ye have already had a sign, 158 in the meeting of the two hosts. The one host fought in the cause of God and the other was infidel. To their own eyesight the infidels saw you twice as many as themselves, 159 and God aids with His succour whom He wishes. And in this there is indeed a warning to those who have perception. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 11. [13]
It was not ye who slew them, but God slew them, and the shafts were God's, not thine. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 17.
Those who gave up their lives are spoken of as martyrs for God's cause.
Say not of those who are slain on God's path that they are dead: nay, they are living. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 149 [154]. 160
Some of the Muhajirun, who had lost old Meccan relatives and friends in the conflict, saw that their kinsmen among the captives were sad. This feeling was strong amongst the women. Then this rebuke, came:—
O ye who believe, verily, in your wives and your children ye have an enemy; 161 wherefore, beware of them. Sura At-Taghabun (lxiv) 14.
In the week following the battle of Badr, two of the most prominent offenders, Abu 'Afak and Ibn 'Auf were assassinated. Men then criticized in private, but that was very soon forbidden:—
Hast thou not marked those who have been forbidden secret talk, and return to what they have been forbidden, and talk privately with wickedness and hate and disobedience toward the Apostle. Sura Al-Mujadilah (lviii) 9. [8]
The victory was gained by an inferior over a superior force, and the Quraish lost men who had been the Prophet's determined foes, and so the idea of divine interposition seemed quite a natural explanation It placed the Prophet in a position of security for the time, and enabled him, as we have seen, to carry out his policy, more fully developed after the battle of Badr, of entirely subduing the Jewish tribes for whose aid he had now no further need. The value of the spoils and of the ransoms of the prisoners proved most acceptable to the Muhajirun who thus became independent of the Ansar. Prisoners who were too poor to pay a ransom in money did it by giving writing lessons, an art now fully appreciated by Muhammad. [Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 282-3] The victory also made a great impression on the Bedouin tribes and caused them to become more inclined to come to terms with one who stood before them as a leader of a victorious military force. For the Prophet they cared little, but a successful warrior claimed their attention and respect. The claim to divine support when a victory was gained also increased the prestige and power of the Prophet; but it was a dangerous assertion to make, or policy to follow, for when defeat came, the conclusion naturally drawn was that God had forsaken him. This is what actually occurred later on.
About a year after the battle of Badr, the Quraish smarting under the defeat determined to make another great effort to overcome their opponents.. They collected a comparatively large army and in the spring of A.D. 625 drew near to Madina. The immediate reason for this was that Muhammad continued his plundering expeditions. The merchants of Mecca found that their trade was in great danger. The ordinary western route to Syria was unsafe and so they sent a rich caravan by the eastern one. The news of the change of route reached, Muhammad and he at once sent a band of a hundred horsemen in pursuit of it. The raid was successful and the merchandise and all who were in charge of it were brought to Madina. It was now clear either that the Muslims did not wish for peace, or that the Arab love of looting could not be controlled. The Meccans had to fight for their very existence as a commercial community and for freedom to carry on their daily business. The Meccans were fully justified now in taking vigorous action. The immediate cause of the battle of Badr was Muhammad's attempt to capture a caravan; that of Uhud his successful seizure of one. Muhammad wisely wished to act on the defensive, but was overborne by the younger and more ardent of his followers, who represented to him that the Bedouin tribes, now beginning to be impressed with a sense of. his power, would set down a defensive attitude to cowardice, and that doubt would also be cast on his previous claims to supernatural aid in times of danger. This had been so strongly urged as a proof of the divine nature of his mission that any action now, implying distrust in its recurrence, would be fatal to his prestige. So he gave way and agreed to give battle to the Quraish, saying, 'If ye be steadfast, the Lord will grant you the victory.'
Many single combats 'were fought, but when both sides became generally engaged the result was a very severe defeat for the Muslim forces. The Prophet himself also was badly wounded. This made him angry and he said: 'How shall the people prosper that have treated thus their Prophet, who calleth them unto their Lord. Let the wrath of God burn against the men that have sprinkled the face of His Apostle with blood.' 162 The Quraish satisfied with the victory at Uhud did not follow up their success, but retired to Mecca. 163 Thus ended the battle of Uhud.
Tradition has raised the rank of the Muslims who fell at this battle to the position of martyrs; but the immediate effect of the defeat was most disastrous. 164 The victory at Badr had been made the occasion of so great a claim to divine assistance that this defeat at Uhud naturally led to the idea that God had now forsaken the cause. The Jews indeed adroitly used this argument and said: 'How can Muhammad pretend to be anything more than an aspirant to the kingly office? No true claimant of the prophetic dignity hath ever been beaten on the field, or suffered loss in his own person and that of his followers, as he hath.' 165 It required all the skill and address of the Prophet to meet the objections of the Jews and to remove the latent doubt in the minds of some of his followers. This he did by a very skillful production of revelations to explain that the defeat at Uhud was due partly to their own dissensions, partly to disobedience to orders and their desire for personal safety. Thus he says:—
Already had God made good to you His promise, when by His permission ye destroyed your foes, until your courage failed you and ye disputed about the order 166 and disobeyed, after that the Prophet had brought you within view of that for which ye longed.
Some of you were for this world and some for the next. 167 Then, in order to make trial of you, He turned you to flight from them. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 145-6. [152]
The defeat was said to have been sent as a test of their sincerity and of the soundness of their belief. Thus:—
If a wound hath befallen you, a wound like it hath already befallen others. 168 We alternate these days of success and reverses amongst men that God may know those who have believed, and that He may take martyrs from among you; but God loveth not them that do injury. 169
And that God may test those who believe and destroy the infidels. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 134-5. [140-141]
That which befell you on the day when the armies met was certainly by the will of God, and that He might know the faithful and that He might know the hypocrites. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 160 [166-167]. 170
With regard to the taunt of the Jews, a revelation came to show that other prophets had suffered reverses and that Muhammad was no exception to this rule:—
Muhammad is no more than an apostle: other apostles have already passed away before him; if he die, therefore, or be slain, will ye turn upon your heels? But he who turneth on his heels shall not injure God at all; and God will certainly reward the thankful.
No one can die except by God's permission, written down for an appointed time. 171 Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 138-9 [144-145].
How many a prophet have myriads, 172 fought with, yet they fainted not at what befell them on the path of God, nor were they weakened, nor did they make themselves abject, and God loveth the persevering. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 140 [146].
The doctrine of predestination and the power of Satanic influence are also urged as an explanation:—
If God help you none can overcome you, but if He abandon you, who is he that shall help you thereafter? In God then let the faithful trust. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 154 [160].
The meaning of this is, according to Baidawi, if God helps you as He did at Badr you can conquer; if He leaves you as He did at Uhud you will be beaten.
No one can die except by God's permission, written down for an appointed time. 173
Of a truth it was Satan who caused those of you to fail in duty who turned back when the hosts met. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 139, 149 [145, 155]. 174
No accident befalls on the earth, or on yourselves, but it was in the Book (of eternal decrees) before we created them. Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 22. 175
But after all, those who had been killed had gained a great reward; they were now martyrs, blessed in the realms above:—
Repute not those slain on God's path to be dead. Nay, alive with their Lord are they richly sustained. 176
Rejoicing in what God of His bounty hath vouchsafed them, filled with joy for those who follow after them, but have not as yet overtaken them; because no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they be grieved. .....
Filled with joy at the favours of God and at His bounty, and that God suffereth not the reward of the righteous to perish. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 163-5. [169-171]
There is rather an obscure verse at the end of the third Sura , which may be intended to show that, though the Meccans had freedom sufficient to be able to carry on trade and were generally independent after the battle of Uhud, the Prophet should not be disheartened nor led astray by it:—
Let not the coming and going of the infidels in cities deceive thee. It is but a little benefit. Afterwards Hell is their abode and bad the bed. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 196 [196-197]. 177
It seems clear that the defeat of the Muslims at Uhud had been so complete that the pagan Arabs were able to live at ease and to pursue their ordinary avocations without fear. This was disheartening to Muhammad and his followers and so this revelation came to cheer them.
Sura Al-'Imran 178 is full of the subject and shows how important a crisis the Prophet felt it to be, and how great were the pains he took to avert in Madina itself the danger to which the defeat might have led. It is also a remarkable instance of the way in which opportune revelations came to support and sustain the people, when disheartened at the adverse turn their circumstances had taken. It is clear that the Prophet himself soon became hopeful again, for soon after he rebuked those who turned their backs to the enemy at Uhud, 179 and speaks with certainty of the final and complete victory of Islam which is to be the one and only universal religion:—
He it is who hath sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth that, though they hate it who join other gods with God, He may make it victorious over every other religion. 180 Sura As-Saff (lxi) 9.
The final conclusion to the whole matter is a verse which the commentator Husain interprets as having a reference to war and conflict:— 181
O ye who believe! be patient and vie in patience, and be firm and fear God that it may be well with you. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 200.
The result of all the Prophet's explanations was that he did not by this defeat lose a single convert nor damage his reputation.
After the battle of Uhud 182 the two armies parted with the mutual threat, ‘Next year we shall meet again at Badr.' The Quraish started out, when the time came round, with a considerable force to fulfil their portion of the compact; but a severe drought drove them back to Mecca, so when Muhammad with his men arrived they found no enemy. They stayed at Badr eight days and sold their goods at a large profit. This happy ending to what might have been a serious and bloody conflict called for a special revelation:—
As to those who, after the reverse 183 which befell them, respond to God and His Apostle—such of them as do good works and fear God shall have a great reward;
Who, when men say to them, 'Now are the Meccans mustering against you; therefore fear them,' it only increased their faith, and they said, 'Our sufficiency is God, and He is an excellent Protector.'
They returned, 184 therefore, with the favour of God, enriched by Him 185 and untouched by harm; and they followed what was well pleasing to God, and He is of mighty munificence. 186
Verily that devils 187 would cause you to fear his friends fear them not, but fear me if ye are believers. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 166-9. [172-175]
Other expeditions against certain tribes followed, none of which are of any special interest, except that in one, the 'Salatu'1-Khauf,' or the regulation for prayers in times of danger, was instituted. One division of the army watched while the other prayed. 188 The Qur'an had now become the medium through which the warlike news and military orders—all direct communications from God—are announced.
Sometimes certain revelations also came to justify the actions of the Prophet in his domestic life. Those in connexion with events which happened about this time at Madina will serve as an illustration, and may be conveniently mentioned here, though they actually occurred later on, in the year A.D. 626, and after the battle of Uhud. The story goes that, on visiting the house of Zaid, his adopted son, Muhammad was struck with the beauty of his wife, Zainab. Zaid offered to divorce her, but Muhammad said to him, 'keep thy wife to thyself and fear God.' Zaid now proceeded with the divorce, though from the implied rebuke in the thirty-sixth verse of Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) he seems to doubt the propriety of his action. In ordinary cases this would have removed any difficulty as regards the marriage of Zainab and Muhammad, and little or no scandal would have followed; but the marriage of a man with the wife of his adopted son, even though divorced, was looked upon by the Arabs as a very wrong thing indeed. However, Muhammad did this, and had to justify his action by alleging that he had for it the direct sanction of God. It was first necessary to show that God did not approve of the general objection to marriage with wives of adopted sons, and so the revelation came thus:—
Nor hath He made your adopted sons to be as your sons. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 4.
According to Arab custom and usage Zaid was to Muhammad 'as his son,' but in Islam such a view was by divine command to be set aside. Having thus settled the general principle, the way was clear for Muhammad to act in this particular case, and to claim divine sanction for setting at nought the sentiment of the Arab people. So the revelation goes on to say:—
And remember when thou (i.e., Muhammad) said to him (i.e., Zaid) unto whom God had shown favour 189 and to whom thou also hadst shown favour, 190 'Keep thy wife to thyself and fear God;' and thou didst hide in thy mind what God would bring to light and thou didst fear man; 191 but more right had it been to fear God. 192 And when Zaid had settled to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it might not be a crime in the faithful to marry the wives of their adopted sons when they have settled the affairs concerning them. And the order of God is to be performed.
No blame attaches to the Prophet where God hath given him a permission. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 37-8.
This relaxation of the moral law for Muhammad's benefit, because he was a prophet, shows how very easy the divorce between religion and morality becomes in Islam.
Another difficulty was that Zainab was the daughter of Jahsh, the daughter of his aunt Amina, who was the daughter of 'Abdu'l-Muttalib. 193 A fresh revelation, however, by bestowing upon the Prophet a special and peculiar privilege, not accorded to his followers, removed the difficulty:—
O Prophet, we have allowed thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth out of the booty. 194 God hath granted thee, and the daughters 195 of thy uncle and of thy paternal and maternal aunts who fled with thee (from Mecca), and any believing woman 196 who hath given herself up to the Prophet, if the Prophet desireth to take her—a privilege for thee above the rest of the faithful. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 49. [50]
Zainab and her husband did not encourage the suit of the Prophet, and are, thus reprimanded by the alleged command of God in the revelation:—
And it is not for a believer, man or woman, to have any choice in their affairs when God and His Apostle have decreed a matter; and whoever disobeyeth God and His Apostle erreth with palpable error.. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 36. 197
This settled the matter, and the marriage with Zainab was thus declared to be legal and right. Zaid was no longer spoken of as the son of Muhammad, but as Zaid ibn Haritha—son of Haritha.
This same Sura contains a verse (52) which prohibits Muhammad's adding to the nine wives he already possessed, but permits him to have as many concubines as he pleased—'slaves whom thy right hand shall possess,' 198 but into this matter we need not go. The limitation to four wives, excluding concubines, in the case of ordinary Muslims is to be found in the third verse of Sura An-Nisa' (iv), revealed about the fourth or fifth year of the Hijra, and earlier than the passage in which Muhammad is limited to nine wives.
About this time Muhammad made a small expedition against an Arab tribe, the Bani Mustaliq, which is of interest on account of a scandal regarding 'Ayisha, who accompanied her husband and which led to a special revelation. On the march she loitered behind and finally came into camp escorted by a youth, named Safwan bin Mu'attal. Her excuse was that she stayed behind to find a lost necklace. There were scandal-mongers present who made improper remarks about this. Then came the verse:—
Of a truth, they who advanced that lie were a large number of you. Sura An-Nur (xxiv) 11.
The commentators Husain, Ibn Abba's and also Baidawi say that the verse refers to 'Ayisha. The occasion gave rise to this Sura, delivered after the return to Madina, and with verse nineteen of Sura An-Nisa' (iv) forms the Prophet's denunciation of fornication and gives the law regarding it. There is a Tradition to the effect that the Khalifa 'Umar said that the punishment originally was that of stoning, now held to be abrogated by Sura An-Nur (xxiv) 1-4. In any case the 'verse of stoning' was not inserted in Zaid's recension of the Qur'an.
Somewhat later on, about the eighth or ninth year of the Hijra, we have another revelation connected with a domestic affair. Some time before this the Roman Governor of Egypt had presented Muhammad with a Coptic slave girl of great beauty, who in due course bore a son named Ibrahim. This led to great jealousy amongst the wives of the Prophet. Muhammad was annoyed because his wife Hafasa revealed to one of his other wives, named 'Ayisha, some scandal which he had solemnly charged her to keep secret. The family disturbance increased and, at last, Muhammad had to get a divine sanction for his conduct with Mary the Copt. 199 This he did in the following passage which approves of his action, and releases him from an oath he had taken to please and pacify his wives:—
O Prophet! wherefore dost thou prohibit what God hath made lawful to thee, craving to please thy wives, but God is forgiving, compassionate.
God hath allowed you release from your oaths and God is your master. Sura At-Tahrim (lxvi) 1-2.
In the fifth year of the Hijra the Quraish made another great effort and laid siege to Madina. It was called the war of the Confederates, on account of the various tribes of Arabs and of the number of Jews who assisted the Meccans. The Jews had already begun to feel the heavy hand of Muhammad upon them, and saw that their only chance of a peaceful life lay in friendship with the Quraish rather than with Muhammad. This annoyed the Prophet and he thus reproached them:—
Hast thou not observed those to whom a part of the Scriptures have been given, they believe in al-Jibt and at-Taghut and say of the infidels, 'these are guided in a better path than those who hold the faith.' Sura An-Nisa' (iv) 54. [51]
As the siege progressed some of the Muslims became disheartened. The account of it is given in Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) and its terrors are thus depicted:—
When they assailed you from above you and from below you, and when your eyes became distracted, and your hearts came up into your throat, and ye thought divers thoughts of God,
Then were the faithful tried, and with strong quaking did they quake. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 10-11.
Muhammad now seemed weak and helpless, and the people, doubting his promise of divine aid, wished to retire from the outer defensive works into the city. They were rebuked in a revelation recorded in the same Sura thus:—
When the disaffected and the diseased of heart said, 'God and His Apostle have made us but a cheating promise'.
And when a party of them said, 'O men of Yathrib (Madina)! This is no place of safety for you here; therefore return into the city.' And another party of you asked the Prophet's leave to return, saying, Our houses are left defenceless.' No! they were not left defenceless but their sole thought was to flee away:
Say, flight shall not profit you. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 12-14, 17. [12-13, 17]
The Quraish suddenly raised the siege and then retired. 'This was the best and also the last chance given to the Meccans and Jews of breaking Muhammad's power. It was utterly wasted, partly for want of physical courage, but chiefly because there was no man with brains in command.' 200 The Prophet in order to encourage his followers then said, as if from God:—
And God drove back the infidels in their wrath! they won no advantage. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 25.
The position of Muhammad as a chieftain was now strong, and he assumed a position of superiority, calling for special and reverential intercourse:—
Address not the Apostle as ye address one another. 201 Sura An-Nur (xxiv) 63.
The Quraish had been beaten in one battle and had failed in a siege. The victory of Uhud they had not followed up. A large number of Arab tribes had been by persuasion or force drawn to the acceptance of Islam. The Jews by banishment and slaughter had been reduced to impotence. Mecca, however, still remained proudly aloof from the one man in Arabia who was a conqueror and a ruler of men. All these long years Muhammad had suffered persecution and reproach at the hands of the Quraish: the day of retribution was drawing near. The mind of the Prophet turned towards the sacred city, for, until his influence was supreme there, he could not expect to be the sole ruler in Arabia. 202 Six years had now passed away since he and his followers had left Mecca, and no doubt many of them wished to revisit the old familiar places. Again, Muhammad had some time before changed the Qibla (or direction in which prayer should be said) from Jerusalem to Mecca. The sacred temple there was still a holy place to the Muslims in Madina. Every day of their lives they turned towards it in acts of divine worship, though for six years they had not seen it. The longing to enter its courts and to go round its walls was now very great. The way had to be carefully prepared and Sura Al-Hajj (xxii), or such portions of it as are not late Meccan, was revealed for this purpose. 203 The Meccans are reminded that the Ka'ba is for all men. ‘As a man of the Quraish, Muhammad had himself grown up in pious reverence for the Ka'ba and the black stone. Properly speaking, this reverence was at variance with the principles of his religion; but he managed to adjust matters by his theory that these holy things had been established by Abraham, and only abused by the heathen.’ 204 The ceremonies of the old pagan ritual are declared to be 'rites of God,' the performance of which shows 'piety of heart.' The continued sacrifice of camels is enjoined. Thus did Muhammad claim the Ka'ba and all its ceremonies for Islam. It was a master-stroke for gaining influence at the time.
At this juncture Muhammad had a dream in which he saw himself and his followers performing all the duties of the Pilgrimage. This settled the matter, and, as the sacred month in which the 'Umbra, or Lesser Pilgrimage, is made was now at hand, a considerable body started out towards Mecca in the month of March, A.D. 628. The Quraish opposed their entrance into the city and messengers went to and fro between the two parties. 205 The position of the Muslims at Hudaibiya was one of some danger and Muhammad, gathering his followers around himself under the shade of a tree, required a pledge of loyalty even to death from each one. This oath was cheerfully given, and the 'Pledge of the tree' is an event ever after referred to with great respect and regard. It is a most striking instance of the personal devotion of his followers to the Prophet and of the intense sympathy which existed between them. God is said to have been glad about it:—
Well pleased now hath God been with the believers when they plighted fealty to thee under the tree. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 18. 206
The end of the consultations was that the Quraish absolutely refused admission to the Ka'ba, but agreed to the following terms:—
‘War shall be suspended for ten years. Neither side shall attack the other. Perfect amity shall prevail betwixt us. Whosoever wisheth to join Muhammad and enter into treaty with him shall have liberty to do so; and whosoever wisheth to join the Quraish and enter into treaty with them shall have liberty so to do. If any one goeth over to Muhammad, without the permission of his guardian, he shall be sent back to his guardian. 207 But, if any one from amongst the followers of Muhammad return to the Quraish, the same shall be sent back; provided—on the part of the Quraish—that Muhammad and his followers retire from us this year without entering the city. In the coming year he may visit Mecca, he and his followers, for three days when we shall retire. But they may not enter it with any weapons, save those of the traveller, namely, to each a sheathed sword.' 208
At first the Muslims were disappointed and felt that their object in coming had not been gained, 209 but Muhammad soon produced a revelation to show how wrong that view of it was, and what benefits would be derived from this treaty of Hudaibiya. Standing on his camel, he gave what he declared to be God's message, beginning with the words:—
Verily, we have won for thee an undoubted victory. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 1. 210
And such it was, for the Quraish in treating him as an equal acknowledged his political status. Ibn Ishaq well remarks that 'when war had ceased and people met in security, then they entered into conversation and every intelligent person with whom the merits of Islam were discussed embraced it.' The increase was certainly rapid now. Referring to the women who came Margoliouth says, 'These welcome visitors easily found new ties at Madina, though some sort of examination had to be undergone to test the genuineness of their faith.' 211 The people who would not come are, in this same Sura, bitterly reproved and reminded that the ' flame of hell is prepared for the Infidels,' 212 whilst those who had taken the oath of fealty under the tree are promised 'a spirit of secure repose, a speedy victory and a rich booty.' 213 To meet the disappointment caused by the absence of booty the Muslims are told that there is
Other booty, over which ye have not yet had power, but now hath God compassed them for you. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 21.
Baidawi says this may refer to the spoils after the defeat of the Huwazin Arabs in the battle of Hunain. 214 The Muslims had referred to Muhammad's dream and wondered why it had not come to pass. He pointed out that the particular year of its fulfilment was not shown in it, and to pacify them brought another revelation to assure them of its certain fulfilment:—
Now hath God in truth made good to His Apostle the dream in which he said, 'Ye shall surely enter the sacred mosque, if God will, in full security having your head shaved and your haircut; ye shall not fear, for He knoweth what ye know not, and He hath ordained you, besides this, a speedy victory. 215
It is He who hath sent His Apostle with the guidance, and the religion of truth, that He may exalt it above every religion. And enough for thee is this testimony on the part of God. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 27-8. 216
Thus, though the pilgrimage was postponed, the victory was theirs: other booty would be realized and they could rest now in patience for to Muhammad was the 'guidance' committed. Great would be the glory of Islam. No longer were Christianity and Judaism co-ordinate with it. In Islam alone was salvation to be found; 217 for now it was to exceed and excel all other religions, and so they could well afford to wait for a year to fulfil their desire. Enough for them to know that this was the will of God. The whole of this forty-eighth Sura is very remarkable and well suited to the occasion.
This special claim for Islam as the one religion had already been made in an earlier Madina Sura:—
The true religion with God is Islam, and those to whom the Scriptures were given did not differ, till after that knowledge had come to them, and out of jealousy of each other. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 17 [19].
The meaning of this is given in the commentaries to be, that Islam, not Judaism and Christianity, is the true religion, and that Jews and Christians did not reject it till the Qur'an came, when they did so simply out of envy or from the desire to maintain their own superiority. 218
After his return to Madina, with a strong sense of his growing power in Arabia, the vision of the Prophet took a wider range, which is shown in the spirit of a passage in a late Madina Sura:—
Say to them, O men, 'Verily I am God's Apostle to you all.' Sura Al-A'raf (vii) 157 [158].
This led him to send embassies, about the years A. D. 627-8, to various Christian rulers, including Heraclius, the Emperor of Byzantium, to the King of Persia and others. 219 Nöldeke says that in these letters, calling upon the Christian sovereigns to embrace Islam and to acknowledge his suzerainty the following passage was included: 220 —
Say: 'O people of the Book! come ye to a just judgement between us and you—that ye worship not aught but God and that we join no other gods with Him, and that the one of us take not the other for lords, beside God.' Then, if they turn their backs, say, 'Bear ye witness that we are Muslims.'
O people of the Book, why dispute about Abraham, 221 when the Law and the Gospel were not sent down till after him. Do ye not then understand?
Lo! ye are they who dispute about that of which ye have no knowledge .... God hath knowledge but ye know nothing.
Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian, but he was sound in the faith, (Hanif) a Muslim, and not of those who add gods to God. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 57-60 [64-67].
‘Each time the Prophet had failed, or secured an incomplete success, he compensated for it by an attack on the Jews. This policy had served too well to be abandoned after the unsatisfactory affair of Hudaibiya and, therefore, a raid on the Jews of Khaibar was speedily planned. 222 It took place in the autumn of 628 and brought much wealth to the camp of the Muslims. At first, Muhammad had sought the aid of the Jews, but failing to get it, he attacked them, tribe by tribe, massacred them, banished them from their homes or reduced them to a state of helpless subjection. In this victory Muhammad put an end to the independence of the Jews in Arabia. Safiyya, a daughter of one of the Prophet's most active adversaries, who had been assassinated by his order, was taken captive at Khaibar. She was invited to embrace Islam which she did and then became the wife of the conqueror. The people of Khaibar lived too far away from Madina to be a menace, but there was booty to be acquired and the total subjugation of Arabia seems now to have been decided upon.
Muhammad, being now secure from any attack on the part of the Quraish, made raids on different Bedouin tribes and so passed the time until the month for the 'Umra, or Lesser Pilgrimage, came round again. At this time some sick Bedouins of the 'Urain and Ukka families accepted Islam and received permission to stay on the pasture ground of the Prophet and to drink the milk of the she camels. They were ungrateful, and, after slaying the keeper of the camels, stole fifteen of them and ran away. They were caught and the punishment inflicted was brutal. Their hands and feet were cut off; their eyes and tongues were pierced with thorns (Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 144); their eyes were pierced with needles and they were exposed to the heat of the sun till they died (Khalasatu-t-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 575). Then this verse was revealed:—
As to the thief, whether man or woman, cut ye off their hands in recompense for their doings. This is a penalty by way of warning from God himself. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 42. [38]
In the spring of A.D. 629 Muhammad availed himself of the permission granted by the Quraish, and with about two thousand followers approached Mecca. The Quraish then retired and the Muslims, leaving their weapons outside, entered Mecca which for seven years they had not seen. When Muhammad came to the Ka'ba 223 he said: 'May God be gracious to the man whom he shows them (the Meccans) today in his strength.' He performed the usual ceremonies of the pagan pilgrimage, such as kissing the black stone, making the seven prescribed circuits of the Ka'ba and the running between the Mounts Safa and Marwa. 224 The animals brought for the purpose were sacrificed, and the ceremonies of the Lesser Pilgrimage were brought to an end. The honour paid to the city and to the ancient temple favourably influenced the Meccans; the show of martial power led two cavalry leaders of the Quraish to join Muhammad's standard; the friendships formed, through his marriage now with Maimuna—the fourth addition to his harem during this year—advanced his cause, and when Muhammad retired again to Madina he was much more powerful in every way than he had been at any previous period.
A few more Arab tribes were then attacked and reduced to submission. The southern portion of the Roman Empire was invaded, but in the battle of Muta the Muslims were severely defeated. 'We are justified in supposing that much was effected by Muhammad's campaign against the Byzantines, which, though not for the moment successful, made him the champion of a national idea, which the Arabs had scarcely thought of till then. 225 Muhammad saw the attack was premature, and that, before entering on conquests abroad, his position must first be made stronger in Arabia. Then came a revelation in this very short Sura, the Sura An-Nasr (cx):—
When the help of God, and the victory 226 arrive,
And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops.
Then utter the praise of the Lord and implore His pardon, for He loveth to turn in mercy.
Thus encouraged, he was able to proceed. Undoubtedly the unity of the political community, the consolidation of his followers as a religious corporation needed a centre other than Madina. The time had now come when, if Islam was to be the one politico-religious force in Arabia which Muhammad had from the first intended it to be, Mecca must become its centre.
He saw that the Meccans were now weary of strife, that many Quraish leaders were either dead or had joined him, that everywhere in the country his own power was extending, and that it would be now possible by a determined effort to capture Mecca and once for all break down the remaining opposition of the Quraish.
The thirteenth Sura is the last Meccan one, but the forty-first verse is interpolated and probably refers to this period:—
See they not that we come to the land and diminish the borders thereof? God judges and there is none to reverse His judgement, and He is swift at reckoning up. Sura Ar-Ra'd (xiii) 41.
Ibn 'Abbas 227 and other commentators refer this to the Meccans, who were so blind and obtuse that they did not realize that the Muslims were encroaching more and more on the territories of the pagan Arab tribes. Husain, 228 however, says it refers to the Jews, whose forts, lands and possessions had now come unto the possession of the Muslims.
Some, apparently, were very reluctant to join in this expedition and are thus reproved:—
What! will ye not fight against those (Meccans) who have broken their oaths and aimed to expel your Apostle, and attacked you first? Will ye dread them? God is more worthy of your fear, if ye are believers!
So make war on them: by your hands will God chastise them and will put them to shame, and will give you victory over them. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 13-4.
Those who took an active part in the attack on Mecca and shared in the victory over it are highly praised, and their conduct is favourably contrasted with those who gave alms and fought for Islam after this event had shown the power of the Prophet:—
Those amongst you who contributed before the victory and fought shall be differently treated from others amongst you: they are grander in rank than those who gave and fought afterwards. Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 10. 229
Two years had passed since the treaty of Hudaibiya was made and, according to its terms, the peace between Madina and Mecca was to last for ten years. This difficulty was overcome. A Bedouin tribe attached to Muhammad was attacked by another tribe in alliance with the Quraish. The Prophet seized the occasion, took up the quarrel, and with a large army of some ten thousand men advanced against Mecca. Abu Sufyan, the old and implacable enemy of the Prophet, saw that the time for opposition was past. He sought for an interview with Muhammad, repeated the Muslim creed; and became henceforth a good Muslim. This led to the comparatively quiet submission of Mecca where Abu Sufyan, the hereditary leader of the Quraish, possessed great influence. As soon as Muhammad entered the city he proceeded to the Ka'ba and saluted the black stone. He then ordered all the idols to be hewn down and, in order to show that he now exercised supreme authority, he appointed 'Uthman bin Talha and 'Abba's to the two hereditary offices connected with the temple. 230
A crier then proclaimed in the streets this order: Whoever believeth in God and in the last day, let him not leave in his house any image whatever that he doth not break in pieces.' 231
Many of the Meccans mocked, and then a revelation came to show that by nature all men are equal, and that in the sight of God noble birth and pride of race or rank is of little worth as compared with the fear of the Lord. The Quraish are rebuked in:—
O men! Verily we have created you of a male and a female; and we have divided you into peoples and tribes that ye might have knowledge one of another. Truly, the most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he who feareth Him most. Sura Al-Hujurat (xlix) 14 [13]. 232
In reply to a question asking the Meccans what they thought of him, Muhammad received the answer from some of them, 'we think well of thee, O noble brother and son of a noble brother. Verily thou hast obtained power over us.' Referring to the Sura Yusuf (xii) the Prophet quoted the words in the ninety-second verse, which were said by Joseph to his brethren:—
No blame be on you this day. God will forgive you for He is the most merciful of those who show mercy. 233 Sura Yusuf (xii) 92.
With a few exceptions, 234 mostly of those who, it must be admitted, deserved their fate, a general amnesty extended to all the inhabitants of the city. The result was that the Prophet soon won the hearts of the people. There were no Munafiqun in Mecca as there had been in Madina. It was a day of great triumph to Muhammad, for now had 'the mercy' of God come upon them. 235 Eight years before he had left Mecca as a fugitive, a despised outcast. Since then the Quraish had been unwearing in their opposition and now that was at an end. The sacred city was in his possession and his word was law. He had stood in the temple, sacred for many centuries to the worship of al-Lat and al-'Uzza and a host of inferior deities, and with a word had banished for ever idolatry from it. He by his own authority had now appointed new officers to it, and made it the centre of the new religion. No wonder that success so great caused Islam to spread most rapidly now. At last it seemed as if the Arab people would be united as they had never been before: at last the patriotic feelings of the Prophet seemed near their realization, and Arabia united and free—a political and a religious whole—would more than resist the enemies who but a few years before had been encroaching on her territories, and threatening her very existence.
Whilst, however, serious opposition was now at an end, yet a few places still held out, and within a fortnight Muhammad had to march against the Huwazin Bedouins, who with the people of Ta'if saw in the fall of Mecca a danger to their own independence. A battle was fought in the valley of Hunain. At first a panic seized some of the Muslim troops and they gave way and the whole army began to take to flight. The position was critical, and Muhammad bade his uncle 'Abba's cry out: 'O! Men of Madina! O! Men of the tree of fealty! 236 Ye of the Sura Al-Baqarah!' and so on. The flight of some was arrested, when Muhammad ascending a mound and taking some gravel in his hand cast it towards the enemy, saying, 'Ruin seize them!' The tide of battle turned and the enemy were at last utterly routed. As usual, a revelation came in connexion with this battle and the initial reverse is attributed to the vain-glory the Muslims showed in their numbers. Thus:—
Now hath God helped you on many battle-fields, and on the day of Hunain, when ye prided yourselves on your numbers; but it availed you nothing, and the earth with all its breadth became too strait for you; then turned ye your backs in flight. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 25.
In the next verse the final victory is attributed to supernatural aid:—
Then did God send down His spirit of repose 237 upon His Apostle and upon the faithful, and He sent down the hosts which ye saw not and He punished the infidels.
The Prophet next laid siege to the city of Ta'if, but was unsuccessful. After a few weeks the siege was raised; but when ten months had passed the people of Ta'if submitted to him.
He now gave from the spoils of the Huwazin large presents to the leading chiefs of Mecca and of the Bedouin tribes, who had become converts, at which his old followers and friends were somewhat annoyed and made discontented. But later on a revelation came to justify his action even in a small matter like this:—
Some of them defame thee in regard to the alms, yet if a part be given them they are content, but if no part be given them, behold, they are angry . . . .
Would that they were satisfied with what God and His Apostle had given them and would say, 'God sufficeth us, God will vouchsafe to us of His favour and so will His Apostle: verily unto God do we make our suit.'
But alms are only to be given to the poor and needy and those who collect them, and to those whose hearts are reconciled (to Islam). Sura At-Taubah (ix) 58-60. 238
The alms were, in the case of the chiefs who received rich presents, very much of the nature of a bribe, and naturally the men of Madina objected to the procedure. The words ' those whose hearts are reconciled to Islam' are said by the commentators to be now abrogated, for Abu Bakr abolished the making of these gifts to converts, because God had now prospered Islam and so such gifts were no longer needed. 239
The ninth year after the Hijra is called the 'Year of the Deputations,' for now that Mecca and the Ka'ba had passed into the possession of Muhammad, his fame became great and tribe after tribe made their submission. The historian Ibn Ishaq rightly estimated the moral value of these conversions. He says: 'As soon as Mecca was conquered and the Quraish had submitted to him, being humbled by Islam, the Arabs, understanding that they themselves had not the power to oppose Muhammad and make war against him, professed the faith of Allah.' Bands of Muslims under active leaders scoured the country, and the permission given to non-Muslims to visit the temple was now annulled and the order was:—
When the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them, and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush; but if they shall convert and observe prayer and pay the obligatory alms then let them go their way. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 5.
It has been said that this famous verse, known as the Ayatu's-Saif, or 'verse of the sword,' abrogates the restriction which did not allow the Muslims to commence a war and which is recorded in the verse:—
Fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you: but commit not the injustice of attacking them first. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 186 [190]. 240
It even does more, for it also abrogates 241 the kindly words of an earlier Meccan revelation:—
Dispute not unless in kindly sort with the people of the Book. Sura Al-'Ankabut (xxix) 45. [46]
In any case the Arabs now saw that further opposition was useless. The whole framework of society was broken; it needed reconstruction and Muhammad alone had the power to do it. Thus, the movement towards Islam now assumed the character of a national one, and the very man, who had for so many years been the cause of disputes and wars, now became the acknowledged leader and head of an united Arabia. In this way were the Prophet's early desires fulfilled.
Submission to the political rule involved acceptance, on the part of him who submitted, of the religion of Islam, an essential tenet of which was that he 'should not only submit to its teaching and adopt its ritual and code of ethics, but also render an implicit obedience in all things "to the Lord and His Prophet," and that he should pay tithes annually (not indeed as a tribute, but as a religious offering which sanctified the rest of his wealth), towards the charities and expenses of Muhammad and his growing empire.' 242
A little while after this, in the autumn of the year A.D. 630, an armed force was sent towards the Syrian frontier, where the Emperor Heraclius was reported to be collecting a large body of the feudatory tribes with a view to stop the inroads of the Muslims, or to invade Arabia. The state of affairs seemed critical, and the Muslim army, now collected to withstand the Byzantines and their allies, was the most powerful one Muhammad had ever been able to raise and organize. When the expedition, after much difficulty and suffering, reached Tabuq, a place midway between Madina and Damascus, it was found that the report of the Roman preparations had been an exaggerated one, and that the Emperor had changed his mind and had gone away. Muhammad then turned his attention to the position of various Christian and Jewish tribes. John, the Christian Prince of Ailah, made a treaty with the Prophet and agreed to pay an annual tribute. The most interesting embassy to the Prophet was that of the Christians of Najran headed by their Bishop, Abu Haritha. They refused to accept Islam or to agree to Muhammad's proposal 'Come let us curse each other and lay the curse of Allah on those that lie.' Finally they agreed to pay the poll-tax which all non-Muslims had to give. 243 This event is referred to in the following verses of the Qur'an:— 244
Verily, Jesus is as Adam in the sight of God. He created him of dust; He then said to him, 'Be—and he was.'
The truth is from thy Lord. Be not thou, therefore, of those who doubt.
As for those who dispute with thee about Him, after the knowledge 245 hath come to thee, say, 'Come, let us summon our sons and your sons, our wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves. Then will we invoke and lay the curse of God on those who lie.' Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 52-4. [59-61]
The idea of settling the matter by imprecation was a curious one, but it shows how strong the conviction of the truth of his own position was in the mind of Muhammad. Some Jewish tribes also submitted, and promised to give regularly the tax required of them. Muhammad then returned home from this his last expedition and reached Madina at the close of the year A.D. 630.
Whilst some of the Muslims now at Madina and many of the Bedouins held back, the more earnest Muslims had been very eager to aid in the war against the Christian Syrians and the disaffected Arab tribes, but carriage and supplies could not be provided for all. Those whose services could not be utilized in the expedition to Tabuk (ante, p. 157) wept bitterly, and were ever after called al-Baka'un—'The Weepers.' They are told that no blame attaches to those:—
To whom when they came to thee thou didst say, 'I find not wherewith to mount you,' and they turned away their eyes shedding floods of tears for grief, because they found no means to contribute. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 93. [92]
But amongst those who went some were halfhearted. One said to his friends: 'This man wants to conquer the forts and districts of the country of Syria, which is not likely to happen.' Then one who was present rebuked the speaker and said that he hoped some verse would be revealed concerning such wicked conversation. Meanwhile, Muhammad had been supernaturally informed of this murmuring. On knowing this, the Hypocrites were afraid and said that they had spoken only in fun. Then came the revelation:—
The hypocrites are afraid lest a Sura should be sent down concerning them, to tell plainly what is in their hearts. Say: Scoff ye, but God will bring to light that which ye are afraid of.
And if thou question them, they will surely say, 'We were only discoursing and jesting.' Say: What! do ye scoff at God, 246 and His signs, and His Apostle?
Make no excuse: from faith ye have passed to infidelity. If we forgive some of you, we will punish others; for that they have been evil-doers. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 65-7. [64-66]
Persons who asked troublesome questions were now rebuked. On the authority of Muslim and other Traditionists, Nöldeke 247 says that when the command for the Hajj was given, a man enquired of Muhammad whether he must go every year. The Prophet being annoyed said, 'Yes, you may.' He then produced this revelation:—
O believers, ask us not of things which if they were told might only pain you. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 101.
This verse may, however, refer to the following verse which treats of some Meccan superstitions. Some commentators say that it refers to general matters. Baidawi has a good note on it (vol. i, p. 274).
Some of the disaffected—the Hypocrites—at Madina, who had not followed the Prophet in this expedition, on his return home were severely rebuked. Special revelations, which commentators agree in referring to the war of Tabuk, 248 came to reprove them and the Arabs of the desert also, and to warn others:—
O Believers! what possessed you, that when it was said to you, 'March forth on the way of God,' ye sank heavily earthwards? What! prefer ye the life of this world to the next?
Unless ye march forth, with a grievous chastisement will He chastise you, and He will place another people in your stead, and ye shall in no way harm Him: for over every thing God is potent. 249
March ye forth the light and heavy armed and contend with your substance and your persons on the way of God. This, if ye know it, will be better for you.
Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would certainly have followed thee, but the way seemed long to them, yet will they swear by God: 'Had we been able we had surely gone forth with you;' they are self-destroyers! And God knoweth that they are surely liars.
God forgive thee! Why didst thou give them leave to stay behind, ere they who made true excuses had become known to thee, and thou hadst known the liars?
They only will ask thy leave who believe not in God and in the last day, and whose hearts are full of doubts and who are tossed up and down in their doubtings.
Moreover, had they been desirous to take the field, they would have got ready for that purpose the munitions of war. But God was averse to their marching forth and made them laggards.
Had they taken the field with you, they would only have added a burden to you and have hurried about among you, stirring you up to sedition. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 38-9: 41-3: 45-7.
They who were left at home were delighted to stay behind God's Apostle, and were averse from contending with their riches and their persons for the cause of God and said, 'March not out in the heat.' Say, 'A fiercer heat will be the fire of hell.' Would that they understood this. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 82. [81]
When a Sura was sent down with 'Believe in God and go forth to war with the Apostle,' those of them who are possessed of riches demanded exemption and said, 'Allow us to be with those who sit at home'. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 87 [86]. 250
The faithless Bedouins are severely rebuked thus:—
Some Arabs of the desert came with excuses, praying exemption; and they who had gainsaid God and His Apostle sat at home; a grievous punishment shall light on such of them as believe not. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 91. [90]
The Arabs of the desert are most stout in unbelief and dissimulation . . . .
Of the Arabs of the desert there are some who reckon what they expend in the cause of God as tribute and wait for some change of fortune to befall you; a change for evil shall befall them! God is the Hearer, the Knower. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 98-9. [97-98]
Thus, all who held back are rebuked, and the Prophet and those who went are highly commended and told that 'all good things' await them, for God hath made for them 'gardens beneath which the rivers flow' where there is bliss for ever. 251 Some believers afterwards confessed their fault and were forgiven, but the Prophet was told to take of their substance in order to cleanse and purify them. Some others were kept waiting before a decision was given in their favour, but at last they too were pardoned:—
Others have owned their faults, and with an action that is right they have mixed another that is wrong. God will haply be turned to them, for God is Forgiving, Merciful.
Take alms of their substance, that thou mayest cleanse and purify them thereby and pray for them; for thy prayers shall assure their minds: and God Heareth. Knoweth. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 103-4. [102-103]
The tenth [106] verse in the same Sura:—
And others await the decisions of God, whether He will punish them, or whether He will be turned unto them, for God is Knowing, Wise.
is said to have special reference to Ka'b ibn Malik, a warrior, who had received eleven wounds at Uhud. He was also a poet. He and two of his friends had no valid reason for not going to Tabuk and their defection set a bad example. Their conduct could not be passed over in silence. They were excommunicated for fifty days and prohibited from holding any intercourse with their wives or families. Then Muhammad, seeing their miserable condition, relented and this revelation came:—
He hath turned Him unto the three who were left behind, so that the earth, spacious as it is, became too strait for them, and their souls became so straitened within them, that they bethought them that there was no refuge from God but unto Himself. Then was He turned to them, that they might be turned to Him, for God is He that turneth, the Merciful. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 119. [118]
This ninth Sura is the last one, or the last but one, revealed. 252 It is fierce and intolerant, and shows how advancing years, instead of mellowing and softening the temper of the Prophet, only developed his warlike spirit which loved to receive the supposed divine injunction:—
O Prophet! contend against the infidels and the hypocrites and be rigorous with them: Hell shall be their dwelling place! Wretched the journey thither! Sura At-Taubah (ix) 74 [73]. 253
Whilst the call to arms is general Muhammad exempted students and religious teachers:—
The faithful must not march forth altogether to the wars: and if a party of every band march not out, it is that they may instruct their people in their religion and may warn their people when they come back to them, that they take heed to themselves. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 123. [122]
As Muhammad was preparing to go to Tabuk he was asked to open a newly-erected Mosque at Kuba. He found on his return that it had been built with a sectarian spirit, so he ordered it to be destroyed and said:—
There are some who have built a Mosque for mischief and for infidelity and to disunite the faithful and in expectation of him, who in time past warred against God and His Apostle. They will surely swear 'our aim was only good;' but God is witness that they are liars.
Never set thy foot in it. 254 There is a Mosque founded from its first day in piety. More worthy is it that thou enter therein; therein are men who aspire to purity and God loveth the purified.
Which of the two is best? He who hath founded his building on the fear of God and the desire to please Him, or he who hath founded his building on the brink of an undermined bank washed away by torrents, so that it rusheth with him into the fire of Hell? But God guideth not the doers of wrong.
Their building which they have built will not cease to cause uneasiness in their hearts, until their hearts are cut in pieces. God is Knowing, Wise. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 108-110. [107-110]
The expedition to Tabuk was the last one commanded by Muhammad in person, and now it seemed 'as if all opposition' was crushed, all danger over. 255 There is a Tradition to the effect that the followers of the Prophet began to sell their arms and to say, 'The wars for religion are now ended.' But when this reached the ears of the Prophet, he forbade it saying, 'There shall not cease from the midst of my people a party engaged in war for the truth, even until Antichrist appear.' 256 Whether the Tradition is a genuine one or not, it shows at least the views which the early Muslims held as to religious wars and is quite in accord with the Tradition already referred to, 257 Jihad will remain till the day of judgement.'
The compulsion of the Jews and Christians, after the expedition to Tabuk, is sanctioned in some verses of Sura At-Taubah (ix), which the best authorities place soon after that date:—
Make war upon those who believe not in God, nor in the last day, and who forbid not that which God and His Apostle have forbidden and who profess not the profession of the truth, until they pay tribute out of hand, and they be humbled.
The Jews say, 'Ezra ('Uzair) is a son of God,' and the Christians say, 'The Messiah is a son of God.' Such the sayings in their mouths. They resemble the saying of the infidels of old! God do battle with them! 258 How are they misguided!
They take their teachers and their monks and their Messiah, son of Mary, for lords besides God 259 though bidden to worship one God only. There is no god but He. Far from His glory be what they associate with Him.
Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths: 260 but God only desireth to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.
He it is who hath sent His Apostle with the guidance and a religion of the truth, that he may make it victorious over every religion, 261 albeit they who assign partners to God be averse from it.
O Believers! of a truth, many of the teachers and monks do devour man's substance in vanity, and turn them from the way of God. But to those who treasure up gold and silver and expend it not in the way of God, announce tidings of a grievous torment;
On that day when it shall be heated in the fire of hell and their brows shall be branded therewith and their sides and their backs. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 29-35. 262
These verses connected with the Prophet’s last warlike expedition, an expedition entirely concerned with the submission of Christian and Jewish communities, may be fairly taken as his final and deliberate opinion as to the future relation of Islam to these creeds and people.
The last Sura, Sura Al-Ma'idah (v), contains a verse (56) similar in tone to those just quoted, but it is probably an interpolation in this Sura and its date is said to be just after the battle of Uhud. 263 If this is so, it simply shows that the final injunction in the ninth Sura regarding Jews and Christians was no hasty opinion, called forth by special circumstances, but the development of a principle settled some years before. The verse is:—
O ye who believe, take not the Jews and Christians as your friends, for they are but one another's friends; whoso amongst you taketh them for friends, verily he is one of them, 264 and verily God guideth not unjust people. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 56 [51]. 265
Thus did Muhammad finally part company with those for whom, in the earlier stages of his career, he had professed respect, whose sacred books he had referred to with reverence, and from whose teaching he had borrowed all that was good in his own. Having now arrived at supreme power he could afford to cast aside all that had helped him on his way, and all this he now brought into subjection to himself. 266
It cannot be maintained, though it has been said, that Islam was or is propagated by peaceful methods alone. 267 It is admitted that such has sometimes been the case, and also that some forms of Christianity have been propagated by force; but the real point is, that the employment of force is neither according to the spirit nor to the injunctions of the founder of Christianity: it is, however, in accordance with the mind and in conformity with the actions of Muhammad whose last words to his people on the point are plain. So long as Islam lives will these words ring in the ears of every orthodox Muslim, 'God do battle with them!' The legacy of the Prophet is no word of peace, but an inspiring war cry which as years roll on ever keeps alive a fanatical spirit. It is a sad ending to the life work of so great a man. 268 At the same time it may also be admitted that where Islam is modified by contact with higher civilizations, as in India, the spirit of intolerance which the Sura At-Taubah (ix) inculcates is much lessened. Amongst Muslims of the new school a friendly spirit towards men of other creeds is becoming more and more common: but this is a welcome departure from its earliest principles.
Prayer for unbelievers, though relatives, is now forbidden, yet Abraham prayed for his father thus: 'Forgive my father, for he was one of the erring.' Sura Ash-Shu'ara' (xxvi) 86. The tolerant attitude of earlier days was now set aside, still the alteration had to be explained and the next verse attempts to justify this new position of intolerance.
This idea of the sacred war incumbent upon all the faithful was only gradually arrived at. This conception that all 'the religion should be of God,' that Islam should be supreme, was a grand one, and as political power increased it took clearer shape in the Prophet's mind. He had now left far behind such sentiments as were expressed at the latter part of the Meccan period:—
Dispute ye not, unless in kindliest sort, with the people of the Book. Sura Al-'Ankabut (xxix) 45 [46]. 269
He had forgotten the excellent advice he once gave to his followers, some seven or eight years previously, when they first came to Madina and were feeling their way with Jews, Christians and pagans. He then said:—
Let there be no compulsion in religion. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 257 [256]. 270
It was all different now; there was to be the most absolute compulsion; but a victorious leader could assume a position and dictate in a way a fugitive preacher with a position yet to make could not. 'The intoxication of success had long since stilled the voice of his better self. The aged Prophet, standing on the brink of the grave, and leaving as his last legacy a mandate of universal war, irresistibly recalls, by force of contrast, the parting words to his disciples by another religious teacher, that they should go forth and preach a Gospel of peace to all nations. Nor less striking in their contrast is the response to either mandate—the Arab, with the Qur'an in one hand and the sword in the other, spreading his creed amid the glare of burning cities and the shrieks of violated homes—and the apostles of Christ working in the moral darkness of the Roman world with the gentle but irresistible power of light, laying anew the foundations of society and cleansing at their source the polluted springs of national and domestic life.' 271
In the one hundred and third verse of the second Sura the Jews are represented as wishing to lead the Muslims astray, and the latter are told to be patient and forgiving:—
Many of the people of the Book desire to bring you back to unbelief after ye have believed, out of selfish envy, even after the truth hath been clearly shown to them. But forgive them and shun them till God shall come in with His working. Truly God hath power over all things. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 103. [109]
According to the commentators Mu'alim and Mazhar the Jews were those who, after the defeat of the Muslims in the battle of Uhud, reproached them and said that it proved their religion to be false. They were to be patient with them till the order for killing came. Other commentators say it is abrogated by the verse of Jihad. 272
Husain interprets the words 'till God shall come in with His working,' 273 as meaning 'till the time when God brings the order for killing or for the imposition of the jizya, or poll-tax.'
Thus it is clear that, however desirous Muhammad may have been, when his position was weakened after his defeat at Uhud, to conciliate the Jews, who were then a source of danger, it was only a temporary expedient and Muslim authorities do not consider it binding on them now that the 'verse of killing' has been revealed.
Muhammad did not go to Mecca at the usual time of the annual pilgrimage, for heathen people were still present; 274 so in the ninth year of the Hijra he sent Abu Bakr with a small body of pilgrims. Still this condition of things could not be allowed to go on, and so a revelation came releasing the Prophet from any obligation to respect the heathen Arabs. This revelation was given by Muhammad to 'Ali, who, starting after Abu Bakr and the pilgrims had left, joined him and his party at Mecca. Towards the close of the pilgrimage, 'Ali read out the revelation, which Muhammad had given him as God's message, to a large multitude of the Arabs assembled for the pilgrimage. 275 The opening words are:—
An immunity from God and His Apostle to those polytheists with whom ye have made a league among the polytheist Arabs.
Go ye, therefore, at large in the land four months; but know that God ye shall not weaken, 276 and that God will put to shame the infidels.
And a proclamation on the part of God and His Apostle to the people on the day of the greater Pilgrimage, 277 that God and His Apostle are free from any engagement with the polytheists. 278 If therefore ye turn to God it will be better for you; but if ye turn back, then know that ye shall not weaken God, and to those who believe not announce a grievous punishment.
But this concerneth not those polytheists with whom ye are in league, and who shall afterwards have in no way failed you, nor aided any one against you. Observe, therefore, engagement with them through the whole time of their treaty, for God loveth those who fear Him.
And when the sacred months are past, kill those who join other gods with God wherever ye shall find them, and seize them, besiege them, and lay wait for them with every kind of ambush; but if they repent and observe the prayers, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God is Gracious, Merciful. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 1-5.
There is apparent contradiction between the first verse which declares Muhammad's immunity and freedom from the observance of treaties and the fourth verse which speaks of a league with friendly polytheists. The explanation probably is that, whilst as polytheists they could not be allowed to come to the pilgrimage, the treaty with them would, in other respects, be observed. The pilgrims who were still unbelievers listened to all that 'Ali had to say, including the statement:—
O Believers! only the polytheists are unclean! Let them (i.e., pagans) not, therefore, after this year come near the Sacred Temple. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 28.
This order was so clear and distinct, and was now so well supported by material force that there was nothing to do but to submit, which the Arabs then did.
All opposition had now been broken down, and, as the Ka'ba was purged of all idolatrous connexions and none but believers might enter it, Muhammad determined to make the 'Greater Pilgrimage' in this the tenth year of the Hijra. It is said that he was attended by more than one hundred thousand persons. After the circumambulation was over he turned to the Maqam-i-Ibrahim, or Place of Abraham, and said, 'consider the Place of Abraham as a place of prayer.' He then said the Fatihah, the opening Sura of the Qur'an, then Sura Al-Kafirun (cix), then the Sura Al-Ikhlas (cxii).. He then went most carefully through the whole ceremonial, including the kissing of the black stone and the drinking of water from the sacred well, and all other of the old pagan rites. 279 The opportunity was taken to deliver an address on inheritance, adultery, treatment of women, who on occasion were to be 'beaten with stripes, yet not severely,' on slaves, and on the equality of Muslims. The portion 280 of the Sura At-Taubah (ix) abolishing the triennial intercalation of a month to reduce the lunar to the solar years was recited, and the month of the Pilgrimage fixed according to the changing seasons of the lunar year. This change seriously affected the commerce of Mecca, though the institution of the Hajj, with the large number of pilgrims it brings to the city, to some extent compensated for it. 'Previously by unscientific intercalation the months had been made to correspond roughly with the seasons; Muhammad, by now making twelve lunar months, destroyed all relation between them. Of any accommodation of the Pilgrimage months to the needs of commerce there would no longer be any question . . . . The commerce of Mecca was ruined.' 281
On one of the days he went to the top of the Mount 'Arafat and then, standing erect on his camel, said:— 282
This day I have perfected your religion unto you and fulfilled my mercy upon you, and appointed Islam to be your religion. 283 Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 5. [3]
He then proceeded to Muzdalifah, said the Salatu'l-Maghrib and the Salatu'l-'Isha—the sunset and the evening prayers—with the Adhan or call to prayer and the Iqamat, a repetition of the Adhan with the addition of the words, 'Prayer has commenced.' In the morning he visited the holy monument (now the mosque Masharu'l-Haram) and repeated the Takbir, Allahu Akbar, 'God is most great;' the Tahlil, 'There is no god but God;' the Ta'awwudh, 'I seek refuge from cursed Satan.' He then went through the ceremonies, sanctioned by ancient Arab custom, of throwing stones at certain pillars in the valley of Mina and so concluded the pilgrimage.
Thus, the incorporation of this pagan rite completed and perfected the religion, which the Arabian Prophet left to his countrymen as that which superseded and abrogated all previous ones.
The Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) contains the revelations enjoining the duty of performing the Hajj. Thus:—
Proclaim to the people a Pilgrimage.
Let them bring the neglect of their persons to a close, 284 and let them pay their vows and circuit the Ancient House (i.e., Ka'ba).
Ye may obtain advantages from the cattle up to the set time for slaying them: then the place for sacrificing them is at the Ancient House. Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) 28, 30, 34.[27, 29, 33]
This Sura is a composite one: part was revealed at Mecca and part at Madina. It is not easy to say when the words just quoted were revealed, but in all probability they are Madina verses, given about the time of the 'Umra, or the Lesser Pilgrimage, which was made in the sixth year of the Hijra.
Anyhow, to these commands given some years before, Muhammad now gave the sanction of his own action, and henceforth the Hajj, or Pilgrimage, became one of the necessary religious acts of every Muslim. At that time this was undoubtedly a politic thing to do, for this recognition of the national sanctuary as the local centre of Islam and the annual rendezvous of its votaries appealed to the sentiment of all the Arab people, and especially to the Quraish who lived in Mecca. It was the one thing they all had in common with the Muslims, and so the continued existence of the pilgrimage pleased them well and drew them towards Islam. It was from Muhammad's then standpoint a wise thing also to retain the ancient ceremonies of the Pilgrimage. 285 The Ka'ba, with all connected with it, was the object of universal reverence by the Arab people. The sentiment involved in this was the most obvious means of uniting the various Arab tribes, long disunited, into one vast confederation for one great purpose. But it has really proved a source of weakness since, for it has emphasized the fact that Islam started and was formed as a national religion, and that rules and laws adapted to the needs and requirements of the Arabs of the seventh century are binding on peoples the most diverse in the nineteenth. It helps to keep Islam stationary. 'The dead hand of the short-sighted author of the Qur'an is on the throat of every Muhammadan nation, and it is this claim which stultifies it in the view of any one who has studied other religions. It bears the marks of immaturity on every part of it. It proves itself to be a religion only for the childhood of a race by its minute prescriptions, its detailed precepts, its observances, its appeals to fear.' 286 The keystone of that creed is a black pebble in what was a heathen temple: a journey thither, and the performance of old pagan rites when there, are said to be the surest way to salvation. 'Chained to a black stone in a barren wilderness, the heart and reason of the Muhammadan world would seem to have taken the similitude of the objects they reverence; and the refreshing dews and general sunshine, which fertilize all else, seek in vain for anything to quicken there.' 287
All this is quite true of the obstacle the Pilgrimage places in the way of any enlightened reform, which can only take place when the Islamic institutions show that they are capable of modification, and this the continued obligation of the Hajj shows that they are not; 288 but, on the other hand, it must be admitted that the retention of the Hajj has tended to preserve Muslim orthodoxy, has renewed from time to time the faith of the believers, and has shown to countless millions of Muslims, in the centuries which have come and gone, how Islam has united into a great brotherhood races diverse in language, colour and character, and has produced in them a passionate devotion to the memory of their Prophet. 289 'Mecca is to the Muslim what Jerusalem is to the Jew. It bears with it all the influence of centuries of associations. It carries the Muslim back to the cradle of his faith, the childhood of his Prophet; it reminds him of the struggle between the old faith and the new, of the overthrow of the idols, and the establishment of the One God. Most of all, it bids him remember that all his brother Muslims are worshipping toward the same sacred spot; that he is one of a great company of believers, united by one faith, filled with the same hopes, reverencing the same things, worshipping the same God. Muhammad showed his knowledge of the religious emotions in man when he preserved the sanctity of the temple of Mecca.' 290 Thus, in one way, the retention of the Hajj strengthens the orthodox system of Islam, but the more it does so, the less hope there is of reform and enlightened progress. From this point of view the adoption of the pagan Pilgrimage into the Islamic system was not only a weak concession to the sentiment of an idolatrous people, but it was also a grave error of judgement.
This brings us to the conclusion of the main historical events as they are referred to in the Qur'an, but there are many other topics which we have not touched upon. Political matters, such as the formation of treaties, the conduct of the disaffected, and the treatment of allies, all now find a place in the Qur'an. Civil matters, such as laws for marriage, divorce, inheritance, evidence, wills and so on are also treated of, and the Qur'an becomes the record wherein are contained the rules and regulations of a theocratic government. 291 For the most part these occur in the Madina Suras. The second, fourth and fifth Suras, equivalent in length to about one-seventh part of the Qur'an, deal very fully with religious and civil duties and penal regulations. It is the weakness of Islam that in all these matters it claims to be a final and perfect revelation. It is not, as Judaism was, a local and temporary system, leading men on to fuller truth; for it asserts itself as the universal and final religion. Some of its laws may have been judicious, as a temporary expedient with barbarous races, but they are intolerable when 'proclaimed as the ultimate voice of conscience.'
It has been said, 'considered as delivered only to pagan Arabs, the religious, moral and civil precepts of the Qur'an are admirable. The error of their author was in delivering them to others beside pagan Arabs.' The temporary reform, being exalted to the position of a divine unchangeable system, then effectually and for ever blocks the road to greater and more permanent reform. In all this Muhammad showed his ignorance, for it can hardly be supposed that he knew anything of the government or laws of the great Roman Empire; and he certainly knew nothing of the real teaching of Jesus Christ. Had he known these things he would have seen how superior was the great legal system he sought to supersede, how much higher the Christian morality he endeavoured to set aside. A great historian remarks thus: 'A man, himself sincere and righteous, the greatest of reformers and benefactors to his own people, a preacher and legislator of truth and civilization, has eventually done more than any other mortal man to hinder the progress alike of truth and of civilization. The religious reformer has checked the advance of Christianity; the political reformer has checked the advance of freedom and indeed of organized government in any shape; the moral reformer has set his seal to the fearful evils of polygamy and slavery.' 292
It has been well said, 'He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader, at Madina is the legislator and warrior, who dictates obedience and uses other weapons than the pen of the poet and the scribe. When business pressed as at Madina, poetry made way for prose, and although touches of the poetical element occasionally break forth, and he has to defend himself up to a very late period against the charge of being merely a poet, 293 yet this is rarely the case in the Madina Suras: and we are startled by finding obedience to God and the Apostle, God's gifts and the Apostle's, God's pleasure and the Apostle's spoken of in the same breath, and epithets and attributes, elsewhere applied to Allah, openly applied to himself.' 294
The phrase 'God and His Apostle' is a very common one in the Madina Suras and is peculiar to them. 295 The Prophet had now passed from the position of a preacher and a warner to that of a ruler of a theocratic State, and his orders are now given, in regard to a great variety of matters, with all the force of a divine sanction. The infidels are described as those who believe not and who turn their backs on God's revelation; but to the faithful it is said:—
Believe then in God and His Apostle, and in the light which we have sent down. Sura At-Taghabun (lxiv) 8. 296
Opposition to God and opposition to the Prophet are placed together as deserving equal punishment:—
And whoso shall oppose God and His Apostle verily God will be severe in punishment. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 13.
The faithful are called to the opposite course of conduct:—
Obey God and His Apostle, and turn not away from him 297 now that ye hear the truth.
When we have taken any booty know that a fifth part belongeth to God and His Apostle. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 20, 42. [20, 41]
The believers often needed encouragement in war. They are bidden to stand firm before the enemy, but the condition of success is to:—
Obey God and His Apostle. Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 48. [46]
Whoso obeyeth the Apostle in so doing obeyeth God. Sura An-Nisa' (iv) 82. [80]
The unbelievers can do God no injury, for He will bring their deeds to nought, and so it is said:—
Believers! Obey God and His Apostle, and render not your works vain. Sura Muhammad (xlvii) 35. [33]
The remembrance of Him to whom the heavens and the earth belong, who brings about the revolution of day and night, and knows the secrets of all hearts, should lead men to:—
Believe in God and His Apostle. Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 7.
Men of truth are they, to whom a double portion of mercy will be shown, on whose path divine light shall shine, who have believed in God and His Apostle in such wise as that they now:—
Fear God and believe in His Apostle. Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 28.
When the faithful saw the men of Mecca besieging Madina and that they fought but little, they said:—
This is what God and His Apostle promised us, and God and His Apostle spoke truly. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 22.
A great reward will be given in the future life to those who look on God and His Apostle:—
If ye desire God and His Apostle and a home in the next life, then truly God hath prepared for those of you who are virtuous a great reward. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 29. 298
But cursed shall they be in this world and in the next who:—
Affront God and His Apostle. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 57. 299
The day will come when their faces shall be rolled in the fire, and in their bitter torment they will reflect on the past and say:—
Oh! that we had obeyed God and obeyed the Apostle. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 66.
Those who for a while believe and then draw back cannot escape the punishment due to them, for it is said:—
And when they are summoned before God and His Apostle, that He may judge between them. Sura An-Nur (xxiv) 46. [48]
In the last Sura but one believers are exhorted never to allow the claims of wealth, family and home to draw them away from God and His Apostle, who should be dearer to them than all else beside. A final warning is given which shows how the bitterness of feeling against opposition deepened in the Prophet's mind as time went on:—
Know they not, that for him who opposeth God and His Apostle is surely the fire of Hell in which he shall remain for ever. 300 Sura At-Taubah (ix) 64. [63]
The recompense of those who war against God and His Apostle, and go about to commit disorders on the earth, shall be that they shall all be slain or crucified, or have their alternate hands and feet cut off, or be banished the land. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 38. [33]
In the last verse but one of the ninth Sura Muhammad claims some of the characteristics usually ascribed to God:—
Now hath an Apostle come to you from among yourselves, your iniquities press heavily on him: he is careful over you and towards the faithful, compassionate, merciful. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 129 [128]. 301
These are only a few of the many passages of the kind. This linking together of his authority as coordinate with that of God; this strong claim to the same obedience; this clear declaration of punishment for disobedience to his orders and those of God: all these are distinguishing marks of the Prophet's consciousness of growing power at Madina, leading him on to the bold assumption of a position he would not have ventured to take, or at all events did not take, in the earlier days when he dwelt at Mecca.
There is a very marked difference in the style of the Madina Suras. The language is prosaic and the poetic fire so prominent in the early Meccan Suras has died out, still there are occasional passages of great beauty, which no translation can do justice to, such as:—
God! There is no god but He;
The Living, the Eternal.
Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep.
His, whatsoever is in the heavens, and
Whatsoever is in the earth.
Who is it that intercedes with Him save by His permission?
He knoweth what is before and what is behind them,
Yet nought of His knowledge shall they grasp, save what He pleases.
His throne reacheth over the heavens and the earth,
And it tires Him not to guard them both,
He is the High, the Great.
Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 256 [255]. 302
He maketh alive and killeth, He hath power over all things,
He is the First and the Last;
The Seen and the Hidden He all things doth know.
Sura Al-Hadid (lvii) 2-3.
The Arabic arrangement of the contents of the Qur'an is so confused that it conveys no idea whatever of the growth of any plan in the mind of the Prophet, and it is extremely difficult for the reader to get much intelligible historical information from it; but when the chapters are placed together, with some regard to chronological order, it is possible, as we have tried to show, to trace a gradual development of the purpose Muhammad had in view in establishing the theocratic system of Islam. The Qur'an when thus read possesses an attractive interest, as we see in it the workings of the mind of one who, whatever view we may take of his claims and position, was undoubtedly a great man. It is only by reading it in this way that the gradual change of style also is noticed. Critics of the Qur'an, who look at it from the chronological standpoint, note the tediousness of the later Suras. It has been well said that 'if it were not for the exquisite flexibility of the Arabic language itself, which, however, is to be attributed more to the age in which the author lived than to his individuality, it would be scarcely bearable to read the latter portions of the Qur'an a second time.' Stanley Lane-Poole says that 'but for the rich eloquence of the old Arabic tongue, which gives some charm even to inextricable sentences and dull stories, the Qur'an at this period would be unreadable. As it is we feel we have fallen from poetry to prose, and the matter of the prose is not so superlative as to give us amends for the loss of the poetic thought of the earlier time and the musical fall of the sentences.' 303
References
93. In after years, the Imam Malik and others maintained that Madina was superior to Mecca. See Ibn Khaldun, vol. ii, p. 270.
94. The Ansar seized the bridle of his camel and entreated him to stay and reside with them. He said: 'Let the camel go on, for she will obey the order of God.' Mas'udi, Muruju'dh-Dhahahab, vol. iv, p. 139.
95. This Sura, however, is a late Meccan one, so if the reference is correct these verses must have been placed in it after the Hijra; those who deny this say that, the reference is to the refugees who went to Abyssinia (ante, p. 30). The commentator Husain says that the reference in verse forty-three is to the flight to Abyssinia, but that the 'goodly abode' is Madina and that the flight referred to in verse one hundred and eleven [110] is the Hijra:— لِلَّذينَ هَاجَرُوا : مر آنانرا كة هجرت كردند بسوى مدينة
Other verses in this Sura, such as 115-17, 119, are evidently Madina portions.
The Muhajirun are also referred to in the seventy third [72] verse of the Sura Al-Anfal (viii) as having the rights of kinship, but by that time such a bond was no longer needed, and so in verse seventy-six such rights are cancelled, where in contrast with the Muhajirun and the Ansar those who have real blood relationship are to be preferred. The commentator Husain on this verse says:—
اين آیه ناسخ توارث آن جماعت است بسبب هجرت ونصرت ميراث میگیرند
'This verse abrogates the inheriting of those who, on account of the Hijra and the victory, had obtained an inheritance.' Vol. i, p. 246.
96. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 78 is said to refer to this.
97. Mohammed, p. 226.
98. Ibn Ishaq quoted by Koelle in Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 123.
99. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 257 [256]. لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ This verse, however, is much more liberal in appearance than in fact. It applies only to Jews, Christians, Parsees and Sabians, and to them only if they accept the position of Dhimmis and pay the jizya, or poll-tax. As regards the pagan Arab tribes the verse is abrogated by the ايتِ قتال , the 'verse of the killing.' Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 187. They are to be killed unless they become Muslims, as the commentator Husain (vol. i, p. 48) says in the following passage:—
اکراه بة بايد كرد هيجكس را از يهود ونصارى ومجوس وصابيان ببرآوردن اسلام بشرط قبول جزية گفته اند حكم اين آيت بآيت قتال منسوخ است از تمام قبائل عرب جزدين اسلام قبول نبود اما با دیگران قتال بايد كرد تا مسلمان شوند
In the Khulasatu'l-Tafasir we read:—
جهاد وقتال اسلئے نهين ہیں كة خواہ صخواہ لوگ مسلمان بنائں جائين بلكة اسلام نة لائين تو صطيع بنين
'Jihad and killing are not for this purpose that, willingly or unwillingly, people may be made Muslims, but if they do not embrace Islam they must be made submissive.'
Again, ; كافر اسير يا مرتد كا قتل كرنا عقوبةُ هے — 'To imprison an infidel or to kill an apostate (from Islam) is by way of punishment. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 202.
Thus in no sense at all does this verse teach religious liberty, or establish freedom of thought; all that is gained by it is that certain classes may escape death by payment of a poll-tax and by abject submission to the terms of the established religion of the country.
100. Quoted by Koelle in Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 124.
101. See Koelle, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 127.
102. Nöldeke, Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 116.
103. لا تُجَادِلوا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ إلاَّّ بِالَّتى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ إلاَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُم
This verse has caused much perplexity to the Muslim commentators. Husain says it refers only to those who were connected with Muhammad by treaty or were tributaries to Islam, i.e., were Dhimmis. He writes thus:— يا أهل الكتاب يعنى كسانيكة در عهد همند يا جزية قبول كردة اند
'With the people of the Book, i.e., those who are in treaty with you, or pay the jizya (poll-tax).'
Some of the Arabic commentators look on this passage more as a proof of fear of the Jews than as a recommendation to mild dealing. Thus:—
كانَ أهل الكتاب يقرؤون التوراة بالعبرانية ويفسرونها بالعربية لأهل الإِسْلام فقال رسول الله صلعم لا تصدّقوا أهل الكتاب ولا تكذبوهم وقولوا آمنا بالله وما أُنزل
'The possessors of the Scriptures (Jews) read the Law in Hebrew and explain it to the Muslims in Arabic: so the Prophet said: "Neither agree with the possessors of Scripture, nor call them liars, and say we believe on God and that which He hath sent down."
Another account is that a Jew who had just passed by a corpse said to the Prophet:—
فقال محمد هل تتكلم هذه الجنازة، فقال رسول الله صلعم إنْ حدثكم أهل الكتاب فلا تصدقوهم، ولا تكذبوهم ولكن قولوا آمنا بالله وملائكته وكتبه ورسله؛ فإن كان باطلاً لم تصدقوهم، وإنْ كان حقاً لم تكذبوهم
'O Muhammad, does this corpse speak?' He said, 'Neither agree with the possessors of the Scriptures, nor call them liars, but say, we believe in God, His Angels, His word and His Apostles. If what the Jews say is vain, do not confirm it; if it is true, do not give them the lie; ' i.e., preserve a strictly neutral attitude. Geiger, Judaism and Islam, pp. 15, 16.
Baidawi (vol. ii, p. 98) admits that it is said to be abrogated by the fifth verse of Sura At-Taubah (ix), the latest but one of all the Suras in the Qur'an, and that it was repealed when the breach with the Jews was quite complete. It is as follows:— فَاقْتُلُو الْمُشْرِكيْنَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمْوهُمْ
Kill those who join other gods with God wherever Ye shall find them.
This is called the آية السيف, 'The verse of the sword.' It is difficult to see, since it refers to idolaters, or to Christians who were considered to be polytheists, how it can abrogate a verse directly connected with Jews.
This آية السيف is said to abrogate an early Meccan verse delivered when the Prophet's position was not secure. He then said to men who sought for a compromise, 'To you be your religion, to me be my religion'—Sura Al-Kafirun (cix) 6. This position could not be allowed when Islam was strong and hence the reason for the abrogation of such a liberal sentiment. (Ante, p. 9).
104. Rodwell says 'Muhammad rarely accused the Jews and Christians of corrupting, but often of misinterpreting, their sacred books in order to evade his claims. His charges, however, are vaguely worded and his utterances on this subject are tantamount to a strong testimony in favour of the unimpeachable integrity of the sacred Books, both of the Jews and the Christians so far as he knew them.' Rodwell, Qur'an, p 434.
For the testimony of the Qur'an to the Scriptures, see The Testimony of the Qur'an to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures (Agra, 1856) and its Persian translation, Shahadut-i-Qur'ani bar Kutub-i-Rabbani.
105. Several portions of this Sura, however, are Meccan, especially the verses nineteen to thirty-seven. This is seen from the subject matter and also from the use of the term يا أيها النّاس —'O men,' which occurs in verse nineteen. This is not the usual term used when addressing the people of Madina, which is يا أيها الذين آمنوا —'O ye who believe.'
106. The general opinion of the commentators is that the Sabians were a tribe whose religion was a mixture of Judaism and Christianity; they worshipped one God, though some deny this, read the Psalms, prayed towards Mecca and worshipped angels. The meaning of the whole passage is said to be that:—
كوئى جو مسلمان يا كتابى يا غير كتابى جب ايمان لائى اور اجهى كام كرى اس سى خوف نهين
'Whoever, Muslim or Kitabi (i.e., Jew or Christian), or non-Kitabi, believes and does good works has no cause of fear.' Khulasatu-'t-Tafasir, voi. i, p. 40. Rodwell says the Sabians are the Mendaites, or so-called Christians of St. John. See Rodwell, Qur'an, p. 437. For a full account of the Sabians, see S. Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque, pp. 252-88.
107. 'Doeth what is right' means enter Islam with sincere entrance' — دخل في الإِسْلام دخولاً صادقاً — Baidawi, vol. i, p. 64. See also Wherry, Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. i, p. 312.
108. وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلام دِيناً فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهـُوَ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
It is said that this verse abrogates all past religions and all which may arise in the future:—
اس نے ان تمام دبنون كو منسوخ كرديا جو گذر گئے يا بيدا كئے جائين
Khulasatu-'t-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 271.
The text denies the acceptability of any religion which differs therefrom.' Baidawi, vol. i, p. 164.
109. One party of the Jews is represented as upbraiding the other for making known passages taken from the Scriptures which Muhammad might use against them. Baidawi and Jalalu'd-Din say that the words 'hath revealed to you' mean 'was made manifest to you in the Torah regarding Muhammad.' The next verse shows that the charge against the Jews was that of hiding passages supposed to refer to Muhammad, not of corrupting the text, in which, however no passages referring to Muhammad can be found.
110. The Pentateuch.
111. Another class of Jews opposed Muhammad and wrote out passages from their traditional or Rabbinical books and tried to pass them off as genuine Scriptures. They are not charged with altering the text.
112. Baidawi, 'Abdu'llah bin 'Abbas and Husain.
113. There were quarrels between two leading Jewish tribes, each claiming some Scriptural authority for their actions. Muhammad rebukes them and bids them obey the whole of their Scriptures. This is a striking instance of the Qur'anic testimony to the authority of the Old Testament, whole and entire, as it then existed.
114. 'Wrath upon wrath' بِغَضَبٍ عَلَى غَضَبٍ is said by the commentator Mujahid to mean that the first wrath lies on those who reject the Pentateuch, the second on those who reject Muhammad. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol, i, p. 51.
The commentator Husain says that the first wrath lies on those who reject Christ and the Gospels, and the other on those who reject Muhammad and the Qur'an. Vol.i, p.16.
خشمى به انکار عیسی وانجيل وخشمى به انکار محمد وقران
Baidawi explains it as the punishment which follows on disbelief in Muhammad, and in Christ, or on their saying that 'Uzair (Ezra) was the Son of God. Vol. i, p. 72.
115. Baidawi says it means 'the concealing of the divine witness that Abraham was a Hanif, superior to a Jew or a Christian.' شهادة الله لإبراهيم بالحنيفيّة والبراءَة عن اليهوديّة والنصرانيّة
Others say it refers to concealing witness about Muhammad. The charge is of hiding passages not of altering the text.
116. يبش از بعثت انحضرت همه مجتمع بودند بر تصديق وى وبعد ازانكة مبعوث شد مختلف شدند بعضی گرویدند بوى وبرخى كافر شدند
'Before the time of Muhammad, they all looked forward to the coming of a prophet whom they would follow, but when he came they wavered and were divided in opinion; some followed him, and some did not.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 470.
117. Baidawi's comment is, 'turn them in reading and divert them from the revealed words to the fabricated.'
يفتلونها بقراءته فيميلونها عن المنزل إلى المحرف
Again there is no charge of altering the text.
118. The accusation here is that the Jews 'concealed passages in the Pentateuch concerning the praises of Muhammad and the verse of stoning, and that the Christians concealed the prophecy of Jesus given in the Injil concerning Ahmad.' The phrase 'much that ye concealed مِّمَّا كُنتُمْ تُخْفُونَ is explained to mean what has just been stated concerning Jews and Christians.
از آنجهت هستيد كة آن راينهان ميداريد من الكتب از تورات چون نعت محمد مصطفی وآيت رجم واز انجيل جون بشارت عیسی بة احمد
Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 140. Baidawi, vol. i. p. 251.
119. وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلام دِيناً فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ
120. The general interpretation is that this refers to the Qur'an: if to other divine books, then it is said that, as they testify to the coming of Muhammad, the reader must necessarily become a Muslim. It is not held that Jews and Christians accepting only the Old and the New Testaments can be saved. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 549.
The point, however, to notice is that the Old and the New Testaments are here treated as co-ordinate with the Qur'an, and logically the Muslim should accept them all. Practically he does nothing of the kind. This verse is also of great importance, for being in the latest Sura it has run no risk of abrogation, and so stands as a permanent indictment against all Muslims who refuse to accept the teaching of the Bible.
121. The Qur'an.
122. وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقاً لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِناً عَلَيْهِ
The word مُهَيْمِناً is translated by Husain as نگاهبان, 'a guard.'
Thus:— نگاهبان است بر كتب كة محافظت آن ميكند از تغير : مُهَيْمِناًعليةِ
'A guard over the Books which protects them from change.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol i, p. 148.
Baidawi says it is: 'a guardian over all the books'— رقيباً على سائر الكتب
Another commentator says:—
إس آيت مين قران كى فضيلت تمام كتب آسمانى بر ثابت هى اس لئى كة اسے محافظ ـ أمين ـ شاهد ـ أمانت دار تمام كتابون كا قرار ديا بس قران جامع وشامل هى اور هدايت مين كامل
'In this verse the superiority of the Qur'an over all heavenly Books is proved, for to it is the appointment given that it should be their guard, trustee, witness and trusty keeper; but the Qur'an is the compendium comprehending all and in guidance perfect. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 529.
A Qadiani commentator says that the guardianship refers only to what is of permanent value and which has been preserved in the Qur'an and to nothing else. Other matters were corrupted. This is contrary to the view of accepted Muslim commentators, to whom, however, the leaders of the modern Qadiani sect pay no attention.
123. This appears from a Tradition recorded by Bukhari: 'Do not ask about anything from the men of this Book.'
لا تسألوا أهل الكتاب عن شيء
The story goes that one day 'Umar got a book from a Jew or a Christian and read it to the Prophet, who became angry and ordered it not to be read. Faidu'l-Bari, part 30, p. 29.
124. The first change from Mecca to Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Qur'an, but it is supposed that the words of complaint in, 'The foolish ones will say, "what hath turned them from the Qibla which they need", ' [Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 136] refer to this.
The original is مَا وَلاَّهُمْ عَن قِبْلَتِهِمُ الَّتِي كَانُواْ عَلَيْهَا on which Jalalu'd-Din says:—
لمّا هاجر أمر باستقبال بيت المقدس تألّفاً لليهود ستة أو سبعة أشهر
'After the Hijra he ordered his followers to turn to the Temple at Jerusalem (בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ [literally, house of the sanctuary, see 1 Chronicles 28:10] ); this, however, which was done to conciliate the Jews, held good for six or seven months only, and then he changed it.' See Geiger, Judaism and Islam, p. 14.
125. The original in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 132 is simply صِـبْغَةَ الله 'Baptism of God.' Sale adds the words, 'do we receive' and Rodwell adds 'Islam,' and reads 'Islam is the baptism of God.' Palmer says it means the 'dye of God,' and that the word is a metaphor derived from dyeing cloth and must not be confounded with baptism. The commentators differ in their interpretation. Some say that it simply means دين الله , 'religion of God;' others that it means 'circumcision' and is meant to show the Christians that though they have substituted baptism for that rite, yet the Muslims also have a ceremony which purifies the recipient. By those who adopt this view صِـبْغَةَ الله is explained as:— ختان است وآن تطهير مسلمان باشد
'Circumcision which purifies Muslims.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 23.
The word also means colour, and so some say that when a man was admitted into the Christian Church his clothes and person were coloured yellow; others that his children were baptized in yellow water. Then they go on to say that, when a man became a Muslim, he was purified from the contamination of idolatry and received, under the metaphor of dyeing, a sort of spiritual baptism. In these several ways, however, the commentators try to show that Christians have no rites superior to those of Islam, whether as to a Qibla or as to a baptism. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 80. Baidawi agrees generally with the above.
Jalalu'd-Din Rumi (Mathnavi, Book ii) says: 'The baptism of God is (by) the dye of God's nature: all rites and ceremonies become of one colour in it.' This is the esoteric Sufi conception of being immersed and obliterated in the Unity: all things and all beings are in that Unity of one colour and as one.
126. Nöldeke gives several authorities for the statement that even in Mecca Muhammad turned towards Jerusalem in prayer, but considers that these verses show that the Muslims in Madina did not like this custom and that therefore it was most probably a recent innovation. Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 129.
127. 'The fasting is obligatory throughout the whole month, as long as the sun is above the horizon, both eating and drinking are absolutely forbidden. In oriental heat this is a severe burden, some can readily believe that in the month of the fast, towards the end of the day, the majority of the faithful are thinking much more about the enjoyments of the coming night than about God and the hereafter.' Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History, p. 65.
128. The book referred to is the Pentateuch. Those who conceal its meaning are to be cursed by God. 'Those who curse,' that is, angels, genii and men, will also curse them— Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 26. Tafsir-i-'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas, p. 29.
129. Commentators say that by 'the true religion' is meant Islam; by 'steps of Satan,' deceits of the devil, inducing the Jews to observe laws already abrogated — وسواس شيطاني باحكام منسوخة Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 35.
130. The نِعْمَةَ الله 'gift of God,' is said by some to refer to Muhammad; by others, and more correctly, to the Qur'an. Wherry, on the authority of the Tafsir-i-Raufi, refers it to Jewish Scriptures. Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. i, p. 315.
131. كراهة لموافقة النفي التشبية باليهود
quoted by Rabbi Geiger in Judaism and Islam, p. 157. The learned Rabbi proceeds to show in detail how many changes Muhammad made. Amongst others he refers to the prayer (صلاة العشاء) after supper as contrary to the Talmudic orders.
The laws about women conform more to Arabian than to Jewish usage. The permission in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 183 is opposed to the directions of the Talmud.
The law laid down in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 230 is simply disgusting; so much so that Syed Amir 'Ali considers that it has been abrogated by the next verse (Life of Muhammad, p. 248); but it is still the law of Islam. Sir 'Abdu'r-Rahim, says, 'The express object of the law in adding this condition is to discourage such divorces.' Muhammadan Jurisprudence, p. 337. This law Syed Amir 'Ali expounds in his learned work, Personal Law of the Muhammadans, p. 335. As an historian he regrets the Qur'anic injunction and throws doubt upon its authority; but as the trained and practical lawyer he admits its obligation. The actual existing law on the subject is also given in Baillie's Imameea p. 120, and in his Hanifeea, p. 292. It is, however, distinctly opposed to the Jewish law on the subject as stated in Deuteronomy xxiv. 1-4. It is a clear instance of the way in which Muhammad now sought to differentiate Islam from Judaism.
132. Margoliouth (Mohammed, p. 231) states that the Tradition (referred to ante p. 86) records that Abu Bakr wished to get a loan from these Jews, saying, 'Who will lend God a good loan?' 'if God wants a loan,' replied Pinehas, son of Azariah, 'He must be poor'. This was met by a blow. The Jew complained to Muhammad, apparently denying that he said these words. Muhammad seized the opportunity of justifying his conduct to the Jews, for Gabriel now conveniently brought the revelation:—
Now hath God heard the saying of those who said, 'Aye, God is poor and we are rich.' We will surely write down their sayings, and their unjust slaughter of the prophets; and we will say, ' Taste ye the torment of the burning.' Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 177. [181]
133. The Bani Qainuqa'.
134. The Muhajirun are also led to expect a great reward in the future life:—
Those who fled, and were turned out of their homes and suffered in my cause and were killed, I will blot out their sins from them and I will bring them into gardens beneath which rivers flow. A reward from God. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 194-5.
135. Mirkhund, Raudatu's-Safa, part ii. vol. ii; p. 475.
136. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 334.
137. Commenting on this verse, Baidawi says that it is related that Gabriel came to the Prophet in the early morning after the Meccans had been defeated and asked why he had put off his armour, whilst the angels had not removed theirs. He then told him to go after the Bani Quraiza and not to say the evening prayer till he could say it in the locality now occupied by these Jews (vol. ii, p. 126). Bukhari relates the same story, clearly indicating that Gabriel directed the attack on the Jews. Muslim repeats the account in another form (Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iii, p. 544). Thus the early Muslims were taught to believe that this cruel massacre was carried out by the direct order of God.
138. Syed Amir 'Ali says: 'I look upon the story of Raihana's becoming a left-handed wife of the Prophet as a fabrication' (Life of Muhammad, p. 114). This repudiation of the offence by an author of the high character of Syed Amir 'Ali shows the gravity of it, but the fact is well attested, and the commentator Husain, who is most careful and accurate, says that this passage does refer to the slave women 'Safiyya and Raihana and those like them.' He says so distinctly in the words:— چون صفية وريحانة وأمثال أيشان
Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 204.
139. Muhammad heard that a rich Meccan caravan had gone to Syria. He ordered his followers to capture it on its return. He was the aggressor and his attempt at plundering it was the real cause of the battle. See Sell, The Life of Muhammad (C.L.S.), p. 115; also Tabari, Tarikhu'r-Rasul, (De Geoge's ed.) series 1, vol. iii, p. 1495.
140. During the ten years of his residence at Madina Muhammad organized thirty-eight military expeditions, and twenty-seven of these he accompanied in person as chief commander for the furtherance of the cause of Islam. Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham, quoted by Koelle, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 324.
141. They were hewers of wood and drawers of water: Abu Bakr sold clothes; 'Uthman fruit and others were employed in servile occupations. For the original authorities in support of this statement, see Margoliouth, Mohammed, pp. 234-8.
142. At the time of the first expedition against Mecca (A.H. 6) a treaty was made between them and Muhammad by which there was to be peace for ten years; tribes were to be free to join either side, regulations as regards runaways and renegades were made; the Muslims were to depart now, but, in the following year an unarmed body of Muslims was to be allowed to make the pilgrimage. This is referred to in Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 1:—
Verily we have won for thee an undoubted victory.
For a full account of the Hudaibiya affair and of the treaty there made see Mirkhund, Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, pp. 494-504.
143. At Hudaibiya, where the Muslims were encamped, their position, from a military point of view, was one of some danger. It was thus excellent tactics to advise the Muslims to remain on the defensive. The reference is purely to a local situation and its general application is clearly negated in the following verses.
144. Rodwell, following Baidawi, interprets this to mean 'their driving you out of Mecca, or, the temptation to idolatry.' Sale translates it 'temptation to idolatry,' and this agrees with the interpretation of the commentator Husain who says that حَتّى لاَ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ 'until there be no more civil discord,' means:
تا آن غايت كة فتنة نباشد يعنى أز شرك أثر نماند
'Until that time when there shall be no tumult, i.e., no sign of polytheism.' Baidawi also interprets it as 'shirk,' or 'polytheism.'
Other commentators seem to give it a much wider and more extensive scope. Thus, 'until they become Muslims or pay the polltax, do not put the sword in the sheath. Jihad will go on till the day of judgement'— جب تكث مسلمان نهون يا جزية ندين تلوار ميان مين نكرو الجهاد منفى الى يوم القيامة
Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 132.
145. Baidawi adds عن الشرك 'from polytheism.'
146. This passage is sometimes quoted to show that jihad, or religious war, is purely defensive, but it is really of local application. Muhammad's object was to justify by the example of men of other creeds, his resistance to the Quraish and not to lay down a rule of tolerance for all time. This is the view of the commentators.
مقصود يهى هى كة يهودى كى زمانى مين ان كى مسجدين اور نصارى كى وقت مين ان كى مسجدين اور اب همارى مسجدين مراد هين نة كة سب كى هر وقت مقصود هى
'The meaning is this that it refers to the synagogues in the time of the Jews, to the churches in the time of the Christians and to our mosques now, not that it refers to them all at all times.' (Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iii, p. 249.) The whole passage is said to prove the 'Eternal obligation of jihad.'— هم بر دائمى فرض هى
Again we read, 'After the abrogation of a religion the retention of its places of worship is in vain' (Ibid, p. 218). بعد منسوخى دين ان كى عبادتكاة كا بتا عبث هى
As Islam is to abrogate all other religions, churches and synagogues should also go. The apparent tolerance of this verse is thus explained away. Although the whole Sura is a late Meccan one, Nöldeke considers that vv. 39-42 are Madina ones delivered just before the battle of Badr.
147. Nöldeke places Sura Muhammad after the battle of Badr. This supports the views of those commentators who take the command to kill as a general injunction to last till the war is over, which will not be till the Second Advent of Jesus Christ and the return of the Imam Mahdi, according to the tradition, 'Jihad will remain till the day of Judgement.'
Others say that it is abrogated, or that it was revealed before the battle of Badr, and so has only a local and limited application. This seems to be the view of the Hanifites (Baidawi, vol. ii, . 321), whilst the Shi'ahs are said to favour the more general view. (Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 362; Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iv, p. 213.) 'Abbas explains, 'Till the war hath laid down its arms'— حَتّىَ تَضَعَ الْحَربُ أوْزَارَهَا by 'Till the infidels discard their polytheism'— حتّى يترك الكفّار شركهم — but, as he refers the fourth verse to Badr, it is not clear whether he gives this fifth verse a local or a general application.
Zamakhshari says war is to go on 'till polytheists are slain or made prisoners and lay down their arms;' but whether this is of local or general application is not clear. In the Tafsir-i-ahmade the words are said to be abrogated.
The Maqbul Tarjuma records a saying of Imam Ja'far Sadiq that if they remain polytheists, the Imam may give orders to behead them or to cut off their hands and feet and let them bleed to death.
148. For fight (قَاتَلوا) there is another reading (قُتلوا) are fought or are killed. The Qaris 'Asim of Kufa and Abu 'Umar adopt the latter reading, all others reject it, so there is overwhelming authority for the first one — قاتلوا — kill or fight.
149. َقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لاَ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ — 'Fight them till all strife be at an end' that is, according to Husain till 'no polytheists remain of the pagans or Jews or Christians.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 239.
Baidawi says, 'Till no polytheism is found in them.' 'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas refers it to war against the Meccans, The Khulasatu'l-Tafasir says, 'It gives an order for permanent jihad.'— دوام جهاد كا حكم هى — but goes on to say that the order is fard-i-kifaya, i.e., not obligatory on every Muslim. It is further said that it is a muhkam verse and so cannot be abrogated.
This is a strong comment, showing that war with non-Muslims is imperative and is to be continuous and that the use of force is justified, until 'the religion be all of it God's' — وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ كُلُّهُ لله
150. For the original authorities on this point, see Margoliouth, Mohammed, pp. 234-8.
151. In order to show that hostilities against the Meccans were justified this revelation came:—
God doth not forbid you to deal with kindness and fairness toward those who have not made war upon you on account of your religion, or driven you forth from your home, Sura Al-Mumtahinah (lx) 8.
152. Tirmidhi records a Tradition that, when the people said, 'Perhaps the Prophet has taken it' then this verse was revealed. Jami'u't-Tirmidhi, vol. ii, p. 341.
153. وَمَا كَانَ لِنَبِيّ أَنْ يَغُلَّ The Qaris (Qur'an readers) Nafi', Ibn Amir, Hamza, Yaqub and al-Kisa'i support another reading — أَنْ يُغَلَّ that is, the verb is passive and means 'it is not proper for the Prophet to be found cheating.' Baidawi, vol. i, p. 182,
154. Tarikh-i-Waqidi, p. 242, 15
155. All commentators refer this to the victory at Badr called the يَومَ الفُرقَانِ. This phrase is translated as 'day of grace,' 'day of victory,' 'day of destruction,' 'day of Badr in which was the separation of the good from the evil'— روز بدركة جدا شدن حق أز باطل در او بود
Rabbi Geiger shows that فُرقان is derived from the Rabbinical Hebrew word פֻּרְקָן and means 'deliverance,' 'redemption,' and applies it in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 181 [185] to the month of Ramadan, as the month of deliverance from sin and not, as is usually done, to the Qur'an, as that which illuminates and distinguishes. See Geiger, Judaism and Islam (S.P.C.K. Madras), p. 41, and Rodwell's translation of the Qur'an, p: 176. Note ii.
Husain interprets the word فُرقَان thus:—
الفُرقَان — أز حدود وسائر شرائع دين كة جدا كنندة است ميان حق وباطل
that is, 'The laws, regulations and all the laws of religion which separate the good from the evil'—Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 30.
156. In a later Sura this number grew to three thousand—Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 120.
157. Baidawi says that it is uncertain whether this is addressed to the Quraish, or the Jews or the believers in Madina. 'Abbas says it refers to the men of Mecca or of Madina.
158. That is, in the battle of Badr there was a clear sign of the prophetship of Muhammad. Thus Husain says of the words — كَانَ لَكُمْ آيَةٌ — 'To you was a sign' — that they mean—
شما را علامتى و نشانی درست بر نبوتِ محمد
'To you was a mark and good sign of the prophetship of Muhammad'. Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 71.
159. In Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 46, the Muslims were said to be diminished in the eyes of the Meccans. The commentators admit the discrepancy and try to reconcile the statements by making the statement in Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 11, succeed the one in Sura Al-Anfal (viii) 46. See Wherry on this subject, Commentary, vol. ii, p. 7.
160. وَلاَ تَقُولُواْ لِمَنْ يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبيلِ اللهِ أَمْوَاتٌ بَلْ أَحْيَاء
It is uncertain whether this verse refers to the battle of Badr or of Uhud. The commentator Husain says:— دو روز بدر جان شيرين بداد واز نعمت حيات ولذت نصیب دنيا محروم شد
'In the day of Badr they gave their sweet life and were separated from the gift of life and the pleasant taste of the world.'
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says the expression, 'slain on God's path' means 'slain in the obedience of God, in the day of Badr'— في طـاعة الله يوم بَدْر. A Tradition recorded on the authority of Muslim states: 'That the souls of martyrs in the presence of God enter into the bodies of green birds which wander about in Paradise and roost near the lamps around the throne of God.' (Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 96.) This is also recorded on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas in the Tarikhu'l-Waqidi, p. 242, with other Traditions concerning the blessed state of the martyr.
161. Baidawi explains this as beguiling them from their obedience to God and from the duties of religion. Some commentators say it refers to the migration from Mecca which was not popular with certain families among the converts.
162. Waqidi, quoted in Muir's Life of Mahomet, vol. iii, p. 175.
163. Maulavi Muhammad 'Ali in his commentary (p. 185) on the verse 'after the trouble God sent down security upon you' (Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 147) translates security (نُعَاساً) by 'a calm', because the enemy retired and so the Muslims were not really defeated. But the cause of retirement was not any doubt as to their power, or through fear. The Meccans were satisfied when they saw that they could and would protect their caravans. That done, they had no desire to further punish the Muslims.
Further, according to Waqidi, the Meccans had heard the report that Muhammad was dead and said, 'Since Muhammad is dead, let us go back to our homes.' They retired because the object of their great victory was gained.
164. The Quraish took advantage of this spirit of depression and attempted to seduce the Muslims to renounce their faith in the Prophet but he was quite equal to the occasion:—
O ye who have believed! if ye obey the infidels, they will cause you to turn upon your heels and ye will fall back into perdition. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 142.
Husain says that it was the Munafiqun who said to the true Muslims that the time of the Prophet had passed away, that the infidels had regained power, and that they should again turn back to their own old religion.
منافقان مومنانرا مى گفتند كة اين زمان پیغمبر كشتة شد ورايت دولت كفار استيلا يافت شمارا دیگرباره بدين خود رجوع با يد كرد
— Tafsir-i-Husaini p. 75
Baidawi says it refers to the Munafiqun who said:—
ارجعوا إلى إخوانكم ولو كان مُحَمّد نَبِيّاً لما قُتل
'Return to your brethren and your religion: if Muhammad had been a Prophet he would not have been slain.' vol. i, p. 179.
165. Waqidi, quoted in Muir's Life of Mahomet, vol. iii, p. 189.
166. حكم رسول كى يا حكم سرداركى عبد الله بن جبير—
'Order of the Prophet or order of the chief 'Abdu'llah bin Jabir.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 311.
167. Baidawi says: 'Some left their stations for plunder; some kept their places, observing the command of the Prophet.' vol. i, p. 180
168. Baidawi, explains this thus: 'If they overcame you at Uhud, you overcame them at Badr.' vol. i, p. 177.
169. Baidawi says: 'God does not really help the unbelievers but gives them the victory sometimes to tempt them and to try the believers.' vol. i, p. 177.
170. Baidawi explains this verse thus: 'The day, that of Uhud; the armies are those of the Muslims and the Meccans: the will of God, this ordinance or the leaving of the believers free; and all this that he might discriminate between the true Believers and the Hypocrites.' Vol. i, p. 183.
171. These verses refer to the supposed death of Muhammad at the battle of Uhud, and the argument is that even had it been so they should not depart from Islam. Other apostles had passed away, but their religions remained. The Traditionists relate that when Muhammad fell to the ground wounded, the believers cried out 'What if Muhammad be dead! the Lord dieth not and verily His Apostle hath finished his work. Fight on for your Faith.' But the Munafiqun said, 'Since Muhammad is dead let us go back to our homes' (Waqidi, quoted by Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iii, p. 173). Baidawi says that Mus'ab bin 'Umair, the Prophet's standard-bearer, was slain by Ibn Qami'a, who thinking he had slain the Prophet said: 'I have slain Muhammad,' at which his followers took to flight, till recalled by the Prophet's voice, saying, 'Servants of God, to me.' Some of the Munafiqun said: 'Had he been a prophet he had not been killed, return to your brethren and your religion.' See Abdu'l-Qadir's note to his translation of these verses of the Qur'an, and also the Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 85.
When Muhammad died, many could not believe it and it is said that Abu Bakr then quoted these verses in order to convince 'Umar and others that the Prophet was really dead. Some say that Abu Bakr composed them then for this purpose and afterwards got them inserted in the Qur'an. This is not at all likely.
172. Another meaning of the word translated 'myriads' is learned, pious men, rabbis. The Arabic verse is
وَكَأَيِّن مِّن نَبِيّ قَاتَلَ مَعَهُ رِبِّيـُّونَ كَثِيرٌ
The commentator Muhaddith translates this verse by
بسا پیغامبركة قتال كردند كفار همراة او خدا پرستان بسيار
'Many a prophet has killed infidels and with him were many pious men.'
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says: رِبِيُّونَ كثِيرَّ 'myriads' is جموع كثير — 'great crowd.' Husain says the words mean سپاه فراوان —'an abundant force.'
The Khulasatu'l-Tafasir has 'Before Muhammad there have been prophets, with whom pious men fought (i.e., aided them).' Vol. i, p. 308.
آب سے پہلے بيغمبر گذرے جن كى ساتهى إلَّه والى لزتى
The Qaris Ibn Kathir, Nafi, 'Abu 'Amr and Ya'qub read قُتِلَ , 'was fought, or was killed,' for قَاتَلَ , 'fought or killed.' There is another reading قُتِلَ , 'were killed.' Baidawi says قُتِلَ (qutila) 'was slain' may refer to the myriads, or the Prophet. If these readings which are given by Baidawi are adopted, the meaning seems to be in the first case; 'How many a prophet has been slain when pious men were with him'; in the second case, 'How many a prophet have pious men been slain with.' The meaning of the verse then seems to be not the idea of a prophet fighting against myriads, but of pious men fighting alongside the prophet and killing the enemy, or being killed with him, or his being killed while they were with him.
173. The Traditionist Rawi says that Satan assuming a human form cried out, 'Muhammad is dead' and then the Companions dispersed on every side. Tarikhu'l-Waqidi, p. 239.
174. Baidawi says: 'They disobeyed the Apostle in leaving their posts and hastening after the booty.' Vol. i, p.181.
175. This is said by Nöldeke to have been revealed at a period when Muhammad was in distress, and this leads him to place the whole Sura after the battle of Uhud. The Muslim commentators do not interpret the verse as if it applied to any special occasion, but give it a general meaning. Husain says it refers to famines, loss of property, sickness and poverty, all of which are decreed in the Preserved Tablet (لوح محفوظ) (Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 381). But the object of the Sura is to stir up the faithful to zeal and energy. The Lord is the Mighty and Wise: the First and the Last: the Creator and Ruler of all; who rewards faithful service, who punishes all defections. It is thus most suitable to a period of depression and anxiety such as followed the defeat at Uhud.
176. Wonderful accounts are given in the Traditions of the felicity of the martyrs in Paradise. The Prophet is reported to have said of them:—
جب مؤمنين احد مين شهيد هوے اللہ تعالیٰ كى اون كى روح سبز جزيون كى بدنون سين كردى جو جنت كى نهرون اور ميوون سى كهاتى بيتى هين
'When believers were martyrs at Uhud the most High God put their souls into the bodies of green birds which eat and drink of the fruits and rivers of Paradise.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, pp. 320-1.
Tirmidhi gives a similar Tradition, 'Their souls are in green birds, which dwell in Paradise.' Jami'u't-Tirmidhi, (ed. 1903) vol. ii, p. 341.
The commentator Mu'alim says this verse refers to the men who fell at Badr, and not to the Uhud martyrs. Baidawi says: 'Some refer the passage to those slain at Badr, others to those killed at Uhud. The person addressed is either the Prophet or each individual.' Vol. i, p.184.
177. لاَ يَغُرَّنَّكَ تَقَلُّبُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فِي الْبِلاَدِ مَتَاعٌ قَلِيلٌ ثُمَّ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ وَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ
The commentator 'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says: ' The coming and going of the infidels in the cities' means 'The going to and fro of Jews and infidels in mercantile pursuits.'— ذهاب اليهود والمشركين فى تجارة
The commentator Husain says: 'Let not the coming and going of the infidels in their cities for trade deceive thee.'— بايد كة فريب ندهد ترا رفتن وآمدن كافران در شهرها براى تجارت — Tafsir-i-Husaini vol. i, p. 95.
Baidawi says it means, 'Look not at the ease and good fortune which the unbelievers enjoy, and do not be misled by their prosperity in their traffic and merchandise and agriculture.' Vol. i, p. 192.
178. This Sura was highly valued by the Prophet, it is recorded that he said: ' whoso reads this Sura of the family of 'Imran shall for each verse receive a safe conduct over the bridge of Gehenna.' 'whoso reads on Friday this Sura in which 'Imran is mentioned, God and His angels shall be gracious unto him until the sun goes down,' Baidawi, vol. i, p. 193.
179. Sura As-Saff (lxi) 2-4.
180. The commentator Husain interprets the last clause to mean that the full success of Islam will be coincident with the second advent of Jesus Christ.
تا غالب گرداند دين را بة همة كيش وصلت بوقت نزول عیسی كة همة اهل زمين دين اسلام قبول كنند
'That this religion may conquer all religions and sects when Jesus comes, when all the men in the world will accept Islam.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 400.
Another writer says:— اِس آيت مين اشارة هى كة اسلام ناسخ اديان هى
'It is shown in this verse that Islam abrogates all religions.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iv, p. 432.
Baidawi says, ليغلّبه على جميع الأديان means 'That it may conquer all religions.' Vol. ii, p. 331.
181. It may refer to control over passions and evil. but both interpretations are given by Baidawi, 'Abdu'llah bin 'Abbas and other commentators. The warlike one is given by all and, as the verse occurs in a Sura so full of the battle of Uhud, this interpretation is probable.
182. Some Muslims now suggested an alliance with Jews and Christians, but this revelation came later on and not such alliance was ever made:—
O believers, take not Jews or Christians as friends. They are but one another's friends. If any of you taketh them for his friends he is surely one of them, God will not guide the evildoers. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 56.
This is quite inconsistent with the fifty-third verse of this same Sura:—
And if God had pleased He had made you all of one people, but He would test you by what He hath given to each.
See also Wherry's note on this verse, vol. ii, p. 137.
183. i.e., the defeat at Uhud.
184. From Badr.
185. Either by the booty secured, or else, according to Baidawi, because they found a fair there and gained much money by merchandise. Baidawi, vol. i, p. 175.
186. In confirming and increasing their faith and in aiding them to hasten to the fray, and also to remain in their religion and to display courage before the enemy. Baidawi, vol. i, p. 175.
187. There is some doubt as to whom this term applies. The commentators Ibn 'Abbas and Baidawi say it is Nu'aim, who tried to frighten the Muslims, or Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Quraish.
188. Sura An-Nisa' (iv) 102-3. For a fuller account of this, see Sell, Faith of Islam (4th ed.), p. 380.
189. In allowing him to become a Muslim.
190. In adopting him as a son. He had been called Zaid bin Muhammad; now he reverts to his old name, Zaid bin Haritha.
191. Both in the Tafsir-i-Husaini, and the Sahihu'l-Bukhari, it is stated that the words, 'God would bring to light,' refer to the fact that Zainab would become Muhammad's wife, and also that the words, 'thou didst fear man,' have reference to the fear Muhammad felt at breaking through a custom held in such esteem by the Arabs; that is, the refraining from marrying the wife of an adopted son. Thus Bukhari says:—
وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا الله مُبْدِيهِ نزلت في شأن زينب بنت جَحش وزيد بن حارثَةَ
'Thou didst hide in thy heart that which God would bring to light in the matter of the daughter of Jahsh and Zaid bin Haritha.' Sahihu'l-Bukhari, vol. iii, p. 312.
Husain says:—
وَتُخْفِى في نَفْسِكَ و پنهان ميكردى در نفس خود ماَ الَّة مُبْدِيْةِ آنچه خدا پیدا كنندة آن است يعنى آنرا كة زينب داخل ازواج طيبات تو خواهد بود و َتَحْشَى النَّاسَ وبترسيدى از سرزنش مردم كة گوید زن پسر خواندة را بخواست
'And didst conceal in thy heart that which God made plain, and that is, that Zainab should join the company of the excellent wives, and didst fear the reproach of men who said, "He has asked for the wife of an adopted son."' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 201.
192. i.e. to have had no hesitation in the matter.
193. Baidawi, vol. ii, p. 129.
194. The reference to slaves fixes the date of this verse after the massacre of the Bani Quraiza (A.D. 627), when Raihana, the first captured slave, was taken as a concubine. It is thus later than the affair with Zainab (A.D. 626) and is intended to justify what had already taken place.
195. This removes from the Prophet the restriction placed on other Muslims in Sura An-Nisa' (iv) 27 in which marriage with near relatives is forbidden.
196. Husain refers this to Zainab in his comment on the words بنتُ عَمَّتِكَ 'daughter of thy paternal aunt.' This he explains as دختران عمهاى تو از اولاد عبد المطلب 'daughter of thy paternal aunt.' one of the children of 'Abdu'l-Muttalib.' Vol. ii, p. 204.
197. The commentators are unanimous in referring this verse to Zaid and Zainab. Thus:—
ترمزى اور معالم اور دوسرى تفاسير مين مروى هے كة آيت زينب كى حق میں نازل هوى
'In the commentaries of Tirmidhi, Mu'alim and others it is related that this verse came down in connexion with Zainab.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir vol. iii, p. 559.
Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says:— لِمُؤْمِنٍ زيد ولاَ مُؤْمِنَةٍ زينب
'Believer is Zaid, believer (woman) is Zainab.' Tafsir-i-ibn 'Abbas, p. 484.
Baidawi states that it was revealed in the matter of Zainab bin Jahsh. Vol. ii, p. 129. نزلت في زينب بنت جحش
Husain also says it refers to Zainab. Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 201.
On the expression 'whosoever disobeyeth God and His Apostle' Husain makes this important statement which shows the co-ordinate authority of the Sunna and the Qur'an:—
وَمَنْ يَعْص الله وَرَسُولَهُ : وهركة عامى شود ومخالفت كند خداى تعالی ورسول اورا يا از حكم كتاب وسنت بكذرد
'He who is disobedient and opposes God and His Apostle, or who departs from the order of the Book (Qur'an) and of the Sunna.' Vol. ii, p. 207.
198. Sura Al-Ahzab (xxxiii) 52. It is said to be abrogated by the preceding verses. See Sale's note on this verse and the Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iii, p. 578; but the latter gives no authority for the statement it makes, so the abrogation is doubtful.
199. For further details see Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, pp. 152-167; Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 411, and Sell, The Life of Muhammad, pp. 201-2.
200. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 326.
201. This is an idea borrowed from the Jews. See Rodwell, Qur'an, p. 582, note 2.
202. Sura Al-Hajj (xxii), called that of 'The Pilgrimage,' is a very composite one and many of its verses belong to the later Meccan period, but some are about this date and show how the idea of the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba was working in the mind of the Prophet. The Meccans were still in possession, for they are rebuked for misconduct connected with the Ka'ba and Muhammad is directed to 'Proclaim to the peoples a pilgrimage,' v. 28.
203. vv. 27-39; 66-7; 76-7. [?25-37; 67; 77]
204. Nöldeke, Sketch's from Eastern History, p. 67.
205. The following verse is supposed by some authorities to refer to this:—
Who committeth a greater wrong than he who prohibiteth the temples of God, that His name should not be mentioned there, and who strives to ruin them. It is not for such to enter them except in fear, for them is disgrace in this world and in the future severe torment. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 108. [114]
If this is correct this verse is of later date than the second Sura and must have been inserted afterwards. The commentators differ. In the Tafsir-i-Husaini, p. 19, this verse is said to refer to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman, and that the word temple is used in the plural instead of the singular for honour. Baidawi (vol. i, p. 80) says it refers to the temple at Jerusalem, or to the prohibition by the Quraish of Muhammad's entry into Mecca. In the Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 64, various views are given. One is that it refers to Titus, who is said to be a Christian (دين نصرانيت قبول كيا); but another view, referring it to the opposition of the Quraish to the entrance of the Muslims into Mecca, is given at some length. Thus:—
اى قريش تونے مكة معظمة كى مسجد سى الله كے بيغمبر كو نكالديا اور مؤمنين كو عبادت وذكر خدا سے روكا اور اس سبب سى كة عبادت وذكر كعبىمين موقوف رها تم اس كى ويران اور خراب كرنى مين ساعى تهرى
'O Quraish, you cast out the Prophet of God from the Temple of Mecca, the honoured, and prevented the believers from worshipping and praising there, and so worship and praise in the Ka'ba is suspended. You have been diligent in rendering it desolate and in ruining it.'
206. It is called the 'Oath of good pleasure.'— بيعة الرّضوان . Years after when the Khawarij opposed 'Ali and his followers, one section afterwards said that 'Ali, Talha and Zubair were in Paradise, because they had plighted fealty under the tree.
207. It will be seen that there is no distinction of sex here and it applies to females equally with males, but soon after the return of the Prophet to Mecca a young man came from Mecca to Madina. His guardian claimed him and Muhammad admitted the claim. Then a woman came over. Her brothers followed her to Madina and demanded her restoration. Muhammad now objected to give up a woman and produced the following revelation:—
O ye who believe! when there come believing women who have fled, then try them: God knows their faith. If ye know them to be believers do not send them back to the unbelievers; they are not lawful for them, nor are the men lawful for these. Sura Al-Mumtahinah (lx) 10.
The commentators on the words فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ — then try them,' say that they are to be examined as to the real cause of their flight, in order to ascertain that it is nothing else than the desire to embrace Islam, for only in such a case is their detention lawful. Still, even in this case the Prophet's action was a clear breach of the treaty recently made. It is a good illustration of the great value to him, and of the practical utility, of the piecemeal revelation of the Qur'an. It needs explanation and so with reference to the condition laid down in the treaty of Hudaibiya, Husain says: 'Gabriel came and said, "O Prophet of God, the condition applies only to men and not to women".' —
جبرائيل آمد و گفت يا رسول الله آن شرط بر مردها واقع شدة نة زنها
— Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 397
208. Raudatu's-Safa part ii, vol. ii, pp. 505-14.
209. It is said that Muhammad himself could not trust the Meccans and that warlike steps were sanctioned if they failed to observe the terms of the treaty of Hudaibiya (Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 186-9). If this passage does refer to this period it is a late interpolation. See Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 32, and Baidawi, vol. i, p. 108. The verses in Sura Al-Mumtahinah (lx) 1-9 probably refer to the same circumstance.
210. Nöldeke on vv. 1-17 of this Sura says, 'from these verses we may clearly see that Muhammad had intended to take Mecca but that the Bedouins now failed to help him; so he thought it advisable to conclude a treaty. This was good policy and a true victory' Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 161. The failure of the Arabs is referred to in:—
The Arabs who took not the field with you will say to thee, ' we were engaged with our property and our families, therefore ask thou pardon for us.' Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 11.
211. Mohammed, p. 351, and Sura Al-Mumtahinah (lx) 10. See also Raudatu's-Safa, part, ii, vol. ii, pp. 571 ff.
212. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 13.
213. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 1, 3, 20.
214. Mujahid, quoted by Husain, says it may refer to any victory. Other commentators refer it to the victory at Khaibar. See Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iv, p. 241.
215. According to Baidawi and Husain this refers to the victory at Khaibar. Waqidi says: اور مراد اوس فتح قريب سى فتح خبير هى 'The meaning of this speedy victory,' is the victory of Khaibar.
216. According to Husain the twenty-eighth verse is said to be 'a menace to the followers of other religions than Islam and to apostates from Islam.' Thus:—
دين پسندیده نزد خداى دين اسلام نة بهوديت ونصرانيت واختلاف نكردند در آن دين اسلام حق است ومحمد رسول بيغمبر بحق آنانكة دادة اند بديشان كتاب يعنى تورات وانجيل مگر پس ازانكة آمد بديشان دانشى بحقيقت امر يعنى قرآن بديشان فرود آمد
— Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 74.
This is also asserted by other commentators. Thus:—
جو سواے دين اسلام كى كوئى اور دين اختياركرے يهوديت يا نصرانيت يا كجهى هو تو منظور ومقبول نهوگا اور وة ابنى ستى اور كوشش مين محروم ومخذون رهيگا ـ اس آيت نى تمام دينون كو منسوخ كرديا جو كزركئى يا بيدا كئى جائين
'He who chooses any religion other than Islam, whether Judaism, Christianity or any other, will not be approved and accepted, and his efforts will be frustrated and disappointed. This verse abrogates all religions which have preceded or which shall follow (Islam).' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 271.
Thus was the claim of Islam to the absolute allegiance of all mankind now made clear to the people of Madina.
A Qadiani commentator says it will become 'the religion of the majority of mankind and that no other religion has had such a future foretold of it.' Holy Qur'an, p. 989.
217. Whoso craves other than Islam for a religion it shall surely not be accepted from him, and in the next world he shall be among the lost.' Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 79.
218. 'The religion approved by God is Islam not Judaism or Christianity, and they to whom were given the Book of the Pentateuch and the Gospel did not differ about this that Islam is true and that Muhammad is the true prophet, till after that the true knowledge, (i.e., the Qur'an) came to them.' The original is as follows:—
دين پندیده نزد خداى دين اسلام نة بهوديت ونصرانيت واختلاف نكردند در آن انة دين اسلام حق است ومحمد رسول بيغمبر بحق آنانكة دادة اند بديشان كتاب يعنى تورات وانجيل مگر پس ازانكة آمد بديشان دانشى بحقيقت امر يعنى قرآن بديشان فرود آمد
— Tafsir-i-Husaini, voi. i, p. 62.
Baidawi defines Islam to be the acceptance of the doctrine of the unity and of the code which Muhammad brought. Vol. i, p. 148.
سواى اسلام كى اور كوئى طريقة مقبول نهين جيسا فرمايا مَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرِ الاِْسْلام دِيْنًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ اسلام كى سوا دوسرا دين دو اختيار كرى نة مانا جائيكا
'Except Islam no other way is approved, as God said, "who chooses other than Islam for a religion, it shall not be accepted from him." Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 241.
219. For a full account of these embassies and their result, see Mirkhund, Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, pp. 517 ff.
220. It is, however, said that this verse and the verses preceding it were revealed, when later on the Christians of Najran with their Bishop came to see Muhammad. It is also said to refer to the Jews of Madina. Baidawi, vol. i, p. 159.
221. Baidawi comments on the verse thus; 'the Jews and Christians quarrelled over Abraham, each sect maintaining that he belonged to them: so they referred the matter to the Prophet, when this text was revealed.' He then goes on to say that the Law was given to Moses and the Gospel to Christ, so Abraham belonged to neither of them.
222. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 355.
223. According to the Raudatu's-Safa (Part ii, vol. ii, p. 598) on the way he recited the Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) which begins with 'Verily we have won for thee an undoubted victory.'
224. Maulavi Muhammad 'Al says that the custom is kept up as a remembrance of Hagar's running about in search of water. This is pure imagination. These ceremonies were the old pagan ones, retained to conciliate the Meccans.
225. Margoliouth, Mohammad, p. 389.
226. Baidawi says that the victory is that of Mecca and that 'by troops' is meant the men of Mecca, of Ta'if, Yaman, Huwazin and all the Arab tribes. Vol. ii, p. 420.
227. Tafsir-i-ibn 'Abbas, p. 289.
228. Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 343.
229. 'Who contributed before the victory and fought' — مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ
Nöldeke says it refers to the victory at Badr. He is probably correct, but with the exception of Mu'alim, who refers it to the treaty of Hudaibiya, Baidawi and all the Muslim commentators I have consulted say it is this victory over Mecca which is referred to. 'The superiority of those who took part in it is thus described: 'Those Companions who before the victory over Mecca were believers and helpers are superior to all believers and to the best of the people.'
وة صحابى جو فتح مكة سىپہلے مومن ومعين هوے دوسرے تمام مومنين بلكة خيار است سى افضل هى
Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iv, p, 364.
230. It is said that this transaction is referred to and justified in:—
Verily, God enjoineth you to give back your trusts to their owners. Sura An-Nisa' (iv) 61.
231. Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, p. 129.
232. For a full account of the special circumstances which now called forth this revelation, see Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iv, pp. 269-72.
233. Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, p. 602.
234. About ten persons were excluded from the amnesty, of whom four were put to death. Amongst the number thus excluded was 'Abdu'llah ibn Sa'd, who was for some time the amanuensis of the Prophet at Madina. It is related that one day the Prophet was dictating to him the passage concerning the creation of mankind in Sura (xxiii) 12-14, the last words of which are 'Blessed, therefore, be God, the most excellent of Makers.' These words were spoken by 'Abdu'llah ibn Sa'd in astonishment, but the Prophet was so pleased with them that he said, ' write them down, for so it has descended.' 'Abdu'llah had doubts about this and said, ' If Muhammad is right, on me also has inspiration descended.' Husain is the authority for this statement which he gives in the following passage:—
حضرت رسول به ما كفت بنويس كة همچنین نازل شدة عبد الله در شكت افتاد مرتد گشت گفت اگر محمد صادقست بس بر من هم وحى فرود مى آيد
— Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 80
The Prophet was very indignant at this, and this verse, which Baidawi says refers to the action of 'Abdu'llah ibn Sa'd, was revealed concerning it:—
Is any man more wicked than he who deviseth a lie or saith, 'I have a revelation,' when nothing was revealed to Him? and who saith, 'I can bring down a book like that which God hath sent down.' Sura Al-An'am (vi) 93.
This verse occurs in a late Meccan Sura, but the event it refers to happened in Madina, so it is evident that it is an interpolation in the place it now occupies, for which no other reason can be assigned than that the preceding verse deals with the superiority of the Qur'an over other Scriptures. Another curious thing is, that in it a man is condemned who claimed to produce a verse equal to Muhammad's and yet the Prophet himself had challenged men to do so. Did Muhammad mean the challenge to be accepted or not?
235. Baidawi says that the words 'fulfilled my mercy upon you' in Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 5 [7] may refer to this victory.
236. Ante, p. 137.
237. The original word is Sakinat — سَكِيْنَةً. It is used in Al-Baqarah (ii) 249 where Samuel is made to say to the Israelites, ' The sign of His kingdom shall be that the ark shall come unto you: therein shall be tranquillity (Sakinat) from your Lord.' It seems to be thus connected with the Shechinah, or divine presence or glory, which appeared on the ark. So now in this time of panic the supposed Divine presence with the Prophet gives tranquillity, or a spirit of repose. It also occurs in connexion with a reference to the time of danger, when the Prophet was with Abu Bakr in the cave on the occasion of the flight from Mecca:—
And God sent His spirit of repose upon him — فَاَنْزَلَ الله سَكِيْنَتَةُ عَلَيةِ Sura At-Taubah (ix) 40.
It is also used with reference to other events:—
He it is who sends down a spirit of repose into the hearts of the faithful that they may add faith to their faith.
Well pleased now hath God been with the believers when they plighted fealty under the tree (ante, p. 138), and He knew what was in their hearts; therefore did He send down upon them a spirit of repose, and rewarded them with a speedy victory.
When the unbelievers had fostered rage in their hearts—the rage of ignorance—God sent down His spirit of repose on His Apostle and on the faithful. Sura Al-Fath (xlviii) 4, 18, 26.
The word is found only in the Madina Suras which shows that Muhammad borrowed the idea from the Jews. See Geiger, Judaism and Islam, p. 39.
Baidawi (vol. ii, p. 266) calls it ثبات الطمأنينة —'the permanence of tranquillity.'
Nadhir Ahmad translates it by تسلى — comfort, and by تحمل — patience.
238. It is the unanimous testimony of the commentators that the words الْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُم — 'whose hearts are reconciled,' mean won over to Islam. The term al-Mu'allafa Qulubuhum was ever after the name by which the chiefs thus won over were known. Ibn 'Abbas and Baidawi say that Abu Sufyan and his friends and Iqra bin Jabis, 'Abba's bin Mirdas and others were amongst the persons who received presents.
239. Husain referring to the abolition of these alms says:—
'After the development of Islam and the conquests made by the Muslims, this was all cancelled by the unanimous consent of the Companions.'
بعد از ظهور اسلام وغلبة مسلمانان باجماع صحابة ساقط شدة است
—Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 260.
'In the time of Abd Bakr Siddiq by unanimous consent the portion of those reconciled to Islam was cancelled, for there was no longer any necessity for reconciliation of hearts.'
زمانة ابو بكر صديق مين باجتماع حصة مولفة القلوب مساقط هوكيا اس لئى كة ضرورت تالف تليف كرنى كى باقى نرهى
— Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 271.
240. This order, which restricted fighting to defensive warfare is, according to Husain, and Baidawi, abrogated by the Ayatu's-Saif. Thus:— اين حكم بآيت منسوخ است — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 32.
Baidawi connects it with the Hudaibiya affair. The Quraish opposed Muhammad's entrance into Mecca. The Muslim forces at Hudaibiya were in a position of some danger so, from a military point of view, the order was a wise one, but its application was purely local and for this special occasion.
So now the special and limited warfare is a thing of the past, and continuous and general fighting against all polytheists is inculcated.
241. Baidawi vol. ii, p 98. قيل إنّها منسوخة بآية السيف
242. Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, p: 170.
243. Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, pp. 687-99. Baidawi, vol. i, p. 109.
244. The fifty-fourth verse is called Ayatu'l-Mubahalat, 'verse of imprecation.'
245. i.e., after knowing that Jesus is a prophet and a servant (i.e., not divine). Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 70 — از دانستن عیسی كة رسول وبندة است
246. This apparently claims divine approval of the warlike expedition to Tabuk for, according to Baidawi, it was that which was the cause of the jesting.
247. Geschichtes des Qorans, p. 173.
248. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 256.
249. This verse is said to be abrogated by the ninety-second verse which makes some exceptions:—
It shall be no crime in the weak and in the sick and in those who find not the means of contributing to stay at home, provided they are sincere with God and His Apostle. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 92. [91]
250. The whole passage, verses 82-107, deals with this subject. I have quoted only a few verses.
251. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 90.
252. It belongs for the most part to the ninth year of the Hijra, though verses 13-16 belong to the previous year. The verses 36-7 belong to the year A.H. 10. The other verses are not arranged in any regular chronological order, but the Sura, as a whole, represents the mind of the Prophet in the eighth and ninth year of his power, and is chiefly remarkable for its arrogant intolerance. See Nöldeke, Geschichte des Qorans, pp. 165-9.
253. Nöldeke places this verse after the return from Tabuk, or the latter part of A.H. 9. Geschichte des Qorans, p. 167. See also Tafsir-i-Husaini on verse 75.
254. Or, never stand there in it (to pray).
255. 'During the ten years of his residence in Madina Muhammad organized thirty-eight military expeditions, and twenty-seven of these be accompanied in person, as chief commander, for the furtherance of the cause of Islam.' See Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham, quoted by Koelle, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 323.
256. Waqidi quoted by Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, p. 202.
257. Ante, p. 108.
258. Rodwell translates these words as 'God do battle with them;' Palmer as 'God fought them;' Sale as 'May God resist them'. The opinion of the commentators is much the same, for Shah Wali Ullah Muhaddath translates them by لعنت كرد ايشان را خدا — 'God cursed them.' Ibn 'Abbas says لعنهم الله — 'God cursed them.' Husain says لعنت كناد خداى بر ايشان — 'May God curse them.'
The Khulasatu'l-Tafasir also has هلاك كرى ا كو الله — May God destroy them.'
Baidawi gives the following explanation:—
دعاء عليهم بالإهلاك فإنَّ من قاتله الله هلك أو تعجّب من شناعة قولهم
'A prayer for their destruction for he whom God fights against is destroyed, or astonishment at the odiousness of their sayings.'
Nadhir Ahmad in his Urdu translation of the Qur'an says: خدا ان كو غارت كرے — 'May God make havoc of them.' Shaikh 'Abdu'l-Qadir's Urdu translation has مارذالى ان كو الله —'May God kill them.' Ahmad Shah translates the words thus:—'May God kill them'— خدا بکشد آنان را : الله ان كو مارى
'Ali is reported to have said it means 'curse them.' Zamakhshari's comment on these words is: 'they deserve to have this saying applied to them out of amazement at their abominable language.'
Zamakhshari was a Mu'tazili, and his view is generally adopted by Muslims of broader views. To them the words mean 'May God confound them' or some such term; but the sterner view is common.
The words in the Qur'an are literally: قَاتَلَهُمُ الله 'kill them.' All this is not in accordance with the kindly tone of a passage in the fifth Sura:—
Thou wilt find the nearest in love to those who believe to be those who say, 'We are Christians.' This is, because there are amongst them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 85. [82]
It must, however, be borne in mind that these words are followed by a verse showing the readiness of these Christians to embrace Islam—
And when they hear what hath been revealed to the Prophet, you will see their eyes gush with tears at what they recognize as truth therein; and they will say, 'O our Lord, we believe, write us down with those who bear witness.' Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 86. [83]
In any case, these two verses, just quoted in this note, do not deal with the general subject of the relation of Muslims to Christians, and are limited in their application. Again, they do not express the matured and final feelings of the Prophet, for though they occur in the latest Sura of all, the fifth, they themselves belong to the earlier period. They are antecedent to the fiercer verses of the ninth Sura quoted in the text. As a proof of this, we find that the commentator Husain says that they refer to seventy persons sent to Muhammad by Najashi, the king of Abyssinia, who had shown great kindness to the Meccan refugees. (Ante, p. 30.) This was about the seventh year of the Hijra. So, assuming that these Christians did not come till this late period, it was still some two years before the stricter order in Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 56 [51], absolutely prohibiting friendship with Jews or Christians, was given, and this is the final word on the subject:—
O Believers take not the Jews or Christians as friends. If any one of you taketh them for his friends, he surely is one of them! God will not guide the evil-doer. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 56 [51].
Husain says that the Prophet read the Sura YaSin (xxxvi) to these Christian visitors, who were delighted and said to one another, 'What perfect similarity it has to that which came to Jesus.' They then accepted Islam.
احكام اسلام وايمان قبول كردة با یکدیگر گفتند كة قران مشابهت تمام دارد يانجة بر عیسی نازل شدة — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 155.
259. اتَّخَذُواْ أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَاباً مِّن دُونِ اللهِ
Husain translates this passage of the Qur'an by, فرا گرفتند يهود ونصارى علماى شود را وعُباد خود را خديان
The Jews and Christians take their learned and pious men to be gods.' The word أربْابَاً is here the plural of رَبَّ. It is an allusion to the word (ربي) Rabbi, used by the Jews and Christians of their priests, but in Arabic of God only. See Rodwell's Qur'an, p. 616; Palmer's Qur'an, vol. i, p. 177.
There was no harm in a Jew's calling a learned man or a religious leader a rabbi, but Muhammad made a blunder and altogether mistook the meaning of the word. This is accounted for by his ignorance of Hebrew. But another difficulty arises, for, it is not, according to the orthodox view of inspiration, Muhammad who speaks in the Qur'an, but God through him. It seems clear that this verse overthrows the idea of the verbal, or wahi inspiration of the Qur'an.
260. يُرِيدُونَ أَن يُطْفِؤُواْ نُورَ اللهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ
Husain says that this light is the 'Qur'an, or the prophetship of Muhammad, or the clear proof of his holiness and continence.'
قران است يا نبوت محمد را يا حجت روشن بر تقدس وتنزة او از زن — Tafsir-i-Husaini vol. i, p. 254.
Baidawi says it is the Qur'an or the prophetship of Muhammad and explains 'with their mouths' to mean 'with their polytheism and lies.'
Others say, 'It is a metaphor meaning God's light, or the true religion—Islam, or the pure Qur'an, or the Most Holy Presence.'
استعارة هى كة دين حق يا اسلام يا قران ياكث يا حضور اقدس — Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 242.
The Most Holy Presence is said to refer to Muhammad and to the nur-i-Muhammadi, to be a proof that 'the light of Muhammad and the religion of Ahmad is permanent and cannot be abolished.'
معلوم هواكة نور محمدى اور دين احمدى دائمى هى كسى كى متائى مت نة سكيكا — Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 213.
It is said that 'with their mouths' is a figurative expression to denote that by the lies they tell the true religion may be prevented from spreading.
261. هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ
This is explained to mean that God has sent Muhammad with Islam, the true religion, and that it conquers all other religions, and abrogates their laws and that, after the descent of Jesus, there will be no religion but Islam in the world:—
وغالب كرداند دين خود را برهمة دينها ومنسوخ سازد احكام آنرا وآن بعد از نزول عیسی خواهد بودكة بر روى زمين جز دين اسلام نماند — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 254.
In the Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 243, we have the following statement:— اسلام ناسخ الاديان وغالب البرهان
'Islam is the abrogator of religions and an evident conqueror.'
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says it means 'all religions whether of the past or yet to come.'
262. This whole passage is one of such importance that I give the views of the commentator Husain at some length on it. He says:—
بكشيد اى مومنان وکارزار كنيد بانكة ايمان ندارد بخداى يعنى يهود كة بة تثنية قائل اند ونصارى كة تثليت را معتقد اند نمی گروند بروند بروز قيامت يهود گویند كة در بهشت اكل وشرب نخواهد بود ونصارى معاد روحانى را اثبات ميكند ومحرم نميدانند انجة حرام كردة است خداى از خمر وخنزير وانجة حرام کرده است رسول او يعنى محرم نميدانند انجة حرمت او بكتاب وسنت ثابت شدة است ـ باهل كتاب مقاتلة كنيد تا وقتيكة بدهند جزية وحال آنكة ايشان خوار شده گان باشند يعنى جزية بدست آرند ونشينند تا وقتيكة تسليم كنند با ازيشان جزية بگیرند وگردن ايشان را بسيلى فرو كوبند — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 253.
'O believers kill and fight those who do not believe in God, that is, the Jews who believe in Duality and the Christians who are believers in a Trinity; they do not accept the day of Judgement; and the Jews say that in Paradise there is no eating and drinking and the Christians affirm that it is only a spiritual state. They do not consider as unlawful that which God has made so, such as, leaven and pigs, and that which the Prophet has declared unlawful; that is, they do not consider unlawful that which in the Qur'an and the Sunna is proved to be so. You should fight with the people of the Book until they pay the jizya, and their state should be a very abject one, that is, they must pay the jizya with their own hand and not sit down until they have rendered obeisance; or take the jizya from them and with a slapping on the back of the neck beat them down.'
Here it is quite clear that the reference is not to the pagan Arabs but to Jews and Christians, and from this verse and especially the words 'they be humbled' has arisen the contemptuous treatment of the Dhmmis in Muslim lands. There is some difference of opinion as to the persons from whom the jizya may be taken. Imam Shafi'i says it can only be taken from the Jews and Christians; Imam A'gam says all polytheists should pay. He excepts the pagan Arabs; to whom is given only the choice between Islam and the sword (يا تيغ است يا اسلام). Imam Malik says it may be received from all infidels except apostates, and for them the order is death. The material nature of heaven is implied, and the co-ordinate authority of the Qur'an and the Sunna is maintained.
As regards Ezra ('Uzair) Husain relates a Tradition to the effect that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed all the copies of the Pentateuch, but that Ezra had committed it to memory and, on his way back from captivity, he died, and then, after a hundred years, he rose from the dead and dictated the Pentateuch. The Jews marvelled and said, this was because he was a son of God. There is no Jewish authority for this Tradition, and so the charge against the Jews is not proved and may be dismissed as a pure invention. This Tradition is referred to in another form in the Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 261[259]:—
Like him who passed by a city which had been laid in ruins, and said, 'How will God revive this after death?' And God made him die for a hundred years, then He raised him and said, 'How long hast thou tarried?' He replied, 'I have tarried a day, or some part of a day.' He said, ' Nay thou hast tarried a hundred years: look at thy food and drink, they are not spoiled, and look at thine ass; for we will make thee a sign to men, and look at the bones how we scatter them, and then clothe them with flesh.'
The commentators refer this to Ezra, who is said to have passed by the ruins of Jerusalem and to have doubted whether it could ever be rebuilt. God then performed this miracle as a 'sign to men.' (See Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 50.) Baidawi says it is Ezra or Elias (al-Khidr). Muhammad has here confused Ezra with Nehemiah. The fable has its origin probably in some inaccurate account given to the Prophet of Nehemiah's ride round the ruined city. Nehemiah, ii. 11-16.
263. Ibn Kathir says this verse came down at the time when the Bani Quraiza, (ante, p, 101) were rendered helpless, a proof of the earlier date of the verse. See Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 535.
264. Husain in his comment on these words says that this is 'a very strong injunction in the matter of friendship with Jews and Christians.'
Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. 1, p. 149. — اين سخن غايت تهديد در موالات يهود ونصارى
265. This verse seems to contradict the apparently more liberal view in:—
To thee have we sent down the Book with truth, confirmatory of previous Scriptures and their safeguard. Judge therefore between them by what God hath sent down, and follow not their desires by deserting the truth which hath come unto them. For each one of you have we given a law and an open path,
And if God had pleased He had surely made you one people, but He would test you by what He hath given to each. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 52-3. [48]
The testing is said to be by 'divers laws, suitable for each member, and each period of time, or age, so that the obedient may be distinguished from the disobedient.'
Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 148. — ,از شرائع مخلفة مناسب هر عضوى وزمانى قا مطيع از عامى متميز شود
These two verses have sorely troubled the commentators, for they seem to show that the differences of religion were by God's appointment, whereas from the context we should have expected them to be the result of human sin and waywardness. The orthodox explanation is that the words لِكُلِّ 'for each one' do not apply to each individual, each period or each tribe, but to each prophet to whom a law has been sent down: so that the meaning of the whole passage is, that God has given to each prophet a law which the people of that age, until such law is abrogated, should obey, and so it goes on with successive prophets and religions. Now, Jews and Christians can no longer follow their distinctive laws, for both are abrogated and Islam is now the law of this age. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 530.
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says لِكُلٍّ means 'each Prophet,' and explains it as لِكُلِّ نبي منكم 'each prophet from amongst you.' The commentators Shah Wali Ullah Muhaddath and Husain translate لِكُلٍّ by هر گروه each tribe.'
266. It is interesting to note that the charges against Christians of looking upon the Virgin Mary as the third person of the Trinity is made in the last of all the Suras:—
O Jesus, Son of Mary, hast thou said unto mankind 'Take me and my mother as two Gods beside God? ' He shall say:
'Glory be unto Thee! it is not for me to say that which I know to be not the truth.' Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 116.
Whether Muhammad knew better or not is uncertain, but, however that may be, this is his parting accusation. He could have ascertained the true facts of the case, for on Christian monuments found by Dr. B. Glaser in Yemen, the Sirwah inscription opens with the words, 'In the power of the all-Merciful and His Messiah and the Holy Ghost.' (Zwemer, Islam, p. 21.) To say the least, Muhammad here made a serious mistake, which it is difficult to reconcile with the verbal inspiration of the Qur'an.
267. I have not quoted in the text the passage against unbelievers in Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 186-9 [190-193], because it may refer to the pilgrimage to Mecca in the year A.H. 7, in which case it would be a late interpolation in this Sura. If this is so, it refers only to the Prophet's adversaries in Mecca, but of them it is said:—
Fight against them till there be no more tumult and the only worship be that of God. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 189 [193]. The Arabic text is:— وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّى لاَ تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لله
We may note that the verb is قتل kill; not جهد, make Jihad, so that all arguments based on the assertion that in the Qur'an جهد does not mean 'make war,' 'but strive earnestly' do not apply in such a verse as this, nor at all soften the fierceness of the order. If it does apply to the Meccans alone, it still proves that in Arabia Islam was, and was meant to be, propagated by the sword and not by peaceful methods alone. It is not a mere civil war against an established government that is here described; but a religious war on the Meccans who were not the subjects of the Prophet, as the ruler of Madina, and who did not want to accept either his political rule or his religious headship.
268. This is the mildest view of the passage, but many Muslims do not so limit its application. They see in it a clear call to Jihad, or religious war, in all ages. The Tradition, 'Jihad will go on until the day of judgement,' الجهادُ مَاضٍ اِلَى يَوم الْقِياَمِةَ is very often quoted with approval.
It is also said that the one hundred and eighty-ninth verse applies to all, except those who pay the tax called the jizya, or who are in alliance with Muslims; but in the Arabian peninsula no infidel was to be allowed to remain, and the life of no apostate (مرتد) was to be spared (Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 132); so that, in their possibly limited application, as in their probably extended one, these words conclusively show that Islam was not propagated by peaceful methods.
In the two hundred and forty-fifth verse we have the words َقَاتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ الله — 'Kill in the path of God.' The commentator Husain says on this:— در راة خداى براى اشكارا كردن دين خداى
'Fight in God's cause to make known the religion of God.' (Tafsir-i-Husaini vol. i, p. 44.) Here again it is clearly said that Islam is to be made known by the sword.
Tirmidhi says 'the Prophet ordered that they should make war on men till they said "there is no God but God".' قال رسول الله صلعم أُمرت أن أقاتلَ النَّاس حتى يقولوا لا إِلهَ إلاّ الله Jami'u't-Tirmidhi (Lucknow, ed. 1903) vol. ii, p. 468.
For evidence that this aggressive spirit still remains in Islam, see The Moslem World, July, 1913, pp. 290-305.
The most recent attempt to show that Islam is propagated by peaceful methods is in the very interesting book, called The Preaching of Islam, by T. W. Arnold. The author quotes at the commencement of his book (pp. 3-6) many of, if not all, the kindly expressions he can find in the Qur'an. Strange to say, though he quotes from this very Sura, the ninth, he entirely omits these verses (29-35) which run directly counter to the whole argument of his book. Stanley Lane-Poole considers, that 'these later denunciations probably annul the more favourable judgements elsewhere expressed' (Studies in a Mosque, p 155). It is a fact that Christians do say, 'The Messiah is a Son of God.' Muhammad advocated no peaceful method with such, but said, 'God do battle with them,' and this towards the close of his mission and in his old age, with thoughts well matured and plans formed. A Tradition recorded by Waqidi states that on his death-bed Muhammad said, 'The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians.' But it is not necessary to press this point, for the Tradition may not be one of much authority. The latest revelations of the Qur'an itself are quite enough, as I have shown, to reveal the Prophet's final attitude of uncompromising hostility to all who differed from him. See Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, p. 270.
269. Ante, p. 80.
270. لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ It is said that this does not touch the general law about the enforcement of the jizya, or poll-tax, of imprisonment and for renegades the penalty of death; but refers to the special case of two Christians, who did not wish to become Muslims. 'A certain man named Hasin had two sons who were Christians and did not wish to become Muslims, this (verse) shows that there was to be no compulsion.'
حصين ناسى ايكث مردكى دو لزكى نصرانى تهى اور اسلام بر راهى نهوتى تو ارهاد هواكة دين مين جبرنهين — Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 202.
Husain says that it refers to the two sons of one of the Ansar, named Abu'l-Hasin, who were led away by a Syrian fire-worshipper. The father wished to use force to restrain them; but Muhammad forbade it and told him not to interfere with any one 'firm in religion.'
ابو الحصين انصارى دو پسر قابل داشت ناگاه ترسائی ازشام بة مدينة آمد با او مصاحبت نمودند بوجة فسون وفسائة وى مغرور گشته ودين ترسائى اختيار كردند وهمراة او متوجة شام شدند ابو الحصين از حضرت رسول دستورى خواست تا برود و ايشان را باكراة شر ع باز آرد واين آيت نازل شد كة اِكراة مكنيد كسى راكة بدينى متدين شدة است
He says further that it applies to Christians, Jews, Magians and the Sabians (ante, p. 84), provided that they pay the jizya, or poll-tax; but that as regards the Arabs, who refuse to become Muslims, it is abrogated by the 'verse of the killing' which reads 'kill them wherever ye shall find them.'. Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 187. [191]
اِكراة هيجكس را از يهود ونصرانى ومجوس وصایبان ببر آوردن اسلام بشرط قبول جزية ـ گفته اند حكم اين آيت بآيت قتال منسوخ است از تمام قبائل عرب جزدين اسلام قبول نبود — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 48.
Baidawi (vol. i, p. 132) also speaks of its abrogation by the words:—
O Prophet, contend against the Infidels and the Hypocrites and be rigorous with them. Sura At-Taubah (ix) 74. [73]
It is quite clear, therefore, that no general principle of toleration is here laid down. For Arabs there was absolutely none, and men of other religions were only permitted to live on payment of a poll-tax, so that even in their case there was no real toleration.
It is most important to ascertain the respective dates of all such mild passages and also of the harsher verses. Merely to cast together all the kindly ones without any reference to their date, or the circumstances under which they were delivered, as is sometimes done, is simply misleading.
271. Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, p..54.
272. معالم اور مظهر هى كة بعد جنگ احد يهود مسلمانون كو طعن كرتى اور كهتى اكر دين تمهارا حق محمد بيغمبر هوتى تو ايسى شكست نملتى ارشاد هوا جب تک حكم قتال نة اترا صبر كرو مگر دوسرى تفسيرون مين ية قصة مذكور نهين هوا اور مشرر مين هى كة مسلمانون كو نهاكتى تهى الله تعالىا نى فرمايا كة تم ابهى صبر كرو اور آيت جهاد سى منسوخ هى — Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. i, p. 62.
273. تا وقتيكة بيار خداى فرمان خود راكة حكم است بقتال سا امر بجزية — Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 18.
Baidawi explains 'His working' to mean 'the order for their slaughter and the exaction of the jizya; or the killing of the Bani Quraiza and the banishment of the Bani Nadhir'. Ibn 'Abbas holds that the advice to show forgiveness is cancelled by the 'verse of the sword.' Baidawi, vol. i, p. 79
274. 'As it had reached the august hearing of his lordship that the idolaters were in the habit of circumambulating the house of Allah in the same manner as in the time of ignorance (i.e., pre-Islamic days) and in a state of perfect nudity, he was so disgusted that he felt disinclined to come in contact with them himself.' Raudatu'-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, p. 673.
275. 'It is said that 'Ali made it clear to them that between unbelievers and believers, idolaters and worshippers of the Unity, there could be no treaty and no peace and that in Paradise there would be none except Muslims. Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 215.
276. Literally, 'that ye cannot weaken God,' that is, hinder Him in this His purpose.
277. The Hajj, not the 'Umra, or Lesser Pilgrimage.
278. Husain translates the clause أَنَّ الله بَرِيءٌ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَرَسُولُهُ by خدا بيزار است از مشركين وعهود ايشان و پیغمبر است 'God is absolved from, or free from any treaty with the polytheists, and so is His Apostle also.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 247.
279. A Tradition states that Muhammad said: 'Observe, and learn of me the ceremonies which ye should practise, for I know not whether after this I shall ever perform another pilgrimage.' Waqidi, quoted by Muir, Life of Mahomet, vol. iv, p. 234.
He made the first three tawaf, or circumalubulations, quickly and the last four slowly. (Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, p. 696.) This is the custom still; it follows the Sunna, i.e., the example set by the Prophet.
280. Verses 36-7.
281. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 393,
282. Raudatu's-Safa, part ii, vol. ii, p. 696.
283. الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلام دِيناً
'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says this means, 'I have explained to you the laws regarding things lawful and unlawful, and the positive and negative precepts—after this day no polytheists must come to 'Arafat and Mina or make the circumambulation (tawaf) of the Ka'ba, or the running (sa'i) between Safa and Marwa.'
Husain on this fifth verse of the Sura Al-Ma'idah says:—
امروز كامل گردانیم براى شما دين شما راكة دیگر احكام اورا رقم نسخ نخواهد بود وتمام كردم برشما نعمت خود راكة حج گذارید ايمن ومطمئن باشيد وهيج مشركى با شما حج نگذارد واختيار كردم براى شما اسلام را دينى كة پاکیزه تر از همة دينها
'This day I have perfected your religion for you so that other laws will not abrogate it, and fulfilled for you my own favour that you may perform the Pilgrimage, be in safety and enjoy repose. No polytheist should make the Hajj with you, and I have appointed for you Islam, a religion purer than all other religions.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 137.
Baidawi explains 'the perfecting' in the same way, and the 'mercy,' as guidance, or grace, or the perfecting of religion. Vol. i, p. 247.
In the Khulasatu'l-Tafasir it is said that the views of the commentators may be thus summed up: 'In our religion there is no defect in reason or in revelation: no need of any (other) dogmas: no room for improvement or for abrogating.' Vol. 1, p. 488.
Maulavi Muhammad 'Ali says: 'Muhammad was the last of the prophets, because religion being now perfected no prophet was needed after him.' Holy Qur'an, p. 253.
284. i.e., the uncut beard and uncovered head.
285. The universal reverence of the Arab for the Ka'ba was too favourable and obvious a means for uniting all the tribes into one confederation with one common purpose in view . . . Here, then, Muhammad found a shrine to which, as well as at which, devotion had been paid from time immemorial; it was the one thing which the scattered Arabian nation had in common—the one thing which gave them even the shadow of a national feeling; and to have dreamed of abolishing it, or even of diminishing the honours paid to it, would have been madness and ruin to his enterprise.' Palmer's Qur'an, Introduction, p. liii.
'It is therefore no matter of surprise, but a thing to be reasonably expected, that, in case a native of Mecca were to conceive the idea of establishing a power over the scattered tribes of Arabia, and of uniting them under one central government, he should avail himself of a means already in existence and with which he had been familiar from his youth. Muhammad, with great practical insight and shrewdness, seized on this advantage and retained the heathen shrine of his native city as the local centre of Islam.' Koelle. Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. xix
286. Dods, Muhammad, Buddha and Christ, p. 124.
287. Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, p. 83.
288. The Hajj is a fard duty. Maulavi Rafi'u'd-Din Ahmad in the Nineteenth Century for October, 1897, says, 'The Hajj cleanses the hearts of men and makes them innocent like new-born babes.'
289. Freeman seems to have missed this point when he says 'Muhammad did not or could not rise above a local worship; he had therefore a holy place, a place of pilgrimage. Sprung from the blood of the hereditary guardians of the Ka'ba, it was the object of his life to restore that venerated temple to its true purpose, to expel the idols from the holy place of Abraham and Ishmael. His traditionary love so clung around it that he adopted from its local worship many grotesque and superstitious ceremonies which seem strangely at variance with the generally reasonable and decorous ritual of the Moslem. In an Arab, a son of Ishmael, all this was, if not rational, at least natural. But why should Persians, Moors, Turks and Indians, aliens from the stock of Abraham, be sent to worship at a shrine the whole of whose associations belong to another nation.' History and Conquest of the Saracens, p. 52.
290. Stanley Lane-Poole, Studies in a Mosque, p. 96.
291. Stanley Lane-Poole, though he writes with admiration of Muhammad, yet on this subject says: 'Islam is unfortunately a social system as well as a religion; and herein lies the great difficulty of fairly estimating its good and its bad influence in the world. . . . In all civilized and wealthy countries the social system of Islam exerts a ruinous influence on all classes, and, if there is to be any great future for the Muhammadan world, that system of society must be done away.' Lane, Selections from the Kur’an, pp. lxxxviii, xcix.
292. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, p. 59.
293. Sura Ya-Sin (xxxvi) 69.
294. Rodwell, Qur'an, Introduction, p. 10.
295. There is one apparent exception to this, for the phrase occurs in Sura Al-A'raf (vii) 158.
This is a late Meccan Sura but the verses 156-8 are evidently an interpolation from a later revelation. Their Madina origin seems quite clear from the use of the term النَّبِيّ الأمِّيِّ 'unlettered prophet.' This is a peculiar Madina phrase. The allusion to the 'Law and the Gospel' also shows a late origin. Then there is a reference to those who 'strengthen and aid' عَزَّرُوه وَ نَصَرُوه This is a clear allusion to the Ansar, for Husain (vol. i, p. 222) says نَصَرُوه means يارى دادند اورا بر دشمنان 'those who helped him against enemies;' and 'Abdu'llah ibn 'Abbas says that they helped with the sword. This appears to settle the question of the later date of these verses; a fact which suits the context, and which is more consistent than an earlier date would be with the use of the words. 'God and His Apostle.' See Nöldeke, Geschichte des Qorans, p. 118.
296. Husain says that the 'light' is the Qur'an which is so called, 'because it is miraculous in its nature and the place where the truths concerning the orders of things lawful and unlawful are seen.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. ii, p. 406.
297. The Arabic for 'turn not away from him' is وَلاَ تَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ and it is not clear whether the term عَنْهُ 'from him' refers to God or to the Apostle.
Husain says the passage means:—
وبر مگردید واعراض مكنيد از امر بطاعت يا از جهاد يا از فرمان خداى يا روى مگردانید از رسول چه مراد از آيت امر ست بطاعت بيغمبر ونهى از مخالفت او ذكر طاعت حق تنبيه ست برانكة شما ميشنويد طاعت حق تعالی در طاعت رسول او ست
'Do not turn from or object to the order to obedience; or to Jihad or to the order of God: do not turn from the Prophet. The meaning of the verse is, that the order is to obey the Prophet and it is forbidden to oppose him. The mention of the obedience to God is an admonition to this effect, that the obedience to the High God is in the obedience to His Prophet.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 236.
Ibn 'Abbas says it means, عن أمر اللهِ ورسولِه 'From the order of God and of His Prophet.'
298. These words apply to the wives of the Prophet who had demanded dresses and expenditure which he could not grant. On the authority of Muslim, 'it is recorded that Abu Bakr and 'Umar found the Prophet surrounded by his pure wives, demanding the means for expenditure. He was silent and vexed and said, "See how these crowd around me and demand what I cannot give." Abu Bakr then pressed down the neck of 'Ayisha, and 'Umar that of Hafasa and reproved them for their conduct. The Prophet kept aloof from his wives for nineteen days. Then this revelation came, warning the women that it would be better to choose heavenly blessings in preference to the fleeting pleasures of the world.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir, vol. iii, p. 546.
299. Mu'alim states that ibn 'Abbas says that this refers to Jews who called Ezra ('Uzair), the Son of God, to the Christians who said that Jesus was the Son of God and to the infidels of Mecca who looked upon angels as the daughters of God. The 'curse of God' is on them all.
In Sketches from Eastern History, chapter iii, on the Qur'an, Nöldeke with great learning and critical acumen sets forth his views on the inception, the origins, the growth and the style of the Qur'an. It is one of the best statements on this important subject and will well repay attentive study.
300. Mujahid says that the Hypocrites amongst themselves mocked the Prophet and some said, 'what would have happened had he punished us and no sign had come from heaven. Then this revelation came.' Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 261.
301. Nöldeke, however, on the authority of Zamakhshari and of the Itqan of Jalalu'd-Din as-Syuti places this verse as a Meccan one. Geschichte des Qorans, p. 169.
On this verse Husain says that 'Careful over you and towards the faithful, compassionate, merciful,' means:—
حق سبحانة هیچ پیغمبری را يكجا بدو اسم از اسماى خود اختصاص نداد مگر پیغمبر ما را
'The Holy God has not equally distinguished any prophet except our Prophet by two of His own names.' Tafsir-i-Husasni, vol. i, p. 275.
'Akrima says of the Prophet, 'You are named just as God calls Himself, the compassionate, the merciful.' Khulasatu'l-Tafasir vol. ii, p. 327.
302. This is the famous Ayatu'l-Kursi, or 'verse of the throne.'
303. Lane, Selections from the Kur-án, pp. cv, cvi.
