I learn from God Discussion, that the St. Louis chapter of CAIR has put up a billboard offering a dvd containing the PBS hagiography of Moe: "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.". The billboard offers two methods of contacting CAIR to ask questions about Moe or to order the dvd: (636) 686-0650 and an email legacy@cair-stlouis.com . This is CAIR's response to The Innocence of Muslims. If you have not seen that trailer, view it now before reading and viewing further. For documentation of the trailer's conceptual content, see this blog post: http://dajjal.posterous.com/innocence-of-muslims-true-or-false-you-be-the
The billboard advertises a web address: http://www.knowthelegacy.com/ . It also offers a single sentence about Moe: "The man who came in peace.".
Lets examine the veracity of that description. Tafsir Ibn Kathir quotes three hadith, two of which are relevant to this issue.
(I was sent with the sword just before the Last Hour, so that Allah is worshipped alone without partners. My sustenance was provided for me from under the shadow of my spear. Those who oppose my command were humiliated and made inferior, and whoever imitates a people, he is one of them.)
http://www.islam-universe.com/tafsir//57.52680.html
When a man says that he was "sent with the sword", I have doubts about his passivity. When he says that his income came from his spear and those who oppose him were humiliated, the doubt increases in intensity. But there is more.
Volume 1, Parts 1.25.7
He (lbn Sa`d) said: `Abd Allah Ibn Numayr informed us on the authority of Malik i.
e. Ibn Mighwal, he on the authority of Abu Husayn, he on the authority of Mujahid,
he on the authority of the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him; he said:
I am Muhammad and Ahmad, I am Rasul al-Rahmah, I am Rasul al-Malhamah, I
am al-Muqaffi and a1-Hashir; I have been raised for Jihad and I am not raised for
tillage.
Moe said that he was "raised for Jihad", not "for tillage". What is Jihad; is it peaceful? How are Jihad and agriculture alternatives? Lets tackle the first question with a translator's footnote to Surah Al-Baqarah 2:190 which defines the word.
Narrated ‘Abdullâh bin Mas‘ûd رضي الله عنه: I asked Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم "O Allâh’s Messenger! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the Salât (prayers) at their early fixed stated times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in Jihâd in Allâh’s Cause." I did not ask Allâh’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم anymore and if I had asked him more, he would have told me more. (Sahih Al-Bukhâri, Vol.4, Hadîth No.41).
http://www.qurancomplex.com/Quran/Targama/Targama.asp?nSora= 2&l=eng&nAya= 190# 2_ 190
According to the translators, Jihad is "holy fighting" , of the utmost importance, a pillar of Islam that establishes and propagates Islam. If Jihad is abandoned, Muslims lose their temporal power. But what is the legal definition?
Chapter O9.0: Jihad
(O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion. And it is the lesser jihad. As for the greater jihad, it is spiritual warfare against the lower self (nafs), which is why the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said as he was returning from jihad.
``We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.''
The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:
-1- ``Fighting is prescribed for you'' (Koran 2:216);
-2- ``Slay them wherever you find them'' (Koran 4:89);
-3- ``Fight the idolators utterly'' (Koran 9:36);
and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
``I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah'';
and the hadith reported by Muslim,
``To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.''Details concerning jihad are found in the accounts of the military expeditions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), including his own martial forays and those on which he dispatched others. The former consist of the ones he personally attended, some twenty-seven (others say twenty-nine) of them. He fought in eight of them, and killed only one person with his noble hand, Ubayy ibn Khalaf, at the battle of Uhud. On the latter expeditions he sent others to fight, himself remaining at Medina, and these were forty-seven in number.)
http://www.shariahthethreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/reliance_of_the_traveller.pdf#page=617
Jihad means war against infidels, of course it must be purely defensive, right?
O9.1: The Obligatory Character of Jihad
Jihad is a communal obligation (def: c3.2). When enough people perform it to successfully accomplish it, it is no longer obligatory upon others (O: the evidence for which is the Prophet's saying (Allah bless him and give him peace),
"He who provides the equipment for a soldier in jihad has himself performed jihad,"
and Allah Most High having said:
"Those of the believers who are unhurt but sit behind are not equal to those who fight in Allah's path with their property and lives. Allah has preferred those who fight with their property and lives a whole degree above those who sit behind. And to each, Allah has promised great good" (Koran 4:95).
If none of those concerned perform jihad, and it does not happen at all, then everyone who is aware that it is obligatory is guilty of sin, if there was a possibility of having performed it. In the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) jihad was a communal obligation after his emigration (hijra) to Medina. As for subsequent times, there are two possible states in respect to non-Muslims.
The first is when they are in their own countries, in which case jihad (def: o9.8) is a communal obligation, and this is what our author is speaking of when he says, "Jihad is a communal obligation," meaning upon the Muslims each year.
The second state is when non-Muslims invade a Muslim country or near to one, in which case jihad is personally obligatory (def: c3.2) upon the inhabitants of that country, who must repel the non-Muslims with whatever they can).
http://www.shariahthethreat.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/reliance_of_the_traveller.pdf#page=622
Offensive Jihad against passive infidels is fard Kifaya, a communal obligation and required in every year. Perhaps we should cross check this to make sure of it.
The destruction of the sword is incurred by infidels, although they be not the first aggressors, as appears from various passages in the sacred writings which are generally received this effect.
http://www.archive.org/stream/hedaysorguide00hamigoog#page/n154/mode/1up
The Shafi'i & Hanifi schools of fiqh hold offensive Jihad to be fard Kifaya and constant. We need a third opinion, lets turn to the Maliki school.
And it is preferable, according to us, that the enemy are not fought until they have been invited
to the din of Allah except if they attack first.
[The Malikis prefer that each group be called upon to abandon their disbelief and be called to the
shahada whose contents are not prescribed. He calls to the general message of the Prophet for three
days in succession unless they attack first. Then the call is not recommended. Indeed, it becomes
obligatory to fight them.]
http://www.baytulislam.org/Documents/fiqh/imammalik/The-Risala-A-Treatise-on-Maliki-Fiqh.pdf#page=284
Three strikes and you are out: Islamic law holds offensive Jihad, undertaken on Islam's initiative against passive infidels, without provocation, to be an annual mandate. Moe said that he was raised for Jihad, not for tillage. One hadith illustrates the difference: Jihad and agriculture are alternative sources of income and wealth. Jihad is preferred over agriculture.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
I heard the Apostle of Allah, (peace_be_upon_him) say: When you enter into the inah transaction, hold the tails of oxen, are pleased with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad (struggle in the way of Allah). Allah will make disgrace prevail over you, and will not withdraw it until you return to your original religion.
What would they abandon? Jihad. What would they return to? Jihad. What is their religion? Jihad. What is Jihad? Aggression against infidels. Jihad is not listed as one of the five pillars of Islam, so what is its status? Jihad is the highest peak of Islam!
its hump?” I said, ‘Certainly, O Messenger of Allah (SAW) .” He said, “Its head is Islam, its
pillar is Salah and the apex of its hump is jihad.” Then he said, “Shall I not tell you about
the root of that”? I said, “Certainly, O Messenger of Allah (SAW)!” He held his tongue
and said, “Keep it in check.” I asked, “Shall we be taken to task for what we speak with
it”? He said, “May your mother weep at you, O Mu’adh! Will people be cast in hell on
their faces or on their nostrils except as the consequence of their tongues?”
[Ahmed 22-77,Ibn Majah 3973]
http://ia600509.us.archive.org/22/items/JamiaTirmidhiSunanAl-tirmidhi/16768046-Jami-a-Tirmidhi-Sunan-alTirmidhi.pdf#page=1290
Having dispensed with the al-taqiyya about Moe being peaceful, I present to you the PBS documentary, available to everybody, not just those in St. Louis. I watched it on tv several years ago, and found it to be hagiographic due to the LibTard bias of PBS. Some alternatives follow.
An alternative documentary consists of narration, apparently from Lings' Sira, and classical and modern art. I was surprised to find two of Moe's murders of critics mentioned in this series. The producer is a skeptic.
Before I tell you about original sources, I present for inducement of slumber a long, slow paced narration, apparently from Ishaq's Sira. I did not listen to much of this, so I can not tell you whether it is complete. It is likely to be biased, because it is narrated by a Sheikh.
Books
Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah was edited by Hishham to remove material embarrassing to Islam. Judging by what remains, that was one Hell of a book! Guillaume translated Hishham's Rescension as The Life of Muhammad.
Tabari's 40 volume world history runs parallel to Ishaq and the translators use Ishaq as a reference. Volumes 6-9 are of interest. Having read Volume 8, I can recommend it without reservation. Those books are not inexpensive, and there is a great deal of dross to slog through to reach the juicy bits. Fortunately for us, Craig Winn sorted them out for us. His 1000 page The Prophet of Doom combines the Qur'an, hadith, Ishaq & Tabari to provide context & chronology. The most significant quotes from those sources are included in an appendix Winn melds five Qur'an translations, so those quotes will not match up directly with the standard works but thehadith , Ishaq and Tabari quotes are faithfully reproduced. Ibn Sa'd's hadith collection is effectively a sira. While, like other hadith collections, there is much redundancy, you will find some interesting material not available in the other collections, including extensive quotes from Moe's extortion letters. The Sealed Nectar comes close to being an official biography. It confirms much of the material in the other books. If you combine this book or Ibn Sa'd's with the six hour lecture series, your curiosity should be well satisfied.
