Boreal
Remembering Uzza
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
An Attempted Assassination and the Blood-curdling Cry
Bob: Muhammad was pushing sixty and he felt confident
enough to satisfy a 17-year-old girl and ten other wives. Was he some kind
of sexual superman[265]?
Uzza: Muhammad was a man in extraordinary physical shape for his age, considering he survived being poisoned at a celebratory dinner when one of his younger companions did not.
Bob: Who had the nerve to try to poison the Prophet during dinner?
Uzza: A woman, of course.
Gerry: Why a woman?
Uzza: I believe women are more willing to risk their lives to protect those they love, or, in this instance, avenge those they loved.
Archie: Nothing like a woman scorned.
Uzza: The attempt on Muhammad's life had nothing to do with the pettiness of a woman scorned. After his victory over the farmers of Khaybar, most of the leaders of the city and their sons were beheaded and their wives and daughters placed into captivity until they could be allocated to a deserving believer by Muhammad, as was initially done with Safiyyah.
Archie: I take some satisfaction in knowing that the leaders who are going to get us all killed will be the first to go.
Gerry: Archie, quit interrupting.
Uzza: Many of the leading Jews of Mecca were tortured before being put to death in the hope they would reveal the location of non-existent buried treasure. One of those who died in agony was a fellow by the name of Kinana who is believed to have been the father of Zaynab, the woman who tried to poison Muhammad. Also beheaded that day were her husband and uncle.
Archie: Another Zaynab.
Uzza: [ignoring him] Zaynab, who was reputed to be the best cook of Khaybar, was asked to prepare that fateful meal after all the bloodletting. She put poison in a carcass of lamb ̶ some say it was goat ̶ that she prepared for Muhammad and his companions. They all started eating when one of them keeled over dead. Muhammad, who never misses a thing, told everyone to quit eating, called in the cook and asked her point blank why she had poisoned the meat.
Bob: The Prophet knew she had poisoned the meal?
Archie: For Christ's sake, Bob, the dead guy was a dead giveaway.
Uzza: Perhaps, but it is not what Muhammad told Zaynab when she asked him how he knew. Muhammad said a leg he held in his hand informed him, but not before he had taken a bite.
Archie: We are talking about a fully cooked leg of lamb?
Bob: Or a goat.
Uzza: The Koran, in its description of Judgment Day, is full of talking limbs[266], which, what do you say, spill the beans. In this instance, Muhammad may have been speaking metaphorically. Perhaps the taste of the meat was off because of the poison and that is what he meant when he said the meat spoke to him.
Gerry: Muhammad obviously survived the attempt on his life.
Archie: But not the cook, and I do understand why he would have had her killed.
Uzza: But maybe he did not.
Archie: What’s with the maybe?
Uzza: One account has Muhammad pardoning her and sending her on her way[267]. In another, she is strangled to death[268]. It is not clear if that is what Muhammad intended. A witness only revealed that Muhammad "ordered regarding her and she was killed"[269].
Archie: It seems clear to me that it is what the Prophet intended, that she be killed.
Uzza: When informed of the murder of the cook, Muhammad said that her killer would not be rewarded for what he did. This indicates to me that he did not intend for her to be killed for the attempt on his life and the murder of at least one companion.
Gerry: Why not give him the benefit of the doubt?
Uzza: Thank you.
Bob: Celebration’s over. It's onto Mecca, right?
Uzza: Not just yet. Mecca's morning would have to wait until Muhammad concluded a few more alliances and an opportunity arose to break the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, which the Koran gave him the right to do if he suspected treachery[270].
Bob: What do you mean by "Mecca's morning"?
Uzza: The believers usually attacked in the morning following the Fajr prayer, the dawn prayer[271]. The signal for the believers to swarm the enemy's defenses was usually Muhammad shouting a warning, like at Khaybar, intended to send shivers down the spines of defenders: "Allahu Akbar! Khaybar is ruined, for whenever we approach a nation then it will be a miserable morning for those who have been warned."[272] And a miserable morning it was.
Bob: Is that why suicide bombers shout out Allahu Akbar; to warn those around them that they are about to commit a holy massacre?
Uzza: When Muhammad said it, it was to instill fear in his enemy before a battle. But, in the case of the suicide bomber, I suspect it is more to endear themselves to Allah one last time before they meet Him in person to claim their reward.
Archie: There sure is a lot of sucking up to Allah these days.
Uzza: Unlike at Khaybar.
Footnotes
[265] Muhammad was a potent man, almost to the very end, if Anas bin Malik is to be believed.
Narrated Qatada:
Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number (eleven wives survived Muhammad, BP)."
I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet the strength for it?"
Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men)."
Bukhari 5.268
41:19 And when the enemies of Allah are mustered unto the Fire, they shall be held in check.
41:20 When they reach it, their hearing, sights and skins shall bear witness against them regarding what they used to do.
41:21 And they will say to their skins: “Why did you bear witness against us?” They will say: “Allah Who gave everything speech gave us speech, and He is the One Who created you the first time and unto Him you shall be returned.”
[267] Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
Ibn Shihab said: Jabir ibn Abdullah used to say that a jewess (sic) from the inhabitants of Khaybar poisoned a roasted sheep and presented it to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) who took its foreleg and ate from it. A group of his companions also ate with him. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then said: Take your hands away (from the food). The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then sent someone to the jewess (sic) and he called her.
He said to her: Have you poisoned this sheep?
The jewess replied: Who has informed you?
He said: This foreleg which I have in my hand has informed me.
She said: Yes.
He said: What did you intend by it?
She said: I thought if you were a prophet, it would not harm you; if you were not a prophet, we should rid ourselves of him (i.e. the Prophet).
The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then forgave her, and did not punish her. But some of his companions who ate it, died. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) had himself cupped on his shoulder on account of that which he had eaten from the sheep. Abu Hind cupped him with the horn and knife.
Abu Dawud 39.4495
[268] Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:
A jewess used to abuse the Prophet (peace be upon him) and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) declared that no recompense was payable for her blood.
Abu Dawud 38.4349
[269] Narrated Abu Salamah:
A jewess presented a roasted sheep to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) at Khaybar. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition like that of Jabir (No. 4495).
He said: Then Bashir ibn al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur al-Ansari died. He sent someone to call on the jewess, and said to her (when she came): What motivated you to do the work you have done? He then mentioned the rest of the tradition similar to the one mentioned by Jabir (No. 4495).
The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) then ordered regarding her and she was killed. But he (Abu Salamah) did not mention the matter of cupping.
Abu Dawud 39.4496
8:58 And should you fear treachery from any people, throw back their treaty to them in like manner. Allah does not like the treacherous.
[271] Narrated Humaid:
Anas bin Malik said, "Whenever the Prophet went out with us to fight (in Allah's cause) against any nation, he never allowed us to attack till morning and he would wait and see: if he heard Adhan (the call to prayer) he would postpone the attack and if he did not hear Adhan he would attack them."
Bukhari 11.584
[272] Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Allah's Apostle reached Khaibar in the early morning and the people of Khaibar came out with their spades, and when they saw the Prophet they said, "Muhammad and his army!" and returned hurriedly to take refuge in the fort.
The Prophet raised his hands and said, "Allah is Greater! Khaibar is ruined! If we approach a nation, then miserable is the morning of those who are warned."
Bukhari 56.840