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 sirah maghaazi literature, the earliest biographical literature produced by the Arabic tradition, portrays Muhammad as a warlord and statebuilder par excellence. Although it does portray him sometimes showing mercy to his opponents, just as often if not more so it portrays him as ordering the killings of transgressors against the divine law, political and religious enemies, personal enemies or threats to his person, and poets who made fun of him. The earliest biographers such as ibn Ishaq are quite detailed in showing how the prophet did not suffer poetry against him and made a point of ordering the murder of such poets. As with the rest of the sira maghaazi literature many questions remain about the reliability of these accounts from the perspective of ''wie es eigentlich gewesen'' or "as it actually happened. " This caution is found not only in academia, but also among Islamic modernists, and to some extent in the broader Islamic tradition in terms of the sirah containing many weak narrations, a perception which to some extent has filtered through to public awareness today. What is not in doubt, though, is that these narratives, taken together as the sirah, traditionally form the most authoritative biographical source available for Muslims on the life of the prophet. In many cases associated narrations considered authentic were included in famous hadith collections, influencing legal and exegetical traditions. Their presentation of him as a warlord who ordered the execution of so many of his political and religious enemies thus bears considerable impact for some Muslims on the meaning of [[Muhammad ibn Abdullah]] as [[Uswa Hasana]], the perfect man and the founder of their religion, the great religion and final revelation by [[Allah (God)]] to mankind.  
The sirah maghaazi literature, the earliest biographical literature produced by the Arabic tradition, portrays Muhammad as a warlord and statebuilder par excellence. Although it does portray him sometimes showing mercy to his opponents, just as often if not more so it portrays him as ordering the killings of transgressors against the divine law, political and religious enemies, personal enemies or threats to his person, and poets who made fun of him. The earliest biographers such as Ibn Ishaq are quite detailed in showing how the prophet did not suffer poetry against him and made a point of ordering the murder of such poets. As with the rest of the sira maghaazi literature many questions remain about the reliability of these accounts from the perspective of ''wie es eigentlich gewesen'' or "as it actually happened." This caution is found not only in academia, but also among Islamic modernists, as well as in the broader Islamic tradition, a perception which has filtered through to public awareness today. While sirah material was of interest in legal and exegetical contexts, classical hadith scholars considered the sirah genre to lack any sound methodology for authenticating isnads (chains of narration; indeed, in some cases no isnad is given at all).  
 
In many cases, however, narrations in major hadith collections do briefly mention or allude to killings found in the sirah literature. Siraj Khan writes regarding traditional Islamic jurisprudence, "Many instances from the hadith corpus are cited in support of the punishment for blasphemy", giving examples such as Abu Rafi' and Ka'b ibn Ashraf. A handful of hadith were used to qualify the specific circumstances when blasphemy was punishable, in particular those narrating Muhammad's approval (as it was usually interpreted) of a blind man who killed his umm walad (freed concubine who bore him children) and a man who killed a Jewish woman, in both cases for insulting Muhammad.<ref>Siraj Khan. "Blasphemy against the Prophet", in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture (editors: Coeli Fitzpatrick and Adam Hani Walker). ISBN 978-1610691772 pp. 62-63</ref><ref>These two killings involve a repeated topos as mentioned in the section below on modern scholarship.</ref> It is common even in modern times for Islamic scholars to discuss the legitimacy of blasphemy laws by citing the killings of poets and others who had insulted Muhammad,<ref>For example https://jiscnet.com/journals/jisc/Vol_3_No_1_June_2015/7.pdf</ref> though there are also those who urge a more critical view of the sources as well as raising issues of legal methodology.<ref>For example the al-Mawrid institute of reformist scholars in Pakistan https://www.al-mawrid.org/Question/60a204a3923f0b12074d877f/punishment-of-blasphemy-based-on-a-hadith-narrative</ref> What is not in doubt, though, is that these narratives, taken together as the sirah, have traditionally formed the most authoritative biographical source available on the life of the prophet.
 
==Views of modern scholarship==
==Views of modern scholarship==
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>  
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, Ehsan 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>Ehsan 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>  


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).  
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).  
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! style="background: #E3E3B6;" |38
! style="background: #E3E3B6;" |38
| style="background: #FFD4D4;" |'''Blind man's wife/concubine'''
| style="background: #FFD4D4;" |'''Blind man's umm walad (freed concubine who bore him children)'''
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| style="background: #DEFFD4;" |Killed by a Muslim on his own initiative because the woman insulted Muhammad. When Muhammad learned what had happened he said no retaliation is payable for her blood.<ref name="617AvlDgL">[http://www.webcitation.org/617AvlDgL Ruling on one who insults the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)], Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 22809</ref><ref name="Abudawud 38 4348">{{Abudawud|38|4348}}</ref>
| style="background: #DEFFD4;" |Killed by a Muslim on his own initiative because the woman insulted Muhammad. When Muhammad learned what had happened he said no retaliation is payable for her blood.<ref name="617AvlDgL">[http://www.webcitation.org/617AvlDgL Ruling on one who insults the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)], Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 22809</ref><ref name="Abudawud 38 4348">{{Abudawud|38|4348}}</ref>
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Blind Muslim kills his wife/concubine<ref name="617AvlDgL">[http://www.webcitation.org/617AvlDgL Ruling on one who insults the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)], Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 22809</ref><ref name="Abudawud 38 4348" />
Blind Muslim kills his umm walad<ref name="617AvlDgL">[http://www.webcitation.org/617AvlDgL Ruling on one who insults the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)], Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 22809</ref><ref name="Abudawud 38 4348" />
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*{{abudawud|38|4348}}
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