INDSET MONOGRAPH SERIES ON ISLAM AND QUR'AN No. 13 BATTLES BY THE PROPHET (SAWS) Sayyid Ameenul Hasan Rizvi Indian School of Excellence Trust (INDSET) Hyderabad - INDIA iii BATTLES BY THE PROPHET (SAWS) CONTENTS Page Foreword : Chairman - vii MEDNET Introduction ....................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 – THE BATTLE OF BADR 15-39 Background ......................................................... 16 The Genesis ......................................................... 21 Orientalists’ Bias ............................................... 23 Prophet’s (SAWS) Reluctance ............................ 28 The Encounter .................................................... 30 Highlights ........................................................... 31 Three Incidents .................................................. 34 Quran’s Word Comes True .............................. 36 CHAPTER 2 – THE BATTLE OF UHUD 40-60 Role of Munafiqeen (Hypocrites) ...................... 42 Brilliant General ................................................ 44 Tables Turn ....................................................... 49 Conduct of Muslims .......................................... 52 iv The Archers ....................................................... 56 Lapses Forgiven .................................................. 59 CHAPTER 3 – THE BATTLE OF TRENCH 61-75 Exemplary Leadership ...................................... 64 Treachery ............................................................ 67 Counter–Move ................................................... 70 Banu Qurayzah .................................................. 73 CHAPTER 4 – TREATY OF HUDAIBIYA : 76-100 PRELUDE TO THE CONQUEST OF MAKKAH The Treaty .......................................................... 77 Background ......................................................... 78 Bay’at-ar-Rizwan ............................................... 87 Three Incidents .................................................. 90 The Bedouins ..................................................... 93 Manifest Victory! .............................................. 95 CHAPTER 5 – THE BATTLE OF KHAIBAR 101-107 Some Instances ................................................... 105 Banu Qainuqa .................................................... 108 Banu Nadeer ....................................................... 109 v Banu Qurayzah .................................................. 113 Khaibar ............................................................. 114 The Encounter ................................................... 116 CHAPTER 6 – CONQUEST OF MAKKAH – 118-134 THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH Treaty Abrogated ............................................... 119 Treaty of Hudaibiya Abrogated ........................ 121 March to Glory .................................................. 123 Policy Declaration .............................................. 126 Triumphant Entry ............................................. 128 Grand Finale ...................................................... 130 CHAPTER 7 – THE BATTLE OF HUNAIN 134-149 Do-or-Die Enthusiasm .................................... 135 Forgotten Lesson .............................................. 142 Autas and Taif ............................................. 145 Mercy for Mankind .......................................... 147 Memorable Events ............................................. 148 CHAPTER 8 – THE TABUK EXPEDITION 150-175 Background ..................................................... 151 Various Categories ............................................ 166 vi Final Guidelines ................................................. 172 CHAPTER 9 – ISLAMIC LAWS OF WAR, 176-199 SPOILS, AND PRISONERS OF WAR Spoils of War ..................................................... 181 Prisoners of War (PsOW) ............................... 183 APPENDIX – I ................................................ 188 APPENDIX – II ...................................................... 195 APPENDIX – III .................................................... 197 D’AWAH LETTERS ........................................ 200-209 Letter-I ............................................................... 200 Letter-II .............................................................. 205 Letter-III ............................................................ 206 Letter-IV ............................................................. 208 vii FOREWORD It is a distressing fact that most of the people lack proper understanding about the universal relevance of the Qur'anic Message which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) for the guidance of all mankind. There is considerable misapprehension too about Islam and Message of the Qur'an in the minds of Non-Muslims. The Indian School of Excellence Trust (INDSET) is making an humble endeavour through a series of monographs on Islam and Qur'an to project the image of Islam in its proper perspective and to explain the significance of the Qur'anic Message in a scientific and systematic way. This Monograph gives the account of seven major battles in which Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) participated personally and commanded the Muslim army. The chapter dealing with the Treaty of Hudaibiyah is not the narration of any battle as the Prophet (SAWS) had gone to Makkah neither with the intention of fighting nor did any fight actually take place. But the early historians have included as in its details and ramifications it deserved to be placed among battles. More than the narration of details of actual fighting, the narration and analysis of circumstances which led to each battle, the state and stage in which the Islamic movement at the time of each battle was, and how the consequences of each battle affected and benefited the work of Islamic d'awah highlighted. The viii spotlight all through is, of course, on the personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) – he as a master tactician, superb general, first rate commander possessing unmatched qualities of leadership, all of which he employed to the full to serve the cause of Islam and his mission as the Prophet of Allah (SWT). It is noteworthy that after every battle (including the event of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah) Allah (SWT) revealed some Ayaat (verses) of the Qur'an covering and commenting upon some aspects of the event. These comments are predominantly aimed at training the Muslims in Islamic discipline and strengthening their Faith (Imaan). In addition, the Islamic laws of war, treaty, prisoners of war and the war booty were also gradually laid down through these Ayaat. When revealed, these Ayaat immediately became known to all Muslims, non- Muslims and the Hypocrites, none of whom ever questioned, in the slightest, the veracity of the events as narrated in these Ayaat which they would have surely done had there been even a microscopic inaccuracy in the Qur'an's version of events. Thus the world has the most authentic and wholly unimpeachable record of events of these battles. I have, in narrating the events, quoted these Ayaat. This Monograph is an adaptation of the book ‘Battles by the Prophet – In the Light of the Qur'an’ written by Syyid Ameenul Hasan Rizvi. INDSET is grateful to him for permitting to publish it under its banner thus contributing to its effort to produce a ix complete and comprehensive set of authentic and simple literature on Islam. We conclude with a prayer to Allah (SWT) to graciously bless our efforts with success (Aameen). Shah Manzoor Alam Chairman - INDSET & Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Srinagar BATTLES BY THE PROPHET (SAWS) INTRODUCTION Thirteen years of preaching of Islam to the people of Makkah by Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)1, with all sincerity, affection and compassion as it had been, had only transformed the Makkans’ initial indulgent indifference to irritation, irritation to wrath and wrath to active hostility. Although the number of those coming into the fold of Islam during the whole of the 13-year period had hardly touched the three hundred mark (including women), what disturbed and infuriated the Quraysh was the fact that there was hardly a tribe or clan out of which one or more had not gone over to and embraced the new faith – Islam. More than that, the quality of Imaan, the strength of conviction and devotional attachment to the Prophet (SAWS) of those few hundred alarmed the Quraysh. Once having declared La Ilaha Illallah Muhammad-ur-Rasulallah [there is no god except Allah (SWT)2 and Muhammad is His Prophet (SAWS)] there was no enticement, no amount of physical torture or social persecution which would make them renounce the faith the declaration entailed. Convinced, based on thirteen year’s experience and observations, of the utter futility of both coercion and allurements either stopping the trickling in of fresh entrants to the Prophet’s (SAWS) fold or making anyone come out of it, in desperation the Makkah chiefs decided to strike at the very root. Muhammad (SAWS) himself 1 Stands for ‘Sallallahu Alaihi wo Sallam’, meaning ‘Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him’. 2. Stands for ‘Subhanuhu wo Ta’ala’, meaning ‘Pure and Exalted’. Battles by the Prophet (SAWS) 2 should be killed, they resolved, jointly by one representative each from all the notable clans. It was at that stage that Allah (SWT) commanded the Prophet (SAWS) to leave Makkah and to migrate to Madinah on the very night the Makkans had fixed for his assassination. It should be noted that no prophet ever left his post of duty, the place to which