Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not raid caravans Material taken from Maulana Muhammad Ali's commentary to the Holy Qur'an, his book Muhammad the Prophet, and Dr Zahid Aziz' book review of Martin Ling's biography of the Holy Prophet
Evidence: [my notes in brackets]
“Even as the Lord cased thee to go forth from thy house with truth, though a party of the believers were surely averse. (980)* Disputing with thee about the truth after it had become clear – as if they were being driven to death while they saw (it). And when Allah promised you one of the two parties that it should be yours, and you loved that the one not armed should be yours, (981)* and Allah desired to establish the Truth by His words, and to cut off the root of the disbelievers.” (Qur’an Surah Al-Anfal -Voluntary Gifts- verse 4-7)Maulana Muhammad Ali writes in his footnote:
980 “The circumstances of the battle of Badr have been misunderstood, even by some Muslims. Christian opinion on the point is summed up in Palmer’s note: “The occasion alluded to was one when Muhammad had made some preparations for attacking an unarmed caravan on its way from Syria to Mecca, when Abu Sufyan, who was in charge of it, sent word to Mecca and obtained an escort of nearly a thousand men; many of Muhammad’s followers wished to attack the caravan only, but the Prophet and his immediate followers were for throwing themselves on the escort.”While the several incidents mentioned here are separately true, there is a misconception as to their relation to each other. It is true that a caravan was returning from Syria, and an army had marched forth from Makkah; it is also true that some of the Muslims wished that they should encounter the caravan and not face the Makkan force. Had the Holy Prophet desired to plunder the caravan he would have done so long before Abu Sufyan could obtain succour from Makkah. Madinah was situated at a distance of thirteen days’ journey from Makkah, so that if the Holy Prophet had actually an idea of plundering the caravan, he would have done it long before Abu Sufyan could obtain succour in less than a month, even if he had been apprised of the Holy Prophet’s intentions and had sent for aid from Makkah. And why should the Prophet waited all this while and not plundered the caravan before helped reached Abu Sufyan?
Badr, where the encounter took place, lies at a distance of three days’ journey from Madinah. Here, marching towards each other, the two armies met. This shows that the Makkan army had long been on its way to Madinah, while the Muslims were as yet quite unprepared.
The enemy had marched forth for ten days and the Muslims only for three days when the two forces encountered each other, which shows clearly the Muslims had turned out to take a defensive against an invading force. The Prophet had never and design of plundering the caravan, for if he had any such design he could have carried it out long before the Makkan force had approached Madinah, and his hands would thus have been strengthened to meet a powerful enemy. It is quite clear that the Holy Prophet only marched forth when the enemy had already traveled over three-fourths of the way to Madinah, and the caravan had left Madinah far behind.Further, it is clearly stated here that a party of the believers were averse to fighting. They could not have been averse if they had to encounter only an unarmed caravan. What is said in the next verse makes it clearer still, they went forth as if they
were being drive to death, because they knew that they were going to meet an enemy not only treble in numbers, but also much more powerful and efficient.Muhammad the Prophet, p. 84
The long standing anxiety of the Quraish to crush the growing power of Islam was the sole cause of the battle. The Muslims were in fact forced into it. The very fact that the Muslims strength aggregated only 313, including boys, all poorly armed, proves that there could have been little eagerness to fight a force 1,000 strong fully equipped. [the Muslims had 2 horsemen, and 70 camels, and the Quraish 100 horsemen, and 700 camels]. The Holy Qur'an thus depicts their state of mind when they were called upon to stand up in their own defense:
"A party of the believers were surely averse. ... As if they were being drive to death." There were many who looked upon it, it says, as a great hardship, thinking they were being thrust into the very jaws of death. Nevertheless they had to strike a blow in self defense. The Holy Prophet summoned them together, explained the situation to them, stressing the fact that they could not help taking the field against a foe who was bent upon striking at their very existence. The Helpers had promised to defend the Holy Prophet only within the walls of Madinah, but now the situation required the enemy to be met before they attacked the town. When the Holy Prophet turned towards them to know their mind, he found them all ready to follow his lead and to stand by him under the severest trials. This small band of Muslims hastily recruited and ill-equipped, placing their reliance on Allah, marched out on the road to Makkah to check the onslaught of the Quraish. It was inadvisable to let the flames of fighting approach their homes at Madinah. Reaching Badr, so called after a well of the same name, they found the Quraish army already encamped there. They did the same. 981 The two parties referred to were the unarmed caravan of the Quraish going to Makkah and the armed force of the Quraish that was on its way to Madinah. Naturally, some of the Muslims desired that their encounter should take place with the unarmed Quraish caravan, which was now a long way from Madinah, and not with the powerful army which was advancing against Madinah. Dr. Zahid Aziz writes in his review of the biography done by Martin Lings: After this, Lings mentions what he calls "raids" by Muslim detachments on Quraish trading caravans, in the period of tension leading up to the battle of Badr. The impression created by him, in pursuance of the biographers, is that the Muslims were on the offensive, harassing the Quraish. Yet if we consult the Hadith we find that it was the Muslims who were harassed and threatened by their opponents:"When the Holy Prophet and his Companions came to Madina, and the helpers gave them shelter, all the Arabs combined to fight them. The Companions had to sleep by their weapons, till the morning" (Hakim and Darimi, quoted in Shibli's Sirat an-Nabi, p. 308; interestingly enough, Darimi is listed by Lings among his authorities).
The so-called "raids" were, in fact, reconnaissance missions
whose purpose was not only to detect any move by the Quraish, but also to approach tribes living in the vicinity of Madina to secure pacts of neutrality with them. Even Lings admits the fact that these "raids" failed to intercept any Quraish caravan, but to fit this fact to his theory he ascribes this to the inaccuracy of the Muslims' information about the caravan movements.[The Holy Prophet Muhammad and his followers were persecuted in Makkah for 13 years and never was the sword raised. Muhammad pbuh was commanded to forgive.
"I have been commanded to forgive, so do not fight." (Hadith collection Nasa'i, Book of Jihad). Even during years of brutal torture and persecution, the Holy Prophet Muhammad was offered by the Quraish kingship, wealth and luxury, and maidens, which he refused! In the fifth year of the Call, the Holy Prophet had his weaker companions migrated to Abyssinia, while the Prophet stayed in Makkah, and even then the Quraish pursued them immediately when they learned of their plans. It was when the persecution became so severe that they fled to Medina and the attackers pursued them 260 miles away from them and threatened to annihilate them with the sword.However, they were not left alone in Madinah, and the Quraish sent a letter to the chief of Madina, Abdullah Ibn Ubayy, in a letter as follows:
"O people of Madina, you have given refuge to our adversary. (i.e., the Muslims). We swear by God that if you do not fight them or expel them, we shall come against you and kill your fighting men and capture your women." (Abu Dawud, vol. ii, p. 495)
It was then Allah (swt) revealed this verse to the Holy Prophet, which makes it abundantly clear Muslims were never to be the aggressors, and were only to fight in self defense.
"Permission to fight is given to those upon whom war is made, because they have been oppressed --- and God is well able to help them. Those who have been expelled from their homes unjustly, only for saying, `Allah is our Lord'. And if God had not allowed one group of people to repel another, then there would have been pulled down cloisters and synagogues and churches and mosques, in which God's name is remembered." (Qur'an 22:39-40)
Martin Lings Book Review: