Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 234
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 234 wealth and was a poet of a high order. He was open - handed, and through his generosity exercised great influence over the Jewish divines and other notables. He was morally despicable and was a master of intrigue. On the advent of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, in Medina, Kaab bin Ashraf became a party to the agreement that the Holy Prophet had entered into with the Jews whereby it had been agreed that the parties would live in amity, peace and security, and wou ld co - operate with each other in the defence of Medina. But Kaab, from the beginning, entertained sentiments of rancour and enmity towards the Holy Prophet and the Muslims and began to intrigue against them. He was much chagrined at the victory of the Musl ims in the battle of Badr and began actively to plan the destruction of Islam and the Muslims. Up till then he had imagined that the religious zeal of the Muslims was only a temporary phase, and that gradually they would abandon Islam and revert to their a ncestral creed. But the surprising victory of the Muslims in the battle of Badr, and the slaughter of almost all the leading personalities of Quraish in the battle, convinced him that Islam was not a casual phenomenon. His immediate reaction at the receipt of the news of the issue of the battle was one of incredulity. But when the news was confirmed, he was filled with apprehension and anger. He forthwith proceeded to Mecca and provoked Quraish with his speeches and his poetry and roused their wrath against the Muslims to boiling point. He took their leaders to the Ka’aba and put them on oath, their hands clutching the covering of the Ka’aba, that they would not rest till they had wiped out Islam and its founder from the face of the earth.