BIRTH OF ISLAM 13to offer their allegiance to Muhammad, if not out of conviction, then out
of convenience. Muhammad accepted them, exacting a verbal profession
of faith and the payment of thezakah(poor tax). Tribes that had, here-
tofore, bowed to no one, bowed to the will of Muhammad—the Tayyi,
the Hamdan, and the Kindah.
In the tenth year of the Hijrah, Muhammad entered Mecca triumphantly
at the head of his annual pilgrimage. This would be his last pilgrimage,
as three months later, back in Medina, he took unexpectedly ill and died
complaining of a severe headache on June 8, 632.
Looking at Muhammad’s military operations, it is clear that he under-
stood how to motivate men. He offered them great rewards in either vic-
tory or defeat with Surah IV, 74. He showed that he understood that the
enemy’s situation is as hard as that of his own army and by revelation in
Surah IV, 104, made it a matter of religious dogma. How could a tired,
hungry, and cold soldier not believe that his enemy was suffering when
God had said it was so?
A fair amount can be deduced about his tactical capabilities. As an
inspirational leader, his first battle at Badr in 624 shows him the equal of
any of the great soldiers in history. At the battle at Uhud we find that
Muhammad understood the value of terrain and how by holding appro-
priate positions a small force should be able to stop a larger force. Un-
fortunately, at Mt. Uhud, the band of fifty archers failed to hold their key
position. It would be interesting to discover what punishment Muhammad
meted out to those greedy men who so nearly caused his death.
Muhammad also showed both a willingness to listen to subordinates,
as when he adopted Salaman Farsi’s suggestion to dig a moat around
Medina inA.D. 627. He was also willing to accept new ideas. His use of
the moat and his use of siege artillery at the reduction of Taif were both
major innovations in the traditional form of Arab warfare.
If more evidence is needed of the Prophet’s military skill, one can only
point out that he had a well developed sense of the military ideal—main-
taining the objective. He was willing to accept the unfavorable terms of
the Truce of Al-Hudeybiyah to achieve his long-term goal. He traded a
paper victory to the Meccans in return for the time and ability to spread
his message to the Meccan population as well as unfettered access to the
other surrounding Arab tribes. He’d seen the success of his proselytizing
and knew that he could gain strength faster than the Meccans. Quite pos-
sibly he understood the arrogance and ignorance of the Meccans toward
what he was doing and played to their weakness.
If one looks at his first battle, the attack on the caravan at Badr, one
also finds that Muhammad had realized that conquest lies not in simple