Beginning
of Hypocrisy
There happened to be in Al-Madinah a
man of great wisdom, experience and astuteness and he wielded influence both on
the Aus and the Khazraj. A short time before, both of the tribes had the bloody
battle of Bu'âth, in this battle they lost much of their power and strength and
Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul was shrewd enough to take advantage of their
weaknesses. His clever tricks achieved for him immense popularity among both
tribes. While the people were making up their minds about installing Abdullah
bin Ubai as the chief or king of Al-Madinah, Islam started to take hold in
Al-Madinah. They had planned to celebrate the occasion of Abdullah's ascension
to leadership on a very high level and even a crown had already been made for
him. With the advent of Islam in Al-Madinah, the atmosphere changed beyond
recognition.
After the arrival of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) in Al-Madinah, the
Muslims became its mightiest power. Furthermore, the peace pact made all the
people of Al-Madinah recognize the strength and supremacy of Islam and they all
signed it signifying their acceptance of the superiority of the Muslims. The
grand dreams of Abdullah bin Ubai were shattered into pieces. Since he was
shrewd before anything else, he never highlighted his grievances but he
harbored malice against the Prophet (صلى الله عليه
وآله وسلم) from the day he appeared in Al-Madinah. The idolaters among
the Aus and the Khazraj tribes were still under the influence of Abdullah bin
Ubai. When the Quraish of Makkah found out that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and his Companions were enjoying a
peaceful life after arriving in Al-Madinah, and the circle of Islam was
expanding by leaps and bounds, they felt terribly disturbed. Shooting their
first arrow at Islam in Al-Madinah they wrote a letter to Abdullah bin Ubai and
the polytheists of Al-Madinah. They warned them against providing refuge to the
fugitives and asked them to expel them (the Muslims) from their territory,
failing this they should be ready to face an onslaught on Al-Madinah ending in
the killing of their young and the capturing of their women.
In the wake of receiving this
message from the Quraish of Makkah, Abdullah bin Ubai assembled all the
polytheists and kindled flames of fighting in their hearts. At the opportune
moment, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
was informed of the development and he hurried to the gathering of the people
and said to them: "The Quraish of Makkah have attempted to deceive you and
you will suffer heavy losses if you become victims of their allurement. It is
better for you to reject their warning flatly and keep to your agreement
finalized between you and us. In case the Quraish make an assault against the
people of Al-Madinah, it will be easier to fight them if we are united. But if
you fight the Muslims, you are bound to kill your own sons and close relatives
with your own swords and bring upon yourselves complete destruction. Having
heard the wise counsel of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه
وآله وسلم), the entire gathering followed his point and dispersed at
once. They deserted Abdullah bin Ubai and he was left alone looking pathetic.
The same year, the Muslims began to
use the Adhân to call the people to perform prayer in congregation. It was also
the year when Abdullah bin Salâm (رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ
عَنْهُ), a great scholar of the Jews, accepted Islam. Salmân the
Persian also embraced Islam after accepting Christianity and had gone through
the scriptures of the Jews and the Christians who were awaiting the advent of
the last Prophet. The payment of Zakât was also made obligatory in this year.
The
Second Year of Migration
The Quraish appeared defeated in the
wake of the Prophet's departure to Al-Madinah unharmed. The acute sense of
shameful defeat had filled them with a maddening pain which could be cured only
by taking a satisfactory revenge. The simple goal before the Makkan polytheists
was to cause death and destruction to the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم) and his Muslim followers. This wild rage
had taken them by storm. Putting aside their petty differences and discord,
they had risen to the occasion as one individual with the single purpose of
punishing the followers of Islam. There lay a distance of 300 miles between
Makkah and Al-Madinah. Special care and preparations were needed for the
Makkans to invade Al-Madinah along with winning the sympathies of the tribes
living on the way and forming alliances with the forces hostile to Islam.
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) was, on the other hand, wise enough to
foresee the lurking menace and he had to play his role as a reliable chief and
an experienced and skilful commander. Permission for defensive fighting had
already been received. Thus the time for removing the obstructions in the way
of Islam had arrived. The Muslim population in Al-Madinah was, in no way, more
than three or four hundred. But, in spite of lacking numbers and weapons, the
evil designs and mischief of the disbelievers was more than enough to kindle in
their hearts determination and ignite their Arabian sense of honor and bravery.
They repeatedly placed before the Prophet (صلى الله
عليه وآله وسلم) their deep desire to raise arms against the enemies of Islam
and sought his permission to fight.
When the love of Islam went deep
into the hearts of the believers and they appeared mentally prepared to fight
the forces inimical to Islam, permission from Allâh the Almighty came for
curbing the evildoers. However, the series of events taking place provide ample
proof that the Messenger of Islam preferred peace to war and forgiveness to
revenge. A chieftain of Makkah, Kurz bin Jâbir came from Makkah along with a
band of people, and raided some grazing cattle near Al-Madinah and made off
with a large number of camels belonging to the believers. When the Muslims got
the news, they chased the criminals but they escaped. However, it was a serious
warning for the people of Al-Madinah that their enemies could rob them of their
goods and property at a distance of about three hundred miles from their
houses. Besides, the disbelievers were constantly in correspondence with
Abdullah bin Ubai and the Jews of Al-Madinah conspiring against the Muslim
interests.
During Sha'bân of this year, the
Qiblah (direction of prayer) was changed for the Muslims to Makkah and the
fasting of Ramadân was made obligatory before the end of Sha'bân. At the
beginning of the month of Ramadân, news came to Al-Madinah that a Makkan
caravan. was coming from Syria which would pass by Al-Madinah. In order to
instill fear in the disbelievers and also to reply to Kurz bin Jâbir's attack,
the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)
asked a party of the Muhâjirin and Ansâr to intercept the caravan so that the
Makkans would know that to worsen the relations with the people of Al-Madinah
might prove injurious to their trading activities with Syria. This party was
sent with the sole purpose of frightening them and not for fighting.
The Makkan trade caravan became
informed of the movement of the Muslim party. Abu Sufyân, the head of the
caravan, led it off the main routes. He also hired Damdam bin Amr Ghifâri to
hurry to Makkah with the information that the caravan was facing danger from
the Muslims, and they should rush to help it and save their goods. In the wake
of this news, Abu Jahl marched forward with great enthusiasm from Makkah at the
head of a large army consisting of seven hundred camels and three hundred
horses. The entire army was armed to the teeth and the reciters of martial
songs also accompanied the army. Abbâs bin Abdul-Muttalib, Utbah bin Rabi'ah,
Umayyah bin Khalaf, Nadar bin Hârith, Abu Jahl bin Hishâm and others, a total
of thirteen men in all were assigned the duty of serving food to the army. The
Muslim party sent to terrorize the trade caravan came back to Al-Madinah.
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