The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (4 page)

Allah rewarded those he had granted victory at Badr: There was great booty—so much, in fact, that it became a bone of contention. So divisive did this become that Allah himself spoke about it in a chapter (sura) of the Qur’an devoted entirely to reflections on the battle of Badr: the eighth chapter, titled Al-Anfal, “The Spoils of War” or “Booty.” Allah warns the Muslims not to consider booty won at Badr to belong to anyone but Muhammad: “They ask thee concerning things taken as spoils of war. Say: ‘(Such) spoils are at the disposal of Allah and the Messenger: so fear Allah, and keep straight the relations between yourselves. Obey Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe’” (Qur’an 8:1). Ultimately, Muhammad distributed the booty among the Muslims equally, keeping a fifth for himself: “And know that whatever ye take as spoils of war, lo! a fifth thereof is for Allah, and for the messenger and for the kinsman (who hath need) and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, if ye believe in Allah and that which We revealed unto Our slave on the Day of Discrimination, the day when the two armies met” (Qur’an 8:41). Allah emphasized that it was a reward for obedience to him: “Now enjoy what ye have won, as lawful and good, and keep your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (Qur’an 8:69).
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From being a tiny, despised community, the Muslims were now a force with which the pagans of Arabia had to reckon—and they began to strike terror in the hearts of their enemies. Muhammad’s claim to be the last prophet of the One, True God appeared validated by a victory against enormous odds. With this victory, certain attitudes and assumptions were being planted in the minds of Muslims, which remain with many of them to this day. These include:

Allah will grant victory to his people against foes that are superior in numbers or firepower, so long as they remain faithful to his commands.

Victories entitle the Muslims to appropriate the possessions of the vanquished as booty.

Bloody vengeance against one’s enemies belongs not solely to the Lord, but also to those who submit to him on earth. That is the meaning of the word Islam: submission.

Prisoners taken in battle against the Muslims may be put to death at the discretion of Muslim leaders.

Those who reject Islam are “the vilest of creatures” (Qur’an 98:6) and thus deserve no mercy.

Anyone who insults or even opposes Muhammad or his people deserves a humiliating death—by beheading if possible. (This is in accordance with Allah’s command to “smite the necks” of the “unbelievers” (Qur’an 47:4)).

Above all, the battle of Badr was the first practical example of what came to be known as the Islamic doctrine of jihad—a doctrine that holds the key to the understanding of both the Crusades and the conflicts of today.

Assassination and deceit

Flushed with victory, Muhammad stepped up his raiding operations. He also hardened in his attitudes toward the Jewish tribes of the region, who kept their faith and rejected Muhammad as a prophet of God. With this rejection, Muhammad’s prophetic calls to Jews began to get violent, emphasizing earthly punishment. Striding into the center of the marketplace of the Banu Qaynuqa, a Jewish tribe with whom he had a truce, he announced to the crowds, “O Jews, beware lest God bring upon you the vengeance that He brought upon Quraysh and become Muslims. You know that I am a prophet who has been sent—you will find that in your scriptures and God’s covenant with you.”
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The Jews of the Banu Qaynuqa were not persuaded, frustrating the Prophet even more. He laid siege on them until they offered him unconditional surrender.

Even then Muhammad’s anger was not assuaged. He found a new focus for it in a Jewish poet, K’ab bin Al-Ashraf, who, according to Muhammad’s first biographer, Ibn Ishaq, “composed amatory verses of an insulting nature about the Muslim women.”
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Muhammad asked his followers, “Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?”
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Ibn Warraq on Islam:

“The theory and practice of jihad was not concocted in the Pentagon…. It was taken from the Koran, the Hadith and Islamic tradition. Western liberals, especially humanists, find it hard to believe this…. It is extraordinary the amount of people who have written about the 11th of September without once mentioning Islam. We must take seriously what the Islamists say to understand their motivation, [that] it is the divinely ordained duty of all Muslims to fight in the literal sense until man-made law has been replaced by God’s law, the Sharia, and Islamic law has conquered the entire world…. For every text the liberal Muslims produce, the mullahs will use dozens of counter-examples [that are] exegetically, philosophically, historically far more legitimate.”

He found a volunteer in a young Muslim named Muhammad bin Maslama: “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” After the Prophet answered, “Yes,” Muhammad bin Maslama asked him for permission to lie in order to deceive K’ab bin Al-Ashraf into walking into an ambush.
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The Prophet granted him this permission, and Muhammad bin Maslama duly deceived and murdered K’ab.
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After the murder of K’ab, Muhammad issued a blanket command: “Kill any Jew that falls into your power.” This was not a military order: The first victim was a Jewish merchant, Ibn Sunayna, who had “social and business relations” with the Muslims. The murderer, Muhayissa, was rebuked for the deed by his brother Huwayissa, who was not yet a Muslim. Muhayissa was unrepentant. He told his brother, “Had the one who ordered me to kill him ordered me to kill you I would have cut your head off.”

Huwayissa was impressed: “By God, a religion which can bring you to this is marvelous!” He became a Muslim.
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The world is still witnessing such marvels to this day.

Muhammad vs. Jesus