The Life of Muhammad

by M. Husayn Haykal

  The Conversion of ‘Umar ibn al Khattab

  At that time, ‘Umar ibn al Khattab was a mature man of thirty to thirty-five years of age. Physically he was well built and strong of muscle. Temperamentally he was capable of strong passion. He loved wine and amusement, and despite his very harshness of character, he was gentle and compassionate toward his people. As for the Muslims, he was one of their strongest opponents, a merciless aggressor upon their peace, security and religion. Their emigration to Abyssinia and the Negus’s protection of them caused him no little resentment. His pride as a national of Makkah was wounded by the fact that a foreign king and country were protecting Makkans who can find neither security nor peace in their own homes. Muhammad was meeting one day with his own companions in a house in al Safa quarter of Makkah. Among those present were his uncle Hamzah, his cousin, ‘All ibn Abu Talib, Abu Bakr ibn Abu Quhafah, and other Muslims. ‘Umar learned of their meeting and went there resolved to kill Muhammad and thus relieve the Quraysh of its burden, restore its ravaged unity, and re-establish respect for the gods that Muhammad had castigated. On the road to Makkah he was met by Nu’aym ibn ‘Abdullah. Upon learning what ‘Umar was about, Nu’aym said, “By God, you have deceived yourself, O ‘Umar ! Do you think that Banu ‘Abd Manaf would let you run around alive once you had killed their son Muhammad? Why don’t you return to your own house and at least set it straight?” When ‘Umar learned that Fatimah, his sister, and her husband, Said ibn Zayd, had already been converted to Islam, he turned around and went straight to their house. Upon entering the house without knocking, he found them listening to a third person reciting the Qur’an. They, too, having heard him approach, had hid their visitor and put away the manuscript of the Qur’an from which they were reading. ‘Umar asked, “What is this cantillation that I have heard as I walked in?” The pair denied hearing anything. Flying into a rage, ‘Umar told them that he knew that they had foresworn their faith and entered into that of Muhammad. He chastised them and delivered a strong blow to his brotherin-law, Said. Fatimah rose to protect her husband. As she came between the two men, ‘Umar hit her on the head and caused her to bleed. At this, the pair lost. their fear entirely and said together, “Yes, indeed! We have become Muslims. Do what you will!” At this surge of courage, as well as upon seeing the blood of his sister flow, ‘Umar was moved. After calming down a little, he asked his sister to, let him see the manuscript which she and her husband had been reading together. After she surrendered the manuscript to him, he read it and his face changed to an expression of regret for what he had just done. As for what he had just read, he was deeply shaken by its beauty, its majesty, the nobility of its call, and the magnanimity of its message. In short, ‘Umar’s good side got the better of him. He left the house of his sister, his heart mellow and his soul reassured by the new certainty which he had just discovered. He went straight to al Safa, where Muhammad was meeting with his companions, sought permission to enter, and declared his conversion to Islam in front of the Prophet. The Muslims acclaimed his conversion and found therein, as they did in the conversion of Hamzah, new security for the community as a whole.

  The conversion of ‘Umar divided the Quraysh further. It reduced their power and caused them to reconsider their strategy. In fact, it increased Muslim power so greatly and so significantly that both they and the Quraysh had to change their positions vis-à-vis each other. Moreover, it triggered a whole line of events in inspiring new levels of sacrifices and stirring new forces which, together, led to the emigration of Muhammad and to the inception of the political side of his career.

  Chapter 6

  The Story of the Goddesses

  The Emigrants Return from Abyssinia

  The emigrants resided in Abyssinia three months during which ‘Umar ibn al Khattab converted to Islam. In their exile, they heard that upon ‘Umar’s conversion the Quraysh had stopped their persecution of Muhammad and his followers. According to one report a number of them had returned to Makkah, according to another, all. On reaching Makkah they realized that the Quraysh had resumed persecution of the Muslims with stronger hatred and renewed vigor. Unable to resist, a number of them returned to Abyssinia while others entered Makkah under the cover of night and hid themselves away, It is also reported that those who returned took with them a number of new converts to Abyssinia where they were to stay until after the emigration to Madinah and the establishment of Muslim political power.

  We may ask what incited the Muslims of Abyssinia to return to Makkah three months after their emigration. It is at this stage that the story of the goddesses is told by ibn Sa’d in his AL Tabaqat al Kubra, by al Tabari in his Tarikh al Rusul wa al Muluk, as well as by a number of Muslim exegetes and biographers. This story arrested the attention of the western Orientalists who took it as true and repeated it ad nauseam. This story tells that realizing how alienated the Quraysh had become and how intensely they had persecuted his companions, Muhammad expressed the wish that a revelation might come that would reconcile his people rather than further alienate them. When, one day, he was sitting with the Quraysh in one of their club houses around the Ka’bah, he recited to them surah “al Najm.” After reading the verses, “Would you consider al Lat and al ‘Uzza? as well as Manat, the third goddess?” [Qur’an, 53:19-20] he continued the recitation with the statement, “They are the goddesses on high. Their intercession is worthy of being sought.” He then proceeded with his reading of the surah as we know it. When he finished he prostrated himself, and all the Quraysh likewise followed him. At this moment, the Quraysh proclaimed its satisfaction with what the Prophet had read and said, “We have always known that God creates and gives life, gives food, and resuscitates. But our gods intercede for us with Him. Now that you have allowed for them a place in your new religion, we are all with you.” Thus the difference between Muhammad and the Quraysh was dissolved. When the news of this reconciliation reached Abyssinia, the Muslims there decided to return to their beloved country and people. As they reached the approaches of Makkah, they met some Kinanah tribesmen who informed them that Muhammad allowed the gods a good position in his religion, reconciled the Quraysh, and was now followed by everyone. The story then relates how Muhammad reverted by blaspheming those gods and the Quraysh reverted to persecution. It further adds that the returnees stopped to consider what their next course should be. They longed so much to see their relatives and next of kin that they went ahead and entered Makkah.

  Other versions of the same story give detailed descriptions of Muhammad’s attitude toward the gods of Quraysh. They claimed that Quraysh’s plea that if he but grant their gods a share in his religion the Makkans would all support him troubled the Prophet. They relate how Muhammad one evening reviewed surah “al Najm” with Gabriel when the latter made a timely appearance. When he arrived at the sentence in question, Gabriel asked where it came from. Muhammad answered; “I must have attributed to God that which He did not say.” God then revealed the following verses: “They have almost succeeded in inducing you, under promise of their friendship, to attribute to Us, against Our command, that which We did not reveal to you. Had We not confirmed you in your faith, you might have been tempted and hence fallen under the inescapable punishment.”[Qur’an, 17:73-75]. Thereafter, Muhammad returned to his condemnation of the gods, and Quraysh returned to their persecution.

  Incoherence of the Story

  Such is the story of the goddesses reported by more than one biographer, pointed to by more than one exegete of the Qur’an, and singled out and repeated by a number of western Orientalists. It is a story whose incoherence is evident upon the least scrutiny. It contradicts the infallibility of every prophet in conveying the message of his Lord. All the more wonder, therefore, that some Muslim scholars have accepted it as true. Ibn Ishaq, for his part, did not hesitate at all to declare it a fabrication by the zindiqs[ Non-Muslims concealing their unbelief, falsely pretending that they are members of the ummah; mostly Zoroastrians and Manicheans. -Tr.]. Those who wer
e taken in by it rationalized it further with the verse, “Every prophet We sent before you was such that whenever he pressed for revelation to come, Satan would hasten to inspire him with something satisfying his wish and thus necessitate God’s abrogation of it if scripture is to be kept absolutely pure and true. God is all wise and all knowing. That which Satan had given is a lure for those who are sick of mind and hard of heart. Surely the unjust are deep in error.”[Qur’an, 22:52-53]. Some explain the word “tamanna” in the foregoing verse as meaning “to read;” others give it the usual meaning of “to press wishfully.” Muslim and Western scholars who accept the story explain that the Prophet suffered heavily from the persecution the unbelievers directed at his companions. They tell how the unbelievers killed some Muslims, exposed others to burning by the sun while pinned down to the ground with heavy stones (as was the case with Bilal), and how these sufferings pressured Muhammad to permit his companions to migrate to Abyssinia. They underscore Quraysh’s alienation and the psychological effect of their boycott upon the Prophet. Since Muhammad was very anxious to convert them to Islam and to save them from idol worship, they claim that his thinking; of reconciling them by adding a few verses to surah “al Najm” is not farfetched. Finally, they allege that Muhammad’s jubilation was all too natural when, coming to the end of his recitation and prostrating himself, the Quraysh joined in, showing their preparation to follow him now that he had given a share to their gods with God.

  To these tales of some books of biography and exegesis, Sir William Muir adds what he thinks is a final and conclusive proof. He says that the emigrants to Abyssinia had hardly spent three months there during which the Negus had tolerated as well as protected them when they decided to return to Makkah. Had they not heard news of a reconciliation between Muhammad and Quraysh nothing would have caused them to return so soon. But, reasons Muir, how could there be reconciliation between Muhammad and Quraysh without a determined effort to that effect on the part of Muhammad? In Makkah, the Muslims had then been far fewer and weaker than the Quraysh. They were still incapable of protecting themselves against the injuries which the Quraysh had been inflicting upon them. Why, then, should the Quraysh have taken the initiative in such reconciliation?

  Refutation of These Arguments

  These are the arguments on which stands the claim for veracity of the story of the goddesses. They are all false, incapable of standing any scrutiny or analysis. Let us begin with the argument of the Orientalist Muir. The Muslims who returned from Abyssinia did so for two reasons. First, ‘Umar ibn al Khattab was converted to Islam shortly after their emigration. With him, he brought to the Muslim camp the same boldness, determination, and the tribal standing with which he had been fighting the Muslims before. He never concealed his conversion nor did he ever shun the Quraysh opponents. On the contrary, he proclaimed his conversion publicly and challenged the Quraysh openly. He did not approve the Muslim’s concealment of themselves, their secret movement from one end of Makkah to the other, and their holding of prayers at a safe distance from any Quraysh attack. ‘Umar began to fight the Quraysh as soon as he entered the faith of Islam, constantly pressed his way close to the Ka’bah, and performed his prayer there in company with whatever Muslims that decided to join him. It was at this new challenging turn of events that the Quraysh came to the realization that any further injury inflicted upon Muhammad or his companions would henceforth create a civil war of which nobody knew the consequences. By this time, a great number of men from the various clans of Quraysh had joined Islam. To kill any one of these would necessarily imply the rise to war not only of his fellow Muslims but of all the clans of which the various Muslims or allies were members, even though the rest of the clan or the tribe were still of a different religion. After the conversion of ‘Umar and the entry of so many members of other clans into the faith, it became impossible to fight Muhammad in the same way as before. Such a course could easily expose the whole of Quraysh to terrible peril. It was necessary to find a new way which did not incur such risks, and until such way was found, the Quraysh thought it advantageous to enter into an armistice with Muhammad and the Muslims. It was this news which reached the emigrants in Makkah and prompted them to return home.

  Two Revolutions in Abyssinia

  The emigrants would have hesitated to return to Makkah were it not for another reason. A revolution broke out against the Negus in which his personal faith as well as his protection of the Muslims were under attack. For their part, the Muslims had prayed and wished that God would give the Negus victory over his enemies. But they could not participate in such a conflict since they were foreigners who arrived there too recently. When, at the same time, they heard of the news of an armistice between Muhammad and Quraysh favorable to the Muslims and protecting them from injury, they decided to escape from the Abyssinian revolution and return home. That is exactly what all or some of them did. They hardly reached Makkah, however, when Quraysh decided upon a course of action against the Muslims and entered into a pact with their allies to boycott Banu Hashim completely in order to prevent any intermarriage with them and to stop any purchase by or sale to them. As soon as this new alliance was concluded, open war broke out again. The returning Muslims sought immediately to re-emigrate and take with them all those who could manage to go. These were to meet greater difficulties as the Quraysh sought to impede their move. What caused the Muslims to return from Abyssinia, therefore, was not, as Orientalist Muir claims, the reconciliation of Muhammad with Quraysh. Rather, it was the armistice to which the Quraysh was compelled to resort following the conversion of ‘Umar and his bold support of the religion of God with his tribal relations. The so-called reconciliation, therefore, constitutes no evidence for the story of the goddesses.

  Inverted Evidence of the Qur’anic Text

  As for the argument of some biographers and exegetes that the verses, “They had almost succeeded in inducing you . . .”[Qur’an, 17:73-75] and “Every prophet We sent before you was such that, whenever he pressed for revelation . . .”[Qur’an, 22:52-53] constitute evidence for the story of the goddesses, it is yet more incoherent than that of Sir Muir. It is sufficient to remember that the first group of verses include the statement, “Had We not confirmed you in your faith, you might have been tempted.” This group shows that even if Satan had actually hastened to inspire Muhammad with something satisfying his wish and thus induced him to favor the unbelievers, God had confirmed the Prophet in his faith and prevented him from falling to the temptation. Had Muhammad really fallen, God would have inflicted upon him inescapable punishment. The point is, precisely, that he did not fall. Hence, these verses prove the opposite of what these advocates assume them to prove. The story of the goddesses asserts that Muhammad did indeed incline toward the Quraysh, that the Quraysh had indeed induced him to add to the divine word, and that he indeed did attribute to God that which God had not said. The text,[“Muhammad saw some of his Lord’s greatest signs. Would you consider, after al Lit and al ‘Uzza, Manat, the third goddess? But would you give God the females and keep for yourselves the males? That is indeed an unjust division. But they are all mere names which you and your ancestors have named and for which God gave no authority. In this claim of yours you followed naught but conjecture and your own wishful thinking, while true guidance has arrived to you from your Lord” (Qur’an, 53:18-23)] on the other hand, tells us the exact opposite, namely that God confirmed him in his faith and that he did not add to the divine word. Moreover, we should well bear in mind the fact that the books of exegesis and the books dealing with the causes and circumstances of revelation regardless of whether or not they subcribe to the story in question affirm that these verses had been revealed at a time other than that during which the story of the goddesses had presumably taken place. To resort to the story of the goddesses in order to disprove the infallibility of the prophets in their conveyance of divine messages not only runs counter to the whole history of Muhammad but constitutes a fallacy of incoherent reaso
ning and, hence, a futile and perverse argument.

  As for “Every prophet We sent before you . . . ,” these verses are utterly devoid of relation to the story of the goddesses. Moreover, they clearly affirm that God will abrogate all that the devil may bring forth, that Satan’s work is only a lure to those who are sick of mind and hard of heart, and that God, the all wise and all-knowing, would keep His scripture absolutely pure and true.

  Fallacious reasoning of the Claim

  Let us now turn to a critical and scientific analysis of the story. The first evidence which imputes suspicion to the story is the fact that it has been reported in many forms and versions. First there is the report that the fabricated verses consist of the following words: “Tilka al gharaniq al ‘ula; wa inna shafa‘atahu-nna laturtaja.” Others reported them as consisting of, “al gharaniqah al ‘ula: inna shafa’atahum turtaja.” Still others reported that they consist of the following words, “Inna shafa‘atahunna turtaja” without mentioning the word “al gharaniq” or “al gharaniqah” at all. According to a fourth version, they were supposed to consist of the words: “Innaha lahiya al gharaniq al ula..” A fifth version reads, “Wa innahunna lahunna al gharaniq al ula wa inna shafa’atahunna lahiya allati, turtaja.” The collections of Hadith have given us still more varied versions. The multiplicity of the versions proves that the report itself is fabricated, that it had been fabricated by the zindiqs-as ibn Ishaq had said earlier and that the forgers had sought thereby to spread doubt into the message of Muhammad and to attack his candidness in conveying the message of his Lord.