Seerah 53: Expedition of al-Muraysi and al-Mustalliq The incident of the expulsion of Banu Nadeer was covered in the

last class and today we continue with a few incidents that occured in the Seerah at the time of the expulsion of the Banu Nadeer. Of the incidents that occured around this time (we are unsure but scholars think it is around this time) was the command of the Prophet (s) to Zaid ibn Thaabit to learn the Hebrew language. This was done so because the Prophet (s) wanted someone trustworthy and he did not his translators. And Zaid narrates that he learnt the Hebrew language (reading, writing and conversational Hebrew) in 15 days! This shows that ff the Prophet (s) commanded than the sahaba would put their heart and mind into it. The Prophet (s) chose him with much wisdom. The first wisdom was that Zaid was very young and his mind was obviously sharper. When the Prophet (s) first came to Madinah, Zaid was 11 and his tribe introduced him to the Prophet (s) as a young boy who had started his path to becoming a hafidh and knew many Surahs. Zaid became the main hafidh associated with the Qur'an and so much so that he was the primary compiler of the Qu'ran after the death of the Prophet (s). He was chosen via Abu Bakr and Ummar by Allah to be the main compiler of the Qur'an he is the one who preserved the structure of the Qur'an that we have today. When he was younger, Zaid grew up with his Jewish neighbors and he even attended their Halakhas (their madrassah equivalents). Thus he had the perfect background having grown up in their environment of Hebrew and this is one of the reasons why he was able to master the language in 15 days. And this shows the eagerness of the sahaba in implementing the command of the Prophet (s). Another related incident that occured around the seige of Banu Nadeer was Allah revealing the final verse regarding alcohol. While not related to Banu Nadeer this is when the ayaat came down. And in Surah Baqarah verse 219 Allah says:

2:219 They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may considerAllah says in this ayah that when they ask about gambling and drinking, tell them that it has a lot of harm and some good and the harm far outweighs the good. This is the first indication of avoiding it without an explicit command. This Surah was the first Madani revelation and was revealed around the time of Badr, most of it being pre-Badr and revealed in the 1st or 2nd year of Hijrah. After the battle of Uhud an incident occured where a sahabi consumed alcohol and than led the prayer and made some ridiculous mistakes as was obviously very drunk. So Allah revealed Surah Nisa verse 43 where He says:

4:43 O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,- nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body. If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again. Allah clearly tells those who believe to not come to Salah when they are drunk. So this was the first prohibition of alcohol and drinking was now restricted to the times of post-Isha and pre-Fajr. And finally at the battle of Banu Nadeer Allah revealed Surah Ma'idah verse 90 where He said:

O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper. Allah here says to those who believe that gambling, alcohol, idolatory and divination by arrows (what Abdul Muttalib did in pulling arrows infront of an idol to detemine which of his son to sacrifice) are filthy so leave them. This ayah was revealed thus and this was the complete prohibition of alcohol. A peculiar final story relating to Banu Nadeer is found in some books of hadith but not as much in the books of Seerah. This hadith is found in Sunnan Adi Dawood. Ibn Abbass narrates that in the days of pre-Islam, the Ansari ladies had a custom that if a woman suffered from many miscarriages she would pledge to Allah that if He granted her a son she would make him a Jew. Why so? The Yathribites felt the Jews were superior to them and frankly they were; the Jews could read while they could not, the Jews were people of the book while the Yathribites were idolworshippers, the Jews had better architecture, wealth and so on. And there was a complex that went both ways, the Jews feeling and acting superior with the Yathribites feeling and acting inferior. And for this reason Ansari women would give over their newborn males under such custom to the Jews. And there were a group of such men given over to the Jews that were present at the incident of the expulsion of Banu Nadeer. Why to Banu Nadeer of all the three Jewish tribes in Madinah? Because of the strong ties of the Banu Nadeer to Khazraj. These young men had grown up within them the Jews and they were considered Jews. When the expulsion happened the parents at the time were Muslims with their sons that were now adults were fully Jew, many even marrying within them. So some of the Ansar insisted that they would not allow their sons to leave as they wanted their children close to them. The parents thus wanted these men to renonce Judaism and convert to Islam because Muslim convert's from the Jews were not subjected to expulsion. expulsion out of Madinah expulsion would not be necessary. And in the last lesson we mentioned that a number of Jews had indeed converted and were allowed to stay with their posessions. So these parents wanted to children to be forced into Islam, leaving Judaism, but these children were fully Jewish and believed in the religion. So Allah revealed the famous verse that we all know:

2:256 Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.

This verse and the context of it's revelation clearly shows that it came down in favor of the Jews. it clearly says that the Muslims could not force their Jewish children to become Muslim, rather the truth is clear and the onus is on them to accept Islam. It is their perogative to remain Jews and they can practice as they see fit, but that at the end of the day they are with their people. So the truth is that this ayah was revealed for them and that we can not force our children for what religion they want to adopt when they are older. Yes it is true that when they are young every child is raised by the religion and culture of the parents but once they are an adult they are independent. This shows that the religion of Islam has much freedom of religion but not the way we understand it in the West. Yes we can find compatibility with the West but ideal Islam is not ideal Western civilization or capitalism. Islam allowed a type of religious freedom that was unparalled in the world at the time but modern society with it's, "equal for all" philosophy is not what Islam allows. The modern, secular democracy is in fact not Islamic at all. But comparing it to other civilizations of it's time, Islam was unparalleled in allowing civilizations and sub-civilizations to flourish. Comparing this to Europe at the time, the Catholics were persecuting the Protestants and every other new group that would form and the inquisitions were very rampant. The civil wars of Christianity actually gave birth to modern secular values. It had to be because within Christianity there was no tolerance for other denominations or for differences. And thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson came forth arguing for secularity because they could not live with the notion that one faith is better than the other. Islam on the other hand did not need the type of secularism to survive because the Muslims never had such issues. Muslims from the beginning of revelation have believed our faith is true but other faiths are allowable and this is their business. We do not say that it is ok morally but legally it is. And the repurcussions will definitely follow in the next world based on an individual's choice. This verse is an explicit proof of this concept. The birth of the first grandson of the Prophet (s) also occured around this time and this was AlHasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib. Most scholars say that Hassan was born in Sha'baan of the 5th year of Hijrah. But some say that it was actually his younger brother, Hussain who was born at this time, further saying that Hassan was born in Ramadan of the 4th year of the Hijrah. They were both 11 months apart, some say even only 10 months. As soon as Fatimah finished her postpartum bleeding she became pregnant again with Hussain thus. Thus Hassan was either born in Ramadan of 4.A.H. or Sha'baan of 5 A.H. In sha Allah the stronger position is that he was born in Sha'baan of 5 A.H. And the narration here is that the Prophet (s) was so happy that he asked for his son to be shown to him (notice that he called Hassan his son). And he asked Ali of the son's name, and Ali replied that it is, "Harb" meaning war. This was a common pre-Islamic name. The Prophet (s) rejected this and said, "no he is not war rather he is a beauty (Hassan)" and Imam Bokhari narrates in his book Al-Adab-Al-Mufrad that the Prophet (s) would change bad names to good names. This was his sunnah. Once an old lady came to him and he asked her of her name and she gave him her name which meant ugly and he corrected this elderly lady saying her name was opposite of this or "Has-saana". The Prophet (s) would also change any name that was prideful or vainful to something neutral. This shows us that Islamic names are positive with being arrogant and conceited. When he married Umm Salamah and had daughters with her, one such daughter was called Bar-ra which means, "the female righteous one." This is a self-testimony of piety and it is not good to have such names that have this connotation of self-piety. This is different than having positive names. Thus boastful names are not allowed but rather positive names are encouraged. And he changed her name to Zaynab. This name has many interpretations of meanings, one such being, "the fragrant flower." So he would change bad names and he would also change names that were self-promoting and egotistical. So Har-b's name was changed to Hassan and at the birth of the next child, instead of asking the Prophet (s), Ali simply named his son, "Hussain" which literally translates to, ""the little Hasan". In Abu Dawud it is narrated that the Prophet (s) gave adhaan in Hasan's right ear. And most of the hadith of Aqeeqah and the rulings involve Hassan because Fatimah and Ali were instructed regarding him by the Prophet (s). So he told Fatimah to shave her hair and give the weight of her hair silver in charity (this was an expression not meant to be precisely done in weighing his hair, but basically that a trivial amount should be given in charity). And when Fatimah asked if she should perform the Aqeeqah for him the Prophet (s) insisted on doing it and he performed it on Hassan,

sacrificing the two sheeps and making the invitation. And both Hassan and Hussain had high status in Islam and the Prophet (s) loved them much. There are many such ahadith of his love for them and their status. When the Prophet (s) once went into Sajdah, Hassan held onto the back of the Prophet (s), not allowing him to get up. And once the Prophet (s) was giving the Khutbah when both Hassan and Hussain came from Fatimah's house into the masjid wearing long red thobes, and they both trippped (on each other or on their own thobes) in the middle of the masjid. The Prophet (s) came down and carried them both, one in each hand, to the mimbar. And he said, "verily what Allah says is true when he said that your wealth and children will be a fitnah for you, that these two sons of mine were tripping and I could not be patient enough to let them get to me, and I stopped the khutbah to pick them up." The famous hadith of Hassan is well known and narrated in Sahih Bokhari; that once the Prophet (s) intentionally held Hassan through the Khutbah on purpose. And he said, "this son of mine is a Syed (meaning one of respect and an undisputed leader, in our culture Syed means a descendant of the Prophet (s)) and a day will come when he shall cause reconciliation between two large groups of Muslims." And this is exactly what happened between Ali and Mua'wiyah. Notice explicitly how the Prophet (s) called both groups believers. This is Sunni methodology and aqeedah. Saying one was Mu'min and one was not is not allowed and the group that says that another group was Faasik or Kaafir is absolutely against what the Prophet (s) said. It is true that one made a mistake and Ali was closer to the truth, but we also believe that Mua'wiyah was sincere even if he made a mistake and Allah will forgive him for his sincerity and for his intention for not wanting blood to be shed. So when Ali was assasinated by the Kharijites the people of Madinah immediately gave Hassan bay'ah, and Hassan became the 5th khalifah and Mua'wiyah was also given Bay'ah. Most Sunnis do not know that the 5th Khalifah was in fact Hasan. This was the first time that there were two opposing Khalifahs in Islam and for 6 months there was a stalemate and it developed until there was talk of war. Mua'wiyah said at this time when he heard of war, "if we fight them and they fight us and we kill them and they kill us, who will be left of the Muslims? So go send a messenger to him and see if he wants reconciliation." Mua'wiyah did not want to give up his position and wanted the burden and this is his position. He was burdening Hassan thus to give up the leadership to him. The message is implicit to Hassan to let Mu'awiyah remain as the leader. To understand the context, there was much anger as for 3 years there was war and people were killed, and for Hassan his people were ready to die again. So Hassan gave an emotional lecture in Madinah and he gave his people two options; either to fight til death and to let Allah be the judge or for the sake of the Ummah just leave it the Khilafah to Mua'wiyah. So his followers agreed to give up and a long list of conditions were given. But again the point is that Hassan gave up his own rights, resigning after 6 months. This was in Rabbi' al-awwal of 41 A.H. where Mua'wiyah became the undisputed Khalifah. Thus we as Sunnis believe that there were 5 Khulufa Al-Rashiduun (rightly guided Caliphs) even though Hassan only ruled for 6 months. Indeed Sunnis love the family of the Prophet (s) as they deserve to be loved without going into extremes. And Sunnis consider the Khilafah of Hassan to be rightly guided and the Khilafah of Mua'wiyah to be a dynasty which was not as good as Hassan's rightly guided Khilafah. So the Prophet (s) said, as narrated in Musnad Imam Ahmed, " Khilafah will be amongst you for 30 years upon the methodology of the Prophet (s), than there shall be a righteous kingdom for as long as Allah wills, than there shall be an unrighteous kingdom fro as long as Allah wills, and than it will come back to Khilafah upon the Prophet (s)" and than he was quiet. This shows us that for 30 years there will be Khilafah upon the Prophet (s) and this was down to the exact month. The Prophet (s) passed away in Rabbi' al-awwal and Hassan was abdicated in the exact same month! SubhanAllah. And than there was a kingdom considered just and than it became unjust. When did it became unjust? Allah knwos best but some scholars have said that this is when the Abbasids came to power. Modern interpretations have said that colonialism brought the other unjust rule. And than the Prophet (s) said that there will return Khilafah upon the guidance of the Prophets and than he was quiet meaning this would be the end of times. Back to Hassan and Hussain again; the Prophet (s) said that, "Hassan and Hussain are the leaders of the young men of Jannah and their father is better than them." The next major incident occuring was the expedition of Al-Muraysi' and also called the expedition of Banu Mustalliq. Muraysi' was the location and Mustalliq the tribe. The Banu Mustalliq lived at

the pond of Muraysi' and they lived between Makkah and Madinah, south of Madinah. They also had one of the three prestigious idols of Arabia in Manat (the other two prestigious idols mention in the Qur'an are al-Laat and al-Uzza). The Banu Mustalliq had an alliance with Abdul-Muttaliq in the days of ignorance so when the Quraysh attacked Madinah at the battle of Uhud they recalled this alliance. Thus Banu Mustalliq sided with the Quraysh against the Muslims even though ironically the grandfather of the Prophet (s) was the one they made the alliance with in the first place. Their location was also very positive for the Quraysh as it was on the "main highway" to Madinah and it was a safety zone for the Quraysh between the two ciites. And this location was only 1-2 days from Madinah thus it was very dangerous for the Muslims. What event culminated in required action against the Banu Mustalliq was when news came from scouts and spies that the leader of Banu Mustalliq, Al-Hareth ibn Abi-Dirrar, after the victory of Uhud wanted to launch a surprise attack against the Prophet (s) to help the Quraysh. Why so? He too was suffering with the caravans being cut off and remember that his tribe was on the "main highway". And so he wanted to surprise attack the Muslims and the Prophet (s) heard of this first. So the first thing the Prophet (s) does is to confirm the rumor instead of acting on it. Buraydah ibn Al-Haseeb, a sahabi, was sent as an anonymous person (they didn't know he was Muslim) to the Banu Mustalliq pretending to be a Bedouin. And he told Al-Hareth that he had heard of a surprise attack on Madinah and that he wanted to join to get a portion of the war booty. This was a clear rouse. Al-Hareth was looking for strong men and Burayda was definitely a warrior and strong man so he accepted this proposal of Buraydah's. We see that the Prophet (s) indeed confirmed before attacking, he did not just act based on rumors. So Burayda was accepted and at night time he snuck back to Madinah with the news. Al-Hareth did not pay attention though of Burayda's departure to Madinah and so he was surprised when the Banu Mustalliq were attacked. The Prophet (s) had gathered a large group of 700 sahaba immediately upon finding out this news and they launched a complete surprise attack. Because of the nature of this attack with the Muslims having a clear advantage of numbers they knew that this would be an easier victory. For this reason many of the hypocrites who had not participated in Badr or Uhud came for this Ghazwa. Abdullah ibn Ubayy was also at this battle. This is why a number of incidents happened at Al-Muraysi' upon the return of the army As to when this battle occured, some say in the 4th year of Hijrah and Ibn Sa'ad, Ibn Jawzi, Zuhri, Ibn Katheer and Ibn Hajar say Sha'baan of the 5th year of Hijrah. Ibn Ishaac and Ibn Jabari actually says this is Sha'baan of the 6th year of Hijrah. So there are three opinions and this is that the battle occured on the 3rd, 4th or 5th year of Hijrah. This battle is important because of the incident that occured after of the slander of Aisha. The authorit on the Seerah, Ibn Ishaac, said that this occured in the 6th year and this is problematic for many reasons. Most importantly, in the slander of Aisha incident Sa'ad ibn Mua'adh has an important statement. He was a leader of the Ansar and he died after the battle of Khandaq, specifically after the incident of what happened with the Banu Quraydah. And Sa'ad was who they had chosen to be the judge. After he made his judgement against them he died. If Muraysi' took place in Sha'baan of the 6th year than this is likely not true because Sa'ad was already dead in this 6th year. Khandaq took place in the 5th year of Shawwal and in Dhul Qa'dah Banu Quraydah took place. Because of Ibn Ishaac, many Seerah books have this incident after Khandaq and Hudaybiyyah. Other scholars such as Ibn Sa'ad, who died at 220 and is also known as an early authority on the Seerah, in his book, "Tabaqaat" says that this occurred in the 5th year of Sha'baan and this makes more sense. As for the opinion of the 4th year, perhaps we can explain this because some of the early scholars counted the first year as being the year before the Hijrah, counting the Hijrah itself as the 0 year of the Islamic calender. And with this calculation, Badr was in the first year and Uhud in the second (when it was actually in the 3rd and 4th). For this minority group of scholars everything was one year behind thus because of their measurement. Based on this, in sha Allah the strongest opinion goes against Ibn Ishaac and Muraysi'. Again, Sa'ad bin Mu'adh could not be a part of Muraysi' if it took place in the 6th year of Hijrah, it must have occured in the 5th year. As for the 4th year again, it is impossible because in Sha'baan of the 4th year was Uhud part 2 when the Muslims went to Badr, not Muraysi', and there was no battle. Thus they were in another place and could not have been at Muraysi'. And again, it is important to know that it was the 5th year because many books follow Ibc Ishaac's position of being in the 6th year.

As for the day of the battle itself, it was a Monday, the 2nd of sha'baan according to one report. The Prophet (s) left Madinah with 700 men and 30 horses and he surprise attacked them right after Fajr. And they were so unprepared that the kids were playing outside, the shepherds were leaving town to begin their day and the women were gathering water. And when they saw the Muslims coming they ran and had to surrender. Only about less than 10 people who resisted were killed. And the bulk of the tribe - over 2,000 camels, 5,000 sheep and 1,000 people - were taken prisoners of war. As for the Muslims there was not a single casualty except for an accidental kill from a Muslim. One of the Ansar mistakenly thought a person was attacking whereas he was a Muslim named Hisham ibn Subbaba. Hishaam had a brother in Makkah who was not a Muslim, Miqyas ibn Subabba. When Miqyas heard that his brother had been killed he pretended to convert and went to Madinah and demanded the blood money of 100 camels. So the Prophet (s) gave him the camels as this was the Shari' ruling. The same night Miqyas killed the Ansari who had murdered his brother Hishaam and fled back to Makkah with his 100 camels. Because of this display of treachery and deception, this man Miqyas was one of the 4 men whom the Prophet (s) said at Fateh Makkah that would receive no mercy or forgiveness. Of those who the Prophet (s) commanded to be executed were 6 people (2 women and 4 men) but in Allah's Qadr only 3 were executed - 1 woman and 2 men. The tribe of Banu Mustalliq was just captured and this was a massive victory with minimal fighting. The battle itself was not important but the three things that happened after is what is important. The largest of the three incidents is the slander of Aisha which will be covered in the next lesson. In the other two, the first was the addition of one more of the mothers of the believers, Juwaywiyrah bint Al-Hareth (the chieftain). Her own father had managed to flee, leaving his daughter to be taken as a captive. Her story is mentioned by Aisha herself in Ibn Ishaac in first person. She mentions that Juwaywiyrah was captured along with the others and as is the case with the captives and prisoners of war they are distributed in the army, Juwaywiyrah was given to Thaabit ibn Qays and she agreed with Thaabit to purchase her own freedom. This is something uniquely Islamic, as Allah says in the Qur'an that if one's slaves want to purchase their freedom than make a deal with them if you see them to be good people. And according to another position in Islamic law, the slave has the right to demand his freedom with a fair price. And the slave can be allowed to work off his freedom. Juwaywiyrah being the daughter of a chief did not want to be a slave and she immediately freed herself. And Aisha narrates, "she was very sweet and beautiful and no one saw her except that he was captivated by her beauty (and she was around 17 or 18 at the time). She came knocking at the door of the Prophet (s), asking for help monetarilty to get her freedom. And as soon as I saw her I hated her because I knew that the Prophet (s) would see in her what I was seeing and as soon as she entered and she introduced herself as the princess of her tribe, she asked for help to free herself from slavery. So the Prophet (s) said, 'what if I give you something better? I will free you myself and marry you' and she agreed to this. And he made her Maher her freeing her from slavery." The news spread amongst the Ansar that the Prophet (s) married Juwaywiyrah. When the news spread that the Prophet (s) had married Juwaywiyrah they thought how could they have the inlaws of the Prophet (s) as slaves? So one by one they all began to free every single captive until all were freed down to the last person. Al-Hareth eventually returned to Madinah negotiating a ransom for his tribe and family, not knowing what had happened. And when he asked for his daughter back, the Prophet (s) informed Juwayriyah that it was her decision to stay or go. The Prophet (s) gave her the right to go back and from this the scholars derive that the husband has the right to give the wife of divorce for a time period (i.e. if the situation is tense but he does not want a divorce so he lets the wife go for a bit and hands over the right of divorce to his wife. This is in essence what the Prophet (s) did to Juwayriyah). This shows a beautiful character of the Prophet (s). Many years earlier he had done the same with Zaid even though he was his slave. Juwayriyah willingly chose to stay with the Prophet (s) and when her father Al-Hareth saw his daughter being affected so much by the Prophet (s) it affected him so much that he embraced Islam. Al-Hareth was the chief of his tribe so when he embraced Islam the entire tribe followed him and embraced Islam as well. So the Prophet (s) made him the leader again, returned the tribe their wealth completely and they returned to Muraysi' all the same as they were taken captives, except as Muslims. What an amazing and beautiful story! And everything was the same

except that Juwayriyah was now the wife of the Prophet (s) and they were now Muslim. And this shows the real meaning of the wars waged in Islam, allowing people to see the reality of Islam and embracing it without being forcing into it. And Aisha comments, "I do not know of any lady that brought blessings to her tribe like Juwayriyyah." This shows us the wisdom of multiple wives and Jihad. Juwayriyyah was known for her piety, fasting often and given much in charity. In Sahih Bokhari it is narrated that once the Prophet (s) visited her on a Friday and she was fasting this day. And he asked her if she had fasted the day before or after, and in that case he told her to not single out Friday only as a day of fasting. But he encouraged her to join days if she intends to fast a Friday (i.e. join Thursday with Friday or Friday with Saturday). Another story of hers narated was that once he had his night with her and than left her for Fajr. At this time she was sitting and making dhikr. When he returned in the mid-day she was in the same place doing her adhkaar, and he asked her if she had remained in the same place since Fajr? And she said yes, and he asked her, "Should I not tell you of a dhikr that if you do it will give you all the reward for what you have done?" and she affirmed. So he taught her a beautiful dhikr that all of us memorize: "Subhanallahi wa bihamdihi, adada-khalqihi (the number of His creation), wa zeenata 'arshihi (the weight of His throne), wa rida nafsihi (and the pleasure of Himself), wa midada kalimatihi (and the ink of His pen -- subhanAllah to all of this)." This one dhikr will give the reward of 4-5 hours of dhikr! Juwayriyyah lived a long life and died at around 50 AH which was the same year that Hassan died. Her the age was 65 years old. Her marriage shows us the wisdom of the multiple marriages of the Prophet (s). What if someone were to comment on her youth and beauty as a reason for marrying her? Some say that the Prophet (s) was above these desires, but frankly Aisha knows her husband better and even she says this about him. But the perfection of the Prophet (s) is that he was as normal as us yet he could control his desires and he achieved so much, this is the beauty of his being. Some of us have a notion that the Prophet (s) was somehow superhuman. The Qur'an testifies to the Prophet (s) being a human like us:

18:110 Say: "I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me, that your Allah is one Allah. whoever expects to meet his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship of his Lord, admit no one as partner. He gets hungry and tired and yes he bleeds and yes he is a man who saw exactly what Aisha thought he would see. The notion of being attracted to something and wanting marriage is not haraam! No, rather it is to be intimate outside of marriage. What is haraam to be attracted and propose? This is an offer and she could have said no had she chosen. And when he gave her the choice to return later on with her father to her tribe she also again said no. She chose to remain with the Prophet (s). Why do we as a culture feel that the Prophet (s) should not be a man? There is nothing wrong with this! And why not marry Juwayriyyah for her beauty and also free all her people and cause her to accept Islam? There is nothing wrong with this and Allah has allowed for His Prophet (s) what He has not allowed for others and this is well known in the Qur'an. Thus there is nothing wrong with saying exactly as Aisha said and adding that the Prophet (s) was thinking long term about the implications of him marrying Juwayriyyah in that it would give her tribe honor, free them and soften their hearts to Islam. Had the slaves converted to Islam and than were demanded money of to free the Baytul Maal would go bankrupt. But by marrying Juwayriyyah the message is given to just free the people. And without a doubt the Prophet (s) saw something in Al-Hareth and his tribe of good that showed him that these people had some good in them toward Islam, and this is exactly what happened as eventually they all embraced Islam. This is one of the most bizarre yet beautiful stories of the Seerah. This beautiful story outlines to us the Islamic concept of slavery. We can not even call it slavery really because the notions of slavery in Islam are so different than what existed here in this country 200 years ago that it is an insult to Islamic slavery to compare the two. We should really

not even use the term because using the term makes us think of 17th and 18th century America, and without a doubt in the history of humanity one of the worst manifestations of slavery is what took place here in America. This was far worse than ancient Greece, China or Arabia. Islam came and brought forth an unparalled system that was beautiful in that Islam did not need it and it was secondary. If it was not there Islam did not need it. This is absolutely amazing, demonstrating the perfection of the Shari'ah, that all the laws of slavery are not necessary for Islam. The entire chapter of Islamic slavery can be removed and still have an Islamic state. In fact this is the reality now and no scholar calls for the return of this and Islam is fine today. We do not have to "sugar coat" it or apologize for it, rather we should be proud of the fact that when the world practiced a barbaric system our Shari'ah humanized it and gave it laws so much so that if the slave demanded freedom - like Juwayriyyah did in this case - than it must be accepted within a reasonable price. What about the source of slaves? There can only be one source - captives or prisoners of war that are not ransomed off. No other method can be used to obtain a slave in Islam. Compare this to what happened in Africa where free people were captured and made slaves under barbaric and inhumane conditions. The Prophet (s) said, "anyone who does this has the curse of Allah on him, such a person is the worst of men who caught a free man and made him a slave." And again the only source of slaves is through captives taken as prisoners of war. And what other options are there for such people? Kill them? Put them in jail? No, rather society absorbed them and by doing so each one was taken care of and most importanly in doing so they saw Islam and embraced it and were eventually freed completely. This is a historical reality, that many of these slaves became their own dynasties. The Mamlukes are the prime example of this. The Mamlukes were called such because it literally means "slave", but eventually they became the last of the dynasties before colonialism. The Mamlukes were actually the last of those that fought Napolean Bonaparte in Egypt, fighting them with their aged weapons while Napolean had guns and horses. But again the Mamlukes were the slave dynasty. So the entire concept of Islamic slavery must be explained in a very frank manner. Islam developed it to make it humane and a system feasible for the time and also something that is not needed as a part of the Shari'ah, encouraging good treatment and freedom of the slave. There are in fact so many kaffaras deal with freeing a slave - if you lie, cheat, break a promise and so on free a slave to expiate your sin. Islam came and took a worldly system that existed and modified it to make it humane and most importantly something that was not needed to have. And in our times today where the world has abolished legal slavery Islam does not need this and no scholar has called for this system to return.