Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 34
Murder in the Name of Allah of the Bunu Damrah. Soon after, the Prophetsa had to follow Kurz alFihri. As Watt points out, 'It was an attempt to punish a freebooter of the neighbouring region for stealing some of the Medinite pasturing camels. '39 The expedition, again in the words of Watt, 'Illustrates the dangers against which he [the Holy Prophetsa] had to be constantly on guard. ”40. There were about fifty such expeditions between Hijrah and the truce of. Hudaybiyah. Of them, three conflicts assumed the dimensions of fullscale war. Badr, Uhud and Ahzab. In the armed conflict with B. Mustaliq over 100 prisoners were taken, but all of them were freed without ransom. . In some minor expeditions where one or two prisoners were seized, they too were released without any conditions. It was at the battle of Badr that seventy-two prisoners-of-war were taken. Two of them were executed for past crimes; the rest were freed after a ransom was paid. That, in some cases, was limited only to teaching the children of Ansar how to read and write. . The third period began with the truce of Hudaybiyah and ended with the surrender of Mecca. Twenty-two expeditions were made during this period. Of them, only three conflicts saw any prisoners-of-war being taken. The Prophetsa had sent Dihyah b. Khalifah al-Kalbi as an envoy to Caesar. On his return journey, Dihyah was robbed of Byzantine presents he was carrying for the Holy Prophets, by Al-Hunayd and other members of the tribe of Jurham. The Prophets sent an expedition under. Zayd b. Haritha to punish Al-Hunayd and his allies. The prisoners taken in the resulting skirmish were freed after they repented. Bashir b. Sad successfully led an expedition against the Ghatfan, who were in alliance with the Jews of Medina and the pagans of Mecca. A small number of prisioners were taken, but it is not known what happened to them. . Similarly, an expedition was sent to punish B. Bani Kilab. A group of B. . Uraynah, who lived among the B. Kilab, came in distress to Medina and accepted Islam. As they were suffering from a fever, they were sent to the. Prophet's pasture grounds to enjoy good food and milk. But, when they recovered their strength, they cruelly killed the herdsmen and stole fifteen camels. They were punished. There was probably a small number of prisoners, but the details are not known. . This rather detailed examination shows that from the Hijrah to the surrender of Mecca, not a single prisoner-of-war was forced to convert. . There is no evidence to suggest that the filth of their soul was removed by the blade of the sword. Rather, these prisoners were allowed to return to their paganism. 34