Muhammad and the murder of Abu Afak

The murder of a 120 years old poet (Who will deal with this rascal for me?)

When Al-Harith Bin Suwayd was killed on the orders of the “merciful” prophet, the news of the murder reached Abu Afak; a very old man (some of the historical narrations say he was 120 years old). When a decent human being thinks about older people, he/she thinks about respecting them, appreciating them, learning from their wisdom, and appreciating their expertise in life, and overall to try to learn from their wisdom, and help them in their physical needs. When Abu Afak learned about the murder, he did not like that at all, and, so, he attacked the holy prophet. How? By saying some “not very nice” things: What Abu Afak said is not a crime at all. He is expressing his frustration about killing a decent man, and about tribes failing to be loyal to their history, and about the division between people that Muhammad is causing. Any person involved in politics nowadays may say much worse things. Not even an eyebrow will be raised because of that. Let us now see how the “forgiving” prophet reacts to some words of an old and feeble man. Here is what Muhammad said:

Who will deal with this rascal for me?

The implication is that the merciful prophet wanted a feeble man dead, just as he did to Al-Harith Bin Suwayd. And so, Salim Bin Umayr goes and kills Abu Afak while sleeping.

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 post 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.

PRESENTATION OF ISLAMIC SOURCES

NOTE: Personal opinions are on [ ] type brackets. Other brackets like ( ) are in the translations.

FROM THE SIRAHT 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 Apostel 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 KSA: the Qaylites resisted him]

The apostle said, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" Where upon 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).

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.

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."

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? (From Amnesty International: over 1500 political prisoners were executed in Iraq p.a.). Or better yet, take the Ayatollah Khomeini. 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.

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 human values? Should people 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 the West have already begun to murder 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 you say? Wouldn't we want to see this type of man pay for his crimes or put in jail for life?

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?

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.  bu 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.

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

REFERENCES

(1)       "The Life of Muhammad", a translation of Ibn Ishaq's "Siraht 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.

IHS