SAIYYAH OF 'UMAYR IBN 'ADI - SHOW WE SHOULD RESPECT PROPHET MUHAMMAD TO BE MERCIFUL

Submitted by Mohamad Nozzi (Singapore), May 1, 2009 at 20:29

The following are the extracts pertaining to part of the history of Prophet Muhammad:

Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, translated by S. Moinul Haq, volume II part 1 & 2 pages 30-31.

SARIYYAH OF 'UMAYR IBN 'ADI

Then (occurred) the sariyyah of 'Umayr ibn 'Adi Ibn Kharashah al-Khatmi against 'Asma' Bint Marwan, of Banu Umayyah Ibn Zayd, when five nights had remained from the month of Ramadan, in the beginning of the nineteenth month from the hijrah of the apostle of Allah. 'Asma' was the wife of Yazid Ibn Zayd Ibn Hisn al-Khatmi. She used to revile Islam, offend the prophet and instigate the (people) against him. She composed verses. Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the prophet at al-Medina. The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?" He said: "Yes. Is there something more for me to do?" He [Muhammad] said: "No. Two goats will butt together about her. This was the word that was first heard from the apostle of Allah. The apostle of Allah called him 'Umayr, "basir" (the seeing).

The above statement mentions clearly that the only reason why Prophet Muhammad slaughtered that woman was she used to revile Islam; offended the prophet; and instigated the people against him. As this woman was cruel and did not respect our people and she was the first that stirred up trouble to direct the people to fight against him, she was unpardonable and that was why Prophet Muhammad made the right move to slaughter her. Please kindly bear in mind that this woman was the first to direct the minds of her surrounding people to fight against him and our religion, muslim, and that caused him to slaughter her then. However, muslim extremists act negatively in the sense that they fought with them even though non-muslims do not have the intention to slaughter them first.

Unless the woman was not the first that stirred up the spirits among her surrounding people to fight against him and yet Prophet Muhammad slaughtered her without reason, it is then rational to support that Prophet Muhammad was cruel.

As the woman was the first that sitrred up the spirits among her surrounding people to fight against him, his act in slaughtering that woman is a righteous move since he was trying to protect our religion, muslim. For instance, if Prophet Muhammad did not slaughter that woman, she would influence more and more non-muslims to slaughter Muslims and that would cause ultimate risks to the muslims since many muslims would perish in her hands. Not only that, her act to slaughter that woman does not act against the principality of the Holy Quran and that is, we fight back only when non-muslims start their actions to fight against us.

I purposely extracts the sentence from above statements in bold below for the explanation that Prophet Muhammad was indeed merciful:

Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back.

Prior to Prophet Muhammad in slaughtering of that woman, there were a few children sleeping with her. As he was blind, he searched that woman with his hand and he seaprated the children from her and slaughtered that woman. For instance, if Prophet Muhammad was cruel, he would simply slaughter the children since they were not muslim converts. If Prophet Muhammad was not merciful, he would not spare the lives of children and he simply slaughtered them. If Prophet Muhammad was not merciful, there would not be any future hopes for these children that they might become muslims in the future since Prophet Muhammad would simply slaughter all the children without giving any grace or mercy. As Prophet Muhammad separated the children from that woman prior to his action in slaughtering that woman, it implies that Prophet Muhammad was kind enough that he did not want to see the pagans' children to perish. As Prophet Muhammad separated the children from that woman prior to his action in slaughtering that woman, the children would not accidentally be slaughtered by him when his intention was only for that woman only.

From the above explanation, Prophet Muhammad indeed was merciful and he was not cruel as what muslim extremists think.

The act of abusing the Holy Quran and the bad comment that Prophet Muhammad was cruel and not merciful certainly contradicts the teaching of the Holy Quran and the image of Prophet Muhammad, that should not be pardonable.

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