ISLAMIC BATTLES

The Siege of Medina

The Quraish and Bedouins made another attempt to capture Medina with an army of ten thousand men.  Following the advice of a Persian, Muhammad had a trench dug around Medina, a technique unknown until then in Arabia.  Muhammad encourage the citizens in their work by bearing baskets of the excavated earth and by joining them in their songs.  The Quraish were unable to cross the trench, supplies ran short, camels died, and drenching rain fell.  The camp eventually disbanded, and the attackers returned home.  Muhammad attributed their "retreat" to the intervention of Allah.

During the sixth year of the Hijra, there were as many as seventeen expeditions, which generally ended in the capture of flocks and herds or other booty.  These served to spread the terror of Muhammad's name.

The Battle with Quariza Jews

Not long after the siege was lifted from Medina, Muhammad marched with three thousand men against the Quraiza Jews.  The besieged Jews, numbering over two thousand souls, surrendered at last.  The Jewish men, with hands tied behind their backs, were kept in one place.  The women and children were placed under the charge of a renegade Jew.  The spoil was put aside for division.  A  wounded chief named Sa'd was asked to decide the fate of the captives.  His judgment was that the men should be put to death, the women and children sold into slavery, and the spoil divided among the Islamic army.  A shrill of horror ran through the assembly, but Muhammad stopped all questioning.  "Truly," said he, "the judgment of Sa'd is the judgment of the Lord, pronounced on high from above seventh heaven."

During the night trenches were dug across the marketplace.  In the morning Muhammad commanded the male captives to be brought out in captives of five or six at a time.  As each party camp up, they were made to sit down in a row on the brink of the trench.  There they were beheaded, and their bodies cast into the trench.  The butchery lasted all day and continued by torchlight into the night.31

Zainab, a Jewess, lost her husband, father, and brother in this bloody battle, and she planned a revenge.  She cooked a goat, steeped it in poison, and placed the dish before Muhammad for his evening supper.  Accepting the gift, he took for himself his favorite piece, the shoulder, and distributed portions to Abu Bakr and other friends.  "Hold," cried Muhammad, as he spat out the first mouthful, "this shoulder has been poisoned."  One who had swallowed part of the meat soon died.  Muhammad was seized with excruciating pains.  Zainab defended herself, saying,

Thou hast inflicted grievous injuries on my people, and slain, as thou seest, my husband and my father.  Therefore, said I within myself.  If he be a prophet he will reject the gift, knowing that it is poisoned; but if only a pretender we shall be rid of our troubles.32

The Conquest of Mecca

A truce, scheduled to last ten year, had been established with the Quraish; but within two years Muhammad decided he was strong enough to conquer Mecca, breaking the truce.  A dispute among the tribes afforded him his pretext.  In January 630, he set out for Mecca at the head of ten thousand men.  On the eight day, he halted on the heights next to the city.  Abu Sufyan, the treat opponent of Muhammad, sought a personal interview.  When they met, Muhammad said to him, "Has the time not yet come for thee to acknowledge that there is but one God and that I am his Apostle?"  he replied that he was still in some doubt.  At this 'Abbas, threatening him with his sword, said, "Believe and testify thy faith at the peril of thy neck." Abu Sufyan then repeated the formula of belief, and he was sent to prepare the city for the approach of Muhammad.

The Quraish knew resistance would be hopeless.  Muhammad made his triumphant entry into Mecca, unchallenged, on his favorite camel.   On his way he recited Surat al-Fath (Victory) 48.  He then rode around the Ka'bah seven times, touching the black stone with his stick. He ordered daily prayers to be said in the direction of the Ka'bah from that time on.  He also ordered the destruction of the 360 idols within the temple, and he personally destroyed a wooden pigeon suspended from the roof which was regarded as one of the deities of the Quraish.  His uncle 'Abbas was appointed to give drink to pilgrims out of the well, Zamzam.  Alms were accepted by Muhammad's uncle for this drinking water.

During his stay at Mecca, Muhammad sent out troops into the district to destroy the temples of Uzza, Suwa, and Manat, and the idols of the neighboring tribes.  His high strung deputy Khalid, ordered a whole tribe to be slain because they would not acknowledge Muhammad as Allah's prophet.  Muhammad distanced himself, declaring that he was innocent of what Khalid had done.33