the second stage: the permission to fight

this stage commenced after hijra (immigration) to medina. the muslims in this stage were allowed to fight for the purpose of defending themselves from injustice, increasing their number and obtain enough weapons. allah the almighty said: {to those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged;- and verily, allah is most powerful for their aid;-} (hajj: 39). the heads of disbelievers in quraish were still wishing to undermine the islamic propagation. dr. mahdi risquallah ahmad said in this regard: (when allah the almighty permitted his prophet and the believers to fight, the started building their force in order to defend themselves from quraish and their supporters. the tribe of quraish wanted to show the muslims that it has a support in the madina; therefore, the muslims wanted to show quraish that the muslims are not weak as quraish is thinking and that they are able to defeat quriash and break its legal and economic boycott and recover their usurped rights) (1). moreover, the purpose of allowing muslims to fight in this stage was to put an end to the hypocrites in the medina who were headed by abdullah bin ubai; the person who was looking for domination. in this stage, the battle of bader and uhud took place and were preceded with military maneuvers in the form of brigades.

the third stage: permitting muslims to fight who fight them

allah the almighty in this stage revealed this verse: {and fight in the way of allah the ones who fight you, but do not transgress; surely allah does not love the transgressors.} (baqara: 190). it was the right stage to achieve the progress and prosperity of the islamic nation, develop the same and form its organized and trained army, especially after the battle of badr & uhud.

the fourth stage: the order to fight all disbelievers

in this stage, allah the almighty has revealed this verse: {fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together. but know that allah is with those who restrain themselves} (at-tawba: 36). the order of fighting all disbelievers has came as a response to the international aspect of the islamic propagation then, and to the kings who heard about the islamic propagation and insisted on standing against its noble aims like freeing the nations from injustice and persecution (1). it is worth mentioning here that these stages did not supersede each other because each stage has its own conditions, circumstances and justifications concerning the power and weakness, the change of the position of the enemy in war and peace, the kind of disbelievers and the other things to be detailed in another place. mustafa as-siba'i, may allah has mercy on his soul, said: (the history of the prophet – peace be upon him – in the wars is the most clear-cut proof for the noble aim behind the wars and battles of the prophet who did not announce the war except after the torture and persecution faced by them, and after exiling them from their homelands; therefore, the battle of bader and the following ones came for the purpose of achieving the religious liberty and attaining the security & stability in the arabian peninsula. this sought peace was violated by the arab pagans who changed the lands of makka into fields for slaughtering the believers, torturing them, exiling them from their land and confiscating their properties)


the manners of the prophet in fighting enemies:

the world did not know a president or conqueror more merciful than prophet muhammad – peace be upon him – in dealing with his enemies and captives. this big headline may look too exaggerated, but mentioning some evidences and examples will sure prove the truth. in this part, we will deal with the manners of the prophet – peace be upon him – before, during and after fighting in order to extract the best moral lessons, the human principles and the cultural values.

first: his manners before fighting

the prophet – peace be upon him – was not hostile or aggressive in dealing with his opponents. he was distinguishing between the covenanters, the warriors and non-muslims under the ruling of islam. he did not violate the treaties or act treacherously toward his enemies; contrary, he was dealing with each of them according to the peace & war relations. ibn al-qayyem has summarized the fighting manners of the prophet – peace be upon him – in his book "zad al-ma'ad" by saying: (after allah the almighty has ordered muslims to fight the disbelievers, the prophet has classified the disbelievers into three categories; covenanters, warmongers and non-muslims under the islamic rule. he instructed to honor the treaties which were entered with the covenanters as long as they are honoring their promises but if he fears that they will violate the treaties, he will terminate the treaties and will not fight them except after notifying them duly about the termination of the treaty. allah the almighty has ordered the prophet – peace be upon him – to fight any party who violates the treaties and promises. after the revelation of the verses of "bara'a" which demonstrated the methods of dealing with such categories, the prophet – peace be upon him – was ordered to fight the enemies from the jews & christians until they pay tributes or embrace islam and was ordered also to fight the disbelievers; therefore, the prophet – peace be upon him –

has fought the disbelievers by sword and fought the hypocrite by proof and evidence.

these are the rules which were organizing his relations with his opponents; the peace loving or warmongers. peace was exchanged under certain conditions and war was preceded with objective premises aiming at attaining peace such as the propagation for embracing islam by own will or paying the tribute to the islamic state; otherwise, if they insisted on war, continued their stubbornness and fought the islamic propagation they will find what they want.

second: his manners during the fight

although fighting is a process wherein the people are killed or injured, the prophet – peace be upon him – has legislated to his people supreme morals and principles governing the manners of the muslim fighter and imposing severe punishments on the violators in the current life and the hereafter. accordingly, the holy fighting should not be used except under the permissible means and the fair methods. safwan bin assal – may allah be pleased with him – said: (the prophet – peace be upon him has sent me with a brigade and said: start fight in the name of allah the almighty and don't exceed the proper bounds and don't be treacherous…)) (1)?

yahia bin saeed said: abu bakr – may allah be pleased with him – has sent the armies to al-sham and told yazid bin abi sufian the following: (i have ten commandments to you: don't destroy inhabited places, don't kill sheep or camels except for eating, don't sink palms or burn it, don't exaggerate, don't be coward, don't kill children, women, or old people, don't cut fruitful trees) (2).

in another narration he said: (you will pass by people who dedicated their time for hermitages, don't bother them). these texts and the other islamic military rules established by the prophet comprised the moral principles of war, such as:

1. dedication and neutrality concerning the actual objectives of the war and leave any thing related to the hatred, treachery, revenge or retaliation.

2- keep the environment and avoid spoiling the land such as burning trees and killing the animals except when necessary.

3- not confronting the non-warriors such as the women, children and the old people.

4- religious forgiveness, respecting the sacred places of the others, not killing the priests or ministers unless they fight muslims or support fighting the muslims and avoid their churches and worship places.

those who accuse the prophet – peace be upon him – and his followers of being bloodthirsty or barbaric are ignorant about these manners and morals and do not care about it in their wars (there are several laws which tell people the most faithful, dutiful and kind teachings & instructions but when the matter came to the actual manners they forget such teachings & instructions and turn into the hatred, severity and mocking the rights of people, blood shedding and making the wars. one of the best examples on this fact is the clear-cut contradiction between the french wealth principles and the actions of the french people in the countries which are under their control such as the arabic north african countries which suffered and still suffering from all kinds of injustice, persecution and humiliation. the same is also applicable on the large countries which declared the legislation of human rights while they were the first who ignored human rights and breached the dignity and liberty of the people on their land and wealth) (1)

not only this, the large countries have ignited wars and committed genocides against their opponents under the pretext of fighting terrorism, liberating people, achieve democracy and the other alleged principles while they do not have mercy on the children, old people or woman. just see the prisons of gwantanamo or abu ghraib and the other horrible examples of their manners and morals.

third: his manners after fighting

when the battle has come to an end and the victorious party appears, if the muslims were the victorious party and the enemy fell under the control of the muslim and their states defeated by armies of islam the prophet – peace be upon him – applied the just & fair rules of islam on the captives by considering the welfare of the muslims, the dignity of man and the security aspect of the captives toward muslims.

the jurists of the prophet's life have demonstrated the manners of the prophet

– peace be upon him – and the rules of islam after the fight. they said: (as for the defeated party, we respect their believes, lives, money and temples and they will be under the protection of the state and shall have the rights of the citizens. they will not be obliged to do any thing except keeping loyalty toward the country and pay a simple amount called the tributes which were imposed on the defeated nations by the victorious nations before and after islam. several countries in our era are imposing tributes on their citizens as a personal tax on people …) (1).

ibn al-qayyem al-jawziah has summarized the manners of the prophet – peace be upon him – toward the captives by saying: (he was freeing some captives, kill others, take ransom for some of them, exchange them with the muslim captives and all of this according to the muslims' welfare. the prophet – peace be upon him – has taken ransom for the captives of bader battle and said: if al-mute'm bin adai was alive and negotiated with me about those captives i will sure leave them to him. on the treaty of hudaibiah, more than eighty armed people attacked the prophet – peace be upon him – suddenly, but the prophet – peace by upon him – defeated them and took them as captives and then released them. he has captured thumama bin athal, the head of bani hanifa tribe, then released him. seeing the mercy & forgiveness of the prophet – peace be upon him, thumama has embraced islam.

the treatment and the dealings of the prophet – peace be upon him – during his battles were conforming to the statements of the scholars and here are some of his wise stands toward the captives:

 captives of bader battle: they were seventy captives. the prophet – peace be upon him – consulted abu baker and omar – may allah be pleased with them – about the captives, but each of them has different opinion. abu baker's opinion was to take ransom due to their kinship so that they may embrace islam while omar's opinion was to kill them because of their previous torture & persecution to the muslims. the prophet – peace be upon him – adopted the opinion of abu baker. then allah the almighty has revealed this verse supporting the opinion of omar: {in no way can any prophet have captives until he has subjugated (the enemy) in the earth; you (i.e., the believers) are willing to have the (chance) advantages of the present (life), (literally: the lowly “life”, i.e., the life of this world) and allah wills the hereafter; and allah is ever-mighty, ever-wise} (al anfal: 67).

 the ransom started from four hundred dirham and reached four thousand dirham. (1). the prophet – peace be upon him – has took the ransom from al-mutaleb bin hantab, saifi bin abi rifaa and abu iza al-jamahi in addition to abi al-as provided that the later should release zainab and let her immigrate to the medina. - the captives of bani al-mustalek battle: the muslims in this battle has captured women and children, among them was juwairiah bint al hareth, the head of bani al-mustalek. she was the share of thabit bin qais bin shamas who entered an agreement with her against a certain sum of money. the prophet – peace be upon him – has paid for her and married her. seeing that, the muslims said: the relatives of the prophet's wife are arrested by us?? then they released the captives of bani al mustalek who have all entered islam (3).

- his ruling on bani quraidha: bani quraida was in alliance with the parties who formed a union in order to invade the prophet – peace be upon him – although they were in treaty with the prophet – peace be upon him. after the battle of al-ahzab directly, the prophet – peace be upon him – invaded and blockaded them for twenty five days. when the blockade became very severe and they felt the pain of the plight, they were told to submit to the ruling of the prophet – peace be upon him. they have then consulted abu lubaba bin abdul munther but he told them it is only the death; hearing that, they said we will submit to the ruling of sa'ad bin mu'ath. the prophet – peace be upon him – agreed, and sa'ad was called and brought on a donkey. when he reached, they began asking him for sympathy and to alleviate their punishment. sa'ad has applied on them the judgment of allah the almighty which is: the men to be killed, the women and children to be taken as captives and the money to be distributed. this judgment was fair and just because in addition to their betrayal, bani quraida have collected one thousand and five hundred swords, two thousand spears, three hundred armors, and five hundred shields to fight muslims but the muslims have taken the same after they have conquered their dwelling.

- the stand of the prophet in the day of makka conquest: when the prophet – peace be upon him – conquered makka, controlled it and commanded the heads of makka who have tortured him and his companions the prophet – peace be upon him – gave them the full security and stability on their properties and bloods except certain group of them who have committed crimes against the muslims such as: abdul ozza bin khatal, abdullah bin saad ibn abi sarah, al hareth bin nufail bin wahb, ikrema bin abi jahl, maqis bin sababa, habar bin al-aswad, two female singers for ibn khatal who were satirizing the prophet – peace be upon him – and sara's the female slave of certain person of bani abdul mutaleb who was caught having the letter of hateb. as for abi sarah, othman bin affan has brought him to the prophet – peace be upon him – and pleaded for him; therefore, the prophet forgave him as he has embraced islam before and immigrated but then converted again to polytheism and went back to makka. as for ikrema bin abi jahl, he escaped away to yemen but his wife requested protection from the prophet – peace be upon him – and the prophet gave him the protection; therefore, she followed him and he returned back with her and embraced islam. as for bin khatl, he was clinging to the curtains of the kabba, then a man came to the prophet – peace be upon him – and told him about that. the prophet said: "kill him"; therefore, he killed him. as for maqis bin sababa, he was killed by numaila bin abdullah. maqais was a muslim but he killed a man from the people of the medina, converted to polytheism and supported the polytheists. as for al-hareth, he has harmed the prophet – peace be upon him – very much; therefore, ali – may allah be pleased with him – has killed him.

as for habar bin al-aswad who has harmed zainab, the daughter of the prophet – peace be upon him – when she immigrated and made her fell on the rock and caused her abortion, he escaped a way to hibar at the day of makka conquest then embraced islam. as for the two female signers, one of them was killed and the other was protected. sara also was protected then she embraced islam (1). thereafter, the prophet – peace be upon him – has gathered the people of makka and told them: (non has the right to be worshipped except allah the almighty alone, who has honored his promises, supported his prophet and defeated the al-ahzab (the conspiring polytheists parties). any exploit, blood or claimed money is under my feet except the custody of the kaba and supplying water to the pilgrims. the one who is killed by mistake by lash or stick is subject to a blood money of one hundred camels, forty of which are pregnant. o people of quraish, allah the almighty has liberated you from the zeal and the glorification of your fathers before islam. all people came from adam and adam was created out of soil, then the prophet – peace be upon him recited this verse {o mankind! we created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). verily the most honoured of you in the sight of allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you} (al-hujurat: 13) then he said: ((o people of quraish, what do you think i'll do with you?)) the replied: sure forgiveness, you are the dear brother and nephew. he said: (go! you are free)) (1)

no doubt, if the prophet – peace be upon him – has killed them he will not be unjust with them because they have tortured him and his companions, killed several of them, took their money, exiled them from their houses, fought them for their religion, supported their enemies and satirized them by their poets!! see his mercy in dealing with his people, his enemies and his opponents.

submission to allah and thanking him after victory & stability

the kings of the earth and the masters of the world, when they achieved victory in their wars, used to take proud in such victories, recite the speeches, say the poems, talk about their achievements via all media means out of their joy and they forgot that the victory is one of the blessings of allah and that he is alone the one who grants victory. but the prophet – peace be upon him – has invented unprecedented manner for the conquerors and invaders by submission to allah the almighty and thanking him for the blessing of victory. the prophet – peace be upon him – has entered makka lowering his head and submitting to allah the almighty after wining the blessings of allah by conquering makka and remained lowering his head until he felt that his beard will touch his saddle … (1).

sheikh safurahman al-mubarakfori said: (the prophet – peace be upon him – then entered the house of umm hane' bint abi taleb, made a shower and prayed eight rak'as (prayers) in her house at the time of the morning. people thought that this is the prayer of dhuha which is not like this but it is the prayer of conquest …)(2).

all of this was to comply with the order of allah the almighty mentioned in the surah of an-nasr which stated: {when comes the victory of allah, and the conquest, and you see mankind entering the religion of allah in troops, so extol with the praise of your lord, and ask him forgiveness; surely he has (always) been superbly relenting}


loftiest values of prophet muhammad’s attributes

having dealt with the noble civilized values of prophet muhammad’ s (pbuh) polygyny and jihad(1) in the cause of allah(2), we are going to touch upon some of his noble attributes in order to highlight the uniqueness of both his morals and physique. although we cannot embrace all the aspects in this regard, we will mention some of the testaments of those who dealt with him (pbuh) and who were more than ready to die to protect him (pbuh).

first aspect

smart and well-groomed

the believers and unbelievers who saw prophet muhammad (pbuh) were unanimous agreed that he had the best attributes and that he (pbuh) was unique and approached the level of human perfection.

ali ibn abi talib’s (may allah be pleased with him) description of allah’s prophet – peace and blessings be upon him -

“the prophet was neither too tall nor too short, his hands and feet were slender, his head and bones were big, he had long hair line from his chest to his navel, he moved as if descending a slope. i have never seen before or after him anyone similar to him.”(4)

umm ma’bad’s description of allah’s prophet – peace and blessings be upon him

umm mabad al-khuzaiyyah was the best one ever to describe the allah’s prophet . she described him to her husband: “he is bright, he has a good face, well-behaved, he is not defective with a large abdomen or a small head, he is a handsome man, the pupils of his eyes are very black, the hair of his eyelids is very long, there is sahal in his voice (i.e. mild hoarseness), his neck is brilliant, there is kathatha in his beard (i.e. much hair), he is black-eyed, his eyebrows are bent and very close to each other, his hair is very black, he is dignified when he is silent and he is splendid when he talks. he is most beautiful and graceful one from a distance and the best one when he is near, he is fluent, his speech looks like pearls, he has a medium height, he becomes the brightest and the most supreme one when he is between two persons, he always has companions who listen to him when he talks and obeys his orders when he asks them to do something, his companions accompany and serve him, he is not frowning, he does not talk in vain.” (5)

comparison between both descriptions

although both descriptions tried to provide the most exact image of the prophet (pbuh) they have some differences due to the difference of purpose and contexts:

umm ma’bad’s description has nothing to do with any religious belief in the prophet (pbuh). therefore it cannot be dubbed as exaggerated. the resemblance of her description to that of ali (ra) renders the latter’s description unexaggerated.

despite the idiosyncratic preferences of men and women in determining the criteria of smartness and tidiness, neither umm ma’bad nor ali mentioned a demerit in the prophet (pbuh ).

umm ma’bad’s description was during the prophet’s (pbuh) escape from makkah. he was afraid and apprehensive, hungry and thirsty; he was fifty-three years old at that time. however, her description does not differ from ali’s who knew him while he (pbuh) was still young. this testifies to the consistence of the prophet’s (pbuh) condition during all his life.

the prophet (pbuh) was always well-groomed and smart without exaggeration or asceticism. he always opted for the golden mean.

taking care of his hair care of his hair:

lady a’isha (may allah be pleased with her) used to comb his (pbuh) hair while she was in her menses. she also tells us that the prophet (pbuh) used to like to start from the right side on wearing shoes, combing his hair and cleaning or washing himself and on doing anything else. he was smart both within and without.

description of his clothes of his clothes:

 lady umm-salamah (may allah be pleased with her) tells us that the best clothe for the prophet (pbuh) was the shirt. anas ibn malik (may allah be pleased with him) tells us that the prophet (pbuh) used to wear habrah(6). abu juhaifah saw the prophet (pbuh) in a red garment and his legs were bright. the prophet (pbuh) recommended his companions to wear white clothes and shroud the dead in them.

type of his shoes and slippers:

the prophet (pbuh) used different types of khuffs(7). ibn ‘abbas tells us that an-najashi sent two pairs of simple black leather socks to the prophet (pbuh). the prophet (pbuh) wore them then did ablution.

type of his ring: ibn ‘omar (may allah be pleased with him) tells us that the prophet (pbuh) got a silver ring and stamped on it the expression “muhammad, prophet of allah”.


the 2ed research

allah (the almighty) had granted his messenger (pbuh) both the beauty of appearance and the beauty of the morals. whoever meets him can’t help but love him and whoever associates himself with him can’t help but feel intimate. he was honored by allah (the almighty) when he praised the beauty of his morals in the holy quran saying “and surely you are indeed of a magnificent character” (al-qalam: 4). his noble companions had discussed his benevolent character and his great traits, so let’s listen to what they said about him.

1)     his generosity: he reached the ultimate in generosity which made the arabs forget hatem at-taei who was before the ideal model of generosity. jabir ibn abdullah narrated “no one had ever asked allah’s messenger (pbuh) anything unless he gave it to him. once a man came asking him for charity. allah’s messenger (pbuh) gave him a flock of sheep filling the area between two mountains. the man then returned to his folk saying: oh my people embrace islam for muhammad (pbuh) gives like someone who isn't afraid of poverty”.

2)    

his patience: he had unrivaled patience. once a bedouin caught hold of him and gave his cloak a violent tug leaving a mark on his neck. then, the bedouin said to him “load these two camels of mine, for you don’t give me anything from your property or from your father’s property. allah’s messenger (pbuh) was patient with him saying: the property is that of allah (the almighty) and i am his slave i will ask you to pay me back for what you did to me on judgment day. the bedouin said: no. allah’s messenger (pbuh) said: why?? the bedouin replied: because you don’t return the bad deed for a bad deed. allah’s messenger (pbuh) smiled and ordered to load the bedouin's two camels, one with barley and the other with dates”.

3)     his shyness: which never stood between him and what’s right. abu saeid al-khudri narrated “the prophet (pbuh) was more shy than a virgin in her separate room. and if he saw a thing which he disliked, we would recognize that in his face.

4)     his humor: which was so decent in a manner that doesn’t affect his solemnity. nu’man ibn bashir narrated “when abu bakr (aisha's father) asked the permission of allah’s messenger (pbuh) to come in, he heard aisha speaking in a loud voice. so when he entered, he caught hold of her in order to slap her, and said: do i see you raising your voice to the apostle of allah? allah’s messenger (pbuh)  prevented abu bakr and so he went out angry. allah’s messenger (pbuh) said when abu bakr went out: you see i rescued you from the man. abu bakr waited for some days, then asked permission of allah’s messenger (pbuh) to enter, and found that they had made peace with each other. he said to them: bring me into your peace as you brought me into your war. allah’s messenger (pbuh) said: we have done so: we have done so”.

5)     his loyalty: which doesn’t differentiate between the living and the dead. anas ibn malik narrated that when allah’s messenger (pbuh) was brought a gift to his wives he would say “take one to the house of so-and-so for she was a friend of khadija (the prophet's 1st dead wife) and she loved her”.


conclusion:

after such a quick journey through the biography of the prophet (pbuh) through which we have reviewed some of the aspects of his perfection and the signs of his beauty, such aspects and signs which hold evidence that the most magnificent values of civilization and the noblest of human feelings are clearly manifested in the biography of our noble prophet (pbuh). such conclusions were proven by both the facts of history and the rulings of the shariah. we have chosen to deal with such a small portion of his biography which is related to his marriage, jihad and merits because such points were a cause of suspicion around his noble character. otherwise, the rest of the sides of his life are as important.

this is a summary of the results that i have reached to, i put it down asking for allah’s satisfaction and for history’s record, asking allah the almighty to guide the humanity which is lost in the darkness of atheism, polytheism, oppression, terrorism and decadence to the lights of belief, monotheism, security, happiness, goodness and rationality.

1)      the muslims believe that muhammad (pbuh) is allah’s messenger and the last sent prophet and that he is a human just like them. however, he is the most perfect in creation and character and that he has the highest stature with allah the almighty .

2)      the performance of allah’s messenger (pbuh) of his necessary human functions like eating, drinking and marriage isn't but a proof of his complete humanity which is neither a flaw nor does it degrade his high stature with allah the almighty .

3)      the pure biography of allah’s messenger (pbuh) is considered a school for all humanity from which all people of any kind and race and of any level of the society can reproduce what guides them to success in their endeavors.

4)      the true reason for the polygyny of allah’s messenger (pbuh) are based on great intentions and sublime purposes which are represented in what we mentioned earlier in the decrees of the shariah, the educational, social and political rulings.

5)      the purpose of the jihad of allah’s messenger (pbuh) was to uphold the word of allah the almighty and spreading his religion and liberating the peoples of the earth from oppression and persecution.

6)      because of the nobleness of his aims and the sublimity of his purposes in jihad he had never used any unjust (unclean) means in his fights with his enemies and foes.

7)      his mercy was encompassing of all: the honest, the dissolute, the believer, the atheist, the little and the elder. it even encompassed all creatures, stones, trees and animals.

8)      allah’s messenger (pbuh) was respectful of the sacred places of the others and caring for the treaties drawn between him and the others. he had never violated any of such treaties unless with people who had themselves breached the sanctities of allah the almighty and his messenger (pbuh), or with people who have no respect for neither consanguinity nor treaty towards a believer, or with people who wanted to betray him.

9)      allah the almighty had granted his messenger (pbuh) the beauty of the appearance and the character to make people love him and to make them find intimacy in dealing with him alive and in dealing with the biography later.

10)     in addition to all this, he was modest through all his conditions and practical in all his matters. he never faked any of his sayings or actions, on the contrary he was natural in all his traits and merits peace be upon him.