Muhammad as a general
Encyclopedia
The military career of Muhammad
lasted for the final ten years of his life when he served as the leader of the ummah
at Medina
.
to 632
, as the leader of Medina
in a state of war with pagan Mecca
. Muhammad and his Companions had earlier migrated from Mecca
to Medina
in what is known as the Hijra
following years of persecution by the Meccans. Through raids, sieges, and diplomacy, Muhammad and his followers allied with or subdued some of the tribes and cities of the Arabian peninsula
in their struggle to overcome the powerful Banu Quraish of Mecca.
They also sent out raiding parties against Arabic-speaking communities ruled under the Roman Empire
. Muhammad was believed by the Muslims to be divinely chosen to spread Islam in Arabia, and Muhammad ultimately permitted warfare as one aspect of this struggle
. After initially refusing to accede to requests by his followers to fight the Meccans for continued persecution and provocation, he eventually proclaimed the revelations of the Qur'an:
After the first battle of Badr
against the Quraysh, he is reported as having said "We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad (i.e. the struggle against the evil of one's soul)." John Esposito
writes that Muhammad's use of warfare in general was alien neither to Arab custom nor to that of the Hebrew prophets, as both believed that God had sanctioned battle with the enemies of the Lord.
, to regulate the matters of governance of the city, as well as the extent and nature of inter-community relations, and signatories to it included the Muslim
s, the Ansar
and the various Jewish tribes of Medina.
Significant clauses of the constitution included the mutual assistance of each other if one signatory were to be attacked by a third party, the resolution that the Muslims would profess their religion and the Jews theirs, as well as the appointment of Muhammad as the leader of the state.
Muslims who did not migrate were subject to increased persecution,
and the threat to the life of both the Ansar and the Muslims was such that they were reported as having to sleep by their weapons all night. ‘Abdullah bin Uabi bin Salul, who was the Madinan chief of the tribes ‘Aws
and Khazraj before Muhammad's emigration was sent an ultimatum to either fight or expel Muhammad, or face action in the form of a military campaign that would exterminate his people and enslave his women.
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
, an Ansar, went to Mecca to learn how to perform the Umrah
and there was accosted by Abu Jahl at the Kaaba
who threatened he would kill him, had he not been in the company of Omaiya bin Khalaf. Sa‘d then challenged him to commit any such folly if he wanted to court a risk to the Meccan trading caravans.
As tensions escalated the Muslims began to take defensive measures such as stationing guards around Muhammad and sending out reconnaissance patrols.
The Muslims, who fled Mecca's persecution to Medina, had left all their possessions and houses in Mecca, which were unlawfully expropriated by the Meccans. The Muslims were initially not given permission to fight. Small groups of men were only sent for intelligence gathering, but are reported as not having followed orders to engage in violence-free missions.
and his Companions
participated in. The raids were generally offensive and carried out to gather intelligence or seize the trade goods of Caravans financed by the Quraysh, (such thefts were rationalized as being legitimate actions because many Muslims left their possessions behind when they migrated from Mecca
). The Muslims declared that the raids were justified and that God gave them permission to defend against the Meccans' persecution of Muslims
.
As a result of these campaigns, some nomadic tribes decided that it was in their best interests to ally with the Muslims. They accepted Islam, subsequently destroying their own cult figures and shrines.
According to the early chronicler Ibn Ishaq
, Muhammad took 700 men (Guillaume 1955, p. 500). According to Watt, Muhammad took 1400 to 1600 men (Watt 1957, p. 46).
The Meccans did not accept the Muslim professions of peaceful intent and sent out an armed party against them. The Muslims evaded them by taking a side route through the hills around Mecca, and then camped outside Mecca, at Hudaybiya. Ibn Ishaq describes a tense period of embassies and counter-embassies, including a bold foray by Uthman ibn Affan into the city of Mecca, where he was temporarily held as a hostage. The Meccans told the Muslims that Uthman had been killed and open warfare seemed imminent.
Then the situation shifted radically. Uthman was revealed to be alive, and the Meccans expressed their willingness to negotiate a truce. The Muslims wanted to attack, but Muhammad held out for a peaceful resolution.
The treaty of Hudaybiyyah committed both sides to a ten-year truce. The Muslims were to be allowed to return the next year, to perform the pilgrimage.
) and sent raiding parties against the Ghatafan, Murrah, Sulaym, and Hawaizin (Watt 1957 pp. 52–53).
Shortly afterwards, a large Muslim force of some 10,000 men headed for Mecca. They camped outside Mecca and the usual round of emissaries and negotiations began. Apparently Abu Sufyan had negotiated, then or earlier, a promise that he and those under him would not be attacked if they submitted. A few Meccans, from the Makhzum faction, prepared to resist.
On or near January 11, 630, Muhammad sent four columns of troops into Mecca. Only one column met any resistance. Twenty-eight Meccans were killed and the rest of those opposing the Muslim entry fled. The remaining Meccans surrendered to Muhammad. The Meccans, even those who had been notable for their opposition to Islam, were spared.
The Kaaba was cleansed of all the idols
of Arabian gods, such as Hubal
, which were placed in it and the area was established as a Muslim sanctuary. While destroying each idol, Muhammad recited which says "Truth has arrived and falsehood has perished for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish." According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was built by Adam
as a place of worship, and then later reconstructed by Ibrahim (Abraham
) and Isma'il (Ishmael
).
and Umar al-Khattab, put a great deal of effort into extending and solidifying these tribal treaties and conquests.
, and that he was scrupulous in limiting the loss of life as much as possible.
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
writes in Mizan
that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to Muhammad against Divinely specified peoples of his times (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews
, Christians, et al.) as a form of Divine punishment—for they had persistently denied the truth of Muhammad's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by Allah through Muhammad, and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya
and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam, hence now, the only valid reason for war is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. (jihad
)
Muhammad
's critics often hold that the Muslims engaged in wars of aggression. Conversely, other non-Muslim academics believe that Muhammad was a reluctant warrior, such that he disliked fighting except when he believed it to be absolutely necessary.
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
lasted for the final ten years of his life when he served as the leader of the ummah
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
at Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
.
History
Muhammad spent his last ten years, from 622622
Year 622 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 622 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Religion :* July 16 – Year one of the Islamic...
to 632
632
Year 632 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 632 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* January 27 – Annular eclipse of the...
, as the leader of Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
in a state of war with pagan Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Muhammad and his Companions had earlier migrated from Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
to Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
in what is known as the Hijra
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
following years of persecution by the Meccans. Through raids, sieges, and diplomacy, Muhammad and his followers allied with or subdued some of the tribes and cities of the Arabian peninsula
Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad
-Introduction:The most prominent of such Arabian tribes were the Banu Quraish which were in turn divided into several sub-clans. The Qur'aish sub-clan of Banu Hashim was the clan of Muhammad, while their sister sub-clan, the Banu Abd-Shams became known as his most staunch enemies...
in their struggle to overcome the powerful Banu Quraish of Mecca.
They also sent out raiding parties against Arabic-speaking communities ruled under the Roman Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Muhammad was believed by the Muslims to be divinely chosen to spread Islam in Arabia, and Muhammad ultimately permitted warfare as one aspect of this struggle
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. After initially refusing to accede to requests by his followers to fight the Meccans for continued persecution and provocation, he eventually proclaimed the revelations of the Qur'an:
-
- "Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged -truly Allah has the power to come to their support- those who were expelled from their homes without any right, merely for saying, 'Our Lord is Allah'..." (Qur'an, 22:39-40)"
After the first battle of Badr
Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr , fought Saturday, March 13, 624 AD in the Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca...
against the Quraysh, he is reported as having said "We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad (i.e. the struggle against the evil of one's soul)." John Esposito
John Esposito
John Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University...
writes that Muhammad's use of warfare in general was alien neither to Arab custom nor to that of the Hebrew prophets, as both believed that God had sanctioned battle with the enemies of the Lord.
Lead up to armed conflict
Upon arrival in Medina he set about the establishment of a pact known as the Constitution of MedinaConstitution of Medina
The Constitution of Medina , also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib , including Muslims, Jews, Christians and pagans. This constitution formed the...
, to regulate the matters of governance of the city, as well as the extent and nature of inter-community relations, and signatories to it included the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, the Ansar
Ansar (Islam)
Ansar is an Islamic term that literally means "helpers" and denotes the Medinan citizens that helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the migration to Medina...
and the various Jewish tribes of Medina.
Significant clauses of the constitution included the mutual assistance of each other if one signatory were to be attacked by a third party, the resolution that the Muslims would profess their religion and the Jews theirs, as well as the appointment of Muhammad as the leader of the state.
Muslims who did not migrate were subject to increased persecution,
and the threat to the life of both the Ansar and the Muslims was such that they were reported as having to sleep by their weapons all night. ‘Abdullah bin Uabi bin Salul, who was the Madinan chief of the tribes ‘Aws
AWS
AWS or aws can refer to:Business* Alien Workshop, a skateboard company* Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft , an Austrian bank* AWS Shopper, Automobilwerk Walter Schätzle, German manufacturer of a microcarMusic...
and Khazraj before Muhammad's emigration was sent an ultimatum to either fight or expel Muhammad, or face action in the form of a military campaign that would exterminate his people and enslave his women.
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa’d ibn Mu'adh was a chief of the Banu Aus tribe in Medina and later converted to Islam. Sa'd was one of the chief of the Banu Aus, one of the two clans settled in Medina.-Biography:...
, an Ansar, went to Mecca to learn how to perform the Umrah
Umrah
The Umrah or is a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic, Umrah means "to visit a populated place"...
and there was accosted by Abu Jahl at the Kaaba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
who threatened he would kill him, had he not been in the company of Omaiya bin Khalaf. Sa‘d then challenged him to commit any such folly if he wanted to court a risk to the Meccan trading caravans.
As tensions escalated the Muslims began to take defensive measures such as stationing guards around Muhammad and sending out reconnaissance patrols.
The Muslims, who fled Mecca's persecution to Medina, had left all their possessions and houses in Mecca, which were unlawfully expropriated by the Meccans. The Muslims were initially not given permission to fight. Small groups of men were only sent for intelligence gathering, but are reported as not having followed orders to engage in violence-free missions.
Raids on Meccan caravans
The Caravan raids refer to a series of raids which MuhammadMuhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
and his Companions
Sahabah
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
participated in. The raids were generally offensive and carried out to gather intelligence or seize the trade goods of Caravans financed by the Quraysh, (such thefts were rationalized as being legitimate actions because many Muslims left their possessions behind when they migrated from Mecca
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
). The Muslims declared that the raids were justified and that God gave them permission to defend against the Meccans' persecution of Muslims
Persecution of Muslims by the Meccans
In the early days of Islam at Mecca, the new Muslims were often subjected to abuse and persecution.-Overview:Some were killed, such as Sumayyah bint Khabbab, the seventh convert to Islam, who was tortured first by Abu Jahl...
.
Raids against other tribes
The Muslims also set their new military organization against various non-Meccan groups.As a result of these campaigns, some nomadic tribes decided that it was in their best interests to ally with the Muslims. They accepted Islam, subsequently destroying their own cult figures and shrines.
Muslim alliance versus Meccan alliance
By expanding their military operations and negotiating with the nomads, the Muslims had created an alliance with greater resources than Mecca, alone, could muster. The Meccans in their turn made alliances with Bedouin tribes. Two large alliances faced each other, poised for further warfare.Hudaybiyyah
By old custom, during the months of pilgrimage, tribal hostilities stopped and all were free to visit Mecca . In March of 628, Muhammad put on the garb of a pilgim and taking a force and camels for sacrifice, set out for Mecca .According to the early chronicler Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār was an Arab Muslim historian and hagiographer...
, Muhammad took 700 men (Guillaume 1955, p. 500). According to Watt, Muhammad took 1400 to 1600 men (Watt 1957, p. 46).
The Meccans did not accept the Muslim professions of peaceful intent and sent out an armed party against them. The Muslims evaded them by taking a side route through the hills around Mecca, and then camped outside Mecca, at Hudaybiya. Ibn Ishaq describes a tense period of embassies and counter-embassies, including a bold foray by Uthman ibn Affan into the city of Mecca, where he was temporarily held as a hostage. The Meccans told the Muslims that Uthman had been killed and open warfare seemed imminent.
Then the situation shifted radically. Uthman was revealed to be alive, and the Meccans expressed their willingness to negotiate a truce. The Muslims wanted to attack, but Muhammad held out for a peaceful resolution.
The treaty of Hudaybiyyah committed both sides to a ten-year truce. The Muslims were to be allowed to return the next year, to perform the pilgrimage.
Muslim alliance expands
Free of the Meccan threat, the Muslims expanded their activities against other oases and tribes. They conquered the rich oasis of Khaybar (see Battle of KhaybarBattle of Khaybar
The Battle of Khaybar was fought in the year 629 between Muhammad and his followers against the Jews living in the oasis of Khaybar, located from Medina in the north-western part of the Arabian peninsula, in modern-day Saudi Arabia....
) and sent raiding parties against the Ghatafan, Murrah, Sulaym, and Hawaizin (Watt 1957 pp. 52–53).
Muslims take Mecca
Less than two years after the truce of Hudaybiyyah, the truce was broken by a squabble between tribes allied to the Meccans and Medinans. There had long been bad blood between the Khuza'ah and the Banu Bakr bin Abd Manat, and the two groups lined up on opposite sides, the Khuza'ah with the Muslims and the Banu Bakr with the Meccans. Watt (p. 62) says that some of the Quraysh helped the Banu Bakr ambush the Khuza'ah.Shortly afterwards, a large Muslim force of some 10,000 men headed for Mecca. They camped outside Mecca and the usual round of emissaries and negotiations began. Apparently Abu Sufyan had negotiated, then or earlier, a promise that he and those under him would not be attacked if they submitted. A few Meccans, from the Makhzum faction, prepared to resist.
On or near January 11, 630, Muhammad sent four columns of troops into Mecca. Only one column met any resistance. Twenty-eight Meccans were killed and the rest of those opposing the Muslim entry fled. The remaining Meccans surrendered to Muhammad. The Meccans, even those who had been notable for their opposition to Islam, were spared.
The Kaaba was cleansed of all the idols
Cult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...
of Arabian gods, such as Hubal
Hubal
Hubal was a god worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia, notably at the Kaaba in Mecca.-Hubal in Mecca:Hubal most prominently appears at Mecca, where an image of his was worshipped at the Kaaba. According to Karen Armstrong, the sanctuary was dedicated to Hubal, who was worshipped as the greatest of the...
, which were placed in it and the area was established as a Muslim sanctuary. While destroying each idol, Muhammad recited which says "Truth has arrived and falsehood has perished for falsehood is by its nature bound to perish." According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was built by Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
as a place of worship, and then later reconstructed by Ibrahim (Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
) and Isma'il (Ishmael
Ishmael
Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
).
Last two years
after the fall of Mecca, other tribes hastened to submit to the Muslims. Those who did not submit were harried until they submitted. The historian Fred Donner, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests, argues that the early Islamic state organized the nomads, the Bedouin, under the leadership of urban Arabic-speakers. This arrangement was inherently unstable as long as there were any nomads outside Muslim rule. Otherwise, any rebellious tribe had only to move its flocks and tents outside the area that the Muslims controlled in order to be free again. The Muslims would have to control the entire Syro-Arabian steppe in order to be secure. Muhammad, and the caliphs that followed him, Abu BakrAbu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
and Umar al-Khattab, put a great deal of effort into extending and solidifying these tribal treaties and conquests.
Casualties
The sum total of all casualties on all sides in all the battles of Muhammad range from 1200 to 1500 dead according to the most authoritative sourcesMuslim View
Muslims view that the Muslims fought only when attacked, or in the context of a wider war of self-defense. They argue that Muhammad was the first among the major military figures of history to lay down rules for humane warfareRules of war in Islam
Islamic military jurisprudence refers to what has been accepted in Sharia and Fiqh by Ulama as the correct Islamic manner which is expected to be obeyed by Muslims in times of war....
, and that he was scrupulous in limiting the loss of life as much as possible.
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi is a well-known Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar and exegete, and educationist. A former member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, who extended the work of his tutor, Amin Ahsan Islahi. Ghamidi is the founder of Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences and its sister...
writes in Mizan
Mizan
Mizan is a comprehensive treatise on the contents of Islam, written by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, a Pakistani Islamic scholar. It is published in Urdu by Al-Mawrid Institute of Islamic Sciences. The book is also available in the form of different booklets...
that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to Muhammad against Divinely specified peoples of his times (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Christians, et al.) as a form of Divine punishment—for they had persistently denied the truth of Muhammad's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by Allah through Muhammad, and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam, hence now, the only valid reason for war is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. (jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
)
Non-Muslim view
Michael H. Hart, in his hotly debated and widely copied book, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History" (1978) ranked Muhammad as the most influential, attributing this to the fact that Muhammad was successful in both the religious and political realms and had a significant role in the development of Islamic theology.Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's critics often hold that the Muslims engaged in wars of aggression. Conversely, other non-Muslim academics believe that Muhammad was a reluctant warrior, such that he disliked fighting except when he believed it to be absolutely necessary.
See also
- Rules of war in Islam
- JihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
- Itmaam-i-hujjatItmaam-i-hujjatItmām al-hujjah is an Islamic concept denoting that religious truth has been completely clarified by a Messenger of Allah and made available to a people, who are considered to have no excuse to deny it.-Role of a Messenger:The concept of Itmām al-hujjah requires that religious truth...
- Muslim conquestsMuslim conquestsMuslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...