Radi (Radical): (At Modi’ house, Modi’s wife Hayat has just served coffee) Modi, your wife is a jewel and she makes great coffee. Modi (Moderate): Thank you, Radi, but you should tell her that. You have my permission.
Radi: I came a little earlier because I am bothered about Muhammed’s (peace be upon him) reasons for leaving Mecca for Yathrib. Why were the Meccans so set against his message?
Modi: When he began preaching, Radi, he claimed he was a prophet. Well, the merchants and the families in Mecca were not ready for something like that, not in Mecca. And one of their own, being a prophet, that was too much to expect.
Mani (Mainstream): Wouldn’t anyone believe him, besides his family and small circle of friends?
Modi: No. And the Mecca merchants boycotted his entire clan. The clan was not too pleased about that. They warned him continually about the dangers involved in preaching the messages he said was given him. In one place, people actually threw stones at him.
Radi: What? Why did they do that?
Modi: He preached reform, Radi. Mecca was like a wide-open town we see in those Wild West films. And along came Muhammad to spoil their fun. With one powerful, angry God they could not see, they could not punch Him or kick Him as they did the littler icons that they came to know as gods, when they did not provide the expected favors or relief.
Mani: And with a single God, the merchants stood to lose a great deal of revenue from the pilgrim trade.
Radi: I know all about that, what part of the message affected everyone so badly?
Modi: It was a cultural and social message, building a new civilization based on justice and eliminating the disputes and retaliations of a society almost out of control. But the old, solid tribal and clan lines were also endangered. The rules laid out by God would be the law of the land and not the rules of the family or the tribe. In short, the change was to be dramatic and entirely too much for the Meccans. The allegiance would now be to God and not to the tribe or the family.
Mani: We know about the plot to assassinate the prophet and we know about his escaping to Yathrib to become a dispute mediator for the tribes there. But what about Yathrib itself? What sort of place was it before Muhammed got there and changed its name?
Modi: Well, it was close enough to the trade routes to enjoy light trade, but relied mostly on agriculture for its survival. Now, as far as the disputes were concerned, that was no small issue. There had been no one in charge for a long period of time and some of the disputes resulted in much violence. Some of the Jewish tribes had been evicted by the Romans. They settled in Yathrib along with Bedouins, who were just trying out a new life, away from the hazards of nomadic life.
Radi: So between the Jews, the Bedouins, and the settled farmers, it was a very mixed community.
Mani: And so every little problem metastasized into an unacceptable crisis.
Modi: True. But Muhammad found his niche as mediator and found himself growing in stature and spreading out into other areas, wherever his management skills were needed.
Radi: What do you mean by his management skills?
Modi: As I mentioned, Yathrib, or now Medina, was now a thriving community of Jews, Bedouins, and farmers, but now added to that were incoming Muslims making their way there from Mecca. Before Muhammad reached Medina, many of this helpers went there first to begin preaching and introducing the new religion. The local Arabs, having heard the talk about the coming of a new prophet, hurried to become a part of this new religion, looking for the salvation that so far was just rumors. After Muhammad took up residence there, the trickle of people to Yathrib increased little by little.
Mani: That must have been a madhouse.
Modi: You have that right! A madhouse it was. There were more new people coming in all the time and it now included the wives and families of Muslims who preceded Muhammad. Food was becoming scarce and so was housing. The old residents were becoming incensed at the new boom-town and they and the Muslims complained about each other.
Radi: I think I know what is coming. Is that when he began raiding caravans?
Modi: Yes, it was. He had to provide for his own people and at the same time ensure that the original residents had customers for their goods and services. The only income available to him there was raiding caravans. With the booty that the robberies provided, each Muslim taking part was able to use his share to provide for his family and at the same time provide profits for the merchants and the farmers.
Mani: That would lead to the Meccans becoming more than just miffed at their losses from the caravans and perhaps fewer people from Syria and other places becoming more reluctant to trade with Mecca.
Modi: Mecca had good reason to be angry. Muhammad, an upstart, was giving them fits and they could not get to him to crush him. So they waited patiently for a Muhammad mistake. You and I all know that there are no secrets in the Middle East -- except to Westerners. Muhammad heard about a fat caravan about to leave Syria for Mecca, and they knew the route the caravan was taking. So Muhammad prepared not only to take the caravan, but also to protect the robbers.
Mani: I don’t think I heard about that.
Modi: Well if you heard about Badr, you heard the story in a different way -- a miracle battle because even though greatly outnumbered, he won the battle. Well, it seems that the leader of the caravan discovered that Muhammad knew about his caravan and was going to intercept it at a certain place.
Radi: So, did he take a different route?
Modi: Oh yes. However, he also sent a rider ahead to advise the Meccans his caravan was in danger from the Muslims.
Radi: So they assembled their army and rode off to protect the caravan?
Modi: In a manner of speaking, they did. But the army they assembled was only partially Meccan. There were other tribes in the area that had covenants with the Meccans to join them when going into battle. So, the Meccans were not all that many in number starting out, but their numbers grew considerably by the time they reached the caravan rendezvous area. Now here is where things became iffy and why the Meccans needed better management.
Mani: The caravan wasn’t there?
Modi: Worse. The caravan was already safe in Mecca and the caravan leader sent word to Badr, where the makeshift army was waiting. When the tribes found out there was no caravan to protect, they took the opportunity to leave the scene as fast as their horses would go. They did not relish the idea of attacking the Muslim army -- whose size and toughness they did not know -- without a good reason. Some Meccan units departed as well, leaving the Meccan leader with a force much smaller than he needed.
Radi: So he departed the scene as well?
Modi: He should have, but he stayed around too long and the Muslims attacked him. He had never seen the ferocity that the Muslims brought to the battle. He did not know that Muhammad had told his fighters that if they were killed in battle, their families would receive there share of the booty, and they would be in paradise in the blink of an eye with luscious gardens and women ready to wait on them. One fighter, resting from the tough battle is said to have seen the prophet nearby and asked him if it was really true, that he could see those luscious gardens and be waited on hand and foot if he were killed in the battle. When Muhammad replied in the affirmative, the man grabbed his sword and shield, said “Out of my way,” and without armor, laid into a group of Meccans. Others followed the man back into the battle and before long, the Meccans were not sure the battle was worth it -- the Muslim ferocity was simply too much for them. So they all departed, leaving the field to Muhammad.
Radi: (laughing) So the Muslims were too much for them, Ha.
Mani: They were all Arabs and many of them were really neighbors. But look at the situation. The Meccans really had nothing to fight for. The caravan was safe in Mecca, their allies disappeared, and there they were trying to keep these mad Muslims from overrunning them.
Modi: Thus was the opening battle of the Muslims. Even today, as Muslims fight, you can hear them refer to Badr in their shouting and their boasts.
Radi: So that was the beginning of the Muslim battles?
Modi. That was it, the Battle of Badr. After Badr, the Meccan leadership knew what they were facing and tried to put together an army they could trust. Unfortunately, neighboring allies had to join each fray, and they were just not as committed as the Meccans. And no one had the incentive that the Muslims showed, to risk their lives as if they were better off if they were killed.
Mani: How can you fight people like that?
Modi: That is the type of fighters the anti-government insurgents use against the Americans. But the Americans can beat those fighters, no matter what they do. The only people that Americans fear are their own leadership. If the party somebody renamed Defeat, Retreat, and Porn increases their power in the United States, the troops know that Iraq will be gone, along with the rest of the Middle East . Before long, the congressional dummies will become Dhimmis, second or third class citizens of the Neanderthals.
Radi: Are we ready for tea and biscuits?
Mani: I need something stronger (Modi calls for Hayat to bring the Saudi coffee).
HJS
Adapted from Legacy of the Prophet, by Anthony Shadid, Westview Press, 2001, pages 22-25.
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