Islam and Terrorism (10 page)

At first they tried to make a deal with Muhammad. “We’ll make you a king,” the tribal leaders told him, “but don’t talk about Islam anymore. Or if you want to be wealthy, we’ll give you money and make you the wealthiest man in Arabia.”

Muhammad happened to be standing next to his uncle when they said this, and he replied, “Oh, my uncle, if they bring the sun and put it in my right hand and bring the moon and put it in my left hand, I will not give up my revelation.”

Muhammad negotiated with the leaders from AD 620 to 622, but they never reached an agreement.
¹

The tribe of Quraysh began to persecute him. They threw dirt on his head while he was praying, and they spit on him. They tried to kill him several times. One time they had a lady invite him for a meal and put poison in the lamb she served him. The Quran makes reference to Muhammad’s problems at this time:

And (remember) when the disbelievers plotted against you (O Muhammad) to imprison you, or to kill you, or to get you out (from your home, i.e., Makkah); they were plotting and Allah too was plotting; and Allah is the Best of those who plot.

—S
URAH
8:30, T
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Muhammad did not leave Mecca without thinking, however. He had a plan for what he would do after he left.

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Muhammad spent his first year in Medina building up his military strength. The goal of his first jihad, or holy war, was to take revenge on Quraysh, the tribe that had persecuted him. This attitude is no surprise because Muhammad was still influenced by the Arab mentality I described earlier. (“If you cause me one trouble, I will cause you two troubles.”)

The Quraysh tribe created wealth through trade. Each year they took one trip to Yemen and one trip to Syria. They took a large caravan of things to sell at their destination, and brought home another load of things to sell at home. They carried a lot of money and valuables.

Muhammad planned to ambush one of the caravans returning to Mecca. He and his army laid wait for them in the Valley of Badr. However, the caravan leader heard about the trap and successfully went home by a different road.

The tribal leaders were very happy the caravan got home, but they were very angry with Muhammad. They decided to teach him a lesson to let everyone in Arabia see that no one played games with the Quraysh tribe. Mecca sent their army to fight Muhammad at Badr. To their shock, Muhammad won a great victory and killed most of the enemy army.

Everyone in Arabia heard about the battle—and they recognized that Muhammad was now the most powerful man in Arabia because he had defeated the most powerful tribe.

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After this victory Muhammad said the angel Gabriel brought him a new message: he must fight every tribe in Arabia
and make them all submit to Islam. Muhammad declared, “There will not be two religions in Arabia. Arabia will submit only to Islam.”
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As a result, Muhammad no longer focused mainly on converting heathen or idol worshippers. Now the Jews and Christians became targets of persuasion.

This development of jihad came through the following Quranic verse:

Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad) (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the
Jizyah
[tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

—S
URAH
9:29, T
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At first glance this verse is a little hard to understand in English, but it will be very clear after I explain it. This verse says Muslims must fight four kinds of people:

1.   Those who don’t believe in Allah

2.   Those who don’t believe in the last day

3.   Those who do things that Allah and Muhammad have forbidden

4.   Those who don’t acknowledge Islam as the truth, i.e., “people of the Scripture,” who are the Jews and Christians

Muhammad gave people three options:

1.   They could accept the message of Islam.

2.   They could remain Jews or Christians but pay a special tax (
jizyah
), which is traditionally levied once a year.

3.   They could die. (The phrase “and feel themselves subdued” is much stronger in Arabic than in this English translation. The Arabic word means something like “abject subjection.” It carries the idea of someone cowering in fear before a greater power. If abject subjection is not achieved, then death follows.)

The results of Muhammad’s options were that the majority accepted the message of Islam, the wealthy unbelievers paid high taxes, and the rest were forced to go to war.

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The tax against Christians is not something that was just practiced in ancient times. Fanatic groups in Egypt still go to Christians and ask for the tax. They will meet with the Christian and explain, “You are Christian. We are Muslim. This is a Muslim country. Our job is to practice the law of Islam. The law says you have two choices—convert to Islam or remain in your faith. It’s OK with us if you choose to remain in your faith, but you must pay tax every year to the Islamic authority.”

The Egyptian government isn’t trying to collect the tax, but these independent groups have taken it upon themselves because the government isn’t doing it.

So the Christian is presented with the tax, which is usually a sizeable sum of money based on his income. The Christian may say, “I don’t have the money right now.
Give me a few days to pull it together.” So the radicals will go away and come back in a few days.

The Christian may again say, “Please, give me another week.” So they will go away and come back in a week. But if the Christian still doesn’t have the money, there are no more chances. You can be sure they will come back and kill him—probably shoot him to death.

I have a Christian friend from Egypt who is now a university professor in the United States. His two Christian brothers, a medical doctor and a pharmacist, were living in Egypt, and the radicals came and asked for the tax. These Christians refused, and they were both killed.

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The tax on unbelievers was one way Muhammad raised money, but his most important source of income was plundering after battle. This was his economic lifeblood, just as oil is the economic life of the Gulf countries today. They did not farm, work trades, or conduct business. They fought.

Part of their profit came from slave trading. When invading an enemy country, they killed all males and took the women and children as slaves. During that time the Arabian Desert became famous for slave trading.

Of his plundering, Muhammad said:

All income that comes by the hooves of horses and the point of the sword is a gift from Allah. Allah provides for those who fight. But if they go back to their old trades, they will just earn a living the normal way.
³

Muhammad had an agreement with his military regarding the plunder taken from defeated enemies.
Muhammad got to keep 20 percent, and the army could divide the remaining 80 percent among themselves. This sounds pretty good, except his army could have as many as ten thousand men. So each man in the army got .008 percent compared to Muhammad’s 20 percent.

Muhammad’s army started rebelling and complaining against him because they said they didn’t get to keep enough of the plunder. The situation looked as if it would get out of control until Muhammad received a new revelation.

And know that out of all the booty that you may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah,—and to the Messenger, and to near relatives, orphans, the needy, and the wayfarer . . .

—S
URAH
8:41, A
LI TRANSLATION

This entire surah (chapter) was titled “The Spoils of War.” It specifically mentions the Battle of Badr. If you want a good overview of the military mind-set of Muhammad, read this chapter.

The invasion of Uhud

This was the second war that the prophet Muhammad and new converts fought against the Arabs who rejected the call of Islam. After the fight the military leaders and the personal guard of Muhammad faced a major conflict. The disagreement was over plundering the possessions of the enemy. The military leaders told the personal guard of Muhammad that they should take part in the plundering of possessions. “If we didn’t fight, there would be no victory,” they argued. Muhammad had to solve the problem by ordering the military leaders and his personal guard to split the plunder equally after this battle.
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The invasion of Hunayn

Historian Ibn Hisham wrote in particular about the invasion of Hunayn. The Muslim military lost due to their hastiness to plunder the possessions of the enemy before the battle was finalized. When the Muslims went after the possessions, the enemy ambushed them and defeated them. Prophet Muhammad motivated his military by telling them, “Whoever kills someone is entitled to plunder his possessions.”
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Hiring help for battle

Dr. Solomon Basheer mentions that Muhammad even hired other tribes to help him fight, motivating them with a share of the plunder:

Sometimes the Arabic tribes agreed to get involved with Muhammad and support him in the battles. These tribes made contracts with the Muslim leaders regarding what percentage of the plunder they could take.
⁶

This method of fund-raising continued after Muhammad’s death. The second leader of Islam (Umar ibn al-Khattab) is credited with many conquests for Islam. This leader also made agreements with other tribes to fight for Islam.

Jarir Bin Abdullah came and asked the second Muslim leader after the death of Muhammad (Umar ibn al-Khattab), “If I go to Iraq with my people to fight for Islam, can we keep 25 percent of the plunder?” Umar agreed.
⁷

Umar promised Muslims that they would profit from the people they conquered.

Allah brought Muslims to the world to conquer and rule and populate the world. If any nation opposes the will of Allah and refuses to be Muslim, they will be the slaves of Muslims and pay tax to the Islamic authority. These nations are going to work hard, and you will benefit.
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The last step in the development of jihad was when jihad stopped being regional and went worldwide. This change was based on a new Quranic verse received by Muhammad:

Fight them until there is no more
Fitnah
(disbelief and polytheism, i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world].

—S
URAH
8:39, T
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As a result, Muhammad told his followers: