Chapter II
, p. 470.]
[Footnote 220: The collections of Moslem _Apud_ Boreida, _vide_ Mishkat, p. 333.]
[Footnote 221: The collections of Abú Daúd in the Book of Jihád, Vol. II, p. 26.]
[Footnote 222: The Life of Mohammad based on Mohammad-ibn Ishak, by Abdel Malik-ibn Hisham, p. 714.]
[Footnote 223: The Life of Mahomet, by Sir W. Muir, Vol. IV, p. 14.]
[Footnote 224: Or Yoseir-bin Razim.]
[Footnote 225: As Khyber was not yet conquered, neither Mohammad could make such a promise, nor the Jews could have been induced to believe it; therefore the story is a false one.]
[Footnote 226: The Life of Mohammad, by Abdel Malik-bin Hisham, pp. 980-981.]
[Footnote 227: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp. 16-17.]
[Footnote 228: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV. p. 20.]
[Footnote 229: The Life of Mohammad, by Abdel Malik-bin Hisham, pp. 992-993. The fighting was, according to Arab custom, in single combats.]
[Footnote 230: Mahomet and his Successors, by Washington Irving, p. 118, London, 1869.]
[Footnote 231: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 20, foot-note.]
[Footnote 232: Compare "Contributions to Political Science," by Francis Lieber, LL.D., Vol. II, p. 250.]
_The alleged Cruelties in executing the Prisoners of War and others_.
[Sidenote: 57. Treatment of the prisoners of war.]
Some of the war prisoners had received the condign punishment of execution for their crimes in conformity with the laws of war. It has been alleged by some European biographers of Mohammad that their (the war prisoners') execution was cruel, and that they were accused of no crime except their scepticism and political antagonism.[233]
The persons executed were as follows:--
1. Nadhr-bin-Harith. 2. Okba. 3. Abul Ozza. 4. Moavia-bin-Mughira.
[Sidenote: The law of nations regarding the prisoners of war.]
Before reviewing the case of each prisoner, I must note, by way of introductory remarks, that, under the international or military law, a prisoner of war is a public enemy armed or attached to the hostile army for active aid, and who has fallen into the hands of the captor, either fighting or wounded, on the fields or in the hospitals, by individual surrender or capitulation. All soldiers, of whatever species of arms; all men who belong to the rising _en masse_ of the hostile country; all those who are attached to the army for its efficiency and promote directly the object of the war, except religious persons, officers of medical staff, hospital nurses and servants, all disabled men or officers on the field, or elsewhere, if captured, all enemies who have thrown away their arms and asked for quarters, are prisoners of war, and as such exposed to the inconveniences as well as entitled to the privileges of a prisoner of war. He is subject to no punishment for being a public enemy, nor is any revenge wreaked upon him by the international infliction of any suffering or disgrace, by cruel imprisonment, want of food, by mutilation, death, or any other barbarity. But a prisoner of war remains answerable for his crimes committed against the captor's army or people before he was captured, and for which he has not been punished by his own authorities. All prisoners of war are liable to the infliction of retaliatory measures.
1.--_Nadhr-bin-Harith_.
[Sidenote: 59. The execution of Nadhr Ibn Harith.]
Nadhr (Nazr), one of the prisoners of war, was executed after the battle of Badr for his crime of severely tormenting the Moslems at Mecca. Musáb had distinctly reminded him of his torturing the companions of Mohammad,[234] so there was nothing of a cruel and vindictive spirit of the Prophet displayed towards his enemies in the execution of Nazr as it is made out by Sir W. Muir.[235] On the other hand, his execution is denied by some critics, like Ibn Manda and Abú Naeem, who say, that Nazr-bin-Haris was present at the battle of Honain, A.H. 8, six years after that of Badr, and was presented with one hundred camels by Mohammad. Sir W. Muir himself puts down very quietly Nadhir Ibn al Harith's name in a foot-note (Vol. IV, page 151) as a recipient of one hundred camels at Honain. The same Nadhr-bin-Harith is shown among the earliest Moslem refugees who had fled to Abyssinia. These discrepancies leave no doubt that the story of Nadhr's execution is not a fact. It is also related by the narrators, who assert Nazr's execution at Badr, that his daughter or sister came to Mohammad and addressed him several verses, the hearing of which produced such a tender emotion in him, that his eyes shed tears and said, he would not have issued orders for his execution had he heard these verses before. The following are two of the verses which Mohammad heard:
_"Má kán Zarraka lao mananta va rubba mámannal fata va ho-al mughizul mohnihoo."_ Thou wouldst no harm have seen to set him free, Anger how high for pardon has no plea.
But Zobier-bin-Bakár says, he heard some learned men who objected to these verses on the ground that they were all concocted; and I think that the whole story of Nazr's execution is a spurious one.
2.--_Okba-bin-Mueit_.
[Sidenote: 60. The execution of Okba.]
Another prisoner, named Okba, was executed after the battle of Badr for a crime similar to that of Nazr. It is related that while he was going to be executed, he asked who would take care of his little girl. Mohammad replied, "Hell-fire!" This is altogether an apocryphal story, and owes its origin to the relation of Okba to the tribe of Banunnar, or the "children of fire." Wackidi does not give his authorities for the story, and Ibn Is-hak gives only one immediately before him, which is cut short of another intervening link of authorities up to the scene of occurrence. Abu Daood narrates it from Masrook, who gave it on the authority of Abdullah-bin-Mas-ood, who does not say he was present at the scene or he heard it directly or indirectly from Mohammad. Besides the circumstances under which Masrook gave out this story are very suspicious, and show that calumny was at work. Masrook was proposed by Zohak to be entrusted with the administration of a certain district. Ommara, the son of Okba, objected to this, as Masrook was one of the murderers of Osman, the third Khalif. Masrook in reply said to Ommara, on the authority of Ibn Masood, that "when thy father was being executed, he had asked the Prophet, who will take care of his little girl." The Prophet replied, "Hell-fire." Therefore, I am satisfied for thee with what the Prophet had chosen for thy father.[236]
There is a discrepancy in the mode of Okba's execution as well as about the person who executed him. Ibn Is-hak says, that it was Asim who killed him, and Ibn Hisham, that it was Ali. Ibrahim is of opinion, that Okba was executed at Taimee,[237] and Mohammad-bin-Khobeib Hashimi,[238] that he was crucified, from which others differ and say that he was beheaded. I have no belief in Okba's execution at all.
[Sidenote: 61. Free liberty granted to Ozza, a prisoner of war.]
Abul Ozza, one of the prisoners of Badr, and who was one of the persecutors of the Moslems at Mecca, had besought Mohammad to release him by way of compassion for his five daughters. Mohammad granted him his life and his liberty.[239] This directly points to the universal generosity of the Prophet, and from this it will appear that the story of Okba's execution runs contrary to his general character and conduct. On these grounds the execution of Okba might be rejected as a fiction.
3.--_Abul Ozza._
[Sidenote: 62. Abul Ozza proved a traitor and was executed.]
Abul Ozza, one of the prisoners of Badr, was allowed his freedom without any ransom, on the condition that he would never again bear up arms in any war against the Prophet; but he proved a traitor. He exhorted the Arabs to make war on Mohammad, and joined himself the invading army of Mecca. He was doomed to misfortune, he was caught at Hamra, and duly executed.[240] This was in full accordance with the laws and usages of war (_vide ante_, para. 58).
4.--_Moavia Ibn Mughira._
[Sidenote: The execution of Moavia Ibn Mughira.]
Moavia Ibn Mughira, also a prisoner of war, was granted three days' truce, on the condition that if he were found in Medina after the appointed time, he was to be executed. The period had passed, and he was still lurking at Medina. At length he was found out and killed by Zeid and Ammar on their return from Hamra-al-Assad, after five or six days. It is apparent that Moavia violated his truce, and his lurking in Medina might be either as a spy[241] or scout secretly seeking information.
[Sidenote: 64. Justification of Mughira's execution.]
Sir W. Muir, who calls him Othmân Ibn Mughîra, makes out a favourable case in his behalf. He writes: He "incautiously lingered at Medîna till the last day of his term of grace, when he set out for Mecca."[242] But Ibn Hisham distinctly writes that he "stayed at Medina after the three days had passed and was found lurking there." Even according to Wackidi he was caught on the fourth day. But this is far from truth, for, according to his own account, Mohammad was absent after the battle of Ohad for five days at Hamra-al-Assad; then how he (Ibn Mughira) could have endeavoured to avoid the returning Moslem force from Hamra-al-Assad, and lose his way, as Sir W. Muir gives it out, only on the fourth day?
One of the enemies, who had invaded Medina and attacked Mohammad, was, after being captured, allowed three days' truce on explicit conditions that he was to be killed there if found after three days, and was also provided with a camel and provisions for the way, was discovered lurking thereabout on the fifth or sixth day, in consequence of which he lost his life. This is called by Sir W. Muir as being "perished by a too great confidence in the generosity of his enemy,"[243]--_i.e._, Mohammad.
[Footnote 233: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 307.]
[Footnote 234: Wackidi Campaigns of Mohammad, p. 101, Calcutta, 1855.]
[Footnote 235: "It was at Otheil that the cruel and vindictive spirit of Mahomet towards his enemies first began to display itself."--Muir's Life of Mohamet, Vol. III, p. 115. After this, the author narrates the execution of Nazr. Ibn Is-hak. _Vide_ Ibn Hisham, p. 458; Wackidi, p. 108; Abu Daood, Vol. II, p. 10. This story is not given by Ibn Hisham and Ibn Sád.]
[Footnote 236: Abu Daood as before.]
[Footnote 237: Zorkánee, Vol. II, p. 541.]
[Footnote 238: Sírat Halabi, Vol. II, p. 371.]
[Footnote 239: Wackidi, 105. Insán-ul Oyoon or Sírat Halabí, Vol. II, p. 464.]
[Footnote 240: Wackidi, p. 105; Hishami, p. 591; Insán-ul-Oyoon or Sírat Halabí, Vol. II, p. 464.]
[Footnote 241: Ibn Hisham, p. 591; Wackidi, pp. 324 and 325.]
[Footnote 242: The Life of Mahomet, by Sir W. Muir, Vol. III, p. 185.]
[Footnote 243: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, 185.]
_The intended Execution of the Prisoners of Badr._
[Sidenote: 63. The wrong version of Sir W. Muir.]
Sir W. Muir writes: "It would even seem to have been contemplated at the close of the battle to kill all the prisoners. Mahomet is represented by tradition as himself directing this course." In a foot-note he says, "Thus Mahomet said: 'Tell not Saîd of his brother's death'" (Mábad, a prisoner, see above, page 110 note); "but kill ye every man his prisoner."--(Wâckidi, 100.) Again: "Take not any man his brother prisoner, but rather kill him" (page 101). "I would not, however, lay too much stress on these traditions. I am inclined rather to view them as called into existence by the passages quoted below from the Coran."[244] The contemplated execution of the prisoners is not borne out by the traditions which Sir W. Muir himself looks upon as fabricated ones. The true translation of the passages in Wackidi referred to above is as follows:--
_First passage._--"Tell not Said of his brother's killing (_i.e._, being killed), so he will kill every prisoner in your hands."--(Wackidi, page 100.) This obviously means, that do not let Saeed know that his brother Wáhid, who was made prisoner and killed by Omar or Abu Barda, was killed. If you do so, he will, being enraged, kill every prisoner now in your hands. It is very strange that Sir W. Muir translates the sentence to mean "kill ye every man his prisoner!"
_Second passage._--"No body must take his brother's prisoner, so that he may be killed," meaning none of you should seize other person's prisoner. If you do so, perhaps, the other person may kill the prisoner in the contest. Sir W. Muir has quite misunderstood the sentence.
[Sidenote: 66. Mohammad never blamed in the Koran for relieving prisoners.]
There are some fictitious traditions on the subject that Mohammad was reprimanded in the Koran (Sura, viii, 68, 69) for releasing the prisoners of Badr, meaning that he ought to have executed them. The verse is translated thus:--
"It is not for a Prophet to take prisoners until (_hatta_) he hath slaughtered in the land. Ye wish to have the goods of this world, but God wishes for the next, for God is Mighty, Wise! Were it not for a book from God that had gone before, there would have touched you, for which ye took, a mighty punishment."
The verse 68, if it is rightly translated, will mean that prisoners should not be executed. The word '_hatta_' means '_until_,' and is also used as a causative word. I prefer the latter, and translate--
"It is not for any Prophet that prisoners may be brought to him _in order_ that he may make slaughter in the land," which means, that it is not proper for a Prophet to take prisoners of war in order to slaughter them. This meaning is in consonance with the other passage in the Koran (xlvii, 4), which restricts the treatment of the prisoners of war to either free dismissal or ransom.
In the first place, the verse rather reprimanded those who wished to kill the prisoners; and in the second, those who desired to exact ransom for their liberty. They ought to have set them at liberty without any pecuniary advantage, if they knew any good in their deserving free liberty.
[Footnote 244: _Ibid_, p. 117.]
_Kind Treatment of the Prisoners of War by Mohammad._
[Sidenote: 67. The Koran enjoins, the prisoners of war to be either freely liberated or ransomed, but neither executed nor enslaved.]
The prisoners of war were always treated kindly by Mohammad, and the ancient practice of killing and enslaving them was much discouraged and abolished by the Koran.
"And when ye meet those who misbelieve, then strike off heads until ye have massacred them, and bind fast the bonds!"
"Then either a free grant (of liberty) or a ransom until the war shall have laid down its burdens."--Sura, xlvii, 4 and 5.
Regarding the prisoners of Badr Sir W. Muir writes: "In pursuance of Mahomet's commands, the citizens of Medina, and such of the refugees as possessed houses, received the prisoners and treated them with much consideration." "Blessing be on the men of Medina!" said these prisoners in latter days. "They made us ride, while they themselves walked; they gave us wheatened bread to eat, when there was little of it, contenting themselves with dates." It is not surprising that when, some time after, their friends came to ransom them, several of the prisoners who had been thus received declared themselves adherents of Islam: and to such the Prophet granted a liberty without the usual payment.[245]
The prisoners of the Bani Mustalik were released without paying any ransom.[246]
The Bani Hawazin were made prisoners of war at Honain, fought in the eighth year of the Hegira, but were all set free without any exaction of ransom from them. Mohammad first released his prisoners, and the men of Mecca and Medina cheerfully followed his example.[247] The prisoners were six thousand in number.[248]
A party of eighty, as related by Moslim in his _Saheeh_, or of forty or fifty Koreish, as narrated by Ibn Hisham (p. 745), went round about Mohammad's camp while stationed at Hodeibia in A.H. 6, seeking to cut off any stray followers, and having attacked the camp itself with stones and arrows, they were caught and taken prisoners to Mohammad, who, with his usual generosity, pardoned and released them.
Khalid-Ibn-Waleed, in the year of his victory, A.H. 11, when he was sent to call the Bani Jazima to embrace Islam, had made them prisoners and ordered their execution. Some of the better-informed of the Moslems of the injunctions of the Koran, of releasing prisoners either freely or by exacting ransom, interposed and accused him of committing an act of the Time of Ignorance. Mohammad, much displeased, grieved at the intelligence, and said twice, 'O God! I am innocent of what Khalid hath done.'[249]
[Footnote 245: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. II, pp. 122 and 123.]
[Footnote 246: _Ibid_, Vol. III, p. 243.]
[Footnote 247: _Ibid_, Vol. IV. pp. 148 and 149.]
[Footnote 248: Ibn Hisham, p. 877.]
[Footnote 249: Ibn Hisham, pp. 833 and 835.]
_The Execution of the Bani Koreiza._
[Sidenote: 68. High treason of the Bani Koreiza against Medina, and their execution.]
The Bani Koreiza, a Jewish tribe living in the vicinity of Mecca had entered into an alliance with the Moslem Commonwealth to defend the city of Medina from the attack of the aggressors. While Medina was besieged by the ten thousand Koreish and other Bedouin tribes in A.H. 6, they (the Koreiza), instead of co-operating with the Moslems, defected from their allegiance and entered into negotiations with the besieging foe. After the cessation of the siege, they were besieged in their turn, and a fearful example was made of them, not by Mohammad, but by an arbiter chosen and appointed by themselves. The execution of some of them was not on account of their being prisoners of war; they were war-traitors and rebels, and deserved death according to the international law. Their crime was high treason against Medina while it was blockaded. There had no actual fighting taken place between the Bani Koreiza and the Moslems, after the former had thrown off their allegiance to the latter and had aided and abetted the enemies of the realm. They were besieged by the Moslems to punish them for their high treason, and consequently they were not prisoners of war. Even such prisoners of war suffer for high treason.
"Treating, in the field, the rebellious enemy according to the law and usages of war, has never prevented the legitimate Government from trying the leaders of the rebellion, or chief rebels for high treason, and from treating them accordingly, unless they are included in a general amnesty."[250]
[Sidenote: 69. The whole of the Bani Koreiza was never executed.]
The whole tribe of the Bani Koreiza was not executed, nor all the male prisoners were put to the sword.[251] The number slain was comparatively very small. That they were not executed at the commands of Mohammad, nor _all_ of them were killed, nor a divine sanction was alleged for it, is shown by the following verse of the Koran:
"And he caused those of the people of the Book (the Jews) who had aided the confederates to come down of their fortresses, and cast dismay into their hearts: some ye slew; others ye took prisoners."--Sura, xxxiii, 26.
The slaying and taking of prisoners is attributed to them to whom the verse is addressed as their own act.
[Sidenote: 70. The women and children of the Bani Koreiza were not sold.]
The rest of the Bani Koreiza,--male adults, women, and children,--were either liberated or got themselves ransomed. We read in Oyoon-al-Asar by Ibn Sayyad-al-Nas some account of the ransom. Osman-bin-Affan gathered much money by the transaction. But Sir W. Muir quotes from Hishamee, that the rest of the women and children were sent to be sold among the Bedouin tribes of Najd, in exchange of horse and arms.[252] But there is no authority for this story. Abul Mo'tamar Soleiman, in his Campaigns of Mohammad, gives another account which is more probable. He writes:--
"Out of what was captured from Bani Koreiza Mohammad took seventeen horses and distributed them among his people. The rest he divided into two halves. One-half he sent with Sád bin Obádd to Syria, and the other half with Ans bin Quízí to the land of Ghatafán, and ordered that they may be used there for breeding purposes. They did so, and got good horses."[253]
[Sidenote: 71. The exaggerated number of the persons executed.]
The number of male adults executed has been much exaggerated, though it is immaterial, when an execution duly authorized by the international law of a country takes place, to consider the smallness or greatness of the number. I cannot do better than quote Moulvie Ameer Ali of Calcutta on the subject, who has very judiciously criticised the same: "Passing now to the men executed," he says, "one can at once see how it has been exaggerated. Some say they were 400; others have carried the number even up to 900. But Christian historians generally give it as varying from 700 to 800. I look upon this as a gross exaggeration. Even 400 would seem an exaggerated number. The traditions agree in making the warlike materials of the Bani Koreiza consist of 300 cuirasses, 500 bucklers, 1,500 sabres, &c. In order to magnify the value of the spoil, the traditions probably exaggerated these numbers.[254] But taking them as they stand, and remembering that such arms are always kept greatly in excess of the number of fighting men, I am led to the conclusion that the warriors could not have been more than 200 or 300. The mistake probably arose from confounding the whole body of prisoners who fell into the hands of the Moslems with those executed."[255]
Even 200 seems to be a large number, as all of the prisoners were put up for the night in the house of Bint-al-Haris,[256] which would have been insufficient for such a large number.
[Footnote 250: Miscellaneous Writings of Francis Lieber, Vol. II. Contributions to Political Science, p. 273, Philadelphia, 1881.]
[Footnote 251: Some of the Koreizites were released, among whom we hear of Zobeir Ibn Batá, and Rifáa. They were pardoned by Mohammad.]
[Footnote 252: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, p. 279.]
[Footnote 253: _History of Mohammad's Campaigns_: Edited by Von Kremer, p. 374.]
[Footnote 254: "Compare the remarks of Ibn-Khaldún (Prelégoménes d' Ibn Khaldoun, traduits par M. de Slane, Part I, p. 14)."]
[Footnote 255: A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed, by Syed Ameer Ali, Moulvi, M.A., LL.B., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, p. 113: William and Norgate, London, 1873.]
[Footnote 256: Ibn Hisham, p. 689. Others say the males were kept in the house of Osman-bin-Zaed, and the females and children in the house of Bint-al-Haris. _Vide_ Insan-al-Oyoon, by Halabi. Vol. III, p. 93.]
_Some Miscellaneous Objections Refuted._
1.--_Omm Kirfa._
[Sidenote: 72. The execution of Omm Kirfa for brigandage.]
The barbarous execution of Omm Kirfa, a female, who was notorious as the mistress of a nest of robbers, by tying her each leg to a separate camel and being torn asunder, is not a fact. It is only mentioned by Katib Wáckidi, and is not to be found in any other earliest account of Wáckidi, Ibn Is-hak, and Ibn Hisham. Even Katib Wáckidi does not say that the execution was ordered by Mohammad, and it is not fair on the part of Sir W. Muir to hold Mohammad an accomplice in the ferocious act, because he reads of no disapprobation expressed by the Prophet at such an inhuman treatment.[257] But in the first place the narration is a mere fiction; and secondly, the traditions are, as a rule, always incomplete; in one place they are given shorter, and in another longer, according to the circumstances of the occasion on which they are originally recited. Ibn Hisham relates, that "Zaid-bin-Harisa ordered Kays-bin-Mosahhar to execute Omm Kirfa, so he executed her with a violent execution." ('_Katlan Aneefan_,' p. 980.) He does not relate that Mohammad was even informed of the execution after the party had returned from this terrible mission. I think the word '_aneef_' (_violent_ or _severe_), as used originally by the narrator, might have been the cause of the growth of the story of executing by tying up to two camels, by way of a gratuitous explanation or glossary, as another tradition relates that she was tied to the tails of two horses (_vide Koostalanee_ in his Commentary on Bokharee, Vol. III, p. 307).
2.--_Urnee Robbers._
[Sidenote: 73. The alleged mutilation of the Urnee robbers.]
Some _Urnee_ robbers, lately converted, had plundered the camels of Medina and barbarously handled their herdsman, for they cut off his hands and legs, and struck thorny spikes into his tongue and eyes, till he died. The bandits were pursued, captured, and executed by Kurz-bin-Jabir. "They had merited death," says Sir W. Muir, "but the mode in which he inflicted it was barbarous and inhuman. The arms and legs of eight men were cut off, and their eyes were put out. The shapeless, sightless trunks of these wretched Bedouins were then impaled upon the plain of Al Ghâba, until life was extinct."[258] As the robbers had mutilated the herdsman, this gave currency to their having been mutilated in retaliation. But in fact Mohammad never ordered mutilation in any case. He was so averse to this practice, that several traditions from various sources emanating from him to the effect, prove that he prohibited mutilation lest he himself be mutilated by divine judgment.[259]
[Sidenote: 74. Amputation or banishment substituted temporarily in place of imprisonment for want of a well-organized system of jails.]
Sir W. Muir continues:--"On reflection, Mahomet appears to have felt that this punishment exceeded the bounds of humanity. He accordingly promulgated a Revelation, in which capital punishment is limited to simple death or crucifixion. Amputation of the hands and feet is, however, sanctioned as a penal measure; and amputation of the hands is even enjoined as the proper penalty for theft, whether the criminal be male or female. This barbarous custom has accordingly been perpetuated throughout the Mahometan world. But the putting out of the eyes is not recognized among the legal punishments."[260]
These alternative punishments were prescribed for the heinous crimes of highway robbery, dacoity, and theft by house-breaking. They were (i) capital punishment, (ii) amputation, and (iii) banishment (Sura, v, 37, 42), according to the circumstances of the case. The last two were of a temporary nature substituted for imprisonment for want of an organized system of jails and prisons. When the Commonwealth was in its infancy, the troubles of the invasions and wars of the aggressive Koreish and their allies had left neither peace nor security at Medina to take such administrative measures as to organize a system of building, guarding, and maintaining jails, their inmates and their establishments. As soon as jails were established in the Mohammadan Commonwealth, amputation and banishment gave way to imprisonment. The prisoners of war, not being criminals, used to be made over by Mohammad to some citizens of Medina, as in the case of the prisoners of the battle of Badr, to keep them in their houses as guests, on account of the want of prisons; but as for the other criminals--the highway robbers, dacoits, and house-breakers--they could not be treated and entertained so hospitably. Thus there was left no alternative for them except either to banish such criminals, or to award them corporal punishment in the shape of amputation.[261]
3.--_Torture of Kinana._
[Sidenote: 75. Torture of Kinana.]
It is related by the biographers "that Kinana, chief of the Jews of Khyber, and his cousin had kept back, in contravention of their compact, a portion of their riches. On the discovery of this attempt at imposition, Kinana was subjected to cruel torture--'fire being placed upon his breast till his breath had almost departed'--in the hope that he would confess where the rest of his treasures were concealed. Mahomet then gave command, and the heads of the chief and his cousin were severed from their bodies."[262]
The story of Kinana's being subjected to extortion and put to death for hiding some treasure, for which he had contravened his contract, is altogether a spurious one. Kinana was executed in retaliation for treacherously killing Mahmud, the brother of Mohammad-bin-Moslama, to whom he was made over for execution. There is one tradition, without any authority, to the effect, that Zobeir was producing fire on Kinana's breast by the friction of flint and steel. This, if it be a fact, does not show that it was done by Mohammad's direction and approval. On the contrary, there are several traditions from the Prophet himself in which he has forbidden to punish any one with fire. It is related by Bokharee from Ibn Abbás, that Mohammad said, "God only can punish with fire." It is also related by Abu Daood from Abdullah, that the Prophet said, "No body ought to punish any one with fire except the Lord of the fire."[263]
4.--_A Singing-Girl executed._
[Sidenote: 76. The alleged execution of a singing-girl.]
"From general amnesty extended to the citizens of Mecca, Mahomet excluded ten or twelve persons. Of these, however, only four were actually put to death.... The two next were renegade Moslems, who having shed blood at Medina had fled to Mecca, and abjured Islam. They were both slain, and also a singing-girl belonging to one of them, who had been in the habit of annoying the Prophet by abusive verses."
"Their names are Abdallah ibn Khalal and Mikyas ibn Subâba. The murder committed by the former is said to have been wilful, that of the latter unintentional. Abdallah had two singing-girls. Both were sentenced to death, but one escaped and afterwards obtained quarter; the execution of the other appears to have been the worst act committed by Mahomet on the present occasion."[264]
Abdullah had committed cold-blooded murder, and most probably the singing-girl belonging to him had taken a share in his crime. Her execution was owing to her being an accomplice or abettor in the foul act which was justified by law. Then why should the execution be considered a worst act? Mohammad felt the deepest respect for the weaker sex, and had enjoined during the warfares "not to kill women;" but the law makes no difference amongst the sexes, both sexes being liable to punishment according to their deserts.
[Sidenote: 77. The charitable spirit of Mohammad towards his enemies.]
The magnanimity, clemency, forbearance, and forgiveness of Mohammad at the time of his victory at Mecca were very remarkable. Mr. Stanley Lane Poole with his usual acumen writes:--"But the final keystone was set in the eighth year of the flight (A.D. 630), when a body of the Kureysh broke the truce by attacking an ally of the Muslims; and Mohammad forthwith marched upon Mekka with ten thousand men, and the city, defence being hopeless, surrendered. Now was the time for the Prophet to show his bloodthirsty nature. His old persecutors are at his feet. Will he not trample on them, torture them, revenge himself after his own cruel manner? Now the man will come forward in his true colours: we may prepare our horror, and cry shame beforehand.
"But what is this? Is there no blood in the streets? Where are the bodies of the thousands that have been butchered? Facts are hard things; and it is a fact that the day of Mohammad's greatest triumph over his enemies was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He freely forgave the Kureysh all the years of sorrow and cruel scorn they had inflicted on him: he gave an amnesty to the whole population of Mekka. Four criminals, whom justice condemned, made up Mohammad's proscription list when he entered as a conqueror the city of his bitterest enemies. The army followed the example, and entered quietly and peaceably; no house was robbed, no woman insulted."[265]
5.--_Abu Basír._
[Sidenote: 78. Abu Basír not countenanced by the Prophet in contravention of the spirit of the treaty of Hodeibia.]
Sir W. Muir says that "Abu Basír, the free-booter, was countenanced by the Prophet in a manner scarcely consistent with the letter, and certainly opposed to the spirit, of the truce of Hodeibia."[266] It was one of the articles of the treaty of Hodeibia between the Koreish and Mohammad, that if any one goeth over to Mohammad without the permission of his guardian, he shall be sent back to him.[267] A short time after, Abu Basír, a Moslem imprisoned at Mecca, effected his escape and appeared at Medina. His guardians, Azhar and Akhnas, sent two servants to Mohammad with a letter and instructions to bring the deserter back to his house. The obligation of surrender was at once admitted by Mohammad, though Abu Basír pleaded the persecution which he used to suffer at Mecca as the cause of refusing to return, but Mohammad argued that it was not proper for him to break the terms of the peace, and Abu Basír was compelled to set out for Mecca. But he had travelled only a few miles when he treacherously seized the sword of one of his escorts and slew him. The other servant fled back to Medina, whither Abu Basír also followed him. On the return of the latter, he contended that the Prophet had already fulfilled the treaty to its very letter in delivering him up, but the Prophet replied, "Alas for his mother! What a kindler of war, if he had with him any one!" When he heard this "he knew that the Prophet was again going to send him back to his guardians,[268] the Koreish, so he went away to the seashore, where he, with others who had joined him after their flight from captivity at Mecca, used to waylay the caravans from Mecca." This story, which is also briefly narrated by Ibn Is-hak, and more fully by Shamee, Zoorkanee and Ibn-al-Kyyim, does not show that Mohammad acted against the spirit and letter of the truce of Hodeibia.
He himself never countenanced Abu Basír; on the contrary, he delivered him up in conformity with the terms of the treaty of Hodeibia, and when he had returned, Abu Basír had every reason to believe that Mohammad would again despatch him to the quarters whence he had come. But it appears Abu Basír went away to the seashore, out of Mohammad's jurisdiction, and it was not the duty of the Prophet to effect his arrest and send him back to Mecca whilst he was not with him, or rather out of his jurisdiction. Had he even kept him with himself at Medina after he had once made him over to the party sent forth to take charge of him, and were no other demands made for his delivery, I do not think Mohammad could be fairly blamed for it according to the international law of the Arabs, or even according to the terms of the treaty of Hodeibia itself.
6.--_Employment of Nueim to break up the confederates who had besieged Medina._
[Sidenote: 79. Nueim not employed by the Prophet to circulate false reports in the enemy's camp.]
When Medina was besieged for several days by the Koreish and their confederates, the army of Medina was harassed and wearied with increasing watch and duty. Nueim, an Arab of a neutral tribe, represented himself as a secret believer, and offered his services to the Prophet, who accepted them, and employed him to hold back the confederates from the siege, if he could, saying "war verily was a game of deception." Nueim excited mutual distrust between the Jews and the Koreish. He told the Jews not to fight against Mohammad until they got hostages from the Koreish as a guarantee against their being deserted. And to the Koreish he said that the Jews intended to ask hostages from them. "Do not give them," he said, "they have promised Mahomet to give up the hostages to be slain."[269]
This is one tradition, and there is another to the effect that the Jews had themselves asked for the hostages, but the Koreish had not replied yet, when Nueim came to the Jews and said, he was there with Abu Sofian when their messenger had come for the demand of hostages, and that Abu Sofian is not going to send them any.[270]
A third tradition in Motamid Ibn Solyman's supplement to Wackidi's _Campaigns of Mohammad_ gives no such story at all. It has altogether a different narration to the effect, that there was a spy of the Koreish in the Moslem camp who had overheard Abdullah-bin-Rawaha saying, that the Jews had asked the Koreish to send them seventy persons, who, on their arrival, would be killed by them. Nueim went to the Koreish, who were waiting for his message, and told what he had heard as already related.[271] This contradicts the story given by Ibn Hisham and Mr. Muir. But anyhow the story does not prove that Mohammad had given permission to Nueim to speak falsehood or spread treacherous reports.
[Sidenote: 80. Deception in way allowed by the international law.]
Sir W. Muir is not justified in his remarks when he writes,--"We cannot, indeed, approve the employment of Nueim to break up the confederacy by falsehood and deception, but this perhaps would hardly affect his character in Arab estimation;"[272] and further on he writes,--"When Medîna was beleagured by the confederate army, Mahomet sought the services of Nueim, a traitor, and employed him to sow distrust among the enemy by false and treacherous reports: for," said he, "what else is war but a game at deception."[273] The utmost that can be made out from the former tradition quoted by Mr. Muir, and contradicted by another tradition of equal force, is that Mohammad allowed deception in war by quoting the proverbial saying, that "war is a game at deception." In this he had the sanction of the military law or the international law, as deception in war is a "military necessity," and allowed by the law and usages of war. A modern author on the international law says:--
"Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of _armed_ enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally _unavoidable_ in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance to the hostile government, or of peculiar danger to the captor; it allows of all destruction of property, and obstruction of the ways and channels of traffic, travel, or communication, and of all withholding of sustenance or means of life from the enemy; of the appropriation of whatever an enemy's country affords necessary for the subsistence and safety of the army, and of such deception as does not involve the breaking of good faith either positively pledged, regarding agreements entered into during the war, or supposed by the modern law of war to exist."[274]
[Sidenote: 81. Lecky's Standard of Morality.]
But supposing the modern morality does not approve of Mohammad what hardly "affected his character in Arab estimation," are there no diversities in moral judgments? The moral unity to be expected in different ages is not a unity of standard or of facts, but a unity of tendency.
"That some savage kill their old parents, that infanticide has been practised without compunction by even civilized nations, that the best Romans saw nothing wrong in the gladiatorial shows, that political or revengeful assassinations have been for centuries admitted, that slavery has been sometimes honoured and sometimes condemned, are unquestionable proofs, that the same act may be regarded in one age as innocent, and in another as criminal. Now it is undoubtedly true, that in many cases an historical examination will reveal special circumstances explaining or palliating the apparent anomaly. It has been often shown that the gladiatorial shows were originally a form of human sacrifice adopted through religious motives; that the rude nomadic life of savages rendering impossible the preservation of aged and helpless members of the tribe, the murder of parents was regarded as an act of mercy both by the murderer and the victim; that before an effective administration of justice was organized, private vengeance was the sole preservation against crime, and political assassination against usurpation; that the insensibility of some savages to the criminality of theft arises from the fact that they were accustomed to have all things in common; that the Spartan law legalizing theft arose partly from a desire to foster military dexterity among the people, but chiefly from a desire to discourage wealth; that slavery was introduced through motives of mercy to prevent conquerors from killing their prisoners. All this is true, but there is another and a more general answer. It is not to be expected, and it is not maintained, that men in all ages should have agreed about the application of their moral principles. All that is contended for is, that these principles are themselves the same. Some of what appear to us monstrous acts of cruelty were dictated by that very feeling of humanity, the universal perception of the merit of which they are cited to disprove; and even when this is not the case, all that can be inferred is, that the standard of humanity was very low. But still humanity was recognized as a virtue, and cruelty as a vice."[275]
_The alleged permission to kill the Jews._
[Sidenote: 82. Murder of Ibn Sanina.]
It is related by some of the biographers of Mohammad, eagerly recited by others of Europe, that, "on the morning after the murder of Káb, Mahomet gave a general permission to his followers to slay any Jews whom they might chance to meet,"[276] and that the murder of Ibn Sanina, a Jewish merchant, by Muheiasa, a Moslem, was the direct consequence of this order. "When Huweisa upbraided Muheiasa for killing his confederate the Jew, and appropriating his wealth,--"By the Lord!" replied Muheiasa, "if he that commanded me to kill him commanded to kill thee also, I would have done it." "What!" Huweisa cried, "wouldst thou have slain thine own brother at Mahomet's bidding?"--"Even so," answered the fanatic. "Strange indeed!" Huweisa responded. "Hath the new religion reached to this pitch! Verily it is a wonderful Faith." And Huweisa was converted from that very hour."[277]
Ibn Is-hak says this story was related to him by a freedman of the Bani Hárisa tribe from the daughter of Muheiasa, who had heard it from her father.[278] (1) Now there is nothing known of this mysterious person, the freedman of the tribe of Háris, therefore no reliance can be put on his story. (2) We have no knowledge of the daughter of the murderer Muheiasa, or Moheisa, as he is called by the biographer, Ibn Hisham. (3) Muheiasa himself has not that respectable character which can lend even a shadow of veracity to his narration. (4) And lastly, the story that Mohammad had given general permission to his followers to slay any Jew whom they might chance to meet, and consequently Muheiasa killed Ibn Sanina, and Huweisa became a convert to Islam, is contradicted by another counter-tradition in Ibn Hisham (pp. 554-555), who has related from Abú Obeida, who relates from Abú Omar-al-Madaní, that, "during the execution of the Bani Koreiza (_vide_ para. 68), one Káb-bin-Yahooza was made over to Muheiasa for execution. When the latter executed his victim, Huweisa, his brother, who was still unbelieving, upbraided Muheiasa. "If he," responded Muheiasa, "that commanded me to kill him had commanded me to kill thee also, I would have killed thee." Huweisa was quite surprised at his brother's reply, and went away astonished. During the night he used to wake up repeatedly, and wonder at his brother's staunch devotion to his faith. In the morning, he said, "By the Lord! This is a wonderful faith," and came to the Prophet to embrace Islam. These remarks show that the alleged permission to kill the Jews, and Ibn Sanina's murder, and Huweisa's conversion in consequence thereof, is all a mere concoction.
[Sidenote: 83. Sir W. Muir quoted.]
Even Sir W. Muir, though very fond of collecting all such apocryphal traditions reflecting on the character of the Prophet, doubts the veracity of this one, and declares its improbability and inexpediency. He writes:--
"But the order itself is a strange one, and must, one would suppose, have been accompanied by some conditions or reservations not here apparent. It was surely not expedient for the Prophet's cause at this time that the streets of Medîna should have flowed with blood by the strict execution of this command. Yet such is the distinct tenor of the best traditions.
"The order was not an unlikely one to have issued at a time when Mahomet was irritated against the Jews by their treachery; and Hishâmi has a tradition that it was promulgated when Mahomet directed the massacre of all the males of the Coreitza, which would have been the more likely version, if the other tradition had not been so strong and positive."[279]
But the tradition quoted by him is by no means the best or strongest as I have shown above. Hishamee does not say that the order was promulgated at the execution of the Bani Koreiza. He simply narrates the story of Muheiasa and Huweisa to have taken place at that time.
_The expulsion of the Bani Nazeer._
[Sidenote: 84. The Bani Nazeer.]
The expulsion of the Bani Nazeer has been censured by Sir W. Muir, who says: "The pretext on which the Bani Nadhîr were besieged and expatriated (namely, that Gabriel had revealed their design against the Prophet's life), was feeble and unworthy of an honest cause."[280]
A whole Sura in the Koran is devoted to the Bani Nazeer, but it does not hint at the alleged crime of their attempt on the life of the Prophet or their expulsion for the same cause. The traditions on the subject are unsupported, _ex parte_, and legendary. Had such a tradition been current at the time of Mohammad, or what is called Sadr Av-val (the first or Apostolic Age), we should certainly have had scores of narrators on the subject.[281] Their crime was treachery,[282] and they were a dangerous element to Medina, for a combination, at any period, between the treacherous Jews and the aggressive Koreish, or other enemies of Islam, would have proved fatal to the safety of Medina. But their banishment was too mild a punishment.
[Sidenote: 85. Fruit-trees not cut down.]
It is said that Mohammad cut down the surrounding date trees and burned the choicest of them during the siege of the Bani Nazeer, and justified himself by publishing the verses of the LIX Sura of the Koran.[283] But the date trees cut down were neither bearing fruit, nor did they supply any staple article of food to the Bani Nazeer, or the public in general. The _Leena_ mentioned in the verse referred to above is a tree without fruit. Thus no fruit trees were destroyed. (Zoorkánee Vol. II, page 98.) Trees not bearing fruits were only cut, which is also justified under the Law of Moses. (See Deuteronomy XX, 20.)
_Females and the Treaty of Hodeibia._
[Sidenote: 86. Females and the treaty of Hodeibia.]
Females were not included in the truce of Hodeibia. The stipulation for the surrender of deserters referred only to the male sex. All women who were to come over to Medina from Mecca during the period of the peace were, by the dictates of Sura LX, 10, to be tried, and if their profession was found sincere, they were to be retained. They were prohibited from marrying the unbelievers. The guardians of such believing females were to receive from the Moslem commonwealth what they had spent upon their charges. Sir W. Muir understands from Sura LX, verse 10, that the women referred to therein were the wives of the Meccans, and says:--"The unbelief of their husbands dissolved the previous marriage; they now might legally contract fresh nuptials with believers, provided only that restitution were made of any sums expended by their former husbands as dower upon them."[284] But there is nothing either to show that the women had their husbands at Mecca, or to prove, that, on account of their husbands' unbelief, their marriages were annulled. As marriage with women with husbands is forbidden in Sura IV, verse 28, and the verse LX, 10, under discussion, does not designate them as married women, I fairly conclude that this verse treats only of such as were not married. It is not the Law of the Koran that the unbelief of either party dissolves their previous marriage. It only enjoins neither to marry idolatresses, nor to wed Moslem daughters with idolaters until they believe.--(Sura II, 220.)
[Sidenote: 87. Stanley defended.]
Sir William Muir, after quoting Sura LX, 10-12, says, "Stanley on Corinthians (1 Cor. VII, 1-40) quotes the above passage, and says that the rule it contains "resembles that of the Apostle," Vol. I, page 145. But there is really no analogy between them; the Gospel rule differs _toto coelo_ from that of Mahomet:--"If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.--And similarly the case of a believing wife with an unbelieving husband. (1 Cor. VII, 12-16.) Whereas Mahomet declares the marriage bond _de facto_ annulled by the unbelief of either party, which indeed was only to be expected from his loose ideas regarding the marriage contract."[285] I think Stanley is quite correct, and the Gospel and the Koranic rule resemble each other in this respect. Because the order, "they (the believing women) are not lawful for them (unbelievers), nor are the unbelievers lawful for these (believing women)," does not relate to the women already married; and the words, "do not retain any right in the infidel woman ... if any of your wives escape from you to the infidels ..." are to the same purport as 1 Cor. VII, 15, "But if the unbelieving depart let them depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases."[286]
[Sidenote 88. Marriage a strict bond of union.]
Mohammad had no loose ideas regarding the marriage tie. He had made the marriage contract more firm and irrevocable, except under very exceptional circumstances, than it was under the Arab society; and called it "a strict bond of union."[287] Mohammad's own daughter, Zeinab, was the wife of an unbelieving husband and had fled to her father at Medina under the persecution at Mecca after the Hegira.[288] Her marriage with her unbelieving partner was not cancelled by Mohammad, and on the conversion of the son-in-law, when he came after a period of six years after his wife had come to Medina, Mohammad rejoined them together under their previous marriage. Theirs was neither a fresh marriage nor a fresh dowry. (_Vide_ Ibn Abbas' tradition in the collections of Ahmed, Ibn Abi Daood, Ibn Maja and Trimizee.) Safwan-bin-Omayya and Ikrama-bin Abi Jahl had believing wives at the time of the conquest of Mecca, and their marriages were not dissolved by Mohammad. (_Vide_ Ibn Shahab's tradition in _Movatta_ by Malik, and in the _Tabakat_ of Ibn Sad Katib Wákidi.) Similarly Ibn Sofian and Hakeem-bin-Hizam had their unbelieving wives retained by them after they had themselves been converted to Islam, and their former connubial connection was not severed by Mohammad. (_Vide_ the several traditions in Baihakee to the above effect.) It was only the legists and juris-consults of a later age who wrongly construed the passage in Sura LX, 10, to mean that the unbelief of either party dissolved the marriage tie.
[Footnote 257: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV. p. 13.]
[Footnote 258: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 19.
In the collections of Bokharee the story is traced to Ans. But Ans could not be a witness to Mohammad's command for mutilation, as Ans did not come until the expedition to Khyber; and the execution of those robbers took place before that. The story from Jábir in Ibn Mardaveih's collections to the same effect is not authentic, as Jábir, who says he was sent by Mohammad in pursuit of the robbers, and committed the act, was not a convert at that time. Koostalanee, the author of _Mooahib_, has declared the tradition of Ibn Jarir Tabari on the subject as an apocryphal, _i.e._, "Zaeef." _Vide_ Zoorkanee on Movahib, Vol. II, p. 211.]
[Footnote 259: Ibn Hisham (p. 463) relates from Ibn Is-hak that Omar asked permission to mutilate Sohail, but Mohammad replied, "I would not mutilate him; if I do, God will mutilate me, though I be a Prophet."]
[Footnote 260: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 19.]
[Footnote 261: This subject has been fully and judiciously discussed by the Honorable Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur, C.S.I., in his "Commentary of the Koran;" Sura. iv. pp. 198-204.]
[Footnote 262: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 68.]
[Footnote 263: _Vide_ Mishkát Book of Retaliation, pp. 243-244.]
[Footnote 264: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 131, foot-note.]
[Footnote 265: Introduction to Lane's Selections from the Kur-án, by Stanley Lane Poole, p. lxvii. London: Trubner and Co., 1879.]
[Footnote 266: The Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 308.]
[Footnote 267: _Ibid_, p. 35.]
[Footnote 268: _Vide_ Zoorkanee on _Movahib_, Vol. II, page 244; also _Zád-ul-Maád_, by Ibn-al-Kyyim, Vol. I, page 376, Cawnpore, 1298 A.H.; and _Seerat-ul-Mohammadiya_, by Mohammad Karámat-ul-Ali of Delhi, in loco. The Life is compiled from _Seerat Halabi_ and _Seerat Shámee_ and was lithographed in Bombay.]
[Footnote 269: Hishamee, page 681; Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, page 266.]
[Footnote 270: _Seerat Halabi_, or _Insan-al-Oyoon_, Vol II, page 79.]
[Footnote 271: History of _Mohammad's Campaigns_, by Wackidi, pp. 368-369: Edited by Von Kremer, Calcutta, 1856.]
[Footnote 272: The Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, page 282.]
[Footnote 273: The Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pages 308-309.]
[Footnote 274: Lieber's Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. II, page 250.]
[Footnote 275: History of European Morals, from Augustus to Charlemagne. By William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.A., Vol. I, pp. 101-102.]
[Footnote 276: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, page 148.]
[Footnote 277: _Ibid_, p. 149.]
[Footnote 278: Ibn Hisham, p. 554.]
[Footnote 279: The Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, pp. 148 & 149, _foot-note_.]
[Footnote 280: The Life of Mahomet, by Sir W. Muir, Vol. IV, page 308.]
[Footnote 281: The tradition that Mohammad had gone to Bani Nazeer asking their aid in defraying a certain price of blood, and they attempted upon his life (Muir, III, 208-209) as related by Ibn Is-hak (in Ibn Hisham, page 652) is a _Mursal_ (_vide_ Zoorkánee, Part II, page 95), and consequently was not current in the Apostolic Age.]
[Footnote 282: Ibn Ockba, an earliest biographer of Mohammad, died 140, says,--the cause of the expedition against the Bani Nazeer was this: that they had instigated the Koreish to fight against Mohammad, and had reconnoitred the weak points of Medina. Ibn Mardaveih Abd-bin-Hameed, and Abdu Razzak have related traditions to the effect that, after the event of Badr, the Koreish had written to the Jews of Medina to make war upon Mohammad, and the Bani Nazeer had resolved to break the compact. _Vide_ Zoorkánee, Part II, pp, 96-97.]
[Footnote 283: Compare Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. III, pp. 213 and 302, _foot-note_.]
[Footnote 284: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 44.]
[Footnote 285: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 46, foot-note.]
[Footnote 286: The verses of the Koran are given below:
10. "O Believers! when believing women come over to you as refugees, then make trial of them. God best knoweth their faith; but if ye have also ascertained their faith, let them not go back to the infidels; they are not lawful for them, nor are the unbelievers lawful for these women. But give them back what they have spent. No crime shall it be in you to marry them, provided you give them their dowers. Do not retain a right in the infidel women, and demand back what you have spent and let them demand back what they have spent. This is the ordinance of God which He ordaineth among you: and God is Knowing, Wise."
11. "And if any of your wives escape from you to the infidels from whom you afterwards take any spoil, then give to those whose wives shall have fled away, the like of what they shall have spent; and fear God in whom ye believe."--Sura LX.]
[Footnote 287: Sura IV, 25. Rodwell's translation.
How Mohammad discouraged divorce and took several steps in the Koran to prohibit the facility of divorce prevailing in the Arab society has been fully discussed by me in my book "The Proposed Political, Legal, and Social Reforms under Moslem Rule," pp. 129-143, Bombay Education Society Press, 1883.]
[Footnote 288: "Some of the baser sort from amongst the Coreish, hearing of her departure, went in pursuit, determined to bring her back. The first that appeared was Habbâr, who struck the camel with his spear, and so affrighted Zeinab as to cause her a miscarriage."--Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, page 7.]
_The Popular Jihád or Crusade; According to the Mohammadan Common Law._
[Sidenote 89. The Koran enjoined only defensive wars.]
Almost all the common Mohammadan and European writers think that a religious war of aggression is one of the tenets of Islam, and prescribed by the Koran for the purpose of proselytizing or exacting tribute. But I do not find any such doctrine enjoined in the Koran, or taught, or preached by Mohammad. His mission was not to wage wars, or to make converts at the point of the sword, or to exact tribute or exterminate those who did not believe his religion. His sole mission was to enlighten the Arabs to the true worship of the one God, to recommend virtue and denounce vice, which he truly fulfilled. That he and his followers were persecuted, that they were expelled from their houses and were invaded upon and warred against; that to repel incursions and to gain the liberty of conscience and the security of his followers' lives and the freedom of their religion, he and they waged defensive wars, encountered superior numbers, made defensive treaties, securing the main object of the war, _i.e._, the freedom of their living unmolested at Mecca and Medina, and of having a free intercourse to the Sacred Mosque, and a free exercise of their religion: all these are questions quite separate and irrelevant, and have nothing to do with the subject in hand, _i.e._, the popular _Jihad_, or the crusade for the purpose of proselytizing, exacting tribute, and exterminating the idolaters, said to be one of the tenets of Islam. All the defensive wars, and the verses of the Koran relating to the same, were strictly temporary and transitory in their nature. They cannot be made an example of, or be construed into a tenet or injunction for aggressive wars, nor were they intended so to be. Even they cannot be an example or instruction for a defensive war to be waged by the Mohammadan community or commonwealth, because all the circumstances under which Mohammad waged his defensive wars were local and temporary. But almost all European writers do not understand that the Koran does not teach a war of aggression, but had only, under the adverse circumstances, to enjoin a war of defence, clearly setting forth the grounds in its justification and strictly prohibiting offensive measures.
[Sidenote 90. The Common Law and Jihad.]
All the fighting injunctions in the Koran are, in the first place, only in self-defence, and none of them has any reference to make warfare offensively. In the second place, it is to be particularly noted that they were transitory in their nature, and are not to be considered positive injunctions for future observance or religious precepts for coming generations.[289] They were only temporary measures to meet the emergency of the aggressive circumstances. The Mohammadan Common Law is wrong on this point, where it allows unbelievers to be attacked without provocation. But this it places under the category of a non-positive injunction. A positive injunction is that which is incumbent on every believer. But attacking unbelievers without any provocation, or offensively, is not incumbent on every believer. The Hedaya has:--"The sacred injunction concerning war is sufficiently observed when it is carried on by any one _party_ or _tribe_ of _Mussulmans_; and it is then no longer of any force with respect to the rest."[290]
[Sidenote 91. Jihad when positive.]
The Mohammadan Common Law makes the fighting only a positive injunction "where there is a _general summons_, (that is, where the infidels invade a _Mussulman_ territory, and the _Imâm_ for the time being issues a general proclamation, requiring all persons to stand forth to fight,) for in this case war becomes a positive injunction with respect to the whole of the inhabitants,"[291]--this is sanctioned by the Law of Nations and the Law of Nature.
[Sidenote: 92. The Hedaya quoted and refuted.]
The Hedaya, or a Commentary of the Mohammadan Common Law by Nuraddin Ali of Murghinan (died in 593, A.H.) has:--
"The destruction of the sword[292] is incurred by the infidels, although they be not the first aggressors, as appears from the various passages in the sacred writings which are generally received to this effect."[293]
This assertion is not borne out by the sacred injunction of the Koran, and, on the contrary, is in direct contradiction to the same. There are several passages in the Koran already quoted in pages 16-25, which expressly forbid the taking of offensive measures, and enjoin only defensive wars. There are some other passages which are not so expressive as the several others referred to above, or in other words, are not conditional. But the law of interpretation, the general scope and tenor of the Koran, and the context of the verses and parallel passages, all show that those few verses which are not conditional should be construed as conditional in conformity with other passages more clear, expressive, and conditional, and with the general laws of scriptural interpretation. Now, the author of the Hedaya and other writers on the Common Law quote only those few passages from the Koran which are absolute or unconditional, and shut their eyes against those many conditional verses, and general scope and tenor of the Koran.
Limited, or _Conditional_. |General, or _Absolute_. ---------------------------------+--------------------------------------- | Sura XXII, 39-42. |Sura II, 245, (read together with 247.) Sura II, 186-189. |Sura IX, 124. " " 212. | " " 214. |The context, parallel passages Sura IV, 76, 77, 78, 86. |and their history, show them " " 91, 92, 93. |to be limited and conditional, Sura VIII, 39-41, 58-66. |in conformity with the general " " 73, 74. |scope of the Koran. Sura IX, 1-15. | " " 29, 36. | | _Quoted in pages_ 16-25, 35. | |
[Sidenote: 93. Rule of interpretation.]
Now, there are only two verses in the Koran (Sura II, v. 245, and Sura IX, v. 124) containing an absolute or non-conditional injunction for making war against the unbelievers. Perhaps you may be able to detach some more sentences, or dislocate some half verses from amongst those given under the head of conditional. But these absolute, as well as those detached and dislocated parts of some other verses will not, by any rule of interpretation, show absolute injunction to wage war against the unbelievers without any provocation or limitation. There is a rule in the exegesis of the Koran, as well as in other Scriptural interpretations, that when two commandments, one conditional, and the other general or absolute, are found on the same subject, the conditional is to be preferred, and the absolute should be construed as conditional, because the latter is more expressive of the views of the author than the general which is considered as vague in its expression.
The rule is:--Where a passage which is ambiguous, or which contains any unusual expression, or in which a doctrine is slightly treated, or is in general terms, must be interpreted agreeably to what is revealed more clearly in other parts, or where a subject is more clearly discussed. A single or general passage is not to be explained in contradiction to many others restricted, conditional, and limited consistently with them, and with proper reservations.
[Sidenote: 94. The Common Law and its commentators.]
It is not to be wondered that the Mohammadan legists or the compilers of the Common Law are wrong in this point. Because, as a rule, or as a matter of fact, they have compiled the Common Law from different sources irrespective of the Koran, and the commentators of the Common Law take the trouble of vindicating its views, principles and casuistries, and justifying the Moslem conquests under the Khalifs by the authority of the Koran. Then only they commit the unpardonable blunder of citing isolated parts of solitary verses of the Koran, which are neither expressive enough nor are in general terms. In doing so, they avoid the many other conditional and more explicit verses on the same subject.
[Sidenote: 95. Kifaya quoted.]
The author of Kifaya, a commentary on the Hedaya, who flourished in the seventh century of the Hegira, remarks on the words of the text, "The destruction of the sword is incurred by the infidels, although they be not the first aggressors," already quoted in the 92nd para., and says; "Fighting against the infidels who do not become converts to Islam, and do not pay the capitation-tax, is incumbent, though they do not attack first." The author of the Hedaya has mentioned this aggressive measure specially, because apparently the words of God, "if they attack you then slay them,"[294] indicate that the fighting against the unbelievers is only incumbent when they fight first, but, however, such is not the case. It is incumbent to fight with them, though they be not the aggressors.[295]
[Sidenote: 96. Further quotation.]
The same author writes in continuation of the above quotation, and attempts to reconcile his theory with the numerous precepts of the Koran, which do not permit the war of aggression:--
"Know, that in the beginning the Prophet was enjoined to forgive, and withdraw from those who joined other gods with God. God said, 'wherefore dost thou forgive with kindly forgiveness, and withdraw from those who join other gods with Me.'"
"Then He enjoined him to summon the people to the faith by kind warning and kind disputation, saying, 'Summon thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and kindly warning: dispute with them in the kindest manner.'"
"Then He allowed fighting, when they, the unbelievers, were the aggressors, and said:--'A sanction is given to those who have fought because they have suffered outrages;' _i.e._, they are allowed to fight in self-defence. And God said, 'If they attack you, then kill them' (II, 187); and also said, 'If they lean to peace, lean thou also to it.' (VIII. 63)."
"Then he enjoined to fight aggressively during a certain period. God said, 'And when the sacred months are passed, kill them who join other gods with God, wherever ye find them, and seize them' (IX. 5)."
"After this He enjoined for fighting absolutely, at every time and in every place. God said, 'And do battle against them until there be no more (_fitnah_) persecution' (II. 189; VII. 40)."[296]
[Sidenote: 97. The Kifaya refuted.]
Here the author of Kifaya has contrived to make out by way of subterfuge and sophistry five successive periods of the policy of the Koran regarding warfare against the unbelievers:
| | First Period |Forgiveness and withdrawal | Sura XV, 85. VI, 106 ---------------+-------------------------------+------------------------- | | Second Period |Summoning | Sura XVI, 126. ---------------+-------------------------------+------------------------- | | Third Period |Fighting in self-defence | Sura XXII, 40. II, 187. | | VIII, 63. ---------------+-------------------------------+------------------------- | | Fourth Period |Fighting aggressively | Sura IX, 5. |during certain times | | | ---------------+-------------------------------+------------------------- | | Fifth Period |Aggressive fighting absolutely.| Sura II, 189. VIII, 40. | |
He is wrong in history, chronology as well as in understanding the general scope of the Koran and the tenor of the Suras. He does not regard even the context of the verses quoted.
The verses containing injunctions for turning aside, shunning, forgiving, passing over, and withdrawing are found even in the later period of the Medinite Suras.--(_Vide_ Sura II, 103; V, 16, 46; Sura IV, 66, 83; and VII, 198.) They have nothing to do either with war or peace.
The summoning of people to the faith of God was the chief duty of the Prophetical office, and was not confined to any special period, and was alike during times of war and peace. Even during the actual warfare it was incumbent on the Prophet to give quarters to the enemy, if he desired, to listen to his preachings.--(_Vide_ Sura IX, 6.)
[Sidenote: 98. S. IX, v. 5, discussed.]
The fifth verse of the ninth Sura is by no means an injunction to attack first or wage an aggressive war. This verse is one of the several published at Medina after the Meccans had violated the treaty of Hodeibia and attacked the Bani Khozaa, who were in alliance with Mohammad. The Meccans were given four months' time to submit, in default of which they were to be attacked for their violation of the treaty and for their attacking the Bani Khozaa. They submitted beforehand, and Mecca was conquered by compromise. The verses referred to above (Sura IX, 1-15, &c.) were not acted upon. So there was no injunction to wage an aggressive war. This subject has been discussed at pages 51-55 of this work, and the reader is referred to them for fuller information.
[Sidenote: 99. S. II, v. 189, discussed.]
The 189th verse of the second Sura is not at all an absolute injunction to wage a war of aggression. The verses 186, 187, 188 and 189, if read together, will show that the injunction for fighting is only in defence. The verses are:--
186. And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you: but commit not the injustice _of attacking them first_; verily God loveth not the unjust.
187. And kill them wherever ye shall find them; and eject them from whatever place they have ejected you; for (_fitnah_) persecution is worse than slaughter; yet attack them not at the sacred Mosque until they attack you therein, but if they attack you then slay them: such is the recompense of the infidels!
188. But if they desist, then verily God is Gracious, Merciful--
189. And do battle, against them until there be no more (_fitnah_) persecution and the only worship be that of God: but if they desist, then let there be no hostility, save against wrong-doers.
[Sidenote: 100. S. II, 189, VIII, 40, are defensive.]
Besides, this verse as well as the fortieth verse of Sura VIII have indications in themselves of their relating to a defensive war. As the torture, aggression, in short, the persecutions suffered by the Moslems from the Koreish, are very clearly indicated by the word _fitnah_ in these two verses, the object of fighting or counterfighting by the Moslems is plainly set forth, which is to suppress the persecutions.
They have clear reference to the persecution, to stop or remove which they enjoined fighting, and this was fighting in self-defence obviously.
They also show that the Meccans had not desisted from persecuting and attacking the Moslems, and therefore a provision was made that if they discontinue their incursions, there will be no more hostility. This is quite sufficient to show that these verses relate to the defensive wars of Mohammad.
[Sidenote: 101. All injunctions local and for the time being.]
Lastly, supposing the Koran permitted waging aggressive wars against the Meccans, who were the first aggressors, this does not corroborate the theory or principle of the Common Law of making lawful aggressive wars in future on the authority of these verses, as all of them in the Koran on the subject of war relate only to Pagan Arabs, who had long persevered in their hostility to the early Moslems or to the Jews, who, being in league with the Moslems, went over to their enemies, and aided them against the Moslems. These verses are not binding on other persons, who are not under the same circumstance as the Moslems were under, at Medina. [See para. 90.]
[Sidenote: 102. Ainee quoted and refuted.]
Another commentator of the Hedaya, Ainee[297] (who died in 855) follows Kifaya already quoted, and mentions some other verses of the Koran on the war of aggression, which the author of Kifaya has left uncited in his work. They are as follows:--
"... Then do battle with the ringleaders of infidelity,--for no oaths are binding on them--that they may desist."--(Sura IX, 12.)
"War is prescribed to you, but from this ye are averse."--(Sura II, 212.)
"March ye forth, the light and heavy, and contend with your substance and your persons on the Way of God."--(Sura IX, 41.)
The first verse when it is complete runs thus:--"But if, after alliance made, they break their oaths and revile your religion, then do battle with the ringleaders of infidelity,--for no oaths are binding on them--that they may desist;" and fully shows by its wording that it relates to the war of defence, as the breaking of alliances, and reviling of the Moslem religion were the grounds of making war with the object in view that the aggressors may desist. This verse is one of those in the beginning of the ninth Sura, which have already been discussed.--(_Vide_ pages 51-55.)
The second verse (II, 212) does not allow a war of aggression, as the next verse (II, 214) expressly mentions the attacks made by the aggressors on the Moslems. It has been quoted at full length in page 18.
The third verse (IX, 41) was published on the occasion of the expedition of Tábuk, which was certainly a defensive measure, and has been discussed in pages 51 to 55.
[Sidenote: 103. Sarakhsee quoted and refuted.]
Sarakhsee generally entitled _Shums-ul-a-imma_ (the Sun of the Leaders), who died in 671 A.H., as quoted by Ibn Abdeen in his _Radd-ul-Muhtár_,[298] makes several stages in publishing the injunctions for fighting. He writes:--
"Know thou, that the command for fighting has descended by degrees. First the Prophet was enjoined to proclaim and withdraw, 'Profess publicly then what thou hast been bidden and withdraw from those who join gods with God' (XV, 94). Then he was ordered to dispute kindly; 'Summon thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and with kindly warning: dispute with them in the kindest warning' (XVI, 126). Then they were allowed to fight, 'A sanction is given to those who are fought....' (XXII, 40). Then they were allowed to fight if they (the unbelievers) attacked them, 'If they attack you, then kill them' (II, 187). After this they were enjoined to fight on the condition of passing over the sacred months, 'And when the sacred months are passed, then kill the polytheists' (IX, 5). After this they were enjoined to fight absolutely, 'And fight for the cause of God....' (II, 186, 245). And thus the matter was settled."
There was no injunction for fighting absolutely or aggressively in the Koran. I have already explained the 5th verse of the ninth Sura as not allowing an offensive war. And the same is the case with the 186th verse of the second Sura, which has in itself the condition of fighting against those only who fought against the Moslems. The other verse, 245th, of the same Sura is restricted by the verse 186th, (and is explained by the verse 245th), which refers to the defensive measures. This verse is quoted in page 19 of this work.
[Sidenote: 104. Ibn Hajar quoted and refuted.]
Shahábudeen Ahmed-bin-Hajr Makki writes:--
"Fighting was prohibited before the Hegira, as the Prophet was enjoined only to preach and warn and to be patient in the persecutions of the unbelievers in order to conciliate them. After this, God gave sanction to the Moslems for fighting, (after that had been prohibited in seventy and odd verses), when the unbelievers were the aggressors, and said, 'And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you' (II, 187). And it is a genuine tradition from Zohri that the first revealed verse sanctioning it was, 'A sanction is given to those who are fought, because they have suffered outrages' (XXII, 40): that is a sanction was given for fighting on the ground of the word 'fought.' Then the war of aggression was made lawful in other than the sacred months, 'When the sacred months are over....' (IX, 5). After this, in the eighth year of the Hegira, after the victory of Mecca, the fighting was enjoined absolutely by the words of God; 'March ye forth, the light and the heavy' (IX, 41); and 'attack those who join gods with God in all' (IX, 36). And this is the very verse of the sword, and some say the preceding verse is the verse of the sword, while others think that both bear on the same subject, _i.e._, of the sword."[299]
[Sidenote: 105. Ibn Hajar refuted.]
I have already explained the several verses quoted by the author in preceding paras., but have only to pass remarks on the only verse, _i.e._ (IX, 36), which the authors cited have not dared to mention, because it goes contrary to their assertion. Perhaps it is a slip in the rapidity of Ibn Hajar remarks, for which he may be excused. But I will not hesitate in saying that generally the Mohammadan legists, while quoting the Koran in support of their theories, quote some dislocated portion from a verse without any heed to its context, and thus cause a great and irreparable mischief by misleading others, especially the European writers, as it is apparent from the testimony of Mr. Lane quoted in para. 113 of this work.
The verse referred to by the author mentioned in the last para., Ibn Hajar Makki, is as follows: "Attack those who join gods with God in all, as they attack you in all."--(IX, 36.) This speaks evidently of the defensive war, and has not the slightest or faintest idea of a war of aggression on the part of the Moslems. This verse refers to the expedition of Tábuk.
[Sidenote: 106. Halabi quoted.]
Nooruddeen Ali al Halabi (died 1044 A.H.), the author of _Insan-ul-Oyoon_, a biography of the Prophet, writes:--
"It is not hidden that the Prophet for ten and odd years was warning and summoning people without fighting, and bearing patiently the severe persecutions of the Meccan Arabs and the Medinite Jews on himself and on his followers, because God had enjoined him to warn and to have patience to bear the injuries by withholding from them, in accordance with His words, 'Withdraw from them' (V, 46); and 'endure them with patience' (XVI, 128; XVIII, 27; XXXI, 16; LII, 48; and LXXIII, 10). He also used to promise them victory. His companions at Mecca used to come to him beaten and injured, and he used to tell them, 'Endure with patience, I am not commanded to fight,' because they were but a small party at Mecca. After this, when he was settled at Medina after the Hegira and his followers became numerous who preferred him to their fathers, children, and wives, and the unbelievers persisted in their idolatry, charging him with falsehoods, then God permitted his followers to fight, but against those _only_ who used to fight against them (the Moslems), and were aggressors, as he said, 'If they fight you, then kill them' (II, 187). This was in the year of Safar A.H. 2.... Then the whole Arab host marched against the Moslems to fight against them from every direction. The Moslems passed whole nights in arms, and during the day they were in the same state, and longed to pass peaceful nights without fear from anybody except from God. Then it was revealed, 'God hath promised to those of you who believe and do the things that are right, that he will cause them to succeed others in the land, as he gave succession to those who were before them, and that He will establish for them that religion which they delight in, and after their fears He will give them security in exchange' (S. XXIV, 54). After this to attack first was allowed against those who had not fought, but in other than the sacred months, _viz._, _Rajab_, _Zulkada_, _Zulhijja_, and _Mohuram_, according to the precept, 'And when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join gods with God ...' (IX, 5). Then the order became incumbent after the victory of Mecca, in the next year, to fight absolutely without any restriction, without any regard to any condition and time, by the words of God, 'Attack those who join gods with God in all' at any time (IX, 36). So it is known that the fighting was forbidden before the Hegira up to the month of Safar in its second year, as the Prophet was in this period ordered to preach and warn without any fighting, which was forbidden in seventy and odd verses. Then it was permitted to fight against _only_ those who fought against them. Then it was allowed to fight against those who fought aggressively in other than the sacred months. After this it was enjoined absolutely to wage war against them whether they did or did not fight, at all times, whether during the sacred months, or others of the year."[300]
[Sidenote: 107. Halabi refuted.]
Neither the fifth verse of the ninth Sura, nor the thirty-sixth of the same, allowed war of aggression. Both of them were published on the occasions of defensive wars, and the party against whom they were directed were the aggressors. All the verses quoted by Halabi, bearing on the subject, have been discussed and explained in the foregoing pages, from 92 to 106.
[Sidenote: 108. Ainee again quoted and refuted.]
Ainee, the author of the commentary on the Hedaya, called _Binayah_, in justifying the war of aggression against the unbelievers, quotes two verses from the Koran,[301] and two traditions from the Prophet,[302] and says,--"If it be objected that these absolute injunctions are restricted by the word of God, 'if they attack you, then kill them' (II, 187), which shows that the fighting is only incumbent when the unbelievers are the aggressors in fighting, as it was held by Souri, the reply is that the verse was abrogated by another, 'So fight against them until there be no more persecution' (II, 189), and 'fight against those who do not believe in God.' (IX, 29)."[303] But he is wrong in asserting that the verse II, 187 was abrogated by II, 189, and IX, 29. There is no authority for such a gratuitous assumption. And besides, both these verses (II, 189, and IX, 29) relate to defensive wars as it has been already explained in paras. 96-99.
[Sidenote: 109. Continuation of the above.]
The verse 189 shows by its very wording the existence of _fitnah_ or persecution, torture, and fighting on the part of the aggressors. By suppressing the Meccans' persecution, the Moslems had to regain their civil and religious liberty, from which they were so unjustly deprived. And this war of the Moslems to repel the force of their aggressors was the war of defence and protection enjoined in the verse. The 29th verse of the ninth Sura appertains to the expedition of Tábuk if not to that of Khyber. These expeditions were of a defensive character. _Vide_ pages 37 and 41.
[Sidenote: 110. Traditions quoted and refuted.]
The jurists further quote a tradition from the compilation of Abú Daood that the Prophet had said, "The Jihád will last up to the day of the Resurrection:" But in the first place, Jihád does not literally and classically mean warfare or fighting in a war. It means, as used by the classical poets as well as by the Koran, to do one's utmost; to labour; to toil; to exert one's-self or his power, efforts, endeavours, or ability; to employ one's-self vigorously, diligently, studiously, sedulously, earnestly, or with energy; to be diligent or studious, to take pains or extraordinary pains. _Vide_ Appendix A.
In the second place, Yezid bin Abi Shaiba, a link in the chain of the tradition, is a _Mujhool_,[304] _i.e._, his biography is not known, therefore his tradition can have no authority.
There is also another tradition in Bokháree to the effect that the Prophet had said, "I have been enjoined to fight the people until they confess that there is no god but the God." This tradition goes quite contrary to the verses of the Koran which enjoin to fight in defence,--that is, until the persecution or civil discord was removed.--(_Vide_ Sura II, 189; VIII, 40.) Thus it appears that either the whole tradition is a spurious one, or some of the narrators were wrong in interpreting the words of the Prophet.
[Sidenote: 111. Early Moslem legists quoted against Jihád.]
That the Koran did not allow war of aggression either when it was revealed, or in future as the early jurisconsults did infer from it, will be further shown from the opinions of the early Moslems; legists of the first and second century of the Hegira, like Ibn (son of) Omar the second khalif, Sotian Souri, Ibn Shobormah, Atá and Amar-bin-Dinar. All these early legists held that the fighting was not religiously incumbent (_wájib_), and that it was only a voluntary act, and that only those were to be fought against who attacked the Moslems.[305]
[Sidenote: Biographical sketches of the legists.]
I will give here short biographical sketches of the legists named above--
(1.) "Abû Abd-ur-Rahman Abdullah ibn Omar ibn-al Khattab was one of the most eminent among the _companions_ of Muhammad by his piety, his generosity, his contempt of the world, his learning and his virtues. Though entitled by birth to aspire to the highest places in the empire, he never hearkened to the dictates of ambition; possessing a vast influence over the Moslims by his rank, his instruction, and his holy life, he neither employed nor abused it in favour of any party, and during the civil wars which raged among the followers of Islamism, he remained neutral, solely occupied with the duties of religion. For a period of thirty years persons came from all parts to consult him and learn from him the Traditions.... He died at Mekka A.H. 73 (A.D. 692-3) aged 84 years...."--[_Tabakat al Fokaha_, fol. 5.]
(2.) Atá Ibn Abi Rabah.--"He held a high rank at Mekka as a juris-consult, a _Tâbî_, and a devout ascetic; and he derived (_his knowledge of the law and the Traditions_) from the lips of Jábir Ibn Abd Allah al-Ansárí, and Abd Allah Ibn Abbas, Abd Allah Ibn Zubair, and many others of Muhammad's companions. His own authority as a traditionist was cited by Amr ibn Dinár, Al-Aamash, Al-Auzái, and a great number of others who had heard him teach. The office of _Mufti_ at Mekka devolved on him and on Mujáhid, and was filled by them whilst they lived.... He died A.H. 115 (A.D. 733-4); some say 114 at the age of eighty-eight years."--[_Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated from the Arabic by Baron MacGuckin De Slane; Vol. II, pp. 203-204. London, MDCCCXLIII._]
(3.) Amr Ibn Dinár.--"He is counted among the most eminent of the Tábis and considered as a traditionist of very highest authority. He was only one of the Mujatahid Imáms. Died A.H. 126, (A.D. 743-4), aged eighty years."--[_Tab-al-Fokaha_].
(4.) "Abd Allah Ibn Shuburma ibn Tufail ad Dubbi, a celebrated Imám, and Tábi was an eminent jurisconsult of Kufa. He learned the Traditions from Ans, As-Shabi, and Ibn Sírín, and his own authority was cited for Traditions by Soffian Ath-Thauri, Sofyan ibn Oyaina, and others. His veracity and his eminence as a doctor of the law was universally acknowledged. He was an abstemious, intelligent, devout, generous, of a handsome countenance, and possessing a talent for poetry. He acted under the Khalif Al-Mamun, as kadí of the cultivated country (Sawád) around Kufa. Born A.H. 92, (A.D. 710-11); died A.H. 144 (A.D. 761-2)."--[_Tabal-Fak. Al-Yáfi._]
(5.) "Sofyan Ath-Thauri (As-Sauri) was native of Kúfa and a master of the highest authority in the Traditions and other sciences; his piety, devotion, veracity, and contempt for worldly goods were universally acknowledged, and as an Imám, he is counted among the _Mujtahids_.... Sofyan ibn Oyaina declared that he did not know a man better informed than Soyfan Ath-Thauri respecting what was permitted and what was forbidden by the law.... Sofyan was born A.H. 95 (A.D. 713-4). Other accounts place his birth in 96 or 97. He died A.H. 161 (A.D. 713-4) at Basra.... It has been stated by some that Sofyan died A.H. 162, but the first is the true date."--[_Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated from the Arabic by Baron MacGuckin De Slane, Vol. I, pp. 576-8. London, MDCCCXLIII._]
[Sidenote: 113. European writers' mistake.]
That it is a mistake on the part of the European writers to assert that the Koran allows wars of aggression, or in other words, to wage war against the unbelievers without any provocation, is shown by the testimony of Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Edward William Lane. The latter writes: "Misled by the decision of those doctors, and an opinion prevalent in Europe, I represented the laws of 'holy war' as more severe than I found them to be according to the letter and spirit of the Kur-án, when carefully examined, and according to the Hanafee code. I am indebted to Mr. Urquhart for suggesting to me the necessity of revising my former statement on the subject; and must express my conviction that no precept is to be found in the Kur-án, which, taken with the context, can justify unprovoked war."[306]
[Sidenote: 114. Sir William Muir quoted.]
I will quote several remarks of European writers, including clergymen and Indian missionaries, to show how astray they go in attributing to the Koran and Mohammad the wars of aggressions and compulsory proselytizing. Sir William Muir represents the principles of Islam as requiring constant prosecutions of war, and writes--
"It was essential to the permanence of Islam that its aggressive course should be continuously pursued, and that its claim to an universal acceptance, or at the least to an universal supremacy, should be enforced at the point of the sword. Within the limits of Arabia the work appeared now to be accomplished. It remained to gain over the Christian and idolatrous tribes of the Syrian desert, and then in the name of the Lord to throw down the gauntlet of war before the empires of Rome and Persia, which, having treated with contempt the summons of the Prophet addressed to them in solemn warning four years ago, were now rife for chastisement."[307]
The occasion to which Sir W. Muir refers here was to wipe out the memory of the reverse at Muta. The expedition to Muta was occasioned by the murder of a messenger or envoy dispatched by Mohammad to the Ghassànide prince at Bostra. A party was sent to punish the offending chief, Sharahbil. This could, by no means, be maintained as a warlike spirit or an aggressive course for the prosecution of war, or for enforcing the claim of universal supremacy at the point of the sword.
[Sidenote: 115. Islam not aggressive.]
That Islam as preached by Mohammad was never aggressive has been fully shown in several places of the Koran. During the whole time of his ministry, Mohammad was persecuted, rejected, despised and at last made an outlaw by the Koreish at Mecca, and a fugitive seeking protection in a distant city; exiled, attacked upon, besieged, defeated, and prevented from returning to Mecca or visiting the Holy Kaaba by the same enemies at Mecca and other surrounding tribes who had joined them, and even from within Medina plotted against by the Jews who were not less aggressive towards him than their confederates of Mecca, the Koreish, whom they had instigated to make war on him and had brought an overwhelming army, had proved traitors, and, even more injurious than the Koreish themselves. Consequently, he was constantly in dangers and troubles, and under such circumstances it was impossible for him to be aggressive, to get time or opportunity to pursue any aggressive course, or enforce, at the point of the sword, any attempt of his for universal acceptance, or universal supremacy even if he had designed so. But it was far from his principles to have cherished the object of universal conquest. "That Islam ever stepped beyond the limits of Arabia and its border lands," admits Sir. W. Muir in his Rede Lecture for 1881, just twenty years after he had written the passage I am dealing with, "was due to circumstances rather than design. The faith was meant originally for the Arabs. From first to last, the call was addressed primarily to them." He writes in a footnote of the same lecture (page 5):
"It is true that three or four years before, Mahomet had addressed dispatches to the Kaiser, and the Chosroes, and other neighbouring potentates, summoning them to embrace the true faith. But the step had never been followed up in any way."[308]
[Sidenote: 116. Mr. Freeman quoted.]
Mr. Freeman writes regarding Mohammad:--
"Mahomet had before him the example of Mosaic Law, which preached a far more rigorous mandate of extermination against the guilty nations of Canaan. He had before him the practice of all surrounding powers, Christian, Jewish, and Heathen; though, from the disaffection of Syria and Egypt to the orthodox throne of Constantinople, he might have learned how easily persecution defeats its own end.... Under his circumstances, it is really no very great ground to condemnation that he did appeal to the sword. He did no more than follow the precedents of his own and every surrounding nation. Yet one might say that a man of such mighty genius as Mahomet must have been, might have been, fairly expected to rise superior to the trammels of prejudice and precedent."[309]
Mohammad never professed to have followed the footsteps of Moses and Joshua in waging war of extermination and proselytism. He only appealed to the sword in his and his followers' defence. Never he seems to have been anxious to copy the practice of the surrounding nations, Christians, Jews, and Egyptians. His wars of defence, as they certainly all were, were very mild, specially with regard to the treatment of children, women, and old men who were never to be attacked; and above all, in the mildness shown towards the captives of war who were either to be set free or ransomed,--but were never to be enslaved,--contrary to the practice of all the surrounding nations. This virtual abolition of slavery (_vide_ Sura XLVII, 5, and Appendix B) has been a great boon to mankind in general as a beneficial result of Mohmamad's wars of defence.
[Sidenote: 117. The Revd. Stephens quoted.]
The Reverend Mr. Stephens writes:--
"In the Koran, the Mussulman is absolutely and positively commanded to make war upon all those who decline to acknowledge the Prophet until they submit, or, in the case of Jews and Christians, purchase exemption from the conformity by the payment of tribute. The mission of the Mussulman, as declared in the Koran, is distinctly aggressive. We might say that Mahomet bequeathed to his disciples a roving commission to propagate his faith by the employment of force where persuasion failed. 'O Prophet, fight for the religion of God'--'Stir up the faithful to war,' such are commands which Mahomet believed to be given him by God. 'Fight against them who believe not a God, nor the last day,' 'attack the idolatrous in all the months,' such are his own exhortations to his disciples."[310]
The Reverend gentleman is very much mistaken in his assertions against the Koran. There is no absolute or positive command in the Koran for a war of aggression or compulsory proselytism. The sentences quoted by Mr. Stephens are but mutilated verses forcibly dislocated from their context. A disjointed portion of a verse, or a single sentence of it cannot be brought forth to prove any doctrine or theory. Due regard must be made for the context, the general scope, and parallel passages. The verses referred to by Mr. Stephens are Sura IV, 86, and Sura IX, 29, 36. All these have been quoted in full and discussed elsewhere.[311] They relate only to defensive wars.
[Sidenote: 118. Mr. Bosworth Smith quoted.]
Mr. Bosworth Smith says:--
"The free toleration of the purer among the creeds around him, which the Prophet had at first enjoined, gradually changes into intolerance. Persecuted no longer, Mohammed becomes a persecutor himself; with the Koran in one hand, the scymitar in the other, he goes forth to offer to the nations the threefold alternative of conversion, tribute, death."[312]
Mohammad never changed his practice of toleration nor his own teachings into intolerance; he was always persecuted at Mecca and Medina, but, for all we know, he himself never turned a persecutor. The three-fold alternative so much talked of, and so little proved, is nowhere to be found in the Koran. This subject has been fully discussed in paras. 34-39.
[Sidenote: 119. Mr. G. Sale quoted.]
Mr. George Sale, in his celebrated preliminary discourse to the translation of the Koran, writes, referring to the thirteenth year of Mohammad's mission:--
"Hitherto Mohammed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the whole success of his enterprise, before his flight to Medina, must be attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For before this second oath of fealty or inauguration at al Akaba, he had no permission to use any force at all; and in several places of the Korân, which he pretended were revealed during his stay at Mecca, he declares his business was only to preach and admonish; that he had no authority to compel any person to embrace his religion; and that whether people believed or not, was none of his concern, but belonged solely to God. And he was so far from allowing his followers to use force, that he exhorted them to bear patiently those injuries which were offered them on account of their faith; and when persecuted himself chose rather to quit the place of his birth and retire to Medina, than to make any resistance. But this great passiveness and moderation seems entirely owing to his want of power and the great superiority of his oppressors for the first twelve years of his mission; for no sooner was he enabled by the assistance of those of Medina to make head against his enemies, than he gave out, that God had allowed him and his followers to defend themselves against the infidels; and at length, as his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine leave even to attack them, and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword; finding by experience that his designs would otherwise proceed very slowly, if they were not utterly overthrown, and knowing on the other hand that innovators, when they depend solely on their own strength, and can compel, seldom run any risk; from whence, the politician observes, it follows, that all the armed prophets have succeeded, and the unarmed ones have failed. Moses, Cyrus, Theseus and Romulus would not have been able to establish the observance of their institutions for any length of time had they not been armed. The first passage of the Korân, which gave Mohammed the permission of defending himself by arms, is said to have been that in the twenty-second chapter: after which a great number to the same purpose were revealed.
"That Mohammed had a right to take up arms for his own defence against his unjust persecutors, may perhaps be allowed; but whether he ought afterwards to have made use of that means for the establishing of his religion, is a question which I will not here determine. How far the secular power may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature, mankind are not agreed. The method of converting by the sword gives no very favourable idea of the faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by every body in those of another religion, though the same persons are willing to admit of it for the advancement of their own; supposing that though a false religion ought not to be established by authority, yet a true one may; and accordingly force is as constantly employed in these cases by those who have the power in their hands as it is constantly complained of by those who suffer the violence."[313]
I do not agree with these words of Mr. George Sale regarding Mohammad, "and at length, as his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine leave even to attack them, and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword;" he never attacked the Koreish or others except in his own defence. The destruction of idolatry was the chief mission of Mohammad, and that even was not resorted to by force of arms. There were neither compulsory conversions nor his history points to any extirpation of the idolaters at the point of sword from their native countries, as the chief objects of his mission. The persecutions and civil discord were to be removed or put a stop to, and force was used to repel force, but nothing more. Conversion by the sword was not enforced on any proselyte by Mohammad.
[Sidenote: 120. Major Osborn quoted.]
Major Osborn has drawn a very dark picture of what he calls "The Doctrine of Jehad," in his _Islam under the Arabs_.[314] The defensive wars of Mohammad are explained by him as "means of livelihood congenial to the Arab mind, and carrying with it no stain of disgrace or immorality. This was robbery. Why should not the faithful eke out their scanty means by adopting this lucrative and honourable profession, which was open to everyone who had a sword and knew how to use it?... Surely, to despoil these infidels and employ their property to feed the hungry and clothe the naked among the people of God, would be a work well pleasing in His sight.... And thus was the first advance made in the conversion of the religion of Islam with the religion of the sword" (pages 46-47). After this the Major writes again: "The ninth Sura is that which contains the Prophet's proclamation of war against the votaries of all creeds other than that of Islam" (page 52). Then he quotes several verses, some of them half sentences, violently distorted, from the eighth and ninth Suras, in a consecutive form, without giving the numbers. These are Sura IX, 20, 34, 35, 82, 121; Sura VIII, 67; Sura IX, 36, 5, 29, 19; Sura XLVII, 4; Sura IX, 5; and Sura VIII, 42. Lastly, the learned Major concludes by saying,--"Such was the character of the Sacred War enjoined upon the Faithful. It is Muhammad's greatest achievement and his worst. When subjected himself to the pains of persecution he had learned to perceive how powerless were torments applied to the body to work a change of conviction in the mind. 'Let there be no violence in religion' had then been one of the maxims he had laid down. 'Unto every one of you,' he had said in former days, speaking of Jews and Christians, 'have we given a law, and an open path; and if God had pleased He had surely made you one people; but He hath thought fit to give you different laws, that he might try you in that which He hath given you respectively. Therefore, strive to excel each other in good works; unto God shall ye all return, and then will He declare unto you that concerning which ye have disagreed.' But the intoxication of success had long ago 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 of 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 Koran 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 domestic and national life."
[Sidenote: 121. Major Osborn refuted.]
The learned author quoted above has either misunderstood the character of the wars of the Prophet of Islam, or has grossly misrepresented it. He errs in two points: First, he makes the wars as wars of conquest, compulsion, and aggression, whereas they were all undertaken in the defence of the civil and religious rights of the early Moslems, who were, as I have said before, persecuted, harassed, and tormented at Mecca for their religion, and after a long period of persecution with occasional fresh and vigorous measures, were condemned to severer and harder sufferings, were expelled from their homes, leaving their dear relations, and religious brethren to endure the calamities of the persecution, and while taking refuge at Medina were attacked upon by superior numbers, several of the surrounding tribes of Arabs and Jews joining the aggressive Koreish, making ruinous inroads and threatening the Moslems with still greater and heavier miseries. From this statement it will appear that these wars were neither of conquest nor of compulsory conversion. The second great mistake under which Major Osborn seems to labour is that he takes the injunctions of war against the Meccans or other aggressors as a general obligation to wage war against all unbelievers in the Moslem faith. In fact, these injunctions were only against those aggressors who had actually committed great encroachments on the rights and liberties of the early Moslems, and had inflicted very disastrous injuries on them. These injunctions had and have nothing to do with the future guidance of the Moslem world.
[Sidenote: 122. The IXth Sura of the Koran.]
It is a great misrepresentation on the part of Major Osborn to assert that "the ninth Sura is that which contains the Prophet's proclamation of war against the votaries of all creeds other than that of Islam." No statement could be farther from truth than this of his. The ninth Sura, or, more correctly, the beginning or opening verses of it, contain the Prophet's proclamation of war against those of the Meccan idolaters, who, in violation of the treaty of Hodeibia, had attacked the Moslems.--(Sura IX, 4, 8, 10, 12 & 13, _vide_ pages 23-25.) They were allowed four months' time (IX, 2, 5) to make terms. They submitted, and Mecca was taken by compromise, in consequence of which the threatened war was never waged. Those who had not broken their treaties were especially mentioned, with whom the proclamation or the period allowed for peace had no connection.--(_Vide_ Sura IX, 4, 7, quoted above, pages 23-24.) Thus it is quite clear that the proclamation of war was only against the violators and aggressors, and not against the votaries of all creeds other than that of Islam. I have further discussed the ninth Sura in para. 40 of this work. The other verses of this Sura refer to the expedition of Tabúk, which was purely defensive in its nature as has been described in para. 33 of this book. (See also para. 42.)
[Sidenote: 123. The Reverend Wherry quoted.]
The Reverend E.M. Wherry, M.A., in his note on Sale's Preliminary Discourse, says:--
"Though Muhammad undoubtedly took Moses as his pattern, and supposed himself following in his footsteps when he gave the command to fight against the infidels, yet there is no comparison between them whatever so far as warring against infidels is concerned. The Israelites were commanded to slay the Canaanites as divinely ordained instruments of _destruction_; but Muhammad inaugurated war as a means of proselytism. The Israelite was not permitted to proselytize from among the Canaanites, (Exod. XXIII. 27-33), but Muslims are required to proselytize by sword-power."[315]
Mohammad never had said that he did follow the footsteps of Moses in giving the command of fighting in self-defence, and in repelling force by force. There could be no comparison whatsoever between the wars of Moses, which were merely wars of conquest, aggression, extermination, and expatriation, and those of Mohammad waged only in self-defence. Mohammad did not inaugurate his career by prosecuting war as a means of proselytism, and never did proselytized any one by the sheer strength of the sword. Mr. T.H. Horne, M.A., writes regarding the extirpation of the Canaanites:--
"After the time of God's forbearance was expired, they had still the alternative, either to flee elsewhere, as in fact, many of them did, or to surrender themselves, renounce their idolatries, and serve the God of Israel. Compare Deut. XX. 10-17."[316] This was certainly compulsory conversion and proselytizing at the point of the sword.
[Sidenote: 124. Example cited from the Jewish history.]
There is only one instance in the Koran in which an example is cited for the war of defence by Mohammad, from the Jewish History. It is the asking of the children of Israel their prophet Samuel to raise up a king for them to fight in their defence against the Philistines, who had very much oppressed the Israelites. Saul was appointed king over the Israelites, and David killed Goliath, called _Jálut_ in the Koran, which was in defence of the Israelites. I have quoted the verses relating to the above subject from the Koran (Sura II, 247 and 252) in page 19th of this work.
"Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after _the death_ of Moses, when they said to a prophet of theirs,--'Raise up for us a king; we will do battle for the cause of God?' He said, 'May it not be that when fighting is ordained you, ye would not fight?' They said, 'And why should we not fight in the cause of God, since we are driven forth from our dwellings and our children?'....
This shows that what the Koran or Mohammad took as an example from the history of the Jews was only their defensive war.
[Sidenote: 125. Mosaic injunctions.]
It is very unfair of the Christians to make too much of the wars of Mohammad, which were purely of a defensive nature, and offer apologies for the most cruel wars of conquest and extermination by Moses, Joshua and other Jewish worthies under the express commands of God.--(_Vide_ Numbers XXXI; Deut. XXI, &c.) But see what Mr. Wherry says. He writes in his comments on the 191 verse of the second Sura of the Koran.
"(191). _Kill them, &c._ Much is made of expressions like this, by some Christian apologists, to show the cruel character of the Arabian prophet, and the inference is thence drawn that he was an impostor and his Qurán a fraud. Without denying that Muhammad was cruel, we think this mode of assault to be very unsatisfactory to say the least, as it is capable of being turned against the Old Testament Scriptures. If the claim of Muhammad to have received a divine command to exterminate idolatry by the slaughter of all impenitent idolaters be admitted, I can see no objection to his practice. The question at issue is this. Did God command such slaughter of idolaters, as he commanded the destruction of the Canaanites or of the Amalekites? Taking the stand of the Muslim, that God did so command Muhammad and his followers, his morality in this respect may be defended on precisely the same ground that the morality of Moses and Joshua is defended by the Christian."[317]
[Sidenote: 126. The Revd. T.P. Hughes quoted.]
The Revd. T.P. Hughes in his Notes on Muhammadanism writes:--
"Jihád (lit. 'an effort') is a religious war against the infidels, as enjoined by Muhammad in the Qurán."
Súrat-un-Nisa (VI.)
"Fight therefore for the religion of God."
* * * * *
"God hath indeed promised Paradise to every one. But God hath preferred those who _fight for the faith_." (IV, 97.) Súrat-ul-Muhammad (XLVII).
"Those who _fight in the defence of God's true religion_, God will not suffer their works to perish." (XLVII, 5.)[318]
The first verse quoted by Mr. Hughes appertains to the war of defence. The verse in itself has express indications of its relating to the war of defence, but Mr. Hughes was not inclined, perhaps, to copy it in full. He merely quotes half a sentence, and shuts his eyes from other words and phrases of the same verse. The verse has been quoted in page 20. It is as follows:--
"Fight then on the path of God: lay not burdens on any but thyself; and stir up the faithful. The powers of the infidels, God will haply restrain; for God is stronger in prowess, and stronger to punish."--(Sura IV, 86.)
The severe persecution, the intense torture and mighty aggression of the Meccans and their allies is referred to in the original word _Báss_, rendered _prowess_ into English and referred to in the previous verse 77, which shows that the war herein enjoined was to restrain the aggressions of the enemy and to repel force by force.
It is very unfair on the part of the Revd. T.P. Hughes to twist or dislocate half a sentence from a verse and put it forth to demonstrate and prove a certain object of his.
[Sidenote: 127. Meaning of Jihad.]
The second verse quoted by the same author is a mere mistranslation. There is no such word in the original which admits of being rendered as "fighting." The true translation of the sentence quoted above from Sura IV, verse 97, is as follows:--
"Good promises hath he made to all. But God hath assigned to the _strenuous_ a rich recompense above those who sit still at home."
The word rendered "_strenuous_" is originally "mojahid" (plural "Mojahidin," from Jihád), which in classical Arabic and throughout the Koran means to do one's utmost, to make effort, to strive, to exert, to employ one's-self diligently, studiously, sedulously, earnestly, zealously, or with energy, and does not mean fighting or warfare. It was subsequently applied to religious war, but was never used in the Koran in such a sense. (_Vide_ Appendix A.)
[Sidenote: 128. Sura XLVII, v. 5.]
The third instance quoted by Mr. Hughes is also a mistranslation of a sentence in verse 5, Sura XLVII. The original word is "_kotelú_," which means "those who are _killed_," and not "those who _fight_," as explained and translated by the author. The correct rendering of the sentence is this: "And those who are killed, their work God will not suffer to miscarry."
Some read the word "_kátalú_," which means "those who fought," but the general and authorized reading is "_kotelú_," _i.e._, "those who are killed." Even if it be taken for granted that the former is the correct reading, it will be explained by several other verses which mean fighting in defence, and not fighting aggressively, which not only has been never taught in the Koran but is always prohibited (II, 186). The verse to that effect runs thus:--
"And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you; but commit not the injustice of attacking them first. Verily God loveth not the unjust."--(II, 186.)
This verse permitted only defensive war and prohibited every aggressive measure. All other verses mentioned in connection with fighting on the part of the Moslems must be interpreted in conformity with this.
[Sidenote: 129. The Rev. Mr. Malcolm MacColl quoted.]
The Rev. Malcolm MacColl writes:--
"The Koran divides the earth into parts: Dar-ul-Islam, or the House of Islam; and Dar-ul-Harb, or the House of the enemy. All who are not of Islam are thus against it, and it is accordingly the duty of the True Believers to fight against the infidels till they accept Islam, or are destroyed. This is called the Djihad or Holy War, which can only end with the conversion or death of the last infidel on earth. It is thus the sacred duty of the Commander of the Faithful to make war on the non-Mussulman world as occasion may offer. But Dar-ul-Harb or the non-Mussulman world, is subdivided into Idolaters and Ketabi, or 'People of the Book,'--_i.e._, people who possess divinely inspired Scriptures, namely, Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. All the inhabitants of Dar-ul-Harb are infidels, and consequently outside the pale of Salvation. But the Ketabi are entitled to certain privileges in this world, if they submit to the conditions which Islam imposes. Other infidels must make their choice between one of two alternatives--Islam or the sword. The Ketabi are allowed a third alternative, namely, submission and the payment of tribute. But if they refuse to submit, and presume to fight against the True Believers, they lapse at once into the condition of the rest of Dar-ul-Harb and may be summarily put to death or sold as slaves."[319]
I am very sorry the Rev. gentleman is altogether wrong in his assertions against the Koran. There is neither such a division of the world in the Koran, nor such words as "Dar-ul-Islam" and "Dar-ul-Harb" are to be found anywhere in it. There is no injunction in the Koran to the True Believers to fight against the infidels till they accept Islam, failing which they are to be put to death. The words "Dar-ul-Islam" and "Dar-ul-Harb" are only to be found in the Mohammadan Common Law, and are only used in the question of jurisdiction. No Moslem magistrate will pass a sentence in a criminal case against a criminal who had committed an offence in a foreign country. The same is the case in civil courts[320]. All the inhabitants of Dar-ul-Harb are not necessarily infidels. Mohammadans, either permanently or temporarily by obtaining permission from the sovereign of the foreign land, can be the inhabitants of a Dar-ul-Harb, a country out of the Moslem jurisdiction, or at war with it.
[Sidenote: 130. The untenable theories of the Common Law and conclusion.]
It is only a theory of our Common Law, in its military and political chapters, which allow waging unprovoked war with non-Moslems, exacting tribute from "the people of the Book," and other idolaters, except those of Arabia, for which the Hanafi Code of the Common Law has nothing short of conversion to Islam or destruction by the sword. As a rule, our canonical legists support their theories by quotations from the Mohammadan Revealed Law, _i.e._, the Koran, as well as from the Sonnah, or the traditions from the Prophet, however absurd and untenable may be their process of reasoning and argumentative deductions. In this theory of waging war with, and exacting tribute or the capitation-tax from, the non-Moslem world, they quote the 9th and other Suras. These verses have been copied and explained elsewhere in this book. The casuistic sophistry of the canonical legists in deducing these war theories from the Koran is altogether futile. These verses relate only to the wars waged by the Prophet and his followers purely in their self-defence. Neither these verses had anything to do with waging unprovoked war and exacting tributes during Mohammad's time, nor could they be made a law for future military conquest. These were only temporary in their operations and purely defensive in their nature. The Mohammadan Common Law is by no means divine or superhuman. It mostly consists of uncertain traditions, Arabian usages and customs, some frivolous and fortuitous analogical deductions from the Koran, and a multitudinous array of casuistical sophistry of the canonical legists. It has not been held sacred or unchangeable by enlightened Mohammadans of any Moslem country and in any age since its compilation in the fourth century of the Hejira. All the _Mujtahids_, _Ahl Hadis_, and other non-Mokallids had had no regard for the four schools of Mohammadan religious jurisprudence, or the Common Law.
[Sidenote: Sura XLVII, 16, and Sura XLVII, 4 and 5.]
Sura XLVIII, 16, is not generally quoted by the canonical legists in support of their theory of Jehád, but by some few. It is not in the shape of a command or injunction; it is in a prophetical tone:--
"Say to those Arabs of the desert who stayed behind, Ye shall be called forth against a people of mighty valour; Ye shall do battle with them, or they shall submit (_Yoslemoon_)[321]...."
The verses 4 and 5 of Sura XLVII, like all other verses on the subject, appertain to the wars of defence, and no one has ever quoted them for wars of aggression. These verses have already been quoted at page 85. The abolition of the future slavery as enjoined in the 5th verse has been treated separately in Appendix B. The Arabs, like other barbarous nations round them, used either to kill the prisoners of war or to enslave them; but this injunction of the Koran abolished both of these barbarous practices. The prisoners henceforward were neither to be killed nor enslaved, but were to be set at liberty with or without ransom.
[Footnote 289: Ata, a learned legist of Mecca, who flourished at the end of the first century of the Hegira, and held a high rank there as a juris-consult, (_vide_ para. 112) held, that Jihad was only incumbent on the Companions of the Prophet, and was not binding on any one else after them. See para. 112, and _Tafsír Majma-ul-Bayán_ by Tabrasee under Sura II. 212.]
[Footnote 290: The _Hedaya_ or Guide; or, A Commentary on the Mussulman Laws, translated by Charles Hamilton; Vol. II, Book IX, Ch. I, page 140 London, MDCCXCI.]
[Footnote 291: The _Hedaya_ or Guide; or, A Commentary on the Mussulman Laws, translated by Charles Hamilton; Vol. II, Book IX, Ch. I, page 141.]
[Footnote 292: "Arab _Kattâl_; meaning war in its _operation_, such as _fighting_, _slaying_," &c.]
[Footnote 293: The _Hedaya_, Vol. II, 141.]
[Footnote 294: Sura II, 187.]
[Footnote 295: The Hedaya, with its commentary called Kifaya, Vol. II, p. 708. Calcutta Medical Press, 1834.
As a general rule the Mohammadan authors do not refer to the verses of the Koran by their number. They generally quote the first sentence, or even a portion of it. The No. of verses are mine. I have followed Fluegel and Rodwell's numbers of verses in their editions and translations of the Koran.]
[Footnote 296: Kifaya as before.]
[Footnote 297: _Binayah_, a commentary of the _Hedaya_, by Ainee. Vol. II, Part II, page 789.]
[Footnote 298: Part. III, page 219.]
[Footnote 299: _Tuhfatul Muhtáj fi Sharah-al-Minhaj_, Part IV, page 137.]
[Footnote 300: _Insan-ul-Oyoon_, Part II, pp. 289, 291. Chapter on "Campaign."]
[Footnote 301: Sura IX, 5 and 12. These verses have been discussed at pages 51-55.]
[Footnote 302: "The Jihád will last till the day of the Resurrection."
"I have been enjoined to fight the people until they confess there is no god but the God." For these traditions see the next para.]
[Footnote 303: _Vide_ Ainee's Commentary of the _Hedaya_, Vol. II, Part II, p. 790.]
[Footnote 304: _Vide_ Ainee's Commentary of the _Hedaya_, Vol. II, Part II, p. 798.]
[Footnote 305: _Vide_ Kázee Budrudeen Mahmood bin Ahmed Ainee's (who died in 855 A.H.) Commentary on the _Hedaya_ called _Binayah_, and generally known by the name of Ainee, Vol. II, pp. 789-90, "Book of Institute."]
[Footnote 306: The Modern Egyptians, by Edward William Lane; Vol. I, p. 117, _note_: fifth edition, London, 1871.]
[Footnote 307: Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, pp. 251-252.]
[Footnote 308: The Early Caliphate and Rise of Islam, being the Rede Lecture for 1881, delivered before the University of Cambridge by Sir William Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D., page 5, London, 1881.]
[Footnote 309: The History and Conquests of the Saracens, by Edward. A. Freeman, D.C.L., LL.D., pp. 41-42; London, 1877.]
[Footnote 310: Christianity and Islam; The Bible and the Koran; by the Rev. W.R.W. Stephens, London, 1877, pp. 98-99.]
[Footnote 311: _Vide_ paras. 17, 29, 126.]
[Footnote 312: Mohammed and Mohammedanism. Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in February and March 1874, by R. Bosworth Smith, M.A., Second Edition, page 137; London, 1876.]
[Footnote 313: The Koran, by George Sale. The "_Chandos Classics_." The Preliminary Discourse, Section II, pp. 37-38.]
[Footnote 314: London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1876, pp. 46-54.]
[Footnote 315: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Qurán; comprising Sale's Translation and Preliminary Discourse, with additional Notes and Emendations, by the Revd. E.M. Wherry, M.A., page 220; London: Trübner & Co., 1882.]
[Footnote 316: An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scripture, by Thomas Hartwell Horne, Esq., M.A. Vol. II, page 524; London. 1828.]
[Footnote 317: Commentary on the Qurán by the Revd. Wherry, page 358.]
[Footnote 318: Notes on Muhammadanism; being outlines of the Religious System of Islam, by the Revd. T.P. Hughes, M.R.A.S., C.M.S., Missionary to the Afghans, page 206; Second Edition, 1877.]
[Footnote 319: The Nineteenth Century; London, December 1877, page 832.]
[Footnote 320: This subject has been fully treated in my "The Proposed Political, Legal, and Social Reforms in Moslem States," pp. 22-25: Bombay Education Society Press, 1883.]
[Footnote 321: Sir W. Muir, with other European translators of the Koran, translates the word "they shall profess Islam" (The Life of Mahomet, Vol. IV, p. 39, _footnote_). It ought to be translated "they shall submit." There is a difference of opinion among the commentators and canonical legists in this word. Some translate the word _Yoslemoon_ "shall profess Islam," and others "shall submit." This difference in the interpretation of the same word is merely of a sectarian nature, each party wishing to serve their own purpose. Those legists who held that the polytheists and idolaters may either be fought against or be submitted to the authority of Islam by being tributaries, took the word in its proper sense of submission. Those who held that "the people of the Book" ought only to be made tributaries, while all other idolaters and polytheists should be compelled either to perish or to embrace Islam, interpret the word technically to mean the religion of Islam. But as the verse is not a legal command, we condemn at once the casuistic sophistry of the legists.]
Appendix A
ON THE WORD "JIHAD" AS OCCURRING IN THE KORAN AND WRONGLY TRANSLATED "WARFARE."
[Sidenote: Jihád or Jihd does not mean war or crusade.]
1. The popular word _Jihád_ or _Jihd_, occurring in several passages of the Koran, and generally construed by Christians and Moslems alike as meaning hostility or the waging of war against infidels, does not classically or literally signify war, warfare, hostility or fighting, and is never used in such a sense in the Koran. The Arabic terms for warfare or fighting are _Harab_ and _Kitál_.
[Sidenote: Classical meaning of Jihád, &c.]
2. The words _Jahada_, and _Jáhada_ signify that a person strove, laboured or toiled; exerted himself or his power, or efforts, or endeavours, or ability employed himself vigorously, diligently, studiously, sedulously, earnestly or with energy; was diligent or studious, took pains or extraordinary pains[322]; for example, the term _Jáhada fil-amr_ signifies that a person did his utmost or used his utmost powers, or efforts, or endeavours, or ability in prosecuting an affair.[323] The infinitive noun _Jihádan_ also means difficulty or embarrassment, distress, affliction, trouble, inconvenience, fatigue, or weariness.[324] Jauharce, a lexicologist of great repute, whose work is confined to classical terms and their significations, says in his Siháh that _Jáhada fi Sabeelillah_ or _Mojáhadatan_ and _Jihádan_ and also _Ajtahada_ and _Tajáhada_ mean expending power and effort. Fayoomee, author of _Misbahel Moneer_, which contains a very large collection of classical words and phrases of frequent occurrence, also says that _Jáhada fi Sabeelillah Jihádan_ and _Ajtahada fil Amr_ mean he expended his utmost efforts and power in seeking to attain an object.
[Sidenote: Post-classical or technical meaning of Jihád.]
3. It is only a post-classical and technical meaning of _Jihád_ to use the word as signifying fighting against an enemy. Mr. Lane says, "_Jahada_ came to be used by the Moslems to signify generally _he fought_, _warred_ or waged war against _unbelievers_ and _the like_." This signification is now given by those lexicologists who do not restrict themselves to the definition of classical terms or significations, like the author of Kámoos. Mr. Lane, the celebrated author of _Maddool Kámoos_ an Arabic-English lexicologist, clearly shows that the definition of _Jihád_, as the act of waging war, is only of Moslem origin and is not classical. And I will show in sequence that the Moslem usage of _Jihád_, as signifying the waging of war, is a post-Koranic usage, and that in the Koran it is used classically and literally in its natural sense.
[Sidenote: The Classical tongue and Arabian poets.]
4. What is called the classical language of Arabia or the _loghat_, and is an authority for the genuineness of the Arabic terms and their significations, is the language which was spoken throughout the whole of the Peninsula previous to the appearance of Mohammad. After the death of Mohammad the language was rapidly corrupted by the introduction of foreign words. This was doubtless owing to the great extension of the Mohammadan power at this period. The classical poets are those who died before these great conquests were effected, and are the most reliable authorities for Arabic words and their significations, and they are called _Jáhilí_. Next to the classical poets are the post-classical, or _Mokhadrams_, _Islámi_ and _Mowallads_. Mokhadram is a poet who lived partly before and partly after Mohammad, and who did not embrace Islámism during the life of the Prophet. The Islámi poets are the Mohammadan poets of the first and second centuries of the Hejira, and Mowallads, the poets of the fourth rank, followed the Islámis. The earliest classical poets date only a century before the birth of Mohammad, and the latest, about a century after his death. The period of the Islámi poets is the first and second centuries,--_i.e._, those who lived after the first corruption of the Arabic language, but before the corruption had become extensive.
The Mowallads co-existed with the general and rapid corruption of the language from the beginning or middle of the second century.
[Sidenote: The conjugation and declension of _Jahd_ and _Jihád_]
5. The words _Jahd_ and _Jihád_ and their derivations, amounting to fourteen in number, occur in the following passages in the Koran:--
1. "Jâhada"