arrival there, and initiated a wholly new orientation for the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the evolving society of Muslims. From then on, the newly formed Islamic regime was geared up to face the impending armed struggle with the polytheists, championed by the Quraysh from their base in Makkah. It was time to end the tyranny of the Quraysh, and destroy their power and influence. Not only were the Quraysh responsible for opposing the Muslims, and unjustly evicting them from their homes and lands, they were also a major obstacle in the way of Islam, preventing it from freely reaching the people of Arabia.
2. PERMISSION TO WAGE WAR
In effect, verses 39-40 of Sūrah al-Ḥajj not only made it permissible for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to fight back against his oppressors, they even suggest to him he should take up the challenge of armed resistance to polytheists in all earnest. This is implicit in the oblique promise, that God Almighty was capable of making the Muslims victorious over their enemies, despite the obvious disparity in their respective military strengths:
Leave is given to those against whom war has been waged (to fight back) because they have been wronged, surely Allah is capable of giving them victory – those who have been driven out of their homes without right, only because they said our Lord is Allah. For had it not been for Allah’s repelling some people by means of others, then cloisters and churches, oratories and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is much mentioned, would assuredly have been destroyed. Surely Allah helps those who help Him; surely Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty. [Al-Ḥajj 22:39-40]
The importance of these verses of Sūrah al-Ḥajj cannot be over-stated. As well as launching a new period for the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Muslims, that was destined to last for the next eight years up to the opening of Makkah, these verses give first expression to the philosophy of waging war in Islam, basically, in defence of Islam and justice. But the term defence here, we must state at the outset, is used in a broad sense that will be better understood as we proceed to explicate the dynamics of the campaigns; military actions in which the Prophet was engaged. In some cases, these actions were indeed in retaliation against attacks by enemy. In other cases, the Prophet (peace be upon him) initiated military actions, for example, against the unjust and oppressive regimes bordering Arabia, whose existence and flourishing influence constituted a threat to the nascent Islamic state in Madīnah. Also, punitive campaigns were initiated against the Bedouins surrounding Madīnah, in view of their bellicose disposition and traditions of predatory raiding: the only way to deter them was to demonstrate to them that the new state of Madīnah was not an easy prey; they had to be persuaded that it would be unwise for them to consider attacking the Muslims, in hope of plunder and booty.
The disposition of the Quraysh was obviously the central concern behind these verses of Sūrah al-Ḥajj. In a sense, these verses amounted to a declaration of war against the Quraysh. But the Quraysh was no insignificant enemy. If the Muslims were to fight them effectively, and in the hope of victory, all the proper preparations and plans needed to be made. Within an overall strategy, every action needed to be thought out ahead of time, and every risk carefully weighted. Contingencies had to be anticipated and Muslims trained to cope with them. The strategic objectives of individual actions and the campaign as a whole had to be well-defined, and necessary precautions and preparations made to ensure success. War is always a most serious endeavour, with the gravest implications for costs in life and property, but in this instance the future of the nascent Muslim society as a whole was at stake. Therefore, meeting the challenge of war against the Quraysh demanded commitment from Muslims and morale of the very highest quality.
Verse 41 of Sūrah al-Ḥajj, following the verses cited above, makes it both an obligation and a privilege for the Muslims to fight in the cause of justice, and to uphold the values and norms of Islam:
Those who, if we establish them in the land, seek to establish ṣalāh and to pay zakāh, and they enjoin goodness and forbid evil and corruption.[Al-Ḥajj 22:41]
It is clear that it is almost a necessary condition and consequence of the Muslims being established in the land, that they fight to uphold good and to establish Islamic precepts, norms and ideals in the actual reality of their social order.
Thus, seen in its historical and sociological context, waging war by the Prophet of Islam was quite a natural development from the Makkan phase. The old Christian polemic that Islam is a war-like religion is misconceived. Islam does not condole war as such, nor condole arbitrary resort to it. If anything, warring for its own sake is abhorred in the Qur’ān. But religious persecution, injustice and oppression are regarded as more abhorrent. If war becomes a necessary means of repelling aggression and removing evil and oppression, then the Muslims should not shy away from it. The military campaigns that the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Muslim followers waged against the Quraysh, during the first eight years of the Hijrah era, and which culminated in the conquest of Makkah, were essentially wars of liberation with the strategic aim of containing, and then putting an end to the abuses of authority and power of the oppressive and tyrannical Quraysh.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) drew up and put into practice comprehensive, thorough and meticulous plans to achieve that aim. These plans were meant to, and did, fit into a grand strategy of security and defence for the Madīnan community. The comprehensive and effective nature of this strategy showed that the Prophet (peace be upon him), was working with very sophisticated and broad concepts of security and defence, and that he displayed a very clear vision of things to come.
His strategy was multi-dimensional, with educational, political, economic, as well as intelligence and military components. He was fully aware of the psychological and ideological consequences of particular policies, and combined these with hard-headed military tactics. The practical measures adopted by the Prophet (peace be upon him), were chiefly intended to achieve two goals:
a. To enhance the security and status of Madīnah as a ḥaram or religious sanctuary;
b. To put pressures on the Quraysh, that would frustrate their aims, reduce their ability to incite the Bedouins around Madīnah against the Muslims, and weaken or destroy their commercial trading within and beyond the Arabian peninsula.
3. MILITARY EXPEDITIONS (SARĀYĀ)
The military expeditions were perhaps the first practical measures undertaken by the Prophet (peace be upon him) to implement the new orientation in policy, commanded by the verses of Sūrah al-Ḥajj cited earlier.
3.1 Ḥamzah’s Expedition
The first expedition, led by Ḥamzah, was dispatched barely five months after the Prophet’s arrival in Madīnah, on the 12th Rabī’ al-Awwal, year 13, of his mission (24th July, 622). Ḥamzah’s expedition took place in Ramaḍān of the first year of the Hijrah (December 622). Thirty Muslims took part in the expedition, all of them exclusively of the Muhājirīn or emigrants from Makkah. They succeeded in intercepting a large commercial caravan, belonging to the Quraysh, comprising of 300 camels and their riders, led by ʿAmr ibn Hishām (Abū Jahl). However, no fighting took place, as the two groups were separated, through the influence and good offices of an Arabian leader, by the name of Majdī ibn ʿAmr, in a place known as al-ʿĀṣ on the Red Sea coast.
3.2 The Expedition of ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith
The following month, that is to say, Shawwāl of the same year, ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith of the Banū Hāshim, a first cousin of the Prophet (peace be upon him), led a second expedition, comprising twice the number of men in Ḥamzah’s expedition and also exclusively made of the Muhājirīn. They too succeeded in intercepting another commercial caravan of the Quraysh, led by Abū Sufyān himself, one of the
