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Umm Qirfa: Difference between revisions
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The first to report this murder was Ibn Ishaq followed by Tabari, two historians which more recent Muslim scholars are wont to view with suspicion when Muhammad is cast by them in what is today a negative light. While the highly edited version of Ibn Ishaq (by Ibn Hisham) does contain the mention of the killing of Umm Qirfa but not the brutal way in which she was killed, Tabari mentions both the killing and the manner in which it was carried out. [[Sahih]] sources (Bukhari and Muslim) are also silent regarding the details of Umm Qirfa's killing but nonetheless confirm the raid on Banu Fazara. | The first to report this murder was Ibn Ishaq followed by Tabari, two historians which more recent Muslim scholars are wont to view with suspicion when Muhammad is cast by them in what is today a negative light. While the highly edited version of Ibn Ishaq (by Ibn Hisham) does contain the mention of the killing of Umm Qirfa but not the brutal way in which she was killed, Tabari mentions both the killing and the manner in which it was carried out. [[Sahih]] sources (Bukhari and Muslim) are also silent regarding the details of Umm Qirfa's killing but nonetheless confirm the raid on Banu Fazara. | ||
Still, Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, a widely-read modern day biographer of Prophet Muhammad, has also pointed out the Umm Qirfa incident in his work | Still, Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, a widely-read modern day biographer of Prophet Muhammad, has also pointed out the Umm Qirfa incident in his work ''The Sealed Nectar''. This book is highly regarded internationally and its Arabic version was awarded first prize by the Muslim World League, at the first Islamic Conference on Sirah, following a worldwide competition for a book on the ''Sirah Rasul Allah'' (life of Muhammad) in 1979. The occurrence of the event of Umm Qirfa's execution is still acknowledged today in respected Islamic scholarly publications and is by no means hotly contested in circles where traditional [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|Shari'ah]] [[punishments]], such as stoning and crucifixion, are universally accepted. | ||
{{Quote|{{citation|author=Saif-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|title=Al-Raheeq al-Makhtum|trans_title=The Sealed Nectar|page=337|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n337/mode/2up?q=qirfa|year=1996|publisher=Dar-us-Salam|edition=1st}}|An expedition led by Abu Bakr As-Siddiq or Zaid bin Haritha was despatched to Wadi Al-Qura in Ramadan 6 Hijri after Fazara sept had made an attempt at the Prophet’s life. Following the morning prayer, the detachment was given orders to raid the enemy. Some of them were killed and others captured. Amongst the captives, were Umm Qirfa and her beautiful daughter, who was sent to Makkah as a ransom for the release of some Muslim prisoners there. Umm Qirfa’s attempts at the Prophet’s life recoiled on her, and the thirty horsemen she had gathered and sustained to implement her evil scheme were all killed.}} | {{Quote|{{citation|author=Saif-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|title=Al-Raheeq al-Makhtum|trans_title=The Sealed Nectar|page=337|url=https://archive.org/details/TheSealedNectar-Alhamdulillah-library.blogspot.in.pdf/page/n337/mode/2up?q=qirfa|year=1996|publisher=Dar-us-Salam|edition=1st}}|An expedition led by Abu Bakr As-Siddiq or Zaid bin Haritha was despatched to Wadi Al-Qura in Ramadan 6 Hijri after Fazara sept had made an attempt at the Prophet’s life. Following the morning prayer, the detachment was given orders to raid the enemy. Some of them were killed and others captured. Amongst the captives, were Umm Qirfa and her beautiful daughter, who was sent to Makkah as a ransom for the release of some Muslim prisoners there. Umm Qirfa’s attempts at the Prophet’s life recoiled on her, and the thirty horsemen she had gathered and sustained to implement her evil scheme were all killed.}} | ||
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==Modern perspectives and criticisms thereof== | ==Modern perspectives and criticisms thereof== | ||
=== A deserved outcome === | ===A deserved outcome=== | ||
Some modern Muslim | Some modern Muslim ulama, confronted with the negative light the incident of Umm Qirfa sheds on Muhammad's companions and potentially Muhammad himself, have felt the need to construe Umm Qirfa's execution as an act of retribution rather than an exercise of the Shari'ah-based permission to execute one's opponents following a successful [[Jihad]].<ref>One source paints the chronology of events as follows:{{Quote||Zaid went on a trading journey to Syria and with some merchandise. The Banu Fazara tribe, whose leader was Umm Qirfa, attacked him and his companions and snatched all their merchandise. They killed some Muslims. '''So Umm Qirfa and her tribe deserved their fate.'''}}</ref> | ||
Drawing on the sequence of accounts found only in Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Hisham, it is presented that Zayd's raid on the Banu Fazara followed an attack led by Umm Qirfa on a caravan led by Zayd en route to Syria. On the other hand, in Ibn Ishaq, an earlier source, the first event in the chronology preceding Umm Qirfa's execution is a raid led by Zayd on the valley of al-Qurra, where the Banu Fazara tribe was located. Mubarkpuri in ''The Sealed Nectar'' affirms the sequence of events presented by Ibn Ishaq. It should also be noted that the account of Zayd's trade caravan to Syria is not found in the Sahih sources. The events leading up to Umm Qirfa's execution are just one example of the many contradictions found in early Islamic works of Sirah and history in general. | |||
=== Evidence for a prohibition on raping slaves === | |||
{{Main|Rape in Islamic Law}} | |||
Some modern Muslim ulama have also presented the example of Umm Qirfa's daughter as evidence in support of an Islamic prohibition on [[Rape in Islamic Law|raping]] slaves.<ref>One source argues as follows:{{Quote||Salama said that he had not disrobed the daughter of Umm Qirfa when they reached Medina, and again when Muhammad met him in the street, he told that he had not disrobed her. This is enough proof that she was not raped or molested.}}</ref> In the hadith in {{Muslim|19|4345}}, a companion by the name of Salama (b. al-Akwa') is given Umm Qirfa's daughter, "one of the prettiest girls in Arabia", as "prize" by Abu Bakr. Once in Medina, Muhammad asks Salama for this girl with the intention of using her to ransom some Muslim captives. Salama twice refuses, each time recalling how he has "not yet disrobed her" - in the second of these two instances, Salama tells as much to Muhammad. | |||
The fact of Salama's having "not yet disrobed her" is sometimes presented as evidence that Muslim men are not permitted to rape their slaves. On the contrary, the description of the girl as "one of the prettiest", as a "prize", and as one who "fascinated" Salama; the clear permissions to rape one's females slaves throughout Islamic scripture; and Salama's open and un-criticized admission to the prophet of his disappointment at having "not yet disrobed her" all make it clear that Salama intended to rape the girl, and that Muhammad and his leading companions, far from taking issue with the matter, were otherwise ready to facilitate Salama's aim. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
*[[The Genocide of Banu Qurayza]] | *[[The Genocide of Banu Qurayza]] | ||
*[[Rape in Islamic Law]] | |||
*[[Sahabah]] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||