The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 78
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 78 was to punish a nation, tribe or party for a horrible crime, cruelty, oppression or treachery. Some were political, i. e. , their purpose was to support an ally tribe or due to another political requirement of this nature. There were others, which had more than one purpose and objective in view. For example, they were defensive and retributive also, or political as well as for the establishment of peace, so on and so forth. This is very crucial knowledge, which some historians are unaware of. As a result, they have attempted to classify all of these wars under the same category and have consequently stumbled. At this instance, it is also necessary to allude to the fact that in the above-mentioned discussion, we have generally touched upon the purpose of defense and protection only. The reason for this is because the commencement of Jihād was primarily due to this purpose, as is evident from the initial Qur’ānic verse. The remaining purposes slowly and gradually came about according to the circumstances at hand. Etiquette of Islāmic Jihād Prior to mentioning the Maghāzī 1 of the Holy Prophet sa , at this point, it seems appropriate to briefly allude to the etiquette which was generally observed by the Holy Prophet sa in Jihād and which was impressed upon the Companions. These practices have been derived generally from the Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah, 2 particularly from the books of Jihād , As-Siyar 3 and Al-Maghāzī. For this reason, I have only provided references for those points which are either greatly significant or relatively unknown, and have considered it unnecessary to provide references for the rest. Therefore, it should be known that: 1. Wherever possible, the Holy Prophet sa preferred to begin his journeys on a Thursday and would generally leave home in the morning. 2. It was a Sunnat 4 of the Holy Prophet sa to pray before setting out. 3. The Holy Prophet sa had established a sound system of intelligence in order to remain informed of enemy movements. Scouts were generally instructed not to speak of their intelligence in the presence of a public gathering. If the intelligence was one to create anxiety, the Holy Prophet sa would refrain from speaking of it 1 Military expeditions of the Holy Prophet sa [Publishers] 2 Six most authentic books of Ḥadīth [Publishers] 3 History of the life of the Holy Prophet sa and his Companions [Publishers] 4 Practice of the Holy Prophet sa [Publishers]