Life-of-Muhammad

178Life of Muhammad sathe habit of silent meditation and of repeating thenames of God. Because of this habit, he was generallyknown as Abu ‘Amir, the Hermit. He was, however, nota Christian by faith. When the Prophet sa went to Medinaafter the Hijra, Abu ‘Amir escaped from Medina toMecca. When at last Mecca also submitted to thegrowing influence of Islam, he began to hatch a newintrigue against Islam. He changed his name and hishabitual mode of dress and settled down in Quba, avillage near Medina. As he had been away for a longtime and had altered his appearance and his dress, thepeople of Medina did not recognize him. Only thosehypocrites recognized him with whom he had relationsin secret. He took the hypocrites of Medina into hisconfidence and with their concurrence planned to go toSyria and excite and provoke the Christian rulers andChristian Arabs into attacking Medina. While he wasengaged in his sinister mission in the north, he hadplanned for the spread of disaffection in Medina. Hiscolleagues, the hypocrites, were to spread rumours thatMedina was going to be attacked by Syrian forces. As aresult of this dual plot ‘Abu ‘Amir hoped that Muslimsand Syrian Christians would go to war. If his plot didnot succeed, he hoped that Muslims would themselvesbe provoked into attacking Syria. Even thus a war mightstart between Muslims and Syrians and Abu ‘Amirwould have something to rejoice over. Completing hisplans, he went to Syria. While he was away thehypocrites at Medina—according to plan—began tospread rumours that caravans had been sighted whichwere coming to attack Medina. When no caravanappeared, they issued some kind of explanation.THE EXPEDITION OF TABUKThese rumours became so persistent, that theProphet sa thought it worth while to lead in person aMuslim army against Syria. These were difficult times.