Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
In the 54th month after the Hijra, Muhammad is said to have received
information that the Banu Mustaliq and other nomad Arabs were planning
to attack him. Muhammad left Medina with 30 Muslims, A'isha, Umm Salama and a number of the hypocrites. During the journey, one man is said to have met them and become a Muslim, and another was captured as a spy and executed byUmar. When the Muslims arrived at al-Muraysi, the Arab nomad allies of the Banu Mustaliq had already fled. Muhammad set his forces in battle array, and after an alleged exchange of arrows, the Muslims began a general attack. The Muslims won quickly, having killed 10 of their enemies, while losing one of their own, who was accidently killed by another Muslim. Some 2000 camels and 5000 sheep were taken, an^26 d the rest of the men, women and children were taken prisoner, of whom the women alone are said to have numbered 200. Among the captured was the beautiful Juwayriya, who accepted Islam and was married by^27 Muhammad. A substantial number of her people were then freed, includi^28 ng the women whom the Muslims had already slept with. With Muhammad's approval, some of the Muslims had had relations (Azl) with the capture^29 d women
before they allowed them to be ransomed, and it is reported that none of the
women wanted to remain with the Muslims. A contention over the water at
al-Muraysipitted the emigrants against the Medinans, after which Abdullah b. Ubayy is said to have made a threatening remark (cf. Qur'an
63: 8). Some Muslims called on Muhammad to murder him, but in the end,
Muhammad refused to do so. Qur'an 63 is said to have been reve^30 aled in
reference to `Abdullah b. Ubayy.^31
Sura 63Sura 63Sura 63Sura 63 begins by speaking of the hypocrites (vv. 1f). They are described
as turning others from Allah's way (v. 2), and they are to be killed by Allah
(v. 4). In the vv. 5f Muhammad offers to pray for their forgiveness, v. 7
shows that the hypocrites were against contributing to the Muslim cause,
and v. 8 is said to reproduce the threat of `Abdullah b. Ubayy. The v. 9
commands the believers not to let their wealth or children inhibit them from
meditating on God, and the v. 10a gives a command for almsgiving. The v.
10b-11 maintain that Allah will not hear last minute prayers to buy more
time to give alms.
On the return journey from al-Muraysi,A'isha (who had not been happy
with the prospect of Muhammad's marriage to Juwayriya) is s^32 aid to have
lost her necklace. While everyone was searching for it, a prayer time
occurred, and as the Muslims were not near a water source, the verse about
"tayammum" was said to have been revealed (Qur'an 4:46 or 5:9). At^33