The Prophet’s Assassinations

By Dr. A. N. Saleem  

2005/07/05

Many events describing how Muhammad used to order the secret assassinations of his critics are quoted in his Muslim biographies including the following:

A man who was able to see that Muhammad was living off banditry in the guise of religious rituals was Julas bin Suayd bin Samat. He was upset at this state of affairs which Muhammad had led his followers into and, in his frustration at his fellow Ansar being turned into bandits who regularly prayed to God but weren’t able to differentiate between moral and immoral, he taunted his fellows by saying, `if Muhammad was a true prophet, we wouldn’t be worse than asses’. In other words, he meant that Muhammad’s leadership had turned his followers into worse than donkeys. However, the critic’s step-son named Umayr bin Sa’d, an informer, reported these words to Muhammad. Julas was so scared of being murdered by Muhammad’s secret assassins that he rushed to Muhammad and swore that he had not said anything against Muhammad. The brother of Julas, whose name was Harith bin Suayd bin Samat, escaped and joined the Meccan Quraysh[i] but he later returned to Medina and was found and murdered on Muhammad’s orders[ii].

Another man who saw what evils Muhammad had added into Abraham’s religion was a monk by the name of Abu Amir-Abd-Amru. When Abu Amir saw his people accepting Islam, he migrated to Mecca along with a group of virtuous people who were too weak to resist the Muslims. When Muhammad heard about the monk’s migration, he said, `don’t call him a monk but call him a sinner’. When the Muslims later conquered Mecca , Abu Amir fled to Ta’if. When the people of Ta’if accepted Islam, the monk migrated to Syria and died in exile and poverty[iii].

In Medina there was a very old man named Abu Afak of the Banu Amr bin Auf tribe of the Banu Ubayda clan. Abu Afak was grieved when Muhammad made it lawful for Muslims to kill and, because of his old age, was fearless enough to speak the truth. He said:

I have lived long but never seen a people,

More zealous in fulfilling their promises

More zealous in hospitality

Than the Ansar – the offspring of Qayla –

The maternal ancestress of Aus and Khazraj

The Ansar would overthrow mountains rather than submit

But their guest Muhammad has bewitched them

Through his preaching; Muhammad says in one breath

‘Allowed’ and `forbidden’ for same sort of things

Mixing halal [lawful] with haram [unlawful]

Abu Afak had made the correct diagnosis of Muhammad’s sociopathy: In his lust for power, Muhammad had failed to distinguish right from wrong. Like most sociopaths who lose their temper when their true crimes are revealed, Muhammad was extremely offended at Abu Afak’s revelations and said to his devotees, `who will deal with this rascal for me?’ One of the most zealous devotees Salim bin Umayr assassinated Abu Afak in the darkness of night. After the secret assassination, one of Muhammad’s poets named Umama bin Muzayriya boasted:

You [Abu Afak] dared to charge Allah’s religion

And Muhammad of lies

Hence a sincere Believer gave you a plunge

In the darkness of late night saying,

‘Take this Abu Afak – a gift to your old age’

Whether it was a jinn or man who slew you

I wouldn’t say who it was.[iv]

The phrase, `whether it was a jinn or man’ needs explanation: Muhammad’s devotees had spread the word that ghosts called jinn protected Muhammad and killed for him. This propaganda was part of the `fear generation’ that was common among the superstitious and one aspect of the psychological control that inspired awe, respect, and adoration among the ill-informed, illiterate and highly superstitious people who followed prophets and mystics in Arabia [[1]]. That is how many prophets and mystics intimidated and controlled their followers in ancient Arabia . However, there were daring people who laughed at such superstitions. When the news of Abu Afak’s murder spread, a woman named Asma-bint-Marwan was deeply grieved. Asma was a woman of the Banu Umayya bin Zayd tribe and she was married to a man of the Banu Khatma tribe. She understood that it was not ghosts – the jinn - but Muhammad’s devotees who had assassinated Abu Afak. In her grief, she spoke the truth in blaming Muhammad and his followers and addressed her townsmen revealing Muhammad’s ambitions as follows:

By the common ancestor of the Medinian tribes,

You are obeying an alien in killing your own chiefs

And raising the alien’s hopes about you

Like a hungry man waiting for a cook’s broth

Is there no man of honour to rebel against this vile group?

And dash the hopes of the profit seeker?

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