MUHAMMAD AND THE MURDER OF ABU AFAK

by Silas

 

 

          INTRODUCTION

 

            After Muhammad arrived in Medina around 622 AD, a number of local people began to dislike him.  Many of them were Jews, some were Pagan Arabs.  One by one, Muhammad's critics were silenced; some became Muslims, some were murdered, others were driven out of Medina.  This article deals with Muhammad's request to have his men murder a Jewish man named Abu Afak.  Abu Afak was 120 years old.  What was Afak's crime?  He had urged his fellow Medinans to doubt Muhammad.

 

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            PRESENTATION OF ISLAMIC SOURCES

 

NOTE:  My comments will be enclosed by [ ] type brackets.  Other brackets like ( ) are in the translations.

 

 

 

FROM THE SIRAT RASUL ALLAH (THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET OF GOD), BY IBN ISHAQ (1), page 675:

 

 

            SALIM B. UMAYR'S EXPEDITION TO KILL ABU AFAK

 

Abu Afak was one of the B. Amr b. Auf of the B. Ubayda clan.  He showed his disaffection when the apostle killed al-Harith b. Suwayd b. Samit and said:

 

                        "Long have I lived but never have I seen

                        An assembly or collection of people

                        More faithful to their undertaking

                        And their allies when called upon

                        Than the sons of Qayla when they assembled,

                        Men who overthrew mountains and never submitted,

                        A rider who came to them split them in two (saying)

                        "Permitted", "Forbidden", of all sorts of things.

                        Had you believed in glory or kingship

                        You would have followed Tubba          

 

[NOTE:  the Tubba was a ruler from Yemen who invaded that part of what is present Saudi Arabia:  the Qaylites resisted him]

           

 

            The apostle said, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?"  Whereupon Salim b. Umayr, brother of B. Amr b. Auf, one of the "weepers", went forth and killed him.  Umama b. Muzayriya said concerning that:

 

                        You gave the lie to God's religion and the man Ahmad!  [Muhammad]

                        By him who was your father, evil is the son he produced!

                        A "hanif" gave you a thrust in the night saying

                        "Take that Abu Afak in spite of your age!"

                        Though I knew whether it was man or jinn

                        Who slew you in the dead of night (I would say naught).

 

 

 

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            FROM THE KITAB AL TABAQAT AL KABIR (BOOK OF THE MAJOR CLASSES), Volume 2, BY IBN SA'D, (2),  page 31:

 

            "Then occurred the "sariyyah" [raid] of Salim Ibn Umayr al-Amri against Abu Afak, the Jew, in [the month of] Shawwal in the beginning of the twentieth month from the hijrah [immigration from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD], of the Apostle of Allah.  Abu Afak, was from Banu Amr Ibn Awf, and was an old man who had attained the age of one hundred and twenty years.  He was a Jew, and used to instigate the people against the Apostle of Allah, and composed (satirical) verses [about Muhammad].

 

            Salim Ibn Umayr who was one of the great weepers and who had participated in Badr, said, "I take a vow that I shall either kill Abu Afak or die before him.  He waited for an opportunity until a hot night came, and Abu Afak slept in an open place.  Salim Ibn Umayr knew it, so he placed the sword on his liver and pressed it till it reached his bed.  The enemy of Allah screamed and the people who were his followers, rushed to him, took him to his house and interred him.

 

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FROM A CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM SCHOLAR ON ISLAM

 

 

            FROM ALI DASHTI'S "23 YEARS:  A STUDY OF THE PROPHETIC CAREER OF MOHAMMAD", (3)     page 100:

 

            "Abu Afak, a man of great age (reputedly 120 years) was killed because he had lampooned Mohammad.  The deed was done by Salem b. Omayr at the behest of the Prophet, who had asked, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?"  The killing of such an old man moved a poetess, Asma b. Marwan, to compose disrespectful verses about the Prophet, and she too was assassinated."

 

 

            And prior to listing all of the assassinations Muhammad had ordered, Ali Dashti writes on page 97:

 

            "Thus Islam was gradually transformed from a purely spiritual mission into a militant and punitive organization whose progress depended on booty from raids and revenue from the zakat tax."

 

           

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            DISCUSSION

 

            Afak urged the people who lived in Medina to doubt and leave Muhammad.  Afak found  Muhammad's sayings strange and dictatorial.  He chided the Arabs that put their faith in Muhammad.  Muhammad heard of this and viewed the 120 year old man as a threat to his credibility, not to his life.  Nowhere does it say that Afak urged his fellow Arabs to attack or harm Muhammad.  Certainly a 120 year old man was not a physical threat to Muhammad or his followers.

 

 

            What I find interesting is the last statement in Umama b. Muzayriya's verse:

 

            "Though I knew whether it was man or jinn

            Who slew you in the dead of night (I would say naught)."

 

This statement displays that the Muslims knew exactly what they were doing.  They knew it was cold-blooded murder that they were doing at Muhammad's request.  They wanted to keep it secret, they wanted to hide their evil deeds from the populace at large.  That's why Umama said he wouldn't reveal who murdered Afak.      

 

            When I think of what type of people order their followers to commit murder, I only can think of organized crime bosses, corrupt political figures, and cult leaders.  Saddam Hussein comes to mind.  How would an Iraqi be treated if he spoke out about Saddam?  Amnesty International just reported that over 1500 political prisoners were executed in Iraq last year.

 

            Or better yet, take the Ayatollah Khomenni.  His fundamentalist Islamic regime had other dissident Iranians murdered all over the world.  These people represent exactly what Muhammad was all about.  They followed Muhammad's methodology:  kill those who are a threat to your credibility.

 

 

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            QUESTIONS

 

 

1)         What kind of man was Muhammad that he would have a 120 year old man murdered because he urged his fellow citizens to doubt Muhammad?

 

2)         Yes, Abu Afak was a threat to Muhammad's credibility.  But did he deserve to be murdered, in cold blood, in the night, secretly, while he was sleeping?  Was his opinion that much of a threat to Muhammad?  Didn't the angels help Muhammad at the Battle of Badr?  If so, why was Muhammad afraid of a 120 year old Jewish man?

 

3)         Are these "Islamic" values compatible with our values in America?  Should Americans who criticize Muhammad expect to have their freedom of speech threatened, or should they live in fear of being killed for speaking their mind?  Remember, Muslims in America have already begun to murder Americans for the sake of their religion.

 

4)         If Muhammad put this system in place, i.e., the murdering of people who disagree with him, how does it affect Islamic society?  How does it relate to what we have seen done in Islamic societies such as Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Sudan?  Is this type of brutal murder what Muslims want to live under?

 

5)         If Muhammad were alive today, and we knew of the people he had murdered, what would America say?  What would you say?  Wouldn't we want to see this type of man pay for his crimes, put in jail for life, or even executed?

 

6)         Don't we have the right to judge Muhammad according to the best moral standards we know of?  He claimed to be the last prophet of God.  He claimed his system was God's final system for all mankind.  So by our standards, don't you think that what Muhammad did was terribly wrong? If our standards are better than his, then how does his self asserted "prophethood" really rate? Why should our standards eclipse those of God's final prophet?

 

 

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            CONCLUSION

 

            In order to achieve his carnal desires Muhammad had people murdered in cold blood.  One was a 120 year old man named Abu Afak.  We see that Muhammad's efforts were really driven by his flesh and ego, not by God.  Abu Afak was a nuisance to Muhammad no doubt, just as people on different sides of an issue disagree and upset each other.  But no fair person could justify Muhammad's murder of this man.

 

            Jesus taught to love your enemies, to pray for those that persecute you.  Jesus didn't teach to go around murdering people in the night.  Take the example of Christ and the Samaritans opposition to Jesus.

 

            "As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  And he set messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"  And he said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."  And they went to another village."  Luke 10:51-56

 

            Who then really brought God's message of His love to mankind?

 

 

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            REFERENCES

 

(1)        "The Life of Muhammad", a translation of Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah" (The Life of the Prophet of God) by A. Guillaume.  This book is the best biography of Muhammad available.  Note that Guillaume added in other references from Tabari, and other early Islamic writings.

 

(2)        "Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir", (Book of the Major Classes), by Ibn Sa'd.  Translated by Moinul Haq, published by the Pakistan Historical Society

 

(3)        "23 YEARS:  A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad", by Ali Dashti.  Translated by F.R.C. Bagley.

 

 

abu-afak.htm
Rev. A: 4-9-98