Military career of Muhammad

The military career of Muhammad ( – 8 June 632), the Islamic prophet, encompasses several expeditions and battles throughout the Hejaz region in the western Arabian Peninsula which took place in the final ten years of his life, from 622 to 632. His primary campaign was against his own tribe in Mecca, the Quraysh. Muhammad proclaimed prophethood around 610 and later migrated to Medina after being persecuted by the Quraysh in 622. After several battles against the Quraysh, Muhammad conquered Mecca in 629, ending his campaign against the tribe.

Alongside his campaign against the Quraysh, Muhammad led campaigns against several other tribes of Arabia, most notably the three Arabian Jewish tribes of Medina and the Jewish fortress at Khaybar. He expelled the Banu Qaynuqa tribe for violating the Constitution of Medina in 624, followed by the Banu Nadir who were expelled in May 625 after being accused of plotting to assassinate him. Finally, in 628, he besieged and invaded the Jewish fortress of Khaybar, which hosted more than 10,000 Jews, which Muslim sources say was retaliation for planning to ally themselves with the local Arab pagan tribes.During the final years of his life, Muhammad sent several armies against the Byzantine Empire and the Ghassanids in northern Arabia and the Levant, before conquering Mecca in 630 and leading a campaign against some Arab pagan tribes close to Mecca, most notably in Ta'if. The last army led by Muhammad before his death was in the Battle of Tabuk in October 630. By the time he died in 632, Muhammad had managed to unite most of the Arabian Peninsula, laying the foundation for the subsequent Islamic expansion under the caliphates and defining Islamic military jurisprudence.

Background

Muhammad's role in The Islamic Ghazwat

thumb|Major tribes of Arabia at the dawn of Islam CE

In his prophetic biography () titled The Sealed Nectar (), Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri cites Ibn Hisham in saying that Muhammad took part in the Ghazwat Wars, which took place between an alliance of the Quraysh and the Kinanah and the Qais 'Ailan, when he was 15, saying that "his efforts were confined to picking up the arrows of the enemy as they fell, and handing them over to his uncles."

Situation in Medina

Medina was divided into five tribes: two of them the Khazraj and Aws, while the Jews were represented by, from smallest to largest, the Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir and Banu Quraizah. Significant clauses of the constitution included the mutual assistance of each other if one signatory were to be attacked by a third party, the resolution that the Muslims would profess their religion and the Jews theirs, as well as the appointment of Muhammad as the leader of the state.

And the threat to the life of both the Ansar and the Muhajireen was such that they were reported as having to sleep by their weapons all night. As tensions escalated the Muslims began to take defensive measures such as stationing guards around Muhammad and sending out reconnaissance patrols.

In dealing with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina, aside from political explanations, western historians and biographers have explained it as "the punishment of the Medinan Jews, who were invited to convert and refused, perfectly exemplify the Quran's tales of what happened to those who rejected the prophets of old." Francis Edward Peters adds that Muhammad was possibly emboldened by his military successes and also wanted to push his advantage. Economical motivations, according to Peters, also existed since the poverty of the Meccan migrants was a source of concern for Muhammad. Peters argues that Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina was "quite extraordinary" and is "quite at odds with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews he encountered outside Medina."

According to Welch, Muhammad's treatment of the three major Jewish tribes brought Muhammad closer to his goal of organizing a community strictly on a religious basis.

Siege of Khaybar

thumb|Aerial view of the deserted homes in Khaybar

In March 628, according to Muslims sources, the Jews of Khaybar, along with the Banu Nadir, who were exiled from Medina by Muhammad for violating the Constitution of Medina, and the Banu Ghatafan, were planning to attack the Muslims. When Muhammad learned of their alliance, he gathered an army of 1,500 soldiers and besieged the Jewish fortress at Khaybar. Scottish historian and orientalist, William Montgomery Watt agrees with this view. Italian orientalist Laura Veccia Vaglieri claims other motives pushed Muhammad to invade the forts of Khaybar.

On the other side, the Banu Ghatafan were afraid that the Muslims would attack them at any time, so they refused to help the Jews at Khaybar. After capturing six of the eight Jewish forts in Medina, the Jews of Khaybar finally surrendered and were allowed to live in the oasis on the condition that they would give one-half of their produce to the Muslims. Two Jewish commanders were killed in the siege.

They continued to live in the oasis for several more years until they were expelled by caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. The imposition of tribute upon the conquered Jews served as a precedent for provisions in the Islamic law for the jizya.

thumb|16th century illustration of Muhammad (depicted as veiled and surrounded by flames) supervising the [[Battle of Uhud]]

Byzantine campaign

In the final years of his life, after suppressing the two main factions that were leading in the opposition against him; the Meccans and the Jews, Muhammad led an active campaign against the main force in the north, the Byzantine Empire, which was involved in several wars against the Sasanian Empire, known as the Roman–Persian Wars.

Following a defeat in the Battle of Mu'tah in Muhammad's campaign against the Byzantine began with the final expedition led by Muhammad himself, the Tabuk expedition, which is also known as the Usra expedition. Muhammad heard of the gathering of a large Byzantine–Ghassanid alliance against the Muslims in Tabuk and led a force of some 30,000 men to look for them. After waiting and scouting for the enemy for twenty days, Muhammad returned to Medina.

Statistics

The number of all casualties on all sides, in all the battles of Muhammad, is approximately 1,000. A contemporary Islamic scholar, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, says that "during the 23-years in which this revolution was completed, 80 military expeditions took place. Most of those killed were men from the Banu Qurayza tribe after they surrendered to a siege as an aftermath of the Invasion of Banu Qurayza.

Legacy

Javed Ahmed Ghamidi writes in Mizan that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to Muhammad against divinely-specified peoples of his times (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews, Christians, et al.) as a form of divine punishment—for they had persistently denied the truth of Muhammad's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by Allah through Muhammad, and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam, hence now, the only valid reason for war is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. Though, up until the last 50 years, Jihad was seen mostly as an offensive military action to spread Islam's domain. (Jihad without Apologetics. Christopher J van der Krogt, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. 21, no. 2, April 2010, pp. 127–142).

Offensive Jihad (Jihad al-Talab) is traditionally classified as a communal duty (Fard Kifayah) by the majority of classical Islamic jurists. Within traditional jurisprudence, some scholars argue that once a legal consensus (ijma) is established on the nature of this duty, it cannot be superseded by the opinions of later generations.

Jurisprudential views of the four madhabs

While there is a general consensus that Jihad al-Talab is a communal obligation, the four primary Sunni schools of law provide specific nuances regarding its implementation:

Hanafi school: Classical Hanafi jurists, such as Al-Kasani, defined jihad as the active call to Islam and fighting those who oppose its spread. They maintain that the obligation is fulfilled if a sufficient group of Muslims provides defense and initiative.
Maliki school: In the Maliki tradition, it is held that the Imam should ideally initiate a campaign against non-Muslim territory at least once a year to ensure the propagation of the faith.
Shafi'i school: Al-Shafi'i emphasized that the purpose of offensive jihad is to ensure the supremacy of Islamic law, requiring at least one annual expedition if capability exists.
Hanbali school: The Hanbali view aligns with the communal obligation, arguing fighting is necessary against those who hinder the spread of Islam.

Traditionalist critiques of modernist reinterpretations

Traditionalist critics argue that modern interpretations of jihad—which often restrict it solely to a defensive context—frequently deviate from the established methodologies of Usul al-Fiqh (principles of jurisprudence). These critics maintain that such modernists operate as "independent" interpreters (mujtahid), ignoring the cumulative weight of the four madhabs and the binding nature of historical consensus (ijma).

Furthermore, some scholars characterize these modern shifts as religious innovation (bid'ah). They contend that by bypassing traditional legal rules and prioritizing contemporary political frameworks over classical jurisprudence, modernists are not following the established rules of the four schools but are instead offering subjective, individualized opinions.