Friday, September 17, 2010

Reign of Commitment


The Islam had reached to the most Arabia during the life of Muhammad (S.A.W) but it was based upon divine revelation, not just for the people of Arabia but for the whole mankind. Muhammad (S.A.W), in the ending period of his life sent greetings to the emperors of two Super Powers of that time, The Byzantine Empire and The Persian Empire, told them about the growing religion in Arabia, about his prophet hood and invited them to accept Islam. Khusroe, the Persian emperor torn the letter and ordered his forces in Yemen to go to Madina and arrest Muhammad (S.A.W). Byzantine King, Heraclius, did respect the letter, responded civilly but ordered his troops to go towards the northern borders of Arabia.
It is not the power and the worldly resources that make you win the battles, it’s the faith; believe in Allah, trust on his will, reliance upon his assistance and completeness of Eman that makes you frontrunner in the battle field. This is the reason why 313 went in front of 1000 and believed when Muhammad (S.A.W) threw a handful of sand towards them, they believed in the assistance of armies of angels, this is the reason why a man with the conviction burnt his boats after annunciation from Muhammad (S.A.W) himself.
It was the battle of Tabuk that was fought between Muslims and the Byzantine Empire during the life of Muhammad (S.A.W). Both the Persian and Byzantine Empires were against the establishment of this huge Islamic community in the vast areas of Arabia. Muhammad (S.A.W)initiated defensive measures against both these empires in north and East. After the death of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), Abu Bakar(r) continued the defence against Byzantines and sent a military expedition towards north in the leadership of Usama Bin Zaid(r). Usama Bin Zaid(r) returned neutral from this mission but affirmed the cohesion and strength of Muslims in the absence of Muhammad (S.A.W). This battle, though a smaller one, played a vital role in the later shape and character of Islam. And without any reservations it was the continuation of the foreign policy adopted by Muhammad (S.A.W) as by sending Zaid bin Haris(r) on the same expedition laid the foundations of this policy.
The war rules commanded by Abu Bakar to Usama Bin Zaid were
                   Do not kill children, women and old men.
                   Do not harm the disabled and do not disfigure the bodies of those killed in battle.
                   Do not destroy standing crops and do not cut down trees bearing fruit.
                   Do not be dishonest and misappropriate war booty.
                   Do not kill animals except as is necessary for food.

Northern borders of Arabia were made secure by the expedition of Usama Bin Zaid while the eastern borders became silent by themselves as the Khosroe and his sons were killed by his eldest son “Sheroya”, the government was captured by him. Later he was also killed and a youngster in the person dynasty, Yezdgerd was made the King of the Persian Empire.  Heraclius on the other side was aware of all what was happening in Persia. He launched many campaigns and got a lot of his land back that was captured by Persians. The Islamic State had its eastern border lying at the river Euphrates where some tribes were living that had become apostates after Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) passed away. These tribes had been living as autonomous states while under the court of Persian Empire but later during the period of Khosroe, these tribes were brought under the tax law and because of this resentment had started. Al Manathah Ibn e Harithah knowing this entire situation suggested Abu Bakar(r) to use the tribes against Persian Empire. Abu Bakar(r) agreed but asked Al Manathah Ibn e Harithah, Chief of Banu Shaiban, to recruit only those tribes who had not previously become apostates.
Khalid Bin Waleed (r), the greatest General of Muslim History, also joined Al Manathah Ibn e Harithah in the mission and won many battles against Persians capturing the area of Iraq. Before open attack the king of the area was asked to accept the Islam or the two choices i.e. Jaziya and war. The king didn’t want any of the peaceful way and the war broke out. Under the command of Khalid(r) Muslims reached till Domatul Jandal, an area between Syria and Iraq. Khalid(r) went back to Makkah to perform Hajj and when he came back he was asked by Abu Bakar(r) to go to the Northern Front i.e. the war against Byzantines.
An attack from Byzantines was expected and Abu Bakar(r) planned to pre-empt the Byzantines and take them by surprise. An army of 27,000 was formed and sent towards Byzantines from three directions under the orders of Ubaidah Ibn e Jarrah(r). The sub leaders of the groups were Amr Bin Al Aas(r) and Sharabeel Ibn e Hasanah. Before Khalid(r) reached the war, army under Ubaidah(r) had reached to Damascus but no further triumphs against the brother of Heraclius. After the arrival of Khalid(r), the war plan was changed and Muslims had good successes. One of the major war in this campaign was that of Ajnadeen in which 27,000 Muslims and 200,000. Muslims won advantage in this war and the final war of the campaign was fought at Yarmook. The plan formulated by Khalid(r) was as much comprehensive that Byzantines didn’t had space to run away and Muslim won the battle with heavy margin. The battle of Yarmook marked the greatest victory of Muslims against Byzantine Empire.
Other than war advancements Abu Bakar(r), he solved the problems of apostates, the Zakat issue and false prophets. After the battle of Yamama, fought against a false prophet Musselmah Kazzab, a lot of Huffaz were martyred. On advice of Omer(r), Abu Bakar(r) ordered to make written copy of Quran. This written copy of Quran is called Mashaf-e-Siddiqi.
Muslims didn’t fight wars during that period because they were interested in Land or Jewels. They fought these wars to have the Allah’s orders on this entire world. What was the reason that before attacking, Muslims always asked to have a peace deal. And the peace deal was to accept Islam or if they don’t want to accept Islam then come under the rule of Islam and pay Jaziya, and if they still don’t like then the third option was to implement divine law forcefully.  What does paying Jaziya to the Islamic state represent? Yes, it represent that Islam is the one system which Allah has given. Are Muslims the people who Allah has given this responsibility to get his Law Implemented? Yes, we are the ones, we are the Muslims, we are the true representations of best disposition, Allah has chosen us...we never cheat, we never lie, we never break promises, we never drink and we obey each and every order by Allah, we don’t cheat by fake degrees, we don’t accepting Americas rule on us, we have not broken barrages to get our lands saved, world is fully trusting us and giving us aid because our past is clear with no corruption and murder cases then why Allah will not choose us for leading? W are the people who have not been able to establish one rule only in Muslim countries and we talk about the whole world...huh we...

3 comments:

  1. I am sure one of the offers presented before war would have been invitation to preach Islam in the areas where people were expected to accept.

    The article is a very good example of comparison between who a muslim really and to what extent it is followed today.

    Thumbs up!

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  2. Yes still we are muslims (bas nam k), the reason is simple, we are not trained tha way muslim must be trained.

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  3. @mirium yes Muslims never requested but they asked with dignity that they will control their matters their selves if its ok for them its good otherwise sword will decide. A very interesting point is that muslims were always less than 1/3 of non-muslim army in all the battles I have talked about (Ajnadeen and Yarmook) but they always won with high margins. So no one can say that Islam spread because of Sword.

    @mohsin this is the real problem you have identified we dont have characters of muslim. We are in love with this world.

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