Muhammad; Prophet of War
A ss as si na t i o n an d d ec ei t
Fl us hed wi th vi ct or y, Mu ha mma d st ep ped up hi s ra id in g
op er at io ns. He als o har den ed in his att itu des tow ard the Jew ish
tri bes of the reg ion , who kep tth ei r fa it h and rej ect ed Muh am mad
as a pr oph et of Go d. Wi th th is re je ct io n, Mu ha mm ad 's pr op he ti c
ca ll s to Je ws be ga n to ge t vi ol en t, emphasizing earthly punishment.
Striding into the centerof themarketplace of
th e Ba nu Qa yn uq a, a Je wi sh tr ib e
wi th wh om he ha d a tr uc e, he
an no un ce d to th e cr owd s, "O Je ws,
be wa re le st Go dbr in g up on yo u th e
ve ng ea nc e th at He br ou gh t up on
Qu ra ys h an d be co me Mu sl im s. Yo u
kno w th at I am a pr op het wh ohas been
sent—you will find that in your
s c r i p t u r e s a n d G o d 's c o v e n a n t
w i t h yo u. " Th e Je ws of th e Ba nu
Qa yn uq a w e r e n o t p e r s u a d e d ,
f r u s t r a t i n g t h e Pro phe t eve n mor e.
He lai d sie ge on the m un ti l th ey
of fe re d hi m un co nd it io na l su rrender.
Even then Muhammad's anger was not
ass uag ed. He fou nd a new foc us for it
in a Je wi sh po et , K' ab bi n Al-
As hr af , wh o, ac co rd in g to
Mu ha mm ad 's fi rs t bi og rap h er , Ib n
Is h a q , " c o mp o s e d am a t o r y ve rs es
of an in su lt in g na tu re ab ou t th e
Muslim women.' Muhammad asked his
followers, "Who is willing to kill Ka'b bin
Al-As hr af wh o ha s hu rt Al la h an d
Hi sApostle?"Ibn Warraq on
Islam:
"the theory and practice
ofjihadwas not
concoctedinthe Pentagon,... It was taken from the
Koran.the Hadith and Islamic tradition.
Western liberals, especially humanists, find it
hard to believe this.... It is extraordinarythe
amount of people who have written about the
11th of September without once mentioning
Islam. We must take seriously what the
Islamists say to understand their motivation,
[that] it is the divinelyordained duty of all
Muslims to fight in the literal sense until man-
made law has beenreplaced by God's law,
the Sharia, and Islamiclaw has conquered the
entire world..., Forevery text the liberal
Muslims produce, themuIlahs will use dozens
of counter-examples[that are] exegetically,
philosophically, historically far more
legitimate,"