Life of Muhammad — Page 50
sa 50 could not control himself and began to cry. The Meccan chiefs wondered at this and asked him why he was crying. "Do you think I am afraid of death? No, it is not death I fear. What I fear is lest the Faith of Muhammad sa should spread and even Mecca go under him. " Ab u Sufy a n ra assured Wal i d that as long as they lived they would resist with their lives the spread of this Faith ( Kham i s , Vol. I). MECCANS PREPARING TO ATTACK MEDINA From this narration of events it is quite clear that the lull in Meccan hostility was only temporary. The leaders of Mecca were preparing for a renewed attack on Islam. Dying chiefs bound their survivors to oaths of hostility against the Prophet sa , and roused them to war against him and his followers. The people of Medina were invited to take up arms against the Muslims and were warned that, if they refused to do so, the Meccans and their allied tribes would attack Medina, kill their men and enslave their women. If the Prophet sa had stood aside and done nothing for the defence of Medina, he would have incurred a terrible responsibility. The Prophet sa , therefore, instituted a system of reconnaissance. He sent parties of men to places round about Mecca to report on signs of preparations for war. Now and then, there were incidents — scuffles and fights — between these parties and Meccans. European writers say these incidents were initiated by the Prophet sa and that, therefore, in the wars which ensued, he was the aggressor. But we have before us the thirteen years of Meccan tyranny, their intrigues for antagonizing the people of Medina against the Muslims, and the threatened attack upon Medina itself. Nobody who remembers all this can charge the Prophet sa with the responsibility for initiating these incidents. If he sent out parties of Muslims for purpose of reconnaissance, it was in self-defence. Thirteen years of tyranny were justification enough for the preparations