TO KILL A MOCKING POET: EXECUTION OF CRITICS OF MUHAMMAD

In the name of God (who is) the beneficent (and) the merciful.

Peace and blessings be upon Muhammad and his purified progeny.

My non-Muslim friend on Twitter asked me why Prophet Muhammad ordered execution of poets for the sheer crime of criticizing him personally. Doesn't it show that the Prophet was a ruthless warlord for disliked even minor objections to his policies and actions? Doesn't it show that Islam is a barbarian totalitarian ideology in which nobody is allowed to questions God or His Apostle and if anyone dares to mock a sacred figure, he is immediately put to death or silenced in any other way? Doesn't it show that Islam is nothing more than a primitive form of Nazism? Doesn't it show that Islam is not peaceful or humanitarian at all as liberal and modest Muslims wish non-Muslims to think?

Well, if Muhammad actually ordered the killing of poet-critics for the sheer crime of criticizing him personally, then no doubt the allegations brought forward by non-Muslims rest undisputed. But there is only one problem i.e. the Prophet did not order those killings just because those non-Muslim poet-critics had offended him personally. He wanted those poets dead because they posed a military threat to the security of the State of Medina. He killed those poets because they were terrorists, not more peaceful than the author of Mien Kempf. It was not a habit of the Prophet to take personal revenge from people who have personally hurt him. We see that he pardoned the murderer of his daughter Zaynab and the assassin of his uncle Hamzah. He was against harming women, children or animals.

'A'ishah reports:

"Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) never took revenge (over anybody) for his own sake but (he did) only when Allah's Legal Bindings were outraged in which case he would take revenge for Allah's Sake."

But sirah (biography) of Muhammad records multiple incidents of the Prophet ordering the killing of his critics. What about them? If the Prophet was against taking personal revenge, why was the blood of 'Asma bint Marwan, K'ab ibn al-Ashraf and others spilled? Let us ask Badr al-Din 'Ayni, a famous commentator of Sahih al-Bukhari and second only in fame and grandeur to Ibn Hajar, the author of Fath al-Bari fi Sharh al-Bukhari. 'Ayni writes:

Umdah al-Qari fi Sharh al-Bukhari

"In these narrations it is shown that they were not killed merely for their insults. Indeed, they were only killed due to their aid of the enemy and gathering together for war and supporting it." 

Then there are also incidents of Jews visiting Muhammad and, while pretending they were saluting or blessing him, they were actually cursing and mocking him. They used to say Sam 'Alaikum ("Death be upon you!") instead of Salam 'Alaikum ("Peace be upon you!"). Once, 'A'ishah, the fervent consort of the Prophet caught a Jew red-handed making fun of Muhammad figuratively so she openly abused him. The Prophet, the man assumed by our non-Muslim friends to be a ruthless warlord who couldn't tolerate even a slight controversy, stopped his spouse from reviling the Jewish hatemonger and told her:

"Allah loves that one should be kind and lenient in all matters."

Now, let us consider as much as poets non-Muslims mourn because they think in their folly that the Prophet executed them for speaking some kind of brave truth when actually it were those poets who were bigoted prejudiced sectarian hatemongers, provoking non-Muslims against Islam and encouraging them to murder Muhammad.

'Asma bint Marwan

Ibn Ishaq and Ibn S'ad have given two accounts of the assassination of 'Asma by the orders of Muhammad and these two accounts differ - although they differ at many places - at one crucial point which I would like to discuss i.e. the timing of the murder. Ibn S'ad places this killing nineteenth months after Muslims' Hijrah (Migration) before the commencement of Ramadan. It must be noted that Muslims were only engaged in hostilities against Meccan-Qurayshite pagans at that time. The famous Battle of Badr occurred the very month after the murder of 'Asma but, after the Battle, Muhammad banished Qunayqah tribe from Medina, the first Jewish tribe Muslims grew enmity with. Now, Ibn Ishaq's account places 'Asma's killing after Ibn S'ad's timing. She showed dissatisfaction at the murder of Abu 'Afak and Abu 'Afak was alive after the Battle of Badr. So, as per Ibn Ishaq's account, 'Asma lived to see the Battle for herself and the assassination of Jewish leaders too. We can see that from her verses preserved by Muslims for future generations.

"Do you expect good from him after the killing of your chiefsLike a hungry man waiting for a cook's broth?
Is there no man of pride who would attack him by surprise
And cut off the hopes of those who expect aught from him?"

Something else can also deduced from her verses i.e. the reason for her death. She was provoking people to take Muhammad by surprise and murder him. Thus,  Muhammad hastened to deal with her exactly how 'Asma wanted her folks to deal with the Prophet. One can ask whether she actually posed a threat to the security of Muhammad or the State of Medina. Well, this question has been answered by none other than the critics of Islam. Jane Smith writes:

Women, religion and social change

Hence, the crime of 'Asma was not just mockery of the Prophet. She was provoking people to fight Muslims and drive them out of Medina. She was executed because she used to instigate people against him.

Abu 'Afak

This old Jewish poet was also accused of provoking people against Prophet Muhammad. Ibn Ishaq only records some of his verses:

"Long have I lived but never have I seenAn assembly or collection of people
More faithful to their undertaking
And their allies when called upon
Than the sons of Qayla when they assembled,
Men who overthrew mountains and never submitted,
A rider who came to them split them in two (saying)
"Permitted", "Forbidden", of all sorts of things.
Had you believed in glory or kingship
You would have followed Tubba"

Waqidi and his student Ibn S'ad do mention Abu 'Afak being a person who used to instigate people against Islam.

K'ab ibn al-Ashraf

I don't even need to try defending the execution of K'ab. I think K'ab ibn Malik, a Companion of Allah's Apostle and an eye-witness to the whole operation can do a better job than me. Abu Da'ud records him saying:

"Ka’ab bin Al Ashraf used to satire the Prophet (ﷺ) and incited the infidels of the Quraysh against him. When the Prophet (ﷺ) came to Medina, its people were intermixed; some of them were Muslims and others polytheists who worshiped idols and some were Jews. They used to hurt the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions. Then Allah Most High commanded His Prophet to show patience and forgiveness. So Allah revealed about them: “And ye shall certainly hear much that will grieve you from those who receive Book before you.” When K’ab ibn al-Ashraf refused to desist from hurting the Prophet (ﷺ), the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered S’ad ibn Mu’adh to send a band to kill him. He sent Muhammad ibn Maslamah and mentioned the story of his murder. When they killed him, the Jews and the polytheist were frightened. Next day they came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: “Our Companions were attacked at night and killed.” The Prophet (ﷺ) informed them about that which he would say. The Prophet (ﷺ) then called them so that he could write a deed of agreement between him and them and they should fulfill its provisions and desist from hurting him. He then wrote a deed of agreement between him and them and the Muslims in general."

Ibn Hajar and 'Ayni both agree in their exegeses of Bukhari that Ibn al-Ashraf was a war enemy because he had violated his past with Muhammad and allied with Meccan heathens against Medinian Muslims. This article you can find by clicking here shows statements from hadith manuscripts that Muslim scholars identify K'ab as a war enemy who had went to Mecca to mourn the heathen soldiers who had been slain in the Battle of Badr. He wanted Meccans to march once again and attack Medina. He was not just a meek poet trying to speak some brave truth. He was a hard-on terrorist who wanted Muslims dead to rights.