Part 3
Qibla
Seventeen months after the apostle arrived in Medina the qibla {the direction in which Muhammad and his followers faced during prayers} was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca. Several Jews came to him and taunted him: 'O Muhammad! What has turned you away from the direction you used to face?
Those who conceal what We have sent down, after We have made it plain, will be cursed by Allah.
Some Muslims tried to keep up connections with the Jews because of the alliance which had existed between them during the years of ignorance; but the apostle said 'Contract no friendships except among your own number. Others would certainly corrupt you. They desire your humiliation; their hatred is clear enough in what they say, but what their hearts conceal is even worse. You have more right to hate them than they you. Say, “Die in your rage!”
One day Abu Bakr entered the schoolhouse of the Jews and found many of them assembled around a man whose name was Finhas. He was a doctor and rabbi. Abu Bakr said 'Woe, fear Allah, and make profession of Islam!' Finhas replied, “We have no need of Allah, but He has need of us! We are independent of Him. If He were independent of us, He would not ask for our money as your master Muhammad does for a war against Mecca.' At this, Abu Bakr became angry, and struck Finhas violently, saying, 'I swear that if there were no treaty between us I would have struck off your head, you enemy of Allah!'
Rajam (Stoning)
Early in Muhammad's stay at Medina the rabbis had met to judge a married man who had committed adultery with a Jewish woman who was also married. The apostle ordered the culprits to be stoned in front of the mosque. When the man felt the first stone he bent over his mistress to protect her from the stones, until they were killed. This is what Allah did for His apostle, to exact the penalty for adultery from these two persons.
The Trinity
A year after his arrival in Medina, and thirteen years after his ‘call’, the apostle of Allah prepared himself for war in obedience to the command of Allah that he should attack the idolaters.
This was the first occasion on which the white banner of Muhammad was seen. Muhammad sent out from Medina sixty or eighty of the Emigrants; none of the Helpers accompanied them. They rode to the water in the Hijaz and there found a great trading caravan of Quraysh from Mecca. There was no battle, but Sa’d shot an arrow which was the first arrow shot in Islam. Two men fled from the unbelievers to join the Muslims; these were al Miqdad and Utba.
First Caravan
When Allah made plunder permissible He allowed four parts to those who had won it, and one part to Himself and to His apostle, exactly as Abdullah had done with the captured caravan.
This was the occasion when the first booty was taken by the Muslims, when the first prisoners were taken by the Muslims and when the first man was slain by the Muslims. It was eighteen months since the Emigrants had arrived in Medina.
Soon the apostle of Allah heard that Abu Sufyan was returning from Syria with a large caravan of merchandise, accompanied by thirty or forty men. Then he addressed the Believers, saying: 'Go forth against this caravan; it may be that Allah will grant you plunder.'