The Sealed Nectar (59 page)

MSA NIU

victory, oppressing the weakling and demolishing their houses and constructions. For them, war was a means by which they can rape or unveil women, practise cruelty against the weakling, the babies and small children, spoil tillage and race, and spread corruption on the earth. Islamic wars are different from pre- Islamic wars. A

"war" in Islam is a
Jihad
. That is to say it is a noble sacred fight in the way of Allâh for the verification of a Muslim society that seeks to free man from oppression, tyranny and aggression. It is a society that everyone everywhere and at all times should be proud of.Pre- Islamic thoughts and traditions of
Al- Jahiliyah
period have been turned upside down by Islam. These were so hard upon the weakling that they had to invoke Allâh to enable them to get away from that pre- Islamic environment by saying:

"Our Lord, rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors, and raise
for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will
help."

The war of corruption, slaying and robbing that used to prevail has now turned into a sacred one,
Al- Jihad
. One of the greatest aims of
Al- Jihad
is to free man from the aggression, the oppression and the tyranny of men of power. A man of power, in Islam, is a weakling till after the right of the poor is taken from him. War, in Islam, is a
Jihad
for the purification of the land of Allâh from deception, treachery, sinful deeds and aggression. It is a sacred war that aims at spreading security, safety, mercy and compassion as well as observing the rights and magnanimity. The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] had issued honourable strict rules about war and bade his soldiers and leaders to comply with them. They were forbidden to break those rules under any circumstances. In reference to Sulaiman bin Buraidah’s version, who said that his father had told him that whenever the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] appointed a leader on an army or on a battalion, he used to recommend him to fear Allâh, the Great and All- Mighty, when dealing with those who were closest to him and to be good with all Muslims. Then the Prophet [pbuh] would say to him:

"Let your invasion be in the Name of Allâh and for His sake. Fight those who
disbelieve in Allâh. Invade but do not exaggerate nor commit treachery.

Never deform the corpse of a dead person or kill an infant child."

The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] asked people to facilitate but he forbade them to bear down hard on others or constrain. "Pacify", he said, "and do not disincline". [Sahih Muslim 2/82,83] When it happened that he arrived at the battlefield by night, he would never invade the enemy till it was morning. He utterly forbade burning (i.e.

torturing people) in fire, killing children and women or even beating them. He also forbade theft and robbery and proceeded so far as to say gains acquired through plundering are not less forbidden than the flesh of a corpse. Corruption of tillage and race and cutting down of trees were all forbidden unless they were badly needed and there was no other substitute:

"Do not kill a wounded person nor run after a fleeing one or kill a captive."

He decreed that envoys cannot be killed. He also stressed on not killing those who made covenants. He even said:

283

MSA NIU

"He whoever kills one who is under pledge to a covenant shall not smell
Paradise, though its smell could be experienced at a forty- year distance
from it."

There were some other noble rules which purified wars from their
Al- Jahiliyah
(pre-Islamic) filthiness and turned them into sacred wars. [Za'd Al- Ma'ad 2/64- 68; and for details Jihad in Islam p.216- 262]

284

MSA NIU

People embrace the Religion of Allâh in Large Crowds
The invasion and the conquest of Makkah was — as we have already stated — a decisive battle that destroyed paganism utterly. The Arabs as a result of that battle were able to differentiate the truth from the error. Delusion no longer existed in their life. So they raced to embrace Islam. ‘Amr bin Salamah said: "We were at a water (spring) where the passage of people was. So when camel riders passed by us we used to ask them: ‘What is the matter with people? What is this man (i.e. the Prophet) like?’ They would say, ‘He claims that Allâh has revealed so and so.’ I used to memorize those words as if they had been recited within my chest. The Arabs used to ascribe their Islamization to the conquest. They would say: ‘Leave him alone to face his people. If he were a truthful Prophet he would overcome them.’ So when the conquest took place, peoples hastened to declare their Islam. My father was the quickest of all my people to embrace Islam. Arriving at his people he said: ‘By Allâh I have just verily been to the Prophet [pbuh]. And he said: ‘Perform so a prayer at such a time, and so and so prayers at such and such time. When the prayer time is due let one of you call for the prayer and appoint the most learned of the Qur’ân among you to be an
Imam
(leader) of yours. [Sahih Al- Bukhari 2/615,616]" This Prophetic tradition manifests the great effect of the conquest of Makkah on the phase of events. It certainly shows the influence of the conquest of Makkah upon the consolidation of Islam as well as on the Arabs’ stand and their surrender to Islam.

That influence was absolutely confirmed and deeply rooted after the invasion of Tabuk. A clear and an obvious evidence of that influence could be deduced from the great number of delegations arriving in Madinah successively in the ninth and tenth years of Al- Hijra. The immense crowds of people who raced to embrace the religion of Allâh and the great army which included ten thousand fighters in the invasion of the conquest of Makkah had grown big enough to include thirty thousand fighters sharing in Tabuk invasion. It was only in less than a year after the conquest of Makkah that this growth in Islamic army had taken place. A hundred thousand or a hundred and forty four thousand Muslim pilgrims shared in
Hajjatul
- Wada‘
(i.e.

Farewell Pilgrimage); it was such an enormous number of Muslims surging — as an ocean of men — round the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh], that the horizon echoed their voices and the expanses of land shook whereby while saying
Labbaik
(i.e. Lord, here we are worshipping), glorifying and magnifying Allâh, and thanking Him.

285

MSA NIU

The Delegations

The number of delegations listed in
Ahl Al- Maghazi
were over seventy. Investigating such a large number is not an accessible thing; besides stating them in detail is not of a great benefit. Therefore, I am going to reveal an expose about what is historically wonderful or highly significant. Anyway a reader should always keep in mind that whilst the majority of tribes arrived in Madinah after the conquest, there were also pre- conquest delegations.

1.
The delegation of ‘Abdul Qais:
This tribe had two arrivals. The first was in the fifth year of Al- Hijra or before that date. Munqidh bin Haiyan, a member of that tribe, used to trade in Madinah. So, as soon as he heard of Islam when he had arrived in it for trading — that was after the migration — he embraced Islam and carried a pledge from the Prophet [pbuh] to his people who eventually became Muslims too. Thirteen or fourteen of them came to the Prophet [pbuh] in one of the
Hurum
Months. It was then that they asked the Prophet’s advice about the Faith and drinks. Their chief was Al- Ashaj Al- Usri, to whom the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] said: "You have two qualities that Allâh likes: They are deliberatenessandclemency."

Their second arrival was in the Year of Delegations. They were forty men. Al-Jarud bin Al- ‘Alâ’ Al- ‘Abdi, who was Christian but turned to be a good Muslim, was one of that group.
[Explanation of Sahih Muslim by An-Nawawi 1/33; Fath Al-Bari 8/85,86]

2. Daws Delegation:
The arrival of this tribe was in the early times of the seventh year and that was when the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] was in Khaibar. At- Tufail bin ‘Amr Ad- Dawsi, that we have already talked about and explained how he became a Muslim at the time the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]

was in Makkah. He went back home to his people where he kept calling people to Islam but they tarried till he despaired of them and returned to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] and asked him to invoke Allâh against Daws but the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] invoked Allâh to guide Daws. Later on, Daws embraced Islam. So At- Tufail arrived in Madinah accompanied by seventy or eighty families of his people in the early times of the seventh year of Al- Hijra, at the time that the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] was at Khaibar, so he overtook him there.

3. Farwah Bani ‘Amr Al- Judhami’s messenger:
Farwah was an Arab leader in the Byzantine army. He was a Byzantine agent ruler by proxy on the Arabs allied to the Byzantines. His home was at Mu‘an and the surrounding area of Ash- Sham lands. Seeing the stamina and courage of the Muslims he became a Muslim. The battle of Mu’tah — which took place in the eighth year of Al-Hijra — compelled his admiration. He sent a white mule gift with a messenger of his to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] to inform him of his conversion into Islam. When the Byzantines learnt of his embracing Islam, they sent him to prison. At first they gave him an opportunity to choose one of the two —

"either he defects from Islam or death shall be his punishment." Refusing to defect they crucified him and cut his neck at a water (fountain) called ‘Afra’ in Palestine. [Za'd Al-Ma'ad 3/45; Tafheem-ul-Qur'an 2/169]

4. Sudâ’ Delegation:
The arrival of this delegation was after the departure of the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] from Al- Ji‘ranah in the eighth year of Al- Hijra.

It was because the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] had already dispatched a 286

MSA NIU

mission that comprised four hundred Muslims and asked them to go to where Sudâ’ was. Sudâ’ was (a fresh- water fountain) in Yemen. While the mission was camping there at the starting point of a canal. Ziyad bin Al- Harith As-Sudâ’i learned of their stay, so he came to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] and said: "I have come to you as a deputy of my people, so tell your army to go back and I guarantee of my people." The army were sent away off the canal.

In his turn As- Sudâ’i went back, cherished and urged his people to come and meet the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]. Eventually fifteen of them came and pledged allegiance to him as true Muslims. Returning home, they in their turn, urged the rest to be Muslims. Thus Islam spread among them. Later on, a hundred men joined the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] in
Hajjatul
-
Wada‘

(Farewell Pilgrimage.)

5. The arrival of Ka‘b bin Zuhair bin Abi Sulma:
Ka‘b who was a member of a family of poets, was considered one of the most poetic Arab poets. He used to satirize the Prophet [pbuh] when he wasn’t a Muslim. In the eighth year of Al- Hijra and at the time that the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] had already gone back from At- Ta’if invasion, Bujair bin Zuhair wrote a letter to his brother Ka‘b warning and advising him: "The Messenger of Allâh ([pbuh]) had killed some men in Makkah who used to satirize and harm him, and that the other poets who had survived fled in all directions for their lives. So if you want to save your skin, hasten to the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]. He never kills those who resort to him as repentant. If you refuse to do as I tell, it is up to you to try to save your skin by any means." The two brothers corresponded with one another for a long time till Ka‘b was awkward and felt as if the earth had constrained on him. Arriving in Madinah, he stayed at a man’s house from Juhainah as a guest. They performed the dawn prayer together; but when he was about to leave, the man suggested that he go to the Messenger of Allâh

[pbuh]. He went there, sat by him, put his hand in his. The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] who had never seen Ka‘b before, did not recognize him. Ka‘b then said: "O, Messenger of Allâh! Ka‘b bin Zuhair has come to you as a repentant Muslim; will he be secure and forgiven if I fetch him?" The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] said, "Yes." "I am Ka‘b bin Zuhair," said he. Upon hearing that one of the Helpers rose to his feet and asked the Messenger’s allowance to cut his throat. "Leave him alone!" Said the Prophet [pbuh], "He has become a repentant Muslim after his disposal of the past." Ka‘b then recited his well- known poem "
Su‘ad appeared..."
in which he praised the Prophet [pbuh], thanked him and apologized for the wrongs he had done. He acknowledged Muhammad’s mission. Both Emigrants and Helpers were spoken of in this poem but differently. He praised the Emigrants but criticized the Helpers, for one of them demanded a Prophet’s permission to kill him.

Later on Ka‘b tried to compensate for that by praising the Helpers too but that was in another poem.

6. ‘Udharah Delegation:
This delegation which consisted of twelve men, had arrived in Madinah in Safar, the ninth year of Al- Hijra. They spent three days there. One of them was Hamza bin An- Nu‘man. When they were asked who they were, they said "We are Bani ‘Udharah, the foster brothers of Qusai to his mother. We are the ones who supported Qusai, and removed Khuza’a and Bani Bakr from the bosom of Makkah. We have relatives and kinspeople." So the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] welcomed them and gave good tidings to them, which was Ash- Sham Conquest; but he, on the other hand, forbade them from consulting a soothsayer and from eating the slain animals they 287

MSA NIU

slaughtered. Eventually they became Muslims, stayed there for several days then went back.

7.
Bali Delegation:
Their arrival was in Rabi‘ Al- Awwal, the ninth year of Al-Hijra. They embraced Islam, stayed in Madinah for three days. Their chief Abu Ad- Dabeeb wondered whether hospitality was rewarded by Allâh. The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] said:

"Yes, and so is any charity you offer to poor or rich people that is