Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Change of Capital from Medina to Kufa

In rajab of 36 a.h. (JANUARY 657) ALI decided to transfer the headquarters of his government from Medina in Hijaz to Kufa in Iraq. When law and order had been restored in Basra, he appointed Abdullah ibn Abbas as its new governor, and then left for Kufa which became, thenceforth, the new capital of Islam.

On Rajab 12 of 36 A.H., Ali arrived at the gates of Kufa. The nobles of the city came out to greet him and to congratulate him on his victory. Entering the city, Ali first went into the Great Mosque, offered the prayer of thanksgiving to God for victory, and then delivered a speech in which he thanked the people of Kufa for their support, and commended them for their gallant performance in the battle of Basra.

The nobles of Kufa requested Ali to stay at the governor's palace but he did not agree. Instead, he chose an unpretentious house for his residence.

Historians have tried to find out the reasons why Ali changed the capital from Medina to Kufa. Professors Sayed Abdul Qadir and Muhammad Shuja-ud-Din, write in their book, The History of Islam, (published in Lahore, Pakistan):

Seven months after taking charge of the government, Ali made Kufa his new capital. Following were some of the reasons that prompted this change:

1. The battle of Basra or the battle of the Camel was fought and was won with the aid of the people of Kufa. Ali made Kufa his capital, partly in recognition of this service by them.

2. Ali was anxious to save Medina from the havoc of civil strife like the one which had ended in the murder of Uthman. He did not want Medina to become the locale of political disturbances at any time, and he wanted to save the City of the Prophet from destruction or desecration in the possible wars of the future.

3. Kufa had a more central position in the empire. Administrative facility of the vast and sprawling territories dictated this change.

4. It was easier for Ali to watch the movements of Muawiya from Kufa than from Medina.” (The History of Islam)

Kh. Muhammad Latif Ansari of Pakistan, a contemporary historian, has pointed out in his History of Islam, that just as Abu Jahl and Abu Sufyan were responsible for the migration of Muhammad from Makkah to Medina, so was the latter's son, Muawiya, responsible for Ali's migration from Medina to Kufa.

He says that civil wars had begun but theaters of war were too distant from Medina. Ali, therefore, changed the capital for strategic reasons, and this supports his claim that it was the rebellion of Muawiya, the governor of Syria, which was responsible for his (Ali's) migration from Hijaz to Iraq.

Actually, there were both pragmatic and idealistic reasons why Ali changed the capital. Some of them were as follows:

(1). When Ali ascended the throne of khilafat, the important urban centers of the empire were Damascus in Syria, Makkah and Medina in Hijaz, and Basra and Kufa in Iraq.

Damascus was held by Muawiya, and was, therefore, the center of opposition to Ali. Of the other four cities, Makkah, at first, was in the hands of the rebel leaders - Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr. In Makkah, they raised a volunteer army of 3000 warriors. They left Makkah with their army for Basra, and occupied that city. Many of those Makkans who did not go to Basra with the rebel army, gave it their material support. Thus Ali could count Makkah out.

Medina had a record hardly any better. As noted before, when Uthman was killed, Medina was at the mercy of the rebels. The Muhajireen and the Ansar realized that there was no one in all Dar-ul-Islam who could save the city from being plundered, the people from being massacred, and the government from breaking down, except Ali. They, therefore, appealed to him to take charge of the government.

Ali told the Muhajireen and the Ansar that he would accept their offer if they gave him a pledge to obey his orders both in peace and in war. They gave him their pledge to obey him, and he accepted their offer.

But only a few days had passed when rebellion reared its head in Makkah against the caliphal authority. Ali went into the Mosque, and called upon the Muhajireen and the Ansar to rise in defense of the central government. Their only response was silence. Ali reminded them of the pledge they had given to him to obey him and they still did not respond. All his appeals and reminders seemed to fall on deaf ears.

It was only after many weeks of appeals and a great effort that Ali could enlist the support of seven hundred volunteers in Medina. This was all that Medina would do for him. He left Medina with these volunteers – never to return.

Basra, the fourth city, had acknowledged Ali's authority, and he had appointed Uthman ibn Hunaif Ansari its new governor. But before Ali arrived in Iraq, the “triumvirate” of Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr had already captured Basra. Uthman ibn Hunaif barely managed to escape from Basra with his life.

Now the “choice” of Ali was narrowed down to one city – Kufa. Ali sent Imam Hasan and Ammar ibn Yasir to Kufa to bring reinforcements for him. Kufa sent 12,000 warriors to Basra, and it were these warriors who fought in the battle of the Camel, and defeated the “triumvirate” of Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr.

Makkah, Medina and Basra had left Ali in no illusions about what they would do in an emergency. But the citizens of Kufa had sent reinforcements to him at a most critical moment in his career. He could clearly see that if there was war with Muawiya, he had only the army of Kufa to depend upon. It was, therefore, the logic of events that influenced Ali's decision to make Kufa the capital of the empire.

The people of Medina, it appears, had only a tepid interest in the events taking place around them. When Ali declared that he would transfer the governmental headquarters to Kufa, no one among them protested against this decision. They did not react to such a momentous change as if they couldn't care less if their city was or was not the capital of Islam!

(2). Medina was the cradle of Islamic culture and civilization. The truly Islamic mode of life could be seen at its best only in Medina. The foreign wars and conquests had brought people of many different cultures in the dominion of Islam. If Medina were also to remain the political and administrative capital of the empire, as it was the spiritual capital, then the alien people, with their alien cultures and un-Islamic background, would have come to live in it.

They would have brought their own mores, customs, manners, traditions and religious practices with them. By doing so, they would have either dominated the pure Islamic culture or they would have diluted it. At any rate, pristine Islam would have been exposed at all times to alien influences.

Joel Carmichael

Islam collided with the immense intellectual entity of Christianity, heavy with the thought of Greece and Rome. Christian thinking included not merely the whole of Hellenistic thought, but also the ideas current in Persia and elsewhere throughout the ancient East. Thus an immense variety of traditions and ideas, a central complex of ideas and institutions, all more or less predigested by Christianity, was transplanted en masse to the new universe of Islam. (The Shaping of the Arabs, New York, p.194, 1967)

But Ali shifted the political center of Islam away from Medina, and thus saved the Islamic way of life in its very cradle. He saved Makkah and Medina from the cultural hegemony of the Christians, the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans and the Magians. He maintained the character of these two cities as it was in the time of Muhammad, the Apostle of God, himself.

(3). In most cases, the capital of a nation also becomes the capital of vice, sin, crimes and other evils. Babylon, ancient Rome and Byzantium, the capitals of great empires, were also the fleshpots of their times. Men and women of the conquered nations visit the great imperial cities, and they bring their vices with them. Uncontrolled growth, over-crowding, and the facileness of sprawling metropolitan centers breed evils of all kinds. Many modern capitals are not unworthy runners-up to Babylon and ancient Rome.

Medina was the fountainhead of the teachings of Qur’an, and it also had the mausoleum of Muhammad, the Messenger of God, in it. Muhammad was the Interpreter of the Last Message of God to mankind, and his duty was to invite mankind to live pure, noble and chaste lives. Islam was the builder of character, par excellence, and there was no better example of chaste and sanctified life than the life of its Bringer.

If Medina had become like other imperial capitals of the past, then Islam's invitation to the rest of mankind would have become a mockery. Ali saved the sanctity of Medina, and the ethos of Islam's missionary program by separating the spiritual (or religious) and the political centers of the empire.

Ali was truly prophetic in his vision. He saved Medina from degenerating into a prototype of Damascus or Baghdad or Cordova. The panoply of civilization rapidly developed in Syria, sustained and fed by the rapidly expanding empire.

The wealth of the conquered nations poured into Damascus (and later, into Baghdad and other cities). With wealth, came its concomitant – luxury – and the ambition of the ruling classes to cultivate and patronize the “fine arts.” Greek and Persian singing and dancing girls came into the metropolitan centers of the empire of the Arabs in a steady stream.

Those readers who wish to see a vignette of the heyday of the Umayyad and Abbasi empires, can do so in many books, among them the twenty volumes of Kitab al-Aghani (The Book of Songs) by Abul-Faraj Isfahani, or in another book called The Ring of the Dove by Imam ibn Hazm of Spain, both faithful mirrors of their times.

A. J. Arberry

The empire continued to increase in wealth, as trade went farther and farther afield; the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the grasping few, who relished an affluence which would have amazed their Bedouin forebears.

Gorgeous palaces and lavishly - appointed mansions adorned the capital Baghdad and the provincial centers, Bokhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Shiraz, Damascus, Aleppo, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tripoli, Tunis, Fez, Palermo, Cordova. The dolce vita of the gilded aristocracy is brilliantly portrayed, as it was lived in Andalusia on the eve of the Norman conquest of England, in The Ring of the Dove, a highly sophisticated manual of courtly love composed by an eminent theologian, Ibn Hazm.

Slave boys and singing girls, amenities unknown to the ancient Arabs, provided Muslim gentlemen with novel pleasures and the poets with a new vocabulary. Wine was forbidden to the Faithful by the unambiguous prohibition of holy writ; but the rulers of Islam indulged to the full, and their minstrels vied with one another to celebrate the praises of the daughter of the grape. (Aspects of Islamic Civilization, p. 15, 1967)

It must not be assumed, however, that only the distant cities such as Cordova and Baghdad were contaminated by the vices of luxury and opulence. Makkah and Medina themselves were not immune to their allurements.

Ella Marmura

The love theme poetry found expression in two different genres. One was gay, light-hearted and urbane, and this grew in the cities of Mecca and Medina. Both were cities of affluence but shorn of political power.

Many of the young Muslim aristocrats excluded from public office, frittered away their wealth in the pursuit of pleasure. Schools of singing had sprung up and a number of love lyrics were set to music. The leader of this school of poetry was 'Umar ibn Abi Rabiah (d. 720), a Meccan aristocrat. The second genre of ghazal flourished most among the Bedouin, portraying an intensity of feeling and depicting all the anguish and despair of tragic love. (“Arabic Literature: a Living Heritage,” published in the book, Introduction to Islamic Civilization, edited by R. M. Savory, New York, 1976)

Philip K. Hitti

Mecca's surrender meant its acceptance of Islam. One after the other the Quraish moved on to the new capital (Medina) to share in the promotion of the new faith and to embark on new careers. The highest positions in the government and the army were open to them. Many Quraishis took part in the campaigns that in the orthodox period, particularly under Umar ibn al-Khattab, resulted in the conquests of the Fertile Crescent, Persia and Egypt. Later some served as governors of provinces in the newly acquired domain. Life in Mecca then developed along two opposite lines, one of revelry and the other of piety.

In the wake of the conquests, booty, tribute, and taxes found their way in abundance into the city; they became its new source of income. This more than compensated for the loss of caravan trade. Pilgrimage, of course, continued; in fact it increased. Once a center of commerce, Mecca now became a center of pleasure. Its nouveaux riches brought along harem, dancers, and singers, male and female, as well as new concepts of what constitute the good life. They lived in baronial style in villas and surroundings the like of which Mecca had never seen before. (pp. 21-22).

At the same time, life in Medina, as in Mecca, was developing along a different line, the line of worldliness. After all, the golden stream from the provinces in the form of personal and land tax poured into Medina first. The volume flooding the state treasury was overwhelming. In its bid for the patronage of the new elite of pleasure-seekers, Medina had, over her rival to the south, the advantage of higher altitude, richer water supply, and more extensive gardens. Retired government officials, civil and military, brought along their slaves and concubines, their singers, dancers and musicians, male and female - and created an atmosphere never seen before in the Holy City. (p. 55) (Capital Cities of Arab Islam, 1973)

Such was Medina even after its status had been “scaled down,” and it had become a provincial town. But if it had remained the political and the commercial capital of the empire of the Muslims, it would, without a doubt, also have become their “entertainment” capital, attracting all the Bohemian characters of the times, in quest of the pleasures of the senses.

(4). Al-Qur’an al-Majid, the Book of God, was revealed in immaculate Arabic. Makkah and Medina were the cradles of Qur’anic Arabic. People speaking alien languages and living in the capital of their conquerors, corrupt their language (the language of the conquerors).

If Medina had remained the imperial capital, the Qur’anic Arabic would, inevitably, have been subjected to many alien influences. The Qur’anic sciences and its exegesis, and its lexicon, did not exist in any organized form in the first century of Hijra. But it was essential for the understanding of Qur’an by the contemporary generation and by the generations to come that the speech of Makkah and Medina should remain as it was in the time of the Prophet so that the words of Arabic would not acquire meanings different from those which were current in his time.

All living languages change, and words change their meanings. Like any other living organism, words also are born and they also die. And like any other living organism, they are also susceptible to alien and extraneous influences.

Its best example is the “pidginizing” of modern English. Arabic too would have been “pidginized” but it was saved from this fate by Ali who changed the direction of the traffic of the aliens away from Medina. He is, thus, the first and the greatest benefactor of the Arabic language and of the Qur’anic sciences.

(5). The Umayyad rulers of Damascus lived in imitation of the Byzantine and Persian emperors. They had surrounded themselves with all the instruments of luxury and salacity which their power could procure for them. The pristine simplicity and the egalitarianism of Islam had disappeared from Syria if they had ever existed there in the first place.

Ali, however, wished to present to the world the real picture of Islam. He wished to present to the world the same picture of Islam that Muhammad Mustafa had first presented to the Arabs in Makkah and Medina. But it was a picture that the neighbors of Syria and most of the Syrians themselves had never seen. In fact, in the years to come, their rulers were going to show to them the picture, not of Islam, but of anti-Islam.

John Alden Williams

All of the Persian kings, from Ardashir son of Papak to Yazdagird, separated themselves from their courtiers by a curtain.

I once asked (the great court musician) Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Mawsili, Did the Umawi caliphs show themselves to their familiars and singers?' He replied, ‘Muawiya and Marwan I, Abd al-Malik, Walid I, Sulayman, Hisham and Marwan II, were separated from their familiars by a curtain, so that none of the courtiers saw what the caliph was doing, if he was transported by the music, or shook his shoulders, or danced, or threw off his clothing, so none but his special slaves saw him.

As for the rest of the Umawi caliphs, they were not ashamed to dance or throw off their garments and expose their nakedness in the presence of their familiars and singers. But for that, none of them was like Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik and Walid ibn Yazid for shamelessness and obscene speech in the presence of their familiars, and taking off their clothes, not caring what they did.' (p. 81). (Life at the Caliph's Court:' from the Book of the Crown (Kitab al-Taj), Cairo, 1914, p.5. Anonymous: between 847-861 A.D.” – Themes of Islamic Civilization, Berkeley, 1971)

When Ali made Kufa his capital, friend and foe saw with their own eyes the Islam of Muhammad, the Messenger of God. They saw that the real sovereign of the Muslims worked with his own hands in the fields and gardens, and fed himself and his family from the wages that he earned himself.

They saw that he lived on coarse barley bread but everyone else in his dominion was well-fed. They saw that though his own shirt was covered with patches, his subjects were all well dressed. They also saw that he had no marble palace but lived in a mud hut, and that there were no sentinels or pickets at the door of his home, and that he was accessible to everyone at every hour of the day or night.

(6). In the interests of the security of Makkah and Medina, Ali wished to make them politically unimportant so that they would not attract unwelcome attentions. The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth which Muhammad Mustafa had founded, had ceased, after his death, to be “heavenly,” and had become an ersatz Greek or Persian government.

Under the changed conditions, the dignity and the sacred character of the twin cities of Makkah and Medina were always in peril. Foreseeing the times ahead, Ali put both cities out of the orbit of political events. His younger son, Husain, also had the same anxiety to protect the sanctity of the city of his grandfather. He too saw the storm clouds massing at the horizon, and he too left Medina and Makkah, just in time, to draw the attention of the government, away from them.

After the butchery of Kerbala in 680, it were the holy cities of Islam – Medina and Makkah – which attracted the attention of Yazid, the son of Muawiya. He sent his general, Muslim bin Aqaba, to Medina with a Syrian army which massacred 10,000 citizens in cold blood.

The dead included many companions of the Prophet. Medina was abandoned to the pleasure of the army of occupation. The Great Mosque of the Prophet was converted into a stable for the Syrian cavalry. Those few who were not slaughtered, had to take the oath of allegiance to Yazid. Muslim bin Aqaba told them that Yazid was the master of their lives, and could sell them into slavery, if he wished to do so.

Alfred Guillaume

Between the period covered by the Sira and the editing of the book itself loom the two tragedies of Karbala, when Husayn and his followers were slain in 61 A.H., and the sack of Medina in 63 A.H. when some ten thousand of the Ansar including no less than eighty of the Prophet's Companions were put to death. (The Life of Muhammad, page xxvii, 1967)

Muslim bin Aqaba left Medina smoldering in ruins and then marched on Makkah. But he died before reaching his destination, and the command of his forces passed to another officer of Yazid, one Ibn Nameer.

In Makkah, Abdullah bin Zubayr had proclaimed himself a khalifa. Ibn Nameer bombarded the city from the surrounding hills and burned the Kaaba. But he had not captured the city yet when Yazid died in Damascus. Thereupon, ibn Nameer raised the siege, and withdrew to Syria.

But all that Makkah and Abdullah bin Zubayr got, was a reprieve. When Abdul Malik bin Marwan became khalifa, Makkah once again became a theater of war. His general, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, laid siege to Makkah, bombarded it, and demolished part of the Kaaba. Abdullah bin Zubayr held out for seven months. He was killed in the precincts of the Kaaba, and the city surrendered to the conquerors.

Philip K. Hitti

In 683 a Syrian army was sent by Yazid against the caliphal claimant Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr. The rebel sought sanctuary on the inviolable soil of the sanctuary but was nevertheless attacked and the Kaaba caught fire. The Black Stone was split in three pieces. The house of Allah, in the words of the great historian, al-Tabari, “looked like the torn bosom of a mourning woman.” (Capital Cities of Islam, 1973)

Ali sought, by changing the capital, to save Medina and Makkah from the fate which befell them notwithstanding his efforts to the contrary. But then who else in the entire Muslim world shared his and his children's solicitude for the reverence and safety of these two cities?

When Husain ibn Ali sensed that danger was approaching them, he immediately left, with all members of his family, for Iraq, where he knew, he had a rendezvous with death. But Abdullah bin Zubayr had no hesitation in inviting desecration and destruction upon them, and massacre upon their inhabitants.

The Muslim world has yet to acknowledge its debt of gratitude to Ali for his vision, foresight and humanity. He protected the cradles of Islam in his lifetime, and took steps for their protection after his death. There was no other way in which he could have saved Hijaz from experiencing the dislocations, turbulence and trauma caused by politics and war, except by transferring the capital from Medina to Kufa.

When Ali changed the capital of the empire, Muawiya thought that he had, at last, caught Ali doing something that was open to question, and wrote to him that he (Ali) had “abandoned” the city of the Prophet - an act so “reprehensible” that it could not be condoned.

Only four years later, Muawiya himself became the absolute ruler of the empire of the Muslims, and there was no one who could question him on any of his actions. If he had so much love for the city of the Prophet as he affected to show in his letter to Ali, he could have made it his capital. But he did not nor did any of his successors, nor did any of the caliphs of the Abbasi dynasty.

The Conquest of Khyber

Khyber is a township 90 miles north of Medina, in a harra or volcanic tract, well-watered with many springs issuing forth from its basaltic rocks. It has an excellent irrigation system and produces rich harvests of dates and grain.

Long before the time of the Prophet of Islam, the valley of Khyber and other valleys in its north and south, were colonized by the Jews. As noted before, these Jews were not only the best farmers of the country, they were also its leaders in industry and business, and they enjoyed a monopoly of the armaments industry.

In the times of the Prophet, the best arsenals of Arabia were all in Khyber. Those Jews who had been banished from Medina, had also resettled in Khyber, and they were noted for their skills in metallurgy.

Betty Kelen

The Qaynuqa were banished from Medina. Chiefly they were metalworkers, having learned the art of beating out the splendid shining armor, the moon-curved swords and sun-catching helmets that glorified warfare in the desert. They made fine bronze armor, beaten and burnished, with helmets to match and gleaming swords whose swift cut could make the very air whistle. (Muhammad – the Messenger of God)

The Jews of Khyber also heard about the Treaty of Hudaybiyya and its terms. Just as the Quraysh in Makkah and Umar bin al-Khattab and some other “hawks” among the Muslims in Medina had interpreted the treaty as the “surrender” of the Muslims, so also did the Jews of Khyber consider it a symptom of the incipient decline of the power of the State of Medina.

Banking on this theory of “decline,” they began to instigate the Arab tribes between Khyber and Medina to attack the Muslims. One of these tribes was the Ghatafan, the allies of the Jews of Khyber.

They began to send their raiding expeditions into the pastures around Medina. One of these pastures belonged to the Prophet himself. On one occasion, the son of Abu Dharr el-Ghiffari was grazing the camels of the Prophet when the Ghatafan struck. They killed him, and captured his mother who was with him, and they drove with them the herd of camels. The Muslims, however, were able, just in time, to overtake the marauders and to rescue the wife of Abu Dharr el-Ghiffari.

Muhammad decided to put an end to these gratuitous provocation. He thought that it would not be prudent to wait until the Jews and their allies laid another siege to Medina, and that it would be better to forestall them. He, therefore, ordered the Muslims to mobilize, and to march on Khyber.

In September 628 the Prophet left Medina with 1600 soldiers. Some Muslim women also accompanied the army to work as nurses and to give first aid to the wounded and the sick.

Khyber had eight fortresses. The strongest and the most important of them all was the fortress of al-Qamus. The captain of its garrison was a famous champion called Merhab. He had, under his command, the best fighting men of Khyber, and they were the best-equipped soldiers of the time in all Arabia.

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

The campaign of Khaybar was one of the greatest. The masses of Jews living in Khaybar were the strongest, the richest, and the best equipped for war of all the peoples of Arabia. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

The Muslims, however, were able to capture all the fortresses of Khyber except al-Qamus which proved to be impregnable. Muhammad send Abu Bakr on one occasion, and Umar on another, with hand-picked warriors, to attempt the conquest of al-Qamus. Both made the attempt and both failed. Some other captains also tried to capture the fortress but they also failed. These repeated failures began to undermine the morale of the army.

Muhammad realized that something dramatic had to be done to restore the wilting morale of the Muslims, and immediately. And when one more attempt to capture al-Qamus had also aborted, his mind was made up, and he declared: “Tomorrow I shall give the banner of Islam to a hero who loves God and His Apostle, and God and His Apostle love him. He is one who attacks the enemy but does not run, and he will conquer Khyber.”

The companions knew that the prediction of the Messenger of God would come true, and that Khyber would be conquered on the following day. Everyone of them, therefore, became a candidate for the glory and honor of conquering it. Many of them were kept awake all night by the ambition to become “the beloved of God and His Apostle,” and to become the hero who would capture Khyber.

On the following morning, the companions gathered in front of the tent of the Prophet. Each of them was decked out in martial array, and was vying with others in looking the most impressive figure.

Presently, the Messenger of God came out of his tent, and the vast throng began to show signs of restlessness. Each of the companions tried to make himself more conspicuous than others in the hope of catching the eye of the master. But the latter didn't appear to notice any of them and only posed one question: “Where is Ali?”

Ali at this time was in his tent. He knew that if he was the “beloved of God and His Apostle,” then he, and no one else would capture the fortress of al-Qamus. The Prophet sent for him.

When Ali came, the Prophet solemnly placed the banner of Islam in his hand. He invoked God's blessings upon him, prayed for his victory, and bade him farewell. The young hero then advanced toward the most formidable fortress in all Arabia where the bravest of the Hebrew warriors were awaiting him. He fought against them all, overcame them, and planted the banner of Islam on its main tower.

When the conqueror returned to the camp, the Messenger of God greeted him with smiles, kisses and embraces, and prayed to God to bestow His best rewards upon His lion.

Ibn Ishaq

Burayda b. Sufyan b. Farwa al-Aslami told me from his father Sufyan b. Amr b. Al-Akwa: the Apostle sent Abu Bakr with his banner against one of the forts of Khyber. He fought but returned having suffered losses and not taken it. On the morrow he sent Umar and the same thing happened. The Apostle said: “Tomorrow I will give the flag to a man who loves Allah and His Apostle. Allah will conquer it by his means. He is no runaway.” Next day he gave the flag to Ali. (The Life of the Messenger of God)

Edward Gibbon

North-east of Medina, the ancient and wealthy town of Khyber was the seat of the Jewish power in Arabia: the territory, a fertile spot in the desert, was covered with plantations and cattle, and protected by eight castles, some of which were esteemed of impregnable strength. The forces of Mohammed consisted of 200 horse and 1400 foot: in the succession of eight regular and painful sieges, they were exposed to danger and fatigue, and hunger; and the most undaunted chiefs despaired of the event.

The Apostle revived their faith and courage by the example of Ali, on whom he bestowed the surname of the Lion of God, perhaps we may believe that a Hebrew champion of gigantic stature was cloven to the chest by his irresistible scimitar; but we cannot praise the modesty of romance, which represents him as tearing from its hinges the gate of a fortress and wielding the ponderous buckler in his left hand (sic). (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)

Washington Irving

The city of Khyber was strongly defended by outworks, and its citadel, Al-Kamus, built on a steep rock, was deemed impregnable. The siege of this city was the most important enterprise the Moslems had yet undertaken. When Mohammed came in sight of its strong and frowning walls, and its rock-built citadel, he is said to have prayed for Lord's succor in capturing it.

The siege of the citadel lasted for some time, and tasked the skill and patience of Mohammed and his troops, as yet little practiced in the attack of fortified places. Mohammed directed the attacks in person; the besiegers protected themselves by trenches, and brought battering-rams to play upon the walls; a breach was at length effected, but for several days every attempt to enter was vigorously repelled.

Abu Bakr at one time led the assault, bearing the standard of the Prophet; but, after fighting with great bravery, was compelled to retreat. The next attack was headed by Omar ibn Khattab, who fought until the close of day with no better success.

A third attack was led by Ali, whom Mohammed armed with his own scimitar, called Dhu'l-Fiqar, or the Trenchant. On confiding to his hands the sacred banner, he pronounced him “a man who loved God and His Prophet; and whom God and His Prophet loved; a man who knew not fear, nor ever turned his back upon a foe.”

And here it may be well to give a traditional account of the person and character of Ali. He was of the middle height, but robust and square, and of prodigious strength. He had a smiling countenance, exceedingly florid, with a bushy beard. He was distinguished for an amiable disposition, sagacious intellect, and religious zeal, and, from his undaunted courage, was surnamed the Lion of God.

Arabian writers dwell with fond exaggeration on the exploits of Khyber, of this their favorite hero. He was clad, they say, in a scarlet vest, over which was buckled a cuirass of steel. Scrambling with his followers up the great heap of stones in front of the breach, he planted the standard on the top, determined never to recede until the citadel was taken. The Jews sallied forth to drive down the assailants.

In the conflict which ensued, Ali fought hand to hand with the Jewish commander, Al-Hareth, whom he slew. The brother of the slain advanced to revenge his death. He was of gigantic stature; with a double cuirass, a double turban, wound round a helmet of proof, in front of which sparked an immense diamond.

He had a sword girt to each side, and brandished a three-pronged spear, like a trident. The warriors measured each other with the eye, and accosted each other in boasting oriental style. “I,” said the Jew, “am Merhab, armed at all points, and terrible in battle.” “And I am Ali, whom his mother, at his birth, surnamed Al-Haider (the rugged lion).

The Moslem writers make short work of the Jewish champion. He made a thrust at Ali with his three pronged lance, but it was dexterously parried; and before he could recover himself, a blow from the scimitar, Dhu'l-Fiqar divided his buckler, passed through the helm of proof, through double turban, and stubborn skull, cleaving his head even to his teeth. His gigantic form fell lifeless to the earth.

The Jews now retreated into the citadel, and a general assault took place. In the heat of the action the shield of Ali was severed from his arm, leaving his body exposed; wrenching a gate, however, from its hinges, he used it as a buckler through the remainder of the fight.

Abu Rafe, a servant of Mohammed, testified to the fact: “I afterwards,” says he, “examined this gate in company with seven men and all eight of us attempted in vain to wield it.”

(This stupendous feat is recorded by the historian Abul Fida. “Abu Rafe,” observes Gibbon, “was an eye-witness; but who will be witness for Abu Rafe?” We join with the distinguished historian in his doubt yet if we scrupulously question the testimony of an eye-witness, what will become of history?) (The Life of Mohammed)

Sir William Muir

The Jews rallied round their chief Kinana and posted themselves in front of the citadel Camuss, resolved on a desperate struggle. After some vain attempts to dislodge them, Mohammed planned a general attack. “I will give the eagle,” he said – the great black eagle – “into the hands of one that loveth the Lord, and His Apostle, even as he is beloved of them; he shall gain the victory. Next morning the flag was placed in Ali's hands, and troops advanced.

At this moment, a soldier stepped forth from the Jewish line, and challenged his adversaries to single combat: “I am Merhab,” he cried, “as all Khyber knows, a warrior bristling with arms, when the war fiercely burns.” Then Ali advanced saying: “I am he whom my mother named the Lion; like a lion of the howling wilderness. I weigh my foes in a giant's balance.”

The combatants closed, and Ali cleft the head of Merhab in two. The Moslem line now made a general advance, and, after a sharp conflict, drove back the enemy. In this battle, Ali performed great feats of prowess. Having lost his shield, he seized the lintel of a door, which he wielded effectually in its stead. Tradition, in its expansive process, has transformed this extemporized shield into a gigantic beam, and magnified the hero into a second Samson. The victory was decisive, for the Jews lost 93 men; while of the Moslems only 19 were killed throughout the whole campaign. (The Life of Mohammed, London, 1877)

R.V.C. Bodley

He (Mohammed) began the campaign (of Khyber) by reducing individually the minor strongholds. When this was done, he marched against Al-Kamus, the main fortress of Khaibar. It was a formidable looking place with frowning walls built out of the living rock. All accesses were strongly fortified, and within the ramparts was a well-equipped and well-provisioned garrison.

Siege warfare was unfamiliar to these nomads accustomed to desert raiding. However, Mohammed had a number of improvised siege engines put together on the spot. The most effective of these were palm-trunk battering rams which, eventually, made a small breach in the walls.

Into this Abu Bakr led a heroic attack, but he was driven back. Then Omar tried, but while he reached the mouth of the breach, he had to retire, losing most of his men. Finally, Ali went up against the wall, bearing the black standard. As he charged, he chanted: “I am Ali the Lion; and like a lion howling in the wilderness, I weigh my foes in the giant's balance.”

Ali was no giant, but he made up for his lack of height by his great breadth and prodigious strength. Today he was formidable in a scarlet tunic over which he wore his shining breastplate and backplate. On his head gleamed a spiked helmet encrusted with silver. In his right hand he brandished Mohammed's own scimitar, Dhu'l-Fiqar, which had been entrusted to him with the black banner.

Again and again Jewish veterans rushed at Ali. Again and again they staggered away with limbs or heads severed. Finally, the champion of all the Hebrews, a man called Merhab, who towered above the other warriors, planted himself before Ali. He wore a double cuirass, and round his helmet was a thick turban held in place by an enormous diamond. He was girt with a golden belt from which swung two swords. He did not use these, however, and killed right and left with a long three-pronged spear. For a moment the battle paused and the combatants rested on their arms to watch the duel

Marhab, like Goliath of Gath, had never been defeated. His size alone frightened opponents before they came close to him. His barbed fork disheartened the most skilled swordsman.

Marhab attacked first, driving at Ali with his trident. For a moment, Ali, unaccustomed to this form of weapon gave ground. Then he steadied himself and fenced with the Hebrew. A feint and a parry sent the spear flying. Before Merhab could draw one of his swords, Ali's scimitar had cloven his head through his helmet and turban so that it fell on either side of his shoulders. The Jews, seeing their champion dead, retreated into the city.

Mohammed gave the signal for a general assault. The Moslems surged forward. Ali led the onslaught. He had lost his shield during the duel and, to replace it, had torn a door from its hinges, which he carried before him. (The Messenger – the Life of Mohammed, 1946)

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

Realizing that this was their last stand in Arabia, the Jews fought desperately. As the days went by, the Prophet sent Abu Bakr with a contingent and a flag to the fortress of Na'im; but he was not able to conquer it despite heavy fighting. The Prophet then sent Umar bin al-Khattab on the following day, but he fared no better than Abu Bakr.

On the third day, the Prophet called Ali ibn Abu Talib, and, blessing him, commanded him to storm the fortress. Ali led his forces and fought valiantly. In the engagement, he lost his armor and, shielding himself with a portal he had seized, he continued to fight until the fortress was stormed by his troops. The same portal was used by Ali as a little bridge to enable the Muslim soldiers to enter the houses within the fortress... (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

The Results of the Conquest of Khyber

The conquest of Khyber is a landmark in the history of Islam as it is the beginning of the Islamic State and Empire. The Indian historian, M. Shibli, says in his biography of the Prophet:

Khyber was the first campaign in which non-Muslims were made the subjects of the Islamic State. It was the first time that the principles of government in Islam were defined and applied. Therefore, Khyber is the first successful campaign of Islam.

At Khyber, the nascent Islamic State acquired new subjects and new territories. It was the beginning, not only of the Islamic State but also of its expansion. If the conquest of Khyber is the beginning of the Islamic State, then Ali ibn Abi Talib, its conqueror, is its principal architect.

Before the conquest of Khyber, the Muslims were destitutes or semi-destitutes. Khyber suddenly made them rich. Imam Bukhari has quoted Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab as saying: “We were hungry at all times until the conquest of Khyber.” And the same authority has quoted Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet, as saying: “It was not until the conquest of Khyber that I could eat dates to my heart's content.”

The Muhajireen in Medina had no means of making a living and therefore had no steady income. They had barely managed to survive until the conquest of Khyber. Once Khyber was conquered, there was a sudden change in their fortunes.

Montgomery Watt

Until the capture of Khyber the finances of the Islamic community were precarious, and the Emigrants lived partly off the charity or hospitality of the Helpers. (Mohammed, Prophet and Statesman)

Khyber spelled the difference for the Muslim community between abject poverty and material abundance.

S. Margoliouth

When the Muslims came to apportion their spoils they found that the conquest of Khaibar surpassed every other benefit that God had conferred on their Prophet. (Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, 1931)

The conquest of Khyber conferred unlimited benefits upon the Muslims; some of them were:

1. Immense quantities of gold and silver that the Jews had been accumulating for many generations.

2. The finest arsenals of Arabia containing the newest weapons of the times such as swords, spears, lances, maces, shields, armor, bows and arrows.

3. Vast herds of horses, camels and cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats.

4. Rich arable lands with palm groves.

Sir John Glubb

The people of Khyber, like those of Medina, made their living by agriculture, particularly the date palm. Even today, the tribes have a saying, “To take dates to Khaiber,” which means the same as our expression, “To carry coals to Newcastle.” Khyber was said to be the richest oasis in the Hijaz. (The Life and Times of Mohammed)

After the surrender of the Jews in Khyber, the Prophet had to make some new arrangements for the administration of the newly-won territories.

S. Margoliouth

Presently Mohammed bethought him of the plan which became a prominent institution of Islam. To kill or banish the industrious inhabitants of Khaibar would not be good policy, since it was not desirable that the Moslems, who would constantly be wanted for active service, should be settled so far from Medina. Moreover, their skill as cultivators would not equal that of the former owners of the soil. So he decided to leave the Jews in occupation on payment of half their produce, estimated by Abdullah son of Rawahah at 200,000 wasks of dates. (Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, 1931)

One mighty stroke of Ali's sword solved the economic problems of the Muslim community, and put an end to its poverty forever. He also put an end to the dependence of the Muslims upon a fickle and temperamental nature, to feed them, once he delivered the fertile lands of Khyber to them.

There is yet another sense in which the campaign of Khyber was of immense importance not only to the Muslims of the time of the Prophet but also to the generations of the future. It was a departure, for the first time, from the classical tradition of Arabian warfare. The Arab mode of fighting was often chivalrous but most often inefficient. The Arabs knew less than nothing about strategy, and all that they knew about tactics was hit-and­run. They placed their hopes of victory in their ability to catch their victims by surprise.

For centuries, they had fought against each other, and had consistently followed the ancient pattern of hit-and-run, with no variation in tactics. We have seen how a trench checked an army of ten thousand warriors, and immobilized it at the siege of Medina in A.D. 627. The greatest captains of the idolaters like Khalid bin Walid and Ikrama bin Abu Jahl were baffled by the moat, and became helpless before it.

All this was to change after Khyber. Ali ibn Abi Talib taught the Muslims the art of laying siege to, and of capturing fortified positions. He taught them how to map out the strategy of a campaign, and how to fight pitched and decisive battles like disciplined armies. At Khyber, Ali placed the key to the conquest of the whole world in the hands of the Muslims.

The Estate of Fadak

Fadak was another Jewish settlement near Khyber. The people of Fadak voluntarily sent their representatives to the Prophet offering to negotiate the terms of surrender. He accepted their offer of surrender, and gave them the right to stay on their lands as subjects of the Islamic State. Fadak was acquired in this manner without any effort on the part of the army of the Muslims. It was, therefore, considered to be the private property of the Prophet.

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

The wealth of Khaybar was to be distributed among the members of the Muslim armed forces according to rule because they had fought to secure it. The wealth of Fadak, on the other hand, fell to Muhammad, as no Muslims and no fighting were involved in its acquisition. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

In the early days of the history of Islam, the Muslims, when they were still in Makkah, were very poor, and had no means of making a living. Khadija, the wife of the Prophet, fed and housed most of them. She spent all her wealth on them so that when she died, there was nothing that she could leave for her daughter, Fatima Zahra.

Now when the estate of Fadak was acquired by the Prophet, he decided to make it a gift to his daughter as a recompense for the great sacrifices her mother had made for Islam. He, therefore, gave the estate of Fadak to his daughter, and it became her property.

The Jews of Wadi-ul-Qura and Tayma, other oases in Hijaz, also agreed to surrender to the Prophet on the same terms as those of Khyber and Fadak, and stayed on their lands.

Jaafer ibn Abi Talib

Muhammad, the Messenger of God, was still in Khyber when his cousin, Jaafer ibn Abi Talib, returned from Abyssinia after an absence of nearly fourteen years. When Jaafer learned in Medina that his master was in Khyber, he at once headed there. By a coincidence, his arrival in Khyber, synchronized with the capture of the fortress of Al-Qamus by his brother, Ali. Muhammad loved Jaafer as his own son. He threw his arms around him and said: “I do not know what makes me more happy; the conquest of Khyber or the return of Jaafer.”

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

Muhammad was so pleased to be reunited with Ja'far that he said he could not tell which was the greater: victory over Khaybar or reunion with Ja'far. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

The Umra or the Lesser Pilgrimage – A.D. 629 (8 A.H.)

One year after the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad, the Messenger of God, visited Makkah to perform the pilgrimage. He was accompanied by two thousand Muslims. As per the terms of the Treaty, the polytheists vacated Makkah for three days. The Muslims entered the city from the north, and hardly saw any Makkan. The Messenger of God rode his she-camel, al-Qaswa. His friend, Abdullah ibn Rawaha, held her reins as he entered the precincts of the Kaaba. He was reading the verses of the chapter called, Victory, from the Qur’an. Other Muslims were chanting “At Thy command, O Lord! At Thy command, O Lord!”

When all Muslims had assembled in the concourse of the Kaaba, Bilal went on top of the building and called Adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) – the first one in the House of Allah, and two thousand believers responded to his call.

The polytheists were witnessing the scene from the heights of the hills surrounding the valley of Makkah. They had never seen such discipline before, when high-born Muslims were tamely obeying the call of a former slave nor they had seen such a demonstration of equality and unity. The vast mass of the Muslims moved as one body, and the Quraysh could see with their own eyes that it was a body in which there were no distinctions between rich and poor, high and low, black and white, and Arab and non-Arab.

The Quraysh could also see that the brotherhood, equality and unity of men which Islam fostered, were not theoretical concepts but were very real. It was a most impressive sight and could not have failed to touch the hearts of even the most hard-bitten idolaters.

The deportment of the Muslims was exemplary. They were most anxious not to do anything that was forbidden, and they were most eager to do only one thing – to obey the commandments of Allah.

And yet this demonstration in the Kaaba of discipline by the Muslims, was so unrehearsed, so spontaneous. To nothing in this world was the Arab more allergic than to discipline; but he was transformed, within a few years, by the magic of Islam. The “touch” of Islam had made him a model of discipline among the nations of the earth.

M. Shibli, the Indian historian, writes in his Sira-tun­Nabi (Life of the Prophet), Volume I, page 504, 11th printing (1976), published by the Maarif Printing Press, Azamgarh, U.P., India, that at the end of three days, the leaders of Quraysh called on Ali ibn Abi Talib, and said to him: “Please inform Muhammad that the stipulated time has passed and he and his followers should, therefore, leave Makkah.” Ali gave the message to the Prophet. The latter immediately complied, and ordered the Muslims to vacate Makkah whereupon they left Makkah and began their long march toward home.

The Muslims had performed the Umra, and then they returned to their homes in Medina. It was at this time that Khalid bin al-Walid and Amr bin Aas decided to accept Islam. They went to Medina, accepted Islam and joined the ranks of the Muhajireen. They were both destined to become famous in later days as the generals of Abu Bakr and Umar bin al-Khattab respectively.

Letters of the Prophet to the Rulers of Neighboring Countries

In August 629, Muhammad Mustafa, the Messenger of God, addressed letters to the rulers of the neighboring countries inviting them to Islam.

E. Von Grunebaum

In 629, Mohammed sent letters to six rulers - the Persian king, the Byzantine emperor, the Negus of Abyssinia, the governor of Egypt, a Ghassanid prince, and a chief of the Banu Hanifa in south-east Arabia, inviting them to Islam. (Classical Islam - A History 600-1258)

Muhammad was God's Messenger not only for the Arabs but for the whole world. It was his duty to deliver God's last message to all mankind, and he did. Professor Margoliouth, however, considers these letters a prelude to aggression and conquest. He says:

About the time of the campaign of Khaibar, he (Mohammed) published his program of world-conquest by sending letters to the rulers of whose fame he had heard. (Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, 1931)

It is true that the program of Muhammad, the Messenger of God, was one of “world-conquest,” but not by force of arms. His aim was to conquer the minds and the hearts of men and women, which Islam did in his day, and is still doing today.

In sending these letters, the Prophet was prompted by his desire that all men should live in obedience to the commandments and laws of God. Obedience to those commandments and laws alone can guarantee the peace, happiness and welfare of mankind in this world, and its salvation in the Hereafter.

The Battle of Mootah

In 629 the christian arab tribe of ghassan was ruled by Shorhail, a prince who was a vassal of the Byzantine emperor. He was one of those rulers who had received letters from Muhammad Mustafa inviting them to accept Islam. In those days he held court in Mootah, a town east of the Dead Sea. When the Prophet's emissary, Harith bin Umayr, arrived at his court bearing the letter for him, he ordered his execution.

The murder of Harith bin Umayr was an unprovoked outrage, and the killing of an ambassador is considered an unpardonable crime in many nations. The Prophet decided to take punitive action. He equipped an army of 3000 men, and sent it under the command of his friend and freedman, Zayd bin Haritha, to Mootah, to demand reparations. At the same time, he designated a chain of command and responsibility. In the event of Zayd's death, the command of the army was to pass on to Jaafer ibn Abi Talib. If he too were to be killed, then the third general was to be Abdullah ibn Rawaha.

When Shorhail heard that an army was approaching his capital from Medina, he also mobilized his men, and was soon ready to meet it. He deployed his troops on the south-side, out of the walls of Mootah. They were composed of the Roman garrison of Mootah, and the freshly raised tribal levies. When the Muslims arrived and took stock of the situation, they realized that it was going to be an unequal fight as they were heavily outnumbered by the enemy.

The Muslim leaders held a war council. Zayd bin Haritha proposed that they immediately send a messenger to the Prophet apprising him of the imbalance in the strength of the two forces, and requesting him to send reinforcements.

But Abdullah bin Rawaha opposed him, and said that the decision to fight or not to fight did not rest upon their numbers, and if they were outnumbered by the enemy, it was immaterial for them. “We fight to win the crown of martyrdom, and not the laurels of victory, and here is our chance; let us not miss it,” he said.

Abdullah bin Rawaha clinched the debate with his powerful argument, and the Muslims advanced to meet the enemy. At the very first clash of arms, Zayd bin Haritha, the first general of the Muslims, was killed.

Betty Kelen

Zayd took the Apostle's standard and was killed almost at once, the first Muslim to die for the faith on foreign soil. (Mohammed, Messenger of God)

The command of the army then passed to Jaafer ibn Abi Talib, the elder brother of Ali. He fought most gallantly and for a long time, killing so many of the enemy that their bodies were stacked like cordwood all around him. But then a Roman soldier crept up from behind, unseen, and struck a blow with his sword at his right arm, and severed it. Jaafer didn't let the banner fall, and kept pressing the enemy.

A little later, another Roman came from behind, and with a blow of his sword, cut his left arm also. The hero, still undismayed, held the banner under his chin, and kept advancing. But with both arms gone, he was unable to defend himself, and in a few moments, a third Roman approached him, and killed him with a blow of his mace on his head. After Jaafer's death, Abdullah bin Rawaha took charge of the army, and he too fell fighting against heavy odds.

Washington Irving

Among the different missions which Mohammed had sent beyond the bounds of Arabia to invite neighboring princes to accept Islam, was one to the governor of Bosra, the great mart on the confines of Syria. His envoy was killed at Mootah by an Arab of the Christian tribe of Ghassan, and son to Shorhail, an emir, who governed Mootah in the name of Heraclius.

Mohammed sent an army of 3000 against the offending city. It was a momentous expedition, as it might, for the first time, bring the arms of Islam in collision with those of the Roman Empire. The command was entrusted to Zaid, his freedman. Several chosen officers were associated with him.

One was Mohammed's cousin, Jaafer, the same who, by his eloquence, had vindicated the doctrines of Islam before the king of Abyssinia, and defeated the Koreishite embassy. He was now in the prime of life, and noted for great courage and manly beauty. (The Life of Mohammed)

As Jaafer charged the enemy, he sang a song. Sir William Muir has given the following translation of his song:

Paradise! O Paradise! How fair a resting place!

Cold is the water there, and sweet the shade.

Rome, Rome! Thine hour of tribulation draweth nigh.

When I close with her, I will hurl her to the ground.

When Jaafer was killed, his body was brought into the camp. Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab, who was with the army, says that he counted the wounds on the hero's body, and found more than fifty of them, and they were all in front. Jaafer had dared sword and spear even after the loss of his arms, but had not flinched.

When all three generals appointed by the Prophet had been killed, the Muslims were left leaderless for a time. Then Khalid bin al-Walid who was also fighting in the ranks, seized the banner, and managed to rally the Muslims.

At night the armies disengaged, and this gave him the opportunity to reorganize his men. He is said to have fought a defensive action on the following day but realizing that it was impossible to win a victory, ordered a retreat from Mootah, and succeeded in bringing the remnants of the army back to Medina.

When these warriors entered Medina, they got a “reception” that must have made them forget the “reception” that the Romans gave them in Mootah. They were greeted by jeering crowds which cast dust in their faces and garbage on their heads, and taunted them for fleeing from the enemy instead of dying like men if not like heroes. Eventually, the Prophet himself was compelled to intervene on their behalf to rescue them from indignity and molestation.

Sir William Muir

The ranks of the Muslims were already broken; and the Romans in full pursuit made great havoc among the fugitives. So, distinctly, in the secretary of Wackidi. Some accounts pretend that Khalid rallied the army, and either turned the day against the Romans, or made it a drawn battle.

But besides that the brevity of all the accounts is proof enough of a reverse, the reception of the army on its return to Medina, admits of only one conclusion, viz. a complete, ignominious, and unretrieved discomfiture. (The Life of Mohammed, London, 1861)

Sir John Glubb

In the battle of Mootah, Jaafer ibn Abu Talib, the brother of Ali, seized the banner from the dying Zaid and raised it aloft once more. The enemy closed in on the heroic Jaafer, who was soon covered with wounds. Tradition relates that when both his hands were cut off gripping the banner, he still stood firm, holding the staff between his two stumps, until a Byzantine soldier struck him a mortal blow.

When the defeated Muslims approached Medina, the Prophet and the people of the town went out to meet them. The citizens began to throw dirt at the crestfallen warriors, crying, “You runaways, you fled from the way of God!” But Mohammed, with that kind paternalism which he knew well how to use, interposed on their behalf.

Next morning in the mosque, the Prophet announced that he had, in a vision, seen the martyrs of Mootah in Paradise, reclining upon couches, but Jaafer was there in the guise of an angel with two wings, stained on their feathers with the blood of martyrdom. It was as a result of this vision that the martyr has since been known as Jaafer the Flyer, Jaafer at-Tayyar. (The Great Arab Conquests)

Betty Kelen

When the army came riding home, he (Mohammed) went out to meet them, Jafer's son on the saddle before him. It was a terrible homecoming for these men who had returned from battle alive, following Khalid, while the Prophet's own relatives and beloved companions had fallen. The people of Medina picked up sand and dirt along the way to throw at the returning force, shouting, “Cowards! Runaways! You fled from God.” (Muhammad, the Messenger of God)

Some Muslim historians have made desperate efforts to “prove” that Mootah was a Muslim victory which it was not. It is not clear why a defeat is being dished out by them as a victory. The attempt to prove that Muslims won the battle, may have been prompted by their desire to present the Muslim soldiers as invincible. But will they smother truth merely to prove that Muslims were invincible. After all, the Muslims were defeated in the battle of Uhud!

Abul Kalam Azad, the Indian biographer of the Prophet, says that the Muslims inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Romans at Mootah. He takes notice of the reception that the citizens of Medina gave to the “victors” when they came home, but he attributes it to their “ignorance,” and says that they had received wrong reports of the outcome of the battle.

But if the citizens had received wrong reports, then it is curious that no one among the warriors tried to correct them. No one among them, for example, said to the citizens: “Is this your way of welcoming the heroes of Islam, with dirt and garbage? Do you reward the defenders of the Faith by booing them and insulting them?” But they did not pose any such questions.

Even if the citizens of Medina had been misinformed that the Muslims were defeated at Mootah, as Azad claims, then how long it ought to take them to learn the truth? In the first place, the soldiers themselves did not protest when the citizens covered them with garbage, as already noted. In the second place, some among them were too embarrassed to go out of their homes.

They did not want to be seen in public for fear of being upbraided or even rough-handled by the citizens for the abject cowardice they had shown before the enemy. Their greatest desire was to hide themselves from everyone else.

D. S. Margoliouth

The survivors of this disastrous fight (Mootah) were greeted by the Moslems as deserters, and some were even afraid to appear in public for some time. Such Spartans had the people of Medina become in their eight years of warfare. (Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, 1931)

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

As soon as Khalid and the army reached Medinah, Muhammad and the Muslims went out to meet them, Muhammad carrying on his arm, Abdullah, the son of Ja'far, the second commander of the Muslim force. Upon learning the news, the people flung dust in the face of the Muslim soldiers and accused them of fleeing in the face of the enemy and abandoning the cause of God.

The Prophet of God argued with his people that the soldiers did not flee but simply withdrew in order, with God's will, to advance again. Despite this justification on the part of Muhammad of the Muslim army, the people were not willing to forgive them their withdrawal and return. Salamah ibn Hisham, a member of this expedition, would neither go to the mosque for prayer nor show himself in public in order to avoid being chastised for fleeing from the cause of God.

Were it not for the fact that these same men, especially Khalid ibn al-Walid, later distinguished themselves in battle against the same enemy, their reputations would have remained forever stained. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

Another “proof” that Abul Kalam Azad has found of the “victory” of the Muslims at Mootah, is that the Romans did not pursue them. He says that if the Romans had won the battle of Mootah, they would have pursued the Muslims to the gates of Medina itself, and beyond.

But the Romans might have had other reasons for not pursuing the Muslims. One of them was that with their cavalry, they could not maneuver in the desert. The desert to them was like the sea, and neither they nor the Persians had any “ships” in which to “navigate” in it. The best they could do, was to operate on the “shores” as “land-powers” which they, in fact, were, and at a decided disadvantage strategically and tactically against a “maritime” nation like the Arabs

If the Arabs retreated into the desert before an active foe, their safety was assured. He was simply not equipped to penetrate the desert. The logistical problems alone of attacking them in their own element discouraged the most enterprising spirits of those days. The desert was the “fortress” which protected the Arabs from the ambitions of all the conquerors of the past, and guaranteed their freedom and independence.

Sir John Glubb

The key to all the early operations, against Persia and against Syria alike, is that the Persians and Byzantines could not move in the desert, being mounted on horses. The Muslims were like a sea-power, cruising offshore in their ships, whereas the Persians and Byzantines alike could only take up positions on the shore (that is, the cultivated area) unable to launch out to “sea” and engage the enemy in his own desert element.

Similarly the Arabs, like the Norse or Danish pirates who raided England, were at first afraid to move inland far from their “ships.” Raiding the areas on the “shores” of the desert, they hastened back to their own element when danger threatened. (The Great Arab Conquests, 1963)

Joel Carmichael

There is a remarkable resemblance between the strategy of the Bedouin and that of the modern sea power. Viewed from the vantage point of nomads, the desert, which only they could make use of, was like a vast ocean on which they controlled the only vessels. The Bedouin could use it for supplies and communications - and as a haven when defeated. They could appear from its depths whenever they wished and slip back again at will. This gave them enormous mobility and resilience, as long as they were moving against sedentary communities (Shaping of the Arabs, 1967)

The battle was fought just outside Mootah. If the Arabs had defeated the Romans and had routed them, then what did they do with the city which lay at their feet? As conquerors they ought to have occupied it. But no historian has claimed that the Muslims entered Mootah and occupied it.

The Arabs were notorious for their love of booty. This is a fact well-known to every student of their history, and historians like Abul Kalam Azad cannot be ignorant of it. The same historian says that the number of the Romans and their allies who fought at Mootah was two hundred thousand. If the Muslims had defeated the Romans, then they ought to have captured thousands of Romans, and they ought to have returned to Medina laden with plunder and the treasures of Mootah. But they did not.

The annals are silent on this point. There is no reference to any booty or to any prisoners of war in the accounts of the battle of Mootah. This silence is the most eloquent proof that the Muslims were not the victors. Actually, they considered themselves lucky to have escaped alive from the battlefield.

Muhammad Husayn Haykal

After the campaign of Mootah, the Muslim army led by Khalid ibn al Walid returned to Medinah neither victorious nor vanquished, but happy to be able to return at all. (The Life of Muhammad, Cairo, 1935)

We admire those Muslims who were aware that they had shown cowardice in the battle of Mootah, and were ashamed of it. But there were other Muslims, some of them companions of the Prophet, who fled from battle, not once, but several times, and they were not ashamed of their performance. One may admire them for their brazenness though. To save their own dear lives, they could flee from a battlefield, and then return to it when the scales tilted in favor of the Muslims.

The battle of Mootah was a defeat for the Muslims. As for the Romans, it was nothing more than a minor border skirmish. They drove the Arabs back into the desert, and for them the incident was closed.