quote:
Before Muhammed there were over 200 pagan deities worshipped at Mecca. After Muhammed there was one deity, Muhammed's god, Allah worshipped at Mecca. Does this tell you anything as to why the pagans resisted Muhammed?
The Prophet was chased out of Makkah by the pagans. The pagans also tortured early Muslims. And the first war in his time, the Badr war, was provoked by Makkah pagans who was jealous of the Madinah state. The second war, the Uhud war, was also a pagan attack to Madinah. Then the pagans blockaded Madinah. These events would have make life miserable for the Prophet and his followers, yet when they eventually got the upper hand and marched to conquer Makkah, Prophet Muhammad ordered to spare the pagans. The only victims in the conquest of Makkah was the pagan statues, destroyed like Prophet Ibrahim did earlier.
Here's a link to a 'sirah' (history) of Prophet Muhammad's life.
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According to my Encyclopedia Britannica and other reliable sources, Mohammed had all the men (hundreds) in one Jewish village beheaded who had surrendered and carried off the women and children for the slave trade. Are you aware of this or can you refute it?
This following article may refute it. Some quotes:
IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT at the advent of Islam there were three Jewish tribes who lived in Yathrib (later Medina), as well as other Jewish settlements further to the north, the most important of which were Khaybar and Fadak. It is also generally accepted that at first the Prophet Muhammad hoped that the Jews of Yathrib, as followers of a divine religion, would show understanding of the new monotheistic religion, Islam. However, as soon as these tribes realized that Islam was being firmly established and gaining power, they adopted an actively hostile attitude, and the final result of the struggle was the disappearance of these Jewish communities from Arabia proper.
...
On examination, details of the story can he challenged. It can be demonstrated that the assertion that 600 or 800 or 900 men of Banu Qurayza were put to death in cold blood can not be true; that it is a later invention; and that it has its source in Jewish traditions. Indeed the source of the details in earlier Jewish history can be pointed out with surprising accuracy.
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So then the real source of this unacceptable story of slaughter was the descendants of the Jews of Medina, from whom Ibn Ishaq took these "odd tales". For doing so Ibn Ishaq was severely criticized by other scholars and historians and was called by Malik an impostor.
The sources of the story are, therefore, extremely doubtful and the details are diametrically opposed to the spirit of Islam and the rules of the Qur'an to make the story credible. Credible authority is lacking, and circumstantial evidence does not support it. This means that the story is more than doubtful.
Original article title:
Ahmad, Barakat. 1976. Did Prophet Muhammad ordered 900 Jews killed?
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland pp. 100-107.
[edit to add article title]
[This message has been edited by Andya Primanda, 10-11-2003]