CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ISLAM SHOWS THE PREACHING WORK FROM PROPHET MUHAMMAD

Submitted by Mohamad Nozzi (Singapore), May 5, 2009 at 12:18

The following are the comments from you, Plato, to me in which you have abused the Cambidge history of Islam:

Submitted by Plato (India), May 4, 2009 at 07:21

Nozzi, you write:

>>The following are the extracts from Rodinson (2002), p.164 as well as, Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam, p. 45:

In March of 624, the Muslims set an ambursh for Meccan at Badr. Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims. Meanwhile, a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, continuing forward to confront the Muslims upon hearing that the caravan was safe <<

The first sentence itself tells you the Muslims were the ones who chose to fight the Meccans by trying to loot their caravan. Nozzi, why do you have no comment on this hostile act of Muhammad? You keep saying that Muhammad was fighting back when all the while he was the clear aggressor. Remove the mental filter your Islamic instructors placed in your mind.

>> The Battle of Badr began in March 624. Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty five Mecans with only fourteen Muslims dead. They also succeeded in killing many Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl.<<

If you have prepared the battleground to your advantage and you have the motivation of booty if you win and paradise if you die then half the battle is already won. The prophet was a great tactician and strategist (courtesy of Allah no doubt).

The history that you extracted was based on year 624. However, I have browsed through the summary of Cambridge History of Islam, it is mentioned that Prophet Muhammad preached the message of Allah to Meccans ever since year 610. It is mentioned in the Carmbridge History of Islam that Meccans began to protest muslims ever since year 610 when Prophet Muhammad began to preach to Meccans instead of in year 624. As Meccans did the first move to despise and persecuted our religion and Prophet Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad began to fight with the Meccans.

I discover you always act smart. You simply assume that the Holy Quran is for violence simply pick the word, fight, from the Holy Quran to support it.

Now you have also made a mistake by picking some verses here and there from the Cambridge History of Islam to support that Prophet Muhammad was the first to stir up violence against the Meccans. You did not indeed browse through the whole Cambridge History of Islam and yet delivered your message that it was not Meccans to start the fight. Please kindly read carefully Cambridge History of Islam. Prophet Muhammad began to preach to Meccans after year 610 and on that time, many Meccans protested against Prophet Muhammad. They persecuted him and despised him and that caused Muslims to set trap with the Meccans in year 624.

Don't mislead any more to all the readers of this site. Those who are very good in the history of Islam and those that have the book of Cambridge History of Islam, will certainly know that you are trying to mislead muslims to your wrong interpretation and understanding.

You should go and get a book of the Carmbridge history of Islam to see when prophet Muhammad reached out to Meccans and when they protested against Muslims. If you have browsed through carefully the Cambridge History of Islam, you should have known that Meccans persecuted Muslims just after year 610 when Prophet Muhammad began his ministry of preaching to the public instead of in year 624.

Thus, the way you use year 620 in which Prophet Muhammad planned to fight against Meccans is indeed erroneous since Meccans started to persecute muslims long before year 624.

You have mentioned that the message from Allah to Prophet Muhammad was to kill and to show no mercy to non-muslims. However, it is mentioned in the Cambridge History of Islam that Prophet Muhammad began to preach to the public after year 610. As it is mentioned in the history that he preached to the public after year 610, it implies that Allah'smission for all muslims are to preach the message so that they could be saved through the Last Judgment Day. For instance, if Allah wants all non-muslims to die and he would not allow muslims to show mercy by preaching the message of Allah to the public, Prophet Muhammad should not have preached to the public after year 610. As he did preach after year 610, it implies that Allah is willing to wait for the repentance of non-muslims and he wants us to reach out to them.

The country, Spain, that muslims fought with as mentioned below in the history is not a muslim country nowadays and it implies that muslims did not slaughter all non-muslims. This is due to they have left non-muslims behind to wait for their repentance.

The following are the extract of the summary of Islam's history from the Cambridge History of Islam:

c. 570 CE Birth of Muhammad. c. 610 CE Muhammad receives first vision in a cave near Mecca. c. 610-22 CE Muhammad preaches in Mecca. 622 CE Hijira - Muhammad and followers flee to Medina.
Islamic calendar (AH, Anno Hegirae) begins. 624 CE Muslims successfully attack Meccan caravans at Badr. 625 Muslims are defeated by Meccans at Uhud. 630 Muslims capture Mecca. Ka'ba is cleansed, pilgrimage rites are Islamicized, tribes of Arabia vow allegiance to Muhammad 632 Death of Muhammad. Abu Bakr chosen as caliph. 632-33 Wars of ridda (apostasy) restore allegiance to Islam 633 Muslim conquests (Futuhat) begin. 633-42 Muslim armies take the Fertile Crescent (Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia), North African coast, parts of Persian and Byzantine Empires c. 650 Caliph Uthman has the Qur'an written down. 656 Uthman is murdered; Ali becomes fourth caliph. 657 Battle of Siffin. Mu'awiya, governor of Syria, claims the caliphate. 659 Arbitration at Adruh is opposed by Ali's supporters. 661 Ali is murdered; Mu'awiya becomes caliph. Beginning of Umayyad Caliphate (661-750). 680 Death of Husayn marks beginning of the Shi'at Ali ("party of Ali") or Shi'a sect. 685-705 Reign of Abd al-Malik. Centralization of administration - Arabic becomes official written language (instead of Greek and Persian) and Arab coinage is established. late 600s Ruling classes in East and West Africa convert to Islam. 700-800s Groups of ascetics and mystics begin to form 710 Arab armies enter Spain from North Africa.

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