Kaleef K. Karim & Aliyu Musa Misau
Introduction:
Missionaries and other critics often repeat the baseless ‘claim’ of ‘atrocities’ committed by Muhammad (p) against Quraysh, glossing over the fact that these incidents they injudiciously referred to as “atrocities” were nothing but just responses to the attacks initiated by the Quraysh, and continued even when the Muslims fled to Medina, fleeing persecution.
For instance, some try to justify Muhammad (p) and his followers being persecuted, tortured and killed just for expressing their beliefs in Mecca! They claim that what the Quraysh were doing to Muhammad (p) and the Muslims then was a direct result of Muhammad’s (p) preaching against their polytheism, idolatry. So they try to justify thirteen years of persecution and torture by blaming Muhammad (p) for preaching Monotheism; that the Muslims deserved what they got for exercising their right of free speech, their right to express their conscience.
This is the sick mind of some who try to justify crimes committed against a minority. I guess freedom of speech is not applicable to Muslims!
It is our intention, in a number of articles in the pipeline, to deal with the claims that the Muslims were not the ones who started hostilities against the Quraysh, to show that the claim is not supported by the earliest Islamic sources. In this very article, we will see that the evidences shows that it was the Quraysh who started physically attacking the Muslims, making them flee from their birth-place Makkah to Madinah, to escape the persecution and still followed them down to Medina to exterminate them just for their beliefs.
Our primary interest in these articles will be when the Prophet (p) and his followers arrived in Medina, fleeing persecution. What happened when they arrived in Medina? Did the Muslims start war against Quraysh as soon as they arrived in Madina? Or was it the other way around?
The Evidence:
The evidences used for this work are taken from most authoritative and canonical sources of Islam, the Quran and Hadith. The Hadith books we used are the canonical Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud, Jami at-Tirmidhi, Musnad Ibn Hanbal, and Baiyhaqi’s Dala’il An-Nabuwwah. Besides the Quran and Hadith, we have also used the works of al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad (p) (Sirat Rasulullah).
Click on the following links for more information:
1. LINK – Quraysh threatened to murder inhabitants of Madina for giving sanctuary to the persecuted Muslims.
2. LINK – When the Prophet (p) arrived in Madina he couldn’t sleep. He had to have guards near him, he believed that the Quraysh were still out to kill him.
3. LINK – Sa’d Ibn Mu’adh’s Lesser Pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was confronted by Abu Jahl, threatening to kill him for giving safe haven to Muslims in Madinah.
4. LINK – The Prophet (p) Used to forgive the Quraysh enemies while in Madina, until verses of fighting were revealed.
5. LINK – The Quraysh declared war against Muslims before the battle of Badr ensued.
6. LINK – The Prophet (p) sent Abdullah Ibn Jahsh to Nakhlah to collect information on what the Quraysh were doing.
7. LINK – Expedition against Kurz b. Jabir al-Fihri, he raided camels and cattle of Madinah.
8. LINK – Property of Muslims stolen – robbed by the Quraysh in Makkah, and continued oppressing Muslims while they fled to Madinah.
Related articles:
Does the Quran order violence against the innocent?
Does Islam encourage Muslims to lie – Taqiyya?
Does the Holy Bible allow Christians to lie?
What does Islam say about Rape? [Part 1]
What does Islam say about Rape? [Part 2]
What does the Arabic word ‘Jihad’ mean?
Can Christians And Jews Be Friends With Muslims? [Part 1]
Can Christians And Jews Be Friends With Muslims? [Part 2]
Did Muhammad Order Or Support The Killing Of Innocents?
As Salam Alaikum,
How about if non-Muslims giving free speeches in Muslim majority countries? Will the Muslims tolerated them?