Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth
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262 The LIfe <strong>of</strong> lvluhammad<br />
The youth did so. Thereupon the people began to talk and to quarrel<br />
and to boast until two men <strong>of</strong> the t\VQ clans leapt up, Aus b. Qay~i <strong>of</strong> B.<br />
!:Iaritha b. !:Iarith <strong>of</strong> Aus and Jabbar b. ~akhr <strong>of</strong> B. Salama <strong>of</strong> Khazraj.<br />
They began to hold forth against each other until one <strong>of</strong> them said, 'If<br />
you wish we \vill do the same again.' Thereupon both sides became enraged<br />
and said, '\Ve will. Your meeting-place is outside-that being the volcanic<br />
tract-To arms! To arms!' So out they went and when the news reached<br />
the apostle he \vent out with such <strong>of</strong> the emigrants as were with him and<br />
said to them: '0 Muslims, remember God. Remember God. Will you<br />
act as pagans while I am with you after God has guided you to Islam and<br />
honoured you thereby and made a clean break with paganism; delivered<br />
you thereby from unbelief; made you friends thereby?' Then the people<br />
realized that the dissension was due to Satan and the guile <strong>of</strong> their enemy.<br />
They wept and the men <strong>of</strong> Aus and Khazraj embraced one another. Then<br />
they went <strong>of</strong>f \vith the apostle, attentive and obedient, God having<br />
quenched the guile <strong>of</strong> the enemy <strong>of</strong> God Shas b. Qays. So God sent down<br />
concerning him, and what he did: 'Say: 0 Scripture folk, why do you deny<br />
God's signs while God is \vitness <strong>of</strong> \vhat you do? Say, 0 Scripture folk,<br />
why do you keep those who believe from God's way wishing to make it<br />
crooked whcn you are witnesses and God is not unmindful <strong>of</strong> what you<br />
are doing?'l<br />
God sent down conccrning Aus and Jabbar and the people who were<br />
with them when Shas brought back for a moment the atmosphere <strong>of</strong><br />
pagan days, '0 you who believe, if you obey some <strong>of</strong> those to whom a<br />
hook has been given they will make you unbelievers again after your<br />
faith. lIow can you disbelieve \vhen God's verscs are rcad to you and His<br />
apostle is with you? He who holds fast to God is guided to a straight path.<br />
o ye who believe, fear God as He ought to be fcared and die not except as<br />
Muslims' as far as the words 'Those shall have a painful punishment'.<br />
When Abdullah b. Salam, Thalaba b. Saya, and Usayd b. Saya, and<br />
Asad b. 'Ubayd and other Jews became Muslims and believed and were<br />
earnest and firm in Islam, the rabbis who disbelieved said that it was only<br />
the bad Jews who believed in <strong>Muhammad</strong> and followed him. Had they<br />
been good men they \....ould not have forsaken the religion <strong>of</strong> their fathers<br />
and adopted another. So God sent down concerning what they had said:<br />
'They are not (all) alike: <strong>of</strong> the scripture folk there is an upright community<br />
who read God's verses in the night season prostrating themselves (318).2<br />
They believe in God and the last day and enjoin good conduct and forbid<br />
evil and vie with one another in good works. Those are the righteous.'<br />
Some Muslims remained friends with the Jews because <strong>of</strong> the tic <strong>of</strong><br />
mutual protection and alliance which had subsisted bet\veen them, so<br />
God sent down concerning them and forbidding them to take them as<br />
intimate friends: '0 you who believe, do not choose those outside your<br />
community as intimate friends. They will spare no pains to corrupt you<br />
I Sura 3. 93 :I v. 109.<br />
The LIfe <strong>of</strong> 1\1uhanmzad 263<br />
longing for your ruin. From their mouths hatred has already shown itself<br />
and wh.at their ~)reasts conceal is greater. \Ve have made the signs plain<br />
to you lf you will understand. Behold you love them but they love not<br />
you and you believe in the book--all <strong>of</strong> it,'l i.e. you believe in their book<br />
and in the books that were before that while they deny your book, so that<br />
you have more right to hate them than they to hate you. 'And when they<br />
meet l'DU they say, \Ve believe and v,·hen they go apart they bite thei-r<br />
fingers against you j;l rage. Say, Die in your rage', &c.<br />
Abi"i Bakr went into a Jewish school and found a good many men gathered<br />
round a certain Ti'in~a~, one <strong>of</strong> their learned rabbis, and another rabbi<br />
called Ashya'. Abu Bakr called on the former to fear God and become a<br />
I\1uslim hecause he kne\'\' that I\.fuhammad was the apostle <strong>of</strong> God who<br />
had brought the truth from Him and that they would find it written in the<br />
Torah and the Gospel. Finl!a~ replied: '\\-'e are not poor compared to<br />
Allah but He is poor compared to us. \Ve do not humble ourselves to<br />
Him as 11'.: humbles Himself to us; we are independent <strong>of</strong> Him while He<br />
needs us. 'Vere lIe independent <strong>of</strong> us He would not ask us to lend Him<br />
our money as your master pretends, prohibiting you to take interest and<br />
allQ\ving us to. Had lIe been independent <strong>of</strong> us He would not have given<br />
us intercst.'z<br />
Ab'Ci Bakr was enraged and hit Fin~a~ hard in the face, saying, '\Vere<br />
it not for the treaty between us I would cut <strong>of</strong>f your head, you enemy <strong>of</strong><br />
Allah!' FinJ:1a~ immediately went to the apostle and said, 'Look, l\Iuhammad,<br />
at what your companion has done.' The apostle asked Abu Bakr<br />
what had impelled him to do such a thing and he answered: 'The enemy<br />
<strong>of</strong> Allah spoke blasphemy. He alleged that Allah was poor and that the~' 3:: lr )<br />
were rich and I was so angry that I hit his face.' FinJ:1a~ contradicted thi·s<br />
and denieu that he had said it, so Allah s';nt down refuting him and confirming<br />
what Abu Bakr had said: 'Allah has heard the speech <strong>of</strong> those who<br />
say: "Allah is poor and we are rich.". \Ve shall write what they say and<br />
their killing the prophets wrongfully and we shall say, Taste the p~nishment<br />
<strong>of</strong> burning.'3<br />
And there came down concerning Abu Bakr and the anger that he felt:<br />
'And you will certainly hear [rom those "who receivcd the book before vou<br />
and from the polytheists much wrong but if you persevere and fear God<br />
that is <strong>of</strong> the steadfastness <strong>of</strong> things.'<br />
Then He said concerning what FinJ:1a~ and the other rabbis \vith him<br />
said: 'And "\vhcn Gotl laid a charge upon those who had received the hook:<br />
You are to make it clear to men and not to conceal it, they cast it behind<br />
I Sura 3. Iq.<br />
z ~he key tothis. seemingly blasphemous utterance is in the words 'as your master pretends.<br />
Later lYIusIrm scholars would have called It an ilz/lm, a form <strong>of</strong> the argwnentuTlI ad<br />
absurdum in whieh an opponcnt'g proposition is adopted and followed to its (absurd) conclu_<br />
sion. The Jews had objected to contributing to the cost <strong>of</strong> the waf against the :\1eCcans<br />
saying that if Cod needed thl·ir money as the apostlc said they must be better <strong>of</strong>f than He!<br />
3 t;(lra 3. 177.