Boreal

FAREWELL POSTINGS

My Passing May Mimic Muhammad’s Official Cause of Death

December 2, 2024

Unless I get hit by a bus, or suffer some other misfortune before the blessed event, my official cause of death will be a ruptured aorta, not unlike what Muhammad believed was happening to him. The Prophet thought he was dying from an aorta-busting poison he ingested years earlier after the successful conquest of the Jewish settlement of Khaibar.

KHAIBAR

(Abbreviated from 1001 Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, Boreal Books)

Khaibar is not just another of many bloody, pitiless battles waged by Muhammad to establish his rule on the Arabian Peninsula. After Badr, no battle gets more mention in the hadiths than that of Khaibar (also spelled Khaybar).

The horde of holy warriors descending on the villages and towns of the Peninsula intent on slaughter, destruction and plunder, with God’s spokesperson announcing to their inhabitants their imminent annihilation, must have been terrifying

Dawn was when the unbelievers could expect the horde's onslaught.

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet set out for Khaibar and reached it at night. He used not to attack if he reached the people at night, till the day broke. So, when the day dawned, the Jews came out with their bags and spades. When they saw the Prophet; they said, "Muhammad and his army!"

The Prophet said, Allahu Akbar! (Allah is Greater) and Khaibar is ruined, for whenever we approach a nation (i.e. enemy to fight) then it will be a miserable morning for those who have been warned."

Bukhari 52.195

In another hadith, which includes Muhammad's ban on eating the meat of domesticated donkey, he reached Khaibar in the morning.

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet reached Khaibar in the morning, while the people were coming out carrying their spades over their shoulders. When they saw him they said, "This is Muhammad and his army! Muhammad and his army!" So, they took refuge in the fort.

The Prophet raised both his hands and said, "Allahu Akbar, Khaibar is ruined, for when we approach a nation (i.e. enemy to fight) then miserable is the morning of the warned ones."

Then we found some donkeys which we (killed and) cooked: The announcer of the Prophet announced: "Allah and His Apostle forbid you to eat donkey's meat." So, all the pots including their contents were turned upside down.

Bukhari 52.234

The call to prayer only delayed the inevitable.

Narrated Humaid:

Anas bin Malik said, "Whenever the Prophet went out with us to fight (in Allah's cause) against any nation, he never allowed us to attack till morning and he would wait and see: if he heard Adhan (the call to prayer) he would postpone the attack and if he did not hear Adhan he would attack them ..."

The taking of a town or village was as straightforward as it was pitiless: prayers, then an assault on the unbelievers' position. If successful, as most of these massacres were, then came the plunder and apportioning of the property of those killed including wives, daughters and sons who were taken into slavery. Young women and girls were especially prized as slave-girls. It was at Khaibar that Muhammad took for himself the seventeen-year-old Safiya (also spelled Safiyya) for his troubles. She would become his eleventh wife.

Muhammad, as God's spokesman, was not only entitled to one-fifth of the booty obtained the hard way, but all the booty that was obtained without a fight, the Fai'. Technically, the valuable farmland known as Fadak north of Khaibar had not been fought over. The Jewish farmers of Fadak, hoping to avoid the fate of their brethren at Khaibar, sent a message to Muhammad offering him half their land and half of what they produced if he held his pillaging horde in check. The merchant in Muhammad knew a good deal when he saw one and spared the farmers of Fadak.

Some hadiths, such as the following do not distinguish between Khaibar and Fadak.

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar:

Allah's Apostle gave the land of Khaibar to the Jews to work on and cultivate and take half of its yield. Ibn Umar added, "The land used to be rented for a certain portion (of its yield)."

Nafi mentioned the amount of the portion but I forgot it.

Rafi' bin Khadij said, "The Prophet forbade renting farms."

Narrated Ubaid-Ullah Nafi' said: Ibn Umar said: (The contract of Khaibar continued) till Umar evacuated the Jews (from Khaibar).

Bukhari 36.485

Fadak proved to be one of Muhammad's most profitable acquisitions, which may explain his successor's unilateral takeover of his interests. Fatima, Muhammad's daughter and the mother of his grandsons, confronted Bakr but was unsuccessful in receiving what should have been her due.

Narrated Aisha:

Fatima sent somebody to Abu Bakr asking him to give her her inheritance from the Prophet from what Allah had given to His Apostle through Fai (i.e. booty gained without fighting).

She asked for the Sadaqa (i.e. wealth assigned for charitable purposes) of the Prophet at Medina, and Fadak, and what remained of the Khumus (i.e., one-fifth) of the Khaibar booty.

Abu Bakr said, "Allah's Apostle said, 'We (Prophets), our property is not inherited, and whatever we leave is Sadaqa, but Muhammad's Family can eat from this property, i.e. Allah's property, but they have no right to take more than the food they need.' By Allah! I will not bring any change in dealing with the Sadaqa of the Prophet (and will keep them) as they used to be observed in his (i.e. the Prophet's) life-time, and I will dispose with it as Allah's Apostle used to do,"

Then Ali said, "I testify that None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Apostle," and added, "O Abu Bakr! We acknowledge your superiority."

Then he (i.e. Ali) mentioned their own relationship to Allah's Apostle and their right.

Abu Bakr then spoke saying, "By Allah in Whose Hands my life is. I love to do good to the relatives of Allah's Apostle rather than to my own relatives"

Abu Bakr added: Look at Muhammad through his family (i.e. if you are not good to his family you are not good to him).

Bukhari 57.60

By absconding with Muhammad's estate and Allah by forbidding any man to marry His spokesperson's wives after his passing (33:53: You should never hurt the Messenger of Allah, nor take his wives in marriage after him), the parsimonious Bakr reduced many of Muhammad’s widows to the status of beggars, dependent on the whims of his acquisitive nature for their survival.

Umar, Bakr's successor, would return some of Muhammad's property (which was allegedly meant for charity) to Ali, Fatima's husband. The property had probably lost much of its value after Umar exiled the Jews who farmed the land.

 Narrated Ibn Umar:

Umar expelled the Jews and the Christians from Hijaz. When Allah's Apostle had conquered Khaibar, he wanted to expel the Jews from it as its land became the property of Allah, His Apostle, and the Muslims. Allah's Apostle intended to expel the Jews but they requested him to let them stay there on the condition that they would do the labor and get half of the fruits.

Allah's Apostle told them, "We will let you stay on thus condition, as long as we wish."

So, they (i.e. Jews) kept on living there until Umar forced them to go towards Taima and Ariha.

Bukhari 39.531

Umar accused the Jews of harming a believer and then used what they thought was a joke made at their expense by Muhammad (Abu-l-Qasim in the following hadith) to nullify their agreement with God’s spokesperson.

Narrated Ibn Umar:

When the people of Khaibar dislocated Abdullah bin Umar's hands and feet, Umar got up delivering a sermon saying, "No doubt, Allah's Apostle made a contract with the Jews concerning their properties, and said to them, 'We allow you (to stand in your land) as long as Allah allows you.' Now Abdullah bin Umar went to his land and was attacked at night, and his hands and feet were dislocated, and as we have no enemies there except those Jews, they are our enemies and the only people whom we suspect, I have made up my mind to exile them."

When Umar decided to carry out his decision, a son of Abu Al-Haqiq's came and addressed Umar, "O chief of the believers, will you exile us although Muhammad allowed us to stay at our places, and made a contract with us about our properties, and accepted the condition of our residence in our land?"

Umar said, "Do you think that I have forgotten the statement of Allah's Apostle: 'What will your condition be when you are expelled from Khaibar and your camel will be carrying you night after night?'"

The Jew replied, "That was a joke from Abu-l-Qasim."

Umar said, "O the enemy of Allah! You are telling a lie."

Umar then drove them out and paid them the price of their properties in the form of fruits, money, camel saddles and ropes, etc.

Bukhari 50.890

Umar would eventually expel all Jews and Christians from the Hejaz, the so-called holy land of Islam, which comprises most of western modern-day Saudi Arabia and is centred on Mecca and Medina.

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Umar bin Al-Khattab expelled all the Jews and Christians from the land of Hijaz. Allah's Apostle after conquering Khaibar, thought of expelling the Jews from the land which, after he conquered it belonged to Allah, Allah's Apostle and the Muslims.

But the Jews requested Allah's Apostle to leave them there on the condition that they would do the labor and get half of the fruits (the land would yield).

Allah's Apostle said, "We shall keep you on these terms as long as we wish." Thus they stayed till the time of 'Umar's Caliphate when he expelled them to Taima and Ariha.

Bukhari 53.380

MUHAMMAD’S OFFICIAL CAUSE OF DEATH

(Abbreviated from Merchant to Messenger, Boreal Books)

Muhammad’s life template borrowed heavily from that of the prophets of the Torah and Jesus of the New Testament. In the Gospels, the penultimate Messenger of Allah suffered a gruesome death on the cross because of the Jews. For the arbiters of Islamic dogma, it may have seemed only logical that their saviour's passing, like that of Jesus, had been expedited by a Jew, and a female to boot, rather than from injuries sustained by an accomplished rider falling off his mount. In the official version, Muhammad's fate was sealed at Khaibar (also spelled Khaybar).

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah's Apostle reached Khaibar in the early morning and the people of Khaibar came out with their spades, and when they saw the Prophet they said, "Muhammad and his army!" and returned hurriedly to take refuge in the fort. The Prophet raised his hands and said, "Allah is Greater! Khaibar is ruined! If we approach a nation, then miserable is the morning of those who are warned."

Bukhari 56.840

The leadership of the Jews of Khaybar, as well as the male members of their immediate and extended families, were beheaded. One chief who went by the name of Kinana was almost tortured to death in the hope that he would reveal the existence of buried treasures before he too was decapitated.

A Jewish woman by the name of Zaynab (who may have been Kinana’s daughter) put poison in a carcass of lamb (some say it was goat) that she was told to cook for Muhammad and his cronies after the slaughter of all killable males of her tribe (those showing any growth of pubic hair). She was brought before God’s spokesman to answer for her cooking. The story as reported by respected Islamic scholar Ibn Sa'd [784-845]:

The apostle of Allah sent for Zaynab and said to her, "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "You have done to my people what you have done. You have killed my father, my uncle and my husband, so I said to myself, 'If you are a prophet, the foreleg will inform you'; and others have said, 'If you are a king we will get rid of you.'"

A foreleg of the roasted lamb did inform Muhammad that it had been poisoned, but not before he had taken a bite.

Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:

Ibn Shihab said: Jabir ibn Abdullah used to say that a jewess from the inhabitants of Khaybar poisoned a roasted sheep and presented it to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) who took its foreleg and ate from it. A group of his companions also ate with him.

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then said: Take your hands away (from the food).

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then sent someone to the jewess and he called her. He said to her: Have you poisoned this sheep?

The jewess replied: Who has informed you?

He said: This foreleg which I have in my hand has informed me.

She said: Yes.

He said: What did you intend by it?

She said: I thought if you were a prophet, it would not harm you; if you were not a prophet, we should rid ourselves of him (i.e. the Prophet).

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then forgave her, and did not punish her. But some of his companions who ate it, died.

Abu Dawud 39.4495

In another hadith, Muhammad had her killed. It may not have been a tattletale leg of lamb that alerted him that the food was poisoned, but one of his dining companions falling over dead.

Narrated Abu Salamah:

A jewess presented a roasted sheep to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) at Khaybar. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition like that of Jabir (No. 4495).

He said: Then Bashir ibn al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur al-Ansari died.

He sent someone to call on the jewess, and said to her (when she came): What motivated you to do the work you have done?

He then mentioned the rest of the tradition similar to the one mentioned by Jabir (No. 4495).

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then ordered regarding her and she was killed. But he (Abu Salamah) did not mention the matter of cupping.

Abu Dawud 39.4496

What does the ingestion of a benign amount of poison have to do with Muhammad’s death years later? It all has to do with something Aisha said her husband uttered before he died.

Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet in his ailment in which he died, used to say, "O Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison."

Bukhari 59.713

He said something similar after he had ordered the cook to be killed.

Narrated Abu Salamah:

So a jewess presented him at Khaybar with a roasted sheep which she had poisoned. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) ate of it and the people also ate.

He then said: Take away your hands (from the food), for it has informed me that it is poisoned.

Bishr ibn al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur al-Ansari died.

So he (the Prophet) sent for the jewess (and said to her): What motivated you to do the work you have done?

She said: If you were a prophet, it would not harm you; but if you were a king, I should rid the people of you.

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then ordered regarding her and she was killed. He then said about the pain of which he died: I continued to feel pain from the morsel which I had eaten at Khaybar. This is the time when it has cut off my aorta.

Abu Dawud 39.4498

From credible accounts of a Jewish woman attempting to poison him, Islamic scholars have reached the implausible conclusion that it was this attempt on Muhammad's life that caused his death four years later.

I could not ascertain if the Jewish woman or girl being tortured in her grave, in the following hadith, is Zaynab:

Narrated Aisha:

Once Allah's Apostle passed by (the grave of) a jewess whose relatives were weeping over her.

He said, "They are weeping over her and she is being tortured in her grave."

Bukhari 23.376

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:

A jewess used to abuse the Prophet (peace be upon him) and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died.

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) declared that no recompense was payable for her blood.

Abu Dawud 38.4349

A HUNDRED YEARS OF NOTHING

(Abbreviated from Merchant to Messenger, Boreal Books)

When Muhammad allegedly died nestled in Aisha's lap in Medina in 632, he not only left this mortal realm but history altogether. I say allegedly because, with the possible exception of the letter of Caliph Umar II (717-720) to the Byzantine emperor Leo III in which he brags about how Muhammad led his followers out of Arabia "to fight against the largest empires", there is no contemporary Muslim account of how and when he died or what came after for about one hundred years even if Medina, at the time, was known for its scribes. None of the many citizens of the city who could read and write and on whom Muhammad depended, including the indispensable Zaid bin Thabit Al-Ansari, it would seem, could be bothered to note the passing of its most illustrious resident; unless, of course, this is not where and when he died.

The first written text on the life of Muhammad appeared in the first half of the 8th century from a few Muslim clerics such as the Kitâb al-saqîfa (the book of saqîfa) by Shiite author Sulaym Ibn Qays al-Hilâl, one of the oldest such texts to have survived to this day. Saqîfa is Arab for refuge or a large covered space. Saqîfa Banî Sâ’ida was such a place, a large covered veranda in Medina where a group of people gathered in secret following the death of Muhammad, according to Shiite sources, and named Abu Bakr as his successor, thereby depriving his son-in-law Ali of the caliphate. On the Sunni side, the first clerics to have written on the life of Muhammad are Urwa Ibn al-Zubayr (d. 712) and his disciple al-Zuhrî (d. 741), who lived during the Umayyad caliphate.

Urwa is alleged to have written about different parts of Muhammad's life at the request of Caliph Abd al-Malik (685-705) in the form of letters addressed to his patron. None have survived. We only know of his writings because they are cited by subsequent authors such as Ibn Ishaq (b. 704 d. 767), whose teacher was none other than al-Zuhrî. Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad, which he wrote at the request of Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur (754-775) for his son, has much to say about his military expeditions. Like the letters of Urwa, Ishaq's biography has not survived to this day. We know some of what he wrote because he is quoted in later works by 9th and 10th century authors and from reworked fragments such as those found in the seminal Sirat al-Rassûl, Example of the Prophet or Life of the Prophet by ibn Hisham (d. 832).

Ibn Ishaq was a controversial figure, in part because he approached his subject in much the same way a modern historian would: by considering all information available, including the testimonies of Christians and Jewish converts whom his detractors dismissed out-of-hand as unreliable compared to those of Arab converts or those born into the faith. Ishaq's most vocal critic was renowned authority on the sayings and deeds of Muhammad (the so-called hadiths), Malik ibn Anas (b. 711 d. 795).

The methodology pursued by Ibn Ishaq was, first and foremost, that of an historian and biographer while Malik was steeped in Islamic Jurisprudence. The main reason why Malik and others questioned Ibn Ishaq's reliability as a hadith narrator was due largely to the fact that he had obtained information about the Prophet's military campaigns (including that of the Battle of Khaibar) from both Jewish and Christian converts to Islam.

Muhammad Mojlum Khan, The Muslim 100 - The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of the Most Influential Muslims in History, Kube Publishing, 2008.

Ibn Hisham transformed what Ishaq wrote about Muhammad into a panegyric. Hisham's plagiarized biography has achieved canonical status and the immunity from criticism that comes from being elevated to the equivalent of holy writ.

Thanks to its success the Sira of Ibn Ishaq (as redacted by Hisham and others) is practically our one source for the life of Muhammad preserved within the Islamic tradition. The work is late; written not by a grandchild, but a great great-grandchild of the Prophet's generation, it gives us the view for which classical Islam had settled. And written by a member of the "ulema" the scholars who had by then emerged as the classical bearers of the Islamic tradition, the picture which it offers is one-sided: how the Umayyad caliphs remembered their Prophet we shall never know. That it is unhistorical is only what one would expect, but it also has an extraordinary capacity to resist internal criticism, a feature unparalleled in either the Skandhara [the life of the Buddha] or the Gospels, but characteristic of the entire Islamic tradition, and most pronounced in the Koran: one can take the picture presented or one can leave it, but one cannot work with it.

Stephen Shoemaker, The Death of a Prophet - The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, cf. Patricia Crone, Slaves on Horses  

Professor Shoemaker on the early biographies of Muhammad:

The manifold shortcomings of the early Islamic traditions, particularly with respect to the period of origins, invite the strong possibility that the beginnings of Islam differed significantly from their representation in the earliest biographies of Muhammad. Not only were the narratives composed at only an arresting distance from the events they describe, but modern scholarship on the traditional biographies of Muhammad has repeatedly found them to be unreliable sources... their failings as historical sources almost required that we look elsewhere to supplement our knowledge about the beginnings of Islam.

THE ANTICHRIST IN PALESTINE

Christian, Jewish, Egyptian, Persian, Spanish… sources quoted in Professor Shoemaker's book as to the whereabouts of Muhammad before he died:

1 Doctrina Iacobi nuper Baptizati (July 634 CE)

2 The Apocalypse of Rabbi Shim`ōn b. Yohai (635-45?)

3 The Khurzistan Chronicle (ca. 660 CE)

4 Jacob of Edessa, Chronological Charts (691/692 CE)

5 The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria: The Life of Patriarch Benjamin (before 717 CE)

6 The Spanish Eastern Source (ca. 741 CE)

7 The Syriac Common Source: The Chronicle of Theophilus of Edessa (ca. 750 CE)

8 The Short Syriac Chronicle of 775 (ca. 775 CE)

9 The Zuqnin Chronicle (ca. 775 CE)

10 A Report from the Continuation of Abū l-Fath's - Samaritan Chronicle (7th century)

11 An early Islamic witness: `Umar's letter to Leo (8th century)

Some of these impartial accounts, such as the Doctrina Iacobi, describe a doomsday prophet—of which the Dark Ages abounded —alive and well leading military incursions into Palestine up to two years after Muhammad's purported death in Medina. Since the invention of the clay tablet, people have exchanged information, e.g., letters, about what is happening in their neck of the woods. Because such letters are often written by individuals who have no particular axe to grind, they are invaluable to historians as unbiased eyewitness accounts of what may be later revealed to be historically significant events. This is the case with a letter gleaned from the Doctrina by a fellow by the name of Justus to Jacob about Saracens in Palestine. The letter begins with Justus informing Jacob about a correspondence he has received from his brother Abraham regarding a Roman official in Palestine killed by Arabs led by a man who should have been dead. 

My brother Abraham wrote to me that a false prophet has appeared. Abraham writes, "When the canditatus was killed, I was in Caesarea, and I went by ship to Sykamina. And they were saying 'The canditatus has been killed,' and we Jews were overjoyed.

"And they were saying, 'A prophet has appeared, coming with the Saracens and he is preaching the arrival of the anointed one who is to come, the Messiah.'[28]

"And when I arrived in Sykamina I visited an old man who was learned in the scriptures, and I said to him, 'What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?'

"And he said to me groaning loudly, 'He is false, for prophets do not come with the sword and a war-chariot. Truly the things set in motion today are deeds of anarchy, and I fear that somehow the first Christ that came, which the Christian worship, was the one sent by God, and instead of him we will receive the Antichrist. Truly Isaiah said that we Jews will have a deceived and hardened heart until the entire earth is destroyed. But go, master Abraham, and find out about this Prophet who has appeared.'

"And when I, Abraham, investigated thoroughly, I heard from who had met him that one will find no truth in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of human blood. In fact, he says that he has the keys of Paradise, which is impossible." These things my brother Abraham has written from the East.

Stephen Shoemaker, The Death of a Prophet - The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

It would seem that Muhammad was intent on making his way north—Dabiq being the most likely destination—with the idea of fulfilling his own prophecy of a Muslim victory over the Romans, which would be the signal for Allah to bring an end to His Creation and begin the process of settling scores in an end-of-times extravaganza for the ages.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The Last Hour would not come until the Romans would land at al-A'maq or in Dabiq. An army consisting of the best (soldiers) of the people of the earth at that time will come from Medina (to counteract them). When they will arrange themselves in ranks, the Romans would say: Do not stand between us and those (Muslims) who took prisoners from amongst us. Let us fight with them; and the Muslims would say: Nay, by Allah, we would never get aside from you and from our brethren that you may fight them.

They will then fight and a third (part) of the army would run away, whom Allah will never forgive.

A third (part of the army) which would be constituted of excellent martyrs in Allah's eye, would be killed and the third who would never be put to trial would win and they would be conquerors of Constantinople.

And as they would be busy in distributing the spoils of war (amongst themselves) after hanging their swords by the olive trees, the Satan would cry: The Dajjal has taken your place among your family. They would then come out, but it would be of no avail.

And when they would come to Syria, he would come out while they would be still preparing themselves for battle drawing up the ranks.

Certainly, the time of prayer shall come and then Jesus (peace be upon him) son of Mary would descend and would lead them in prayer.

When the enemy of Allah would see him, it would (disappear) just as the salt dissolves itself in water and if he (Jesus) were not to confront them at all, even then it would dissolve completely, but Allah would kill them by his hand and he would show them their blood on his lance (the lance of Jesus Christ).

Sahih Muslim 041.6924

In Muhammad's doomsday scenario, which largely mimics that of the Christians, Jesus returns shortly before the onset of Judgement Day to render the Earth and its people more to Allah's liking.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts)."

Bukhari 43.656

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said "How will you be when the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you and he will judge people by the Law of the Quran and not by the law of Gospel."

Bukhari 55.658

The Muslims would be in possession of Dabiq within a decade of Muhammad's death, but still no Judgement Day.

When Muhammad died before the eschaton's (the end of the world) arrival and the Hour continued to be delayed, the early Muslims had to radically reorient their religious vision. The Hour was thus increasingly differed into the distant future, and in less than a century Islam swiftly transformed itself from a religion expecting the end of the world to a religion that aimed to rule the world.

Stephen J. Shoemaker, The Death of a Prophet - The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012