Hudaibiya treaty between Prophet Muhammad and Quraish tribe started a new chapter in the journey of Prophet Muhammad, in achieving his goal of spreading the message of Islam beyond Arabia. Prophet Muhammad started sending envoys to the kings who control parts of the world at that time, inviting them to Islam. Most of the leaders responded well to prophet message of Islam, but the kings who did not respond positively to Prophet Message was attacked by warfare. Prophet Muhammad sent ambassadors to kings, in various kingdoms in the world. The envoys that were sent to these kingdoms knew the language spoken by the people in these kingdoms. There are about 1.4 billion Muslims in the world today, the shadow of Prophet Muhammad has spread for many years, and has made Islam to be the second largest religion after Christianity.
Thesis statement: had Prophet Muhammad not victorious in many wars he fought, Islam would have been downgrade to a geographic backwater in the world today.
Prophet Muhammad was a true general, in a space of 10 years he fought and won eight battles, led eighteen raids on tribes which were against his course in spreading Islamic faith. Prophet Muhammad was a great general and tactician, heroic solder and a combat general. Prophet Muhammad always employed war, in order for him to achieve his goal in spreading Islamic faith, to the people who did not want to embrace the new faith of Islam. Prophet Muhammad was a strategist; he used war to strengthen his long-term position on Muslim followers.
Prophet Muhammad belief in Islam as a true religion, and he also believed himself as the “messenger of true God”, he revolutionized war among the Arabian people, which resulted in creation of an ideology of Jihad (holy war) and shahada (martyrdom), in the Islamic faith, where, it changed how other religion thought of war, as a fighting tool to spread there course. These two ideologies were transmitted during the war between the Muslims and Christians in Spain and France. Prophet Muhammad used war as an instrument to spread his quest of Islamic faith, which began within two years before his death. He revolutionalised a new kind of army which has not been seen in the whole of Arabia region. Prophet Muhammad introduced more that eight military reforms that transformed the ways his army fought in the quest of spreading Islamic faith. Prophet Muhammad was able to transform his army, to defeat his enemy’s i.e. Byzantium and Persia armies, who were against him in spreading the message of Islam.
First and foremost, Prophet Muhammad was a religious guerilla leader, when you compare Prophet Muhammad with other generals, he did not seek the defeat of a foreign invader. In order for him to achieve his mission of spreading Islamic faith, Prophet Muhammad replaced the existing social order, which was there in Arabian society with a new one.
Prophet Muhammad began his struggle with a small guerrilla army, which was capable of undertaking limited offensive against the enemies of Islam i.e. hit-and-run raids. By the time he was going to attack the city of Mecca, the Guerrilla army had grown into a large army with infantry units among it, which was trained for a large army combat operations. This Army was truly a military force to be recon with, and it was due to this army, that enables his successor to forge a greater Islamic empire in other part of the world, including India, China and North Africa. Prophet Muhammad success was a textbook example of a successful guerrilla commander, Prophet Muhammad method of spreading Islamic faith throughout the world fulfilled all of the criteria. In Prophet Muhammad his belief that he was a true God’s messenger, that was enough for his followers to obey what they were told by him, by disobeying him, it was like disobeying God. Insurgencies also require a messianic person, the one who is ready to replace the existing social or political order in a society, with a new one. Prophet Muhammad fit that description, he was able to use Islam as a vehicle to be able to challenge the traditional Arab social institution, that to his course were oppressive and unholy that used to exist in the city of Mecca and other cities that were there in Arabian.
Prophet Muhammad had disciplined cadre, which consisted of the small groups of people who converted to Islam previously, and within the cadre, existed people who were talented, for example Abdullah Ibn Ubay and Khalid al-Walid who were commanders in the Army of Prophet Muhammad, the two people were experience field commanders, who provided the much needed expertise in the army. They were also responsible in making sure any directive was carried out according to Prophet Muhammad wishes. The commanders after the death of Prophet Muhammad fought between themselves, in order for one of them to lead the Islamic Religion because the prophet did not leave a successor.
The growth of Prophet Muhammad army was evident, when he was attacking the city of Mecca, this was in 630 BC, he had only ten thousand solders, at the battle of Hunayn, this was a few months later after the insurgent at Mecca, and his army was numbering twelve thousand solders. Same that year, in the battle of Tabuk, his army was believed to be numbering thirty thousands solders and ten thousands cavalry. The holy war which every Muslim must fight can be traced back to Prophet Muhammad. Holy war can also be traced back in the Quran; Prophet Muhammad encourages the use of holy war against non believer of Islamic faith. In Sura 25 or Chapter 25 of the Quran states: “Muslims should not believe the disbelievers of Islamic faith, and they should always strife against non believers of Islamic faith” .
Islamic faith at the moment is considered a peaceful and tolerant religion. In history it has been proven otherwise, although there were certainly times of relative peace and tolerance. In History non-Muslims have always been prosecuted under Islamic faith. The ideology behind Islamic faith has been always been based upon hate of kafir (non believers) and ahl al-kitab (people of book). During the times of Prophet Muhammad and after his death, you had two choices; you either convert to Islam or face execution, this policy only applied to kafir i.e. non-believe of Islamic faith, the people of the book which included: Christians and Jews. The people of the book were required to submit to Islamic teachings to avoid forced conversion or execution, but they were allowed to keep their original faith. After the “people of the book” submit to Islamic faith there status changed to dhimmi-inferior non-Muslim status. Instead of being slaughtered like “chickens”, the “people of the book” would be protected and they will not be molested as long as the acknowledge Islamic faith as superior than their faith. It was considered a battlefield until a nation or a kingdom embraced Islamic faith, this ideology was what Prophet Muhammad called Dar-ul-Harb. Once, all people in a nation or a kingdom has embraced Islamic faith, or in the case of “people of book” submitting to Islamic faith, then that nation was considered to be Dar-us-Salaam i.e. the land of peace. In history many non-believers converted to Islam for fear of being persecuted or killed. Prophet Muhammad created a belief, among the Muslims followers, that God had commandeered them for his efforts and all the Muslims has a responsibility to stand and fight for his religion. Prophet Muhammad was a great general and tactician, heroic solder and a combat general. Prophet Muhammad always employed war, in order for him to achieve his goal for spreading Islamic faith, to the people who did not want to embrace the new faith of Islam. Prophet Muhammad was a strategist; he used war to strengthen his long-term position on Muslim followers. Islamic faith at the moment is considered a peaceful and tolerant religion. In history it has been proven otherwise, although there were certainly times of relative peace and tolerance. Prophet Muhammad fit that description; he was able to use Islam as a vehicle to be able to challenge the traditional Arab social institution, and that of Muslim as a whole.
Bibliography
- Khan, Maulana Wahiduddin. The Prophet Muhammad: a simple guide to his life. New York: good word Publisher, 2002.
- Ramada, Tariq. In the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of Muhammad.New York: Oxford University Press US, 2007.
- Safi, Omid. Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters. London: HarperCollins Publisher, 2009.