Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 179Arabia was in the grip of a famine. The harvest in theprevious year had been poor and both grain and fruitwere in short supply. The time for the new harvest hadnot yet come. It was the end of September or thebeginning of October when the Prophet sa set out on thismission. The hypocrites knew that the rumours weretheir own inventions. They knew also that their designwas to provoke Muslims into an attack on the Syrians ifthe Syrians did not attack Muslims. In either case, aconflict with the great Roman Empire was to result inthe destruction of Muslims. The lesson of Mauta wasbefore them. At Mauta Muslims had to face such a hugearmy that it was with great difficulty that they were ableto effect a retreat. The hypocrites were hoping to stage asecond Mauta in which the Prophet sa himself might losehis life. While the hypocrites were busy spreadingrumours about the Syrian attack on Muslims, they alsomade every effort to strike fear in the minds of Muslims.The Syrians could raise very large armies whichMuslims could not hope to stand against. They urgedMuslims not to take part in the conflict with Syria. Theirplan was, on the one hand, to provoke Muslims intoattacking Syria and, on the other, to discourage themfrom going in large numbers. They wanted Muslims togo to war against Syria and meet with certain defeat.But as soon as the Prophet sa announced his intention ofleading this new expedition, enthusiasm ran high amongMuslims. They went forward with offers of sacrifice forthe sake of their faith. Muslims were ill-equipped for awar on such a scale. Their treasury was empty. Only themore prosperous Muslims had means to pay for the war.Individual Muslims vied with one another in the spirit ofsacrifice for the sake of their faith. It is said that whenthe expedition was under way and the Prophet saappealed for funds, ‘Uthman ra gave away the greaterpart of his wealth. His contribution is said to haveamounted to about one thousand gold dinars,equivalent to about twenty-five thousand rupees. OtherMuslims also made contributions according to their