List of Killings Ordered or Supported by Muhammad: Difference between revisions

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List of Killings Ordered or Supported by Muhammad (view source)

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The use of assassination to achieve political/religious goals has been important throughout the history of Arabia and [[Islam|Islamic]] expansion since the time of Muhammad.
The use of assassination to achieve political/religious goals has been important throughout the history of Arabia and [[Islam|Islamic]] expansion since the time of Muhammad.


This list contains the results and reasons for the targeted killings and assassinations ordered or supported by Prophet [[Muhammad]], as well as the primary sources which mention these incidents.
The list on this page contains the results and reasons for the targeted killings and assassinations ordered or supported by Prophet [[Muhammad]], as described in the sῑra (biographical) literature and other primary sources which mention these incidents.
==Modern/Secular Definitions==
===Assassination (or ''to assassinate'')===
{{Quote|1=[http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=assassination Princeton University - WordNet] & [http://www.wordreference.com/definition/assassination WordReference.com]|2=murder of a public figure by surprise attack}}{{Quote|1=[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination Wikipedia - Assassination]|2=Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure. Assassinations may be prompted by ideological, political, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain, revenge, personal public recognition, or mental illness.}}{{Quote|1=[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/assassination TheFreeDictionary.com]|2=To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.}}{{Quote|1=[http://www.yourdictionary.com/assassination YourDictionary.com]|2=to murder (esp. a politically important or prominent person) by surprise attack, usually for payment or from zealous belief}}
===Murder===
{{Quote|1=[http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=murder Princeton University - WordNet]|2=kill intentionally and with premeditation}}{{Quote|1=[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder Wikipedia - Murder]|2=Murder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent (or malice aforethought), and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide.}}{{Quote|1=[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/murder TheFreeDictionary.com]|2=The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.}}{{Quote|1=[http://www.yourdictionary.com/murder YourDictionary.com]|2=the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another; also, any killing done while committing some other felony, as rape or robbery}}{{Quote|1=[https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/en-en/murder Almaany]|2=
[ n ] unlawful premeditated killing of a human being
[ v ] alter so as to make unrecognizable ; " The tourists murdered the French language "
[ v ] kill intentionally and with premeditation ; " The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered "
}}


==Muhammad and his Companions==
==Views of modern scholarship==
===Pre-meditated murder and robbery===
Typically, academic scholars have doubts about the reliability of the sῑra literature and the maghāzī (raid, expedition) accounts therein. In a detailed analysis of protagonists, repeated motifs and textual devices, Ershan Roohi has identified that several accounts of political assassinations in the sira literature may have been motivated by tribes seeking to glorify their ancestors, or for apologetic purposes to exonerate them or their tribe for having at one time resisted acceptance of Islam, in the latter case particularly those stories which involve assassins of Jewish descent or affiliation killing members of their own tribe or confederates for the sake of Muhammad and the new religion.<ref>Eshan Roohi (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/56044561/Between_History_and_Ancestral_Lore_A_Literary_Approach_to_the_S%C4%ABras_Narratives_of_Political_Assassinations Between History and Ancestral Lore: A Literary Approach to the Sīra’s Narratives of Political Assassinations] Der Islam, Vol. 98 (2) doi:10.1515/islam-2021-0029</ref>
{{Quote|1=[http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=2&tid=5727 Tafsir Ibn Kathir - The Nakhlah Military Maneuvers, and the Ruling on Fighting during the Sacred Months]|2=The Companions conferred among themselves. That day was the last day in the (sacred) month of Rajab. They said to each other, "By Allah! If you let them pass, they will soon enter the Sacred Area and take refuge in it from you. If you kill them, you will kill them during the Sacred Month." They at first hesitated and did not like to attack them. They then began encouraging themselves and decided to kill whomever they could among the disbelievers and to confiscate whatever they had. Hence, Waqid bin `Abdullah At-Tamimi shot an arrow at `Amr bin Al-Hadrami and killed him. `Uthman bin `Abdullah and Al-Hakam bin Kaysan gave themselves up, while Nawfal bin `Abdullah was able to outrun them in flight. Later on, `Abdullah bin Jahsh and his companions went back to Allah's Messenger in Al-Madinah with the caravan and the two prisoners.}}
===The murder of a public figure===


*Please see: the murder of Kab Ashraf and the murder of Abu Rafi.
Of relevance to the list below, Roohi argues on the basis of repeated story and textual devices that the assassination of Ibn Abi al-Huqaiq was largely fabricated by the Khazraj tribe whom al-Tabari records desired to compete with the assassination by a rival Medinan tribe, al-Aws, of another blasphemous poet, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf. The identities of the alleged assassins of Ka'b in turn have been argued to be concocted to whitewash their Jewish affiliations and sympathies, particularly in the case of Muhammad b. Maslama, who also is said to have beheaded the Jewish leader Kinana and participated in the killings of the Jewish poet Ibn Abi al-Huqaiq already mentioned and Jewish leader al-Yusayr mentioned below. The story of 'Asma' bint Marwan's murder by the blind Umayr employs a repeated motif of a blind man killing a female blasphemer, which occurs a second time later in the list below without named protagonists. Roohi also questions a few other assassination stories due to plausible motives to cast the alleged killers in a more favourable light or having transferred motifs: Ibn Sunayna (part of a trend to glorify his alledged assassin, Muhayyisa), Amr ibn Jihash (the hitman was allegedly hired by his cousin Ibn Yamin, who elsewhere is reported to have deplored the murder of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf), Al-Yusayr ibn Rizam and Khalid ibn Sufyan (whose alleged murders by Unays include a number of transferable story motifs).
 
Regarding the stories as a whole, Roohi's view is that "if we tend not to go so far as to reject them as ex nihilo inventions, it may be safe at least to hold an agnostic view as to their historicity" and that it would be "prudent not to accept at face value" the image portrayed in the sira. On the other hand, while Roohi envisages that the above is the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of literary topoi (transferable motifs or formulae) used in the sira, critics would notice that the list of killings on this page is considerably more varied and extensive than the several cases for which he was able to identify specific grounds for suspicion.


==List of Killings==
==List of Killings==
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