Umm Qirfa: Difference between revisions

[[Ibn Ishaq]], the first biographer of Muhammad recounts the incident of the attack on the Banu Fazara as well the incident of her "cruel" execution [[Sirat Rasul Allah]]:

{{Quote|Ibn Ishaq 980| '''Zayd B. Haritha’s raid on Banu Fazara and the Death of Umm Qirfa'''<br>Zayd also raided Wadi-l-Qurra where he met Banu Fazara and some of his companions were killed; he himself carried wounded from the field. Ward b. Amr b. Madash one of B. Sad b. Hudhayl was killed by one of B. Badr whose name Sa’d b. Hudhaym. When Zayd came he swore that he would use no ablution until he raided B. Fazara; and when he recovered from his wounds the apostle sent him against them with a force. He fought them in Wadi-al-Qura and killed some of them. Qays b. al-Musahhar al-Yamuri killed Mas’ada b. Hakama b. Malik b. Hudhayfa b. Badr and Umm Qirfa Fatima was taken prisoner. She was a very old woman, wife of Malik. Her daughter and Abdulla b. Mas’ada were also taken. Zaid ordered Qays b al-Musahhar to kill Umm Qirfa and he killed her cruelly. }}

“And he killed her cruelly”. The cruel method used by Muhammad's warriors to kill Umm Qirfa is described in Al-Tabari:<BR>'''“By putting a rope into her two legs and to two camels and driving them until they rent her in two....”'''<ref>The History of Al-Tabari: the Victory of Islam, trans. Michael Fishbein, vol. 8, SUNYP, 1997, pp. 95-97</ref>

{{Quote|Tabari Vol.8:Page.96|Allah’s Messenger sent Zayd to Wadi Qura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his Companions were killed, and Zayd was carried away wounded. Ward was slain by the Banu Badr. When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing should touch his head until he had raided the Fazarah. After he recovered, Muhammad sent him with an army against the Fazarah settlement. He met them in Qura and inflicted casualties on them and took Umm Qirfah prisoner. He also took one of Umm’s daughters and Abdallah bin Mas’adah prisoner. Zyad bin Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a rope and tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two.}}

Ibn Ishaq continues:

{{Quote|Ibn Ishaq 980| Then they brought Umm Qirfa’s daughter and Mas’ada’s son to the apostle. The daughter of Umm Qirfa belonged to Salama b. Amr b. al-Akwa who had taken her. She held a position of honor among her people, and the Arabs used to say, “Had you been more powerful than Umm Qirfa you could have done no more”. Salama asked the apostle to let him have her and he gave her to him and he presented her to his uncle Hazn b. Abu Wahb and she bare him Abdul-Rahman . Hazn. }}

According to Ibn Ishaq, Umm Qirfa held a high position among her people, perhaps more like [[Khadijah]] bint Khuwailid, Muhammad’s first wife. “No man or woman with more power could have done any more than Umm Qirfa” as quoted by Ibn Ishaq was what Arabs used to say then. Some sources add that Muhammad had ordered his people to display the old woman’s decapitated head throughout the streets of Medina.<ref>Al nass Al Muases wa Mujtamahu – Khaleel Abdalkareem

* [[The Genocide of Banu Qurayza]]