Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 167
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 167 be admitted to heaven,’ on which the Holy Prophet observed: ‘If this one truly desires such an end, God will bestow upon him what he seeks. ’ A short while later, there was some more fighting and he died as he had wished. The Holy Prophet observed, ‘Allah h as granted him his wish,’ and he bestowed his cloak to serve as his shroud and prayed for him specially. These incidents leave no room for any suspicion that the Companions of the Holy Prophet took part in fighting for the sake of spoils. It must be remembered that in those days there were no regular armies and no salaried soldiers. All were volunteers who pr ovided their own arms and mounts and laid aside their normal occupations and activities during the period of a campaign. The only way of compensating them was by apportioning the spoils, if any, between them and allotting a share of the ransom of the priso ners of war to each of them. It will be appreciated that with the Holy Prophet’s advent in Medina, and in consequence of the pact that he entered into with the Arab and Jewish inhabitants of Medina, his responsibilities had been enormously increased, and though he did not in the least neglect his primary obligations as a Prophet in respect of the propagation of Islam and the instruction and training of the Muslims in the values of Islam, a great part of his time and attention was taken up by the multiplicity of the problems that bore u pon the security of Medina. Indeed, the security of Medina was itself essential for the purpose of the propagation of Islam and the proper instruction and training of the Muslims. Quraish had within a very short time after his arrival in Medina started the ir hostile activities against the Muslims. A chief of Mecca, Karz bin