Far right islamophobes are constantly making up stories about Islam. One of their blatant myths is the idea that Muhammad, founder and prophet of Islam, was a violent man. Yes, this is actually what they’re suggesting. Muhammad, as we’ve heard mentioned by Muslims numerous times, was a peacemaker if anything. His desire for everyone to get along in equality is clearly shown from the theological sources of Islam. We’re not talking about the fabricated sources xenophobes like to quote. Here you’ll receive information about the one and only true Islam. We’ve collected ten of Muhammad’s acts of mercy for you to share with any racist you may encounter.

#10

“Allah’s Apostle said, “Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?” Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslama got up saying, “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” The Prophet said, “Yes,” Muhammad bin Maslama said, “Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab). The Prophet said, ‘You may say it.’ [..] So they killed him and went to the Prophet and informed him[..]” [i]

Sticks and stones
This is awesome. What a peacemaker Muhammad was. Apparently this person had “hurt” Allah as well as his supposed messenger. Since you can’t physically hurt Allah we can be pretty sure this hadith refers to verbal abuse. And how do we settle things when verbal abuse occurs? Muhammad just told us.

#9

“Allah’s Apostle sent some men from the Ansar to (kill) Abu Rafi, the Jew, and appointed ‘Abdullah bin Atik as their leader. Abu Rafi used to hurt Allah’s Apostle and help his enemies against him.[..]” [ii]

#8

“[..]The news (of the murderers) reached the Prophet early in the morning and he sent (men) in their pursuit and they were captured and brought at noon. He then ordered to cut their hands and feet (and it was done), and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron, They were put in ‘Al-Harra’ (rocky desert) and when they asked for water, no water was given to them.[..]” (between brackets is ours) [iii]

Forgiveness
These individuals committed murder and according to the complete narration (see footnote) one of their other crimes was apostasy. Muhammad could not forgive them, apparently. On the contrary. Instead of just killing them the prophet of Islam decided to burn their eyes with heated iron among other things. Some apologists for Islam say that the killers had done the same to their victim. So we should note that this fact makes the most horrific kind of torture “just fine” when you’re the moral example for all Muslims.

#7

After it took three tries for a man to accept Muhammad’s allegiance, Muhammad said to his companions:

“Was not there a wise man among you who would stand up to him when he saw that I had
withheld my hand from accepting his allegiance, and kill him?” [iv]

#6

“An infidel spy came to the Prophet while he was on a journey. The spy sat with the companions of the Prophet and started talking and then went away. The Prophet said (to his companions), ‘Chase and kill him.’ So, I killed him.” The Prophet then gave him the belongings of the killed spy (in addition to his share of the war booty).” [v]

#5

“In the Pre-lslamic Period of Ignorance there was a house called Dhu-l-Khalasa or Al-Ka’ba Al-Yamaniya or Al-Ka’ba Ash-Shamiya. The Prophet said to me, “Won’t you relieve me from Dhu-l-Khalasa?” So I set out with one-hundred-and-fifty riders, and we dismantled it and killed whoever was present there. Then I came to the Prophet and informed him, and he invoked good upon us and Al-Ahmas (tribe).” [vi]

What was their crime?
They had a Kabaa, just like the one Muhammad took from the Quraish. That was enough to be slaughtered by the hundreds in a merciful invasion by Muhammad’s newly obtained soldiers.

#4

“He had two singing-girls, Fartana and her friend, who used to sing satirical songs about the Apostle,
so he ordered that they should be killed with him.” [vii]

Stop singing
Don’t you hate a bad singer? Especially one who insults Muhammad through their lyrics. Muhammad had no possibility of showing mercy here. Clearly, these girls had to die.

#3

“Sara had insulted him in Mecca. [..] Similarly Sara, who lived until in the time of ‘Umar:
a mounted soldier trod her down in the valley of Mecca and killed her.” [viii]

Not just an insult!
Besides having insulted Muhammad, the freed slave Sara was also accused of participating in treachery by carrying a letter from one of Muhammad’s enemies to the Quraish in order to warn them about Muhammad’s plans to attack. How did Muhammad know she was carrying such a letter? Well, according to the Islamic source, he heard it from heaven so her fate was sealed because they actually found a letter with her. Do you believe that? [ix]

#2

“While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, “Let us go to the Jews” We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle.” [x]

Respect
We imagine the Jews must have been thrilled at the words of Muhammad. Finally someone who wanted to treat them different than what they were used to. Like we said: Muhammad was a peacemaker in dire times.

#1

To show you Muhammad didn’t just want to expel certain Jews,
but all of them, let’s look at our number one pick:

“I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.” [xi]

And there you have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth. These are the best authentic sources Islam has to offer so pull this blog up whenever an islamophobe tries to tell you Muhammad had a bit of a violent streak in him and withheld the mercy we all know he scattered around abundantly. I mean just look at how he forgave the people of Ta’if after they stoned him when he was by himself and couldn’t have fought them if he wanted to. Yeah sure, he besieged them later on when he had an army at his disposal[xii] but that was just … well we don’t want to talk about that right now!

References

[i] Sahih Bukhari, book 59, hadith 369; link

[ii] Sahih Bukhari, book 59, hadith 371; link

[iii] Sahih Bukhari, book  4, hadith 234; link

[iv] Sunan Abu Dawud, book 39, hadith 4346; link

[v] Sahih Bukhari, book 52, hadith 286; link

[vi] Sahih Bukhari, book 59, hadith 641; link

[vii] Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham; The Life of Muhammad;  translated by A. Guillaume, p. 551

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Ibid., p. 545: “The apostle received news from heaven of Hatib’s action and sent ‘Ali and al-Zubayr b. al-‘Awwam with instructions to go after her.”

[x] Sahih Bukhari, book 53, hadith 392; link

[xi] Sahih Bukhari, book 19, hadith 4366; link

[xii] Sahih Bukhari, book 59, hadith 615; link

Disclaimer

All of the quotes in this article are 100% factual and attributed to the people we attributed them to. For some however we may have to explain the obvious sarcasm in our study. It is meant to show people that there is another side to what they may have chosen to believe about Islam. Whether you are a Muslim or someone who simply wants to defend the idea that the prophet of Islam was a merciful man who reluctantly fought necessary wars and tried to save as many people as possible, this article will most likely confront you with some authentic sources that you may not have been looking to find. But when you judge a religion, you should do it based on facts on not on your desire to be postive. We know millions and millions of Muslims are wonderful people and we understand fully how the message of this article is a negative one and is likely to step on some toes in the process. But honesty regarding the Islamic scriptures and the nature of the moral example for Muslims is crucial to understanding Islam. We are all for a peaceful Islam. But reform is the way to get there. Ignoring the scriptures and  history of Islam is not.