Part 2
Permission to Wage War
When Allah gave His apostle permission to wage war, the promise to fight immediately became a condition of allegiance to Islam.
The first verse which came down permitting him to wage war and to shed began, 'Permission is granted unto those who fight they have been oppressed, and Allah may aid those who have been driven from their homes merely for saying “Our Lord is Allah”.’
Then a further verse was recorded: ‘Fight against them until there be no more temptation’ until Believers shall no more be tempted to abandon their religion ‘and until the religion be Allah’s’, that is, until Allah alone shall be worshipped and none else besides Him.
Since permission to fight had now been granted, the apostle of Allah accepted allegiance at the meeting on the hill only from people who swore to fight for him and his Lord against all men. He promised paradise as a reward.
After the act of allegiance was over, Satan roared from the top of the hill in such a loud voice. He cried to the people of Mina: “Beware of this despicable apostate and his followers! Verily they are assembled to attack you!” {So Satan made an appearance to warn the peoples in the surrounding area where Muhammad and his band of holy warriors were preparing to fight for God.}
Hijra
When the Quraysh saw that the apostle of Allah had gathered a united group, they met to consult. Satan himself greeted them at the door of their meeting place in the guise of an aged sheikh, dressed in a cloak.
One man, Suraqa, determined to earn the promised hundred camels for capturing Muhammad, consulted the arrows which foretell the future. But it said “He will escape”. When I mounted my horse to pursue him it stumbled and I fell to the ground. Again I took out my arrows. They gave me the same reply. {Talking arrows that can tell the future and a stumbling horse foiling the pursuit of its target; certainly ingredients for a mythical tale.}
Medina
The first public sermon delivered by the apostle was as follows: When one of you is snatched off by death ¬you will look forward and see nothing but hell!
He whom Allah guides, none can lead astray; and whom He leads astray, none can guide. There is no god but Allah and He has no companion. {Allah actually leads people astray.}
Fear him with the fear that is His due, He becomes wrathful when His covenant is broken. {Ensure you live in fear as it would not be recommended that one get on the wrong side of this wrathful god.}
Allah drew up a document con¬cerning the emigrants and the helpers and the making of a treaty with the Jews: ‘This concerns the believers who fled from Mecca and those of Medina, as well as those who follow them; join with them, and fight with them, for they are a community excluding all other men. He who kills a Believer will himself be killed unless his victim’s kinsmen accept blood¬ ransom. He who aids or shelters a non-believer will earn the curse and wrath of Allah on the day of resurrection, nor will there be any escape therefrom. None shall depart to war except by the permission of Muhammad.’
Neither the Quraysh nor those who aid them are to be protected. If the Believers are called on by the Jews to make peace, they must agree, except in the case of a Jihad.
If there should be any differences of opinion concerning this covenant and its meaning, they must be placed before Allah and Muhammad the apostle of Allah.
The apostle of Allah wrote to the Jews of Khaybar: This is from Muhammad, apostle of Allah, friend and brother of Moses, who confirms the revelation which Moses brought! Allah says to you, “Muhammad is the apostle of Allah! Those with him are violent against unbelievers but merciful to one another.”
During an argument between a Jew and a Christian the apostle revealed the following: ‘The Jews say the Christians are nothing, and the Christians say the Jews are nothing yet they both base their arguments on scripture. They are ignorant, and Allah will judge between them on the day of the resurrection. Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was a Muslim, and he was no idolater.’