Bahman 24, 1393 APThe Great Prophet (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Family)
When the Prophet of God (PBUH) Was Killed by the “Tongue”
Author: Hamed Sarem
The greatest calamity for every community is the loss of its guides. Some divine prophets, when their appointed time came, answered the call of truth. Many prophets were also martyred by their own communities. Among them was John, who was martyred at the command of a woman of illegitimate birth. Likewise, Jesus, peace be upon him: the Children of Israel intended to kill him, but God Almighty had decreed that Jesus should not be killed; instead, they crucified someone whom they believed to be Jesus. God Almighty identifies the killing of the divine prophets as one of the disgraces of the Children of Israel, saying of them: «و یقتلون النبیین بغیر الحق»; the Children of Israel wrongfully put many prophets to death.
How Did the Prophet Bid Farewell to This Mortal World?
The greatest Prophet of Islam, the Seal and Master of the Prophets, likewise had a limited appointed term in this world. According to the noble verse of the Holy Qur’an, «کل نفس ذائقه الموت»—every soul shall taste death—the great Prophet of Islam was not exempt from this rule. But how did the Prophet bid farewell to this mortal world? Since, in the days preceding his departure from life, the Prophet was confined to a sickbed, did he suffer from a particular illness? Or was there a plot to martyr the Prophet?
There is disagreement in answer to this question. Some have regarded the Prophet’s death as resulting from a particular illness, while others have attributed it to poison administered to him. They have said that it was the poison given to him by a Jewish woman during the Battle of Khaybar. Another group, however, considers other individuals to have been those who administered the poison to the Prophet.
The Qur’an treats the killing of the Prophet as conceivable and does not rule out its possibility, saying: «أفإن مات او قتل ...»; if the Prophet dies a natural death or is killed ... Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: Those two women poisoned the Prophet. (1)
The “Tongue” as an Agent of Sedition
Killing and murder in this world occur in two forms. Both forms of taking life have been prevalent from the past until the present. Yet one kind of killing usually draws public attention. At times, a person is killed with a sword, and this is the form of murder that receives greater scrutiny. But there is another killing, as dangerous as the first—indeed, even more lethal: the killing that occurs through the “tongue.” In this killing, although the body of the intended person is not targeted, his character, rank, and standing come under attack.
For this reason, this matter has received considerable attention in the ziyārahs of the Pure Imams, peace be upon them. In the ziyārahs of various Imams, we encounter the phrase: “May God kill whoever killed you by hands and tongues” (2). This sentence has appeared in different forms in the ziyārahs of the Pure Imams. In some of these ziyārahs, the plural pronoun is used: “قَتَلَ اللَّهُ أُمَّةً قَتَلَتْکُمْ بِالْأَیْدِی وَ الْأَلْسُن” (3); that is, may God destroy the community that kills you, the Ahl al-Bayt, by hand and tongue.
Interestingly, this phrase also appears in the ziyārah of al-ʿAbbas, peace be upon him. (4) The martyrdom of al-ʿAbbas at Karbala has received immense attention from the lovers and devotees of the Ahl al-Bayt, and the unjustly suffered martyrdom of that great figure is very well known. Yet in his ziyārah, those who killed him—or kill him—with their tongues are placed alongside those who martyred the standard-bearer of Karbala with the sword.
Killing the Prophet through the Tongue
By which means did the Prophet’s martyrdom take place? Who were the killers or those accused of this plot? This is a matter that deserves investigation and examination in its proper place. But the very important point is that the Prophet was repeatedly killed by “tongues”: when, in Mecca, they called that noblest of creatures a poet and a madman—those polytheists who had set their hearts upon their handmade idols and, through those idols, fashioned their own base worldly life.
Those who killed the Prophet with their tongues were not limited to the polytheists. Years after Mecca had surrendered before the Prophet, after various wars had taken place across the Arabian Peninsula, and after many tribes had embraced Islam, offenses against the Prophet still occurred—in Medina, the very place that was the center of the Prophet’s government and power.
The Illness Leading to the Prophet’s Passing
In the final decade of the month of Safar, the Prophet fell ill. While confined to his sickbed, he appointed Usama ibn Zayd to command an army that was to fight the Eastern Romans. Usama was eighteen years old. (5) Distinguished members of the Muhajirun and the Ansar were to serve under his command. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, ordered that the leading Companions among the Muhajirun and the Ansar take part in that army. (6) The Noble Messenger of Islam emphasized that none of those named should fail to depart with the army, saying: “لعن الله من تخلف عن جیش اسامه” [May Allah curse whoever lags behind Usama’s army]. (7)
The Prophet’s illness worsened in the final days of his life, and his condition became grave. News reached Usama’s army. Some members of the army failed to proceed and returned to Medina. That morning, they gathered around the Prophet. In the last days of his life, when the Noble Prophet of Islam saw their failure to join Usama’s army, he ordered that pen and paper be brought to him so that he might write a testament, saying: “...اکتب لکم کتابا لن تضلو بعده ابدا” [I shall write for you a document after which you will never go astray]; that is, “I shall write something for you so that you may never go astray after it.”
Here too, not only was the Prophet’s command not carried out, but an immense affront was made to the exalted station of prophethood. At that moment, some said: “ان النبی غلبه الوجع و عندکم کتاب الله؛ حسبنا کتاب الله” (8), meaning that illness had overcome the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family—an insinuation that he did not know what he was saying—and that the Book of Allah was with them and sufficed for them. Another group said: Carry out the command of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family.
Heaven Must Weep Blood
After this exchange and dispute, some of those present wished to bring pen and paper. But the Prophet no longer accepted it and said: “او بعد ماذا؟” [And after what?] (10) After such words and the accusation that the Prophet was speaking deliriously? The Prophet could no longer write anything, for if pen and paper had been brought and he had written a testament, those against whom the testament stood could have brought several people to testify that—God forbid—the Prophet had written that testament while delirious.
It was after this insult that the Prophet said: “قوموا عنی لا ینبغی عند نبی تنازع” (11); “Rise and leave me, for disputation in the presence of a prophet is not fitting.”
The Resemblance Between the Muslim Community and the Children of Israel
Indeed, if among the Children of Israel several prophets were killed by their own hands in a single day, then in Islam too, the Master of the Prophets and the noblest of all God’s saints was subjected, in a single moment, to character assassination and was killed by tongues.
Killing by the tongue has a more enduring effect, while at the same time remaining highly concealed. The final days of the life of a prophet who never for a moment ceased guiding humankind—and whom the Noble Qur’an describes as ardently concerned for people’s guidance—bear that prophet’s most important message of guidance; preventing that message from being conveyed is the greatest act of terror and murder.
The eminent Prophet of Islam chose silence, for what he was to write had already been proclaimed by him at Ghadir in great detail, and he had taken a covenant and pledge regarding it from everyone. The Prophet’s silence made the covenant-breakers of Ghadir known to all history before that Prophet’s passing.
After the Prophet’s martyrdom, those who had allied themselves with Saqifah feigned forgetfulness and denied Ghadir. Addressing the Prophet’s true executor and successor, Imam Ali, peace be upon him, they said: “You are young, and the one now seated upon the throne of government is older than you!”
Indeed, the Messenger of God appointed the eighteen-year-old Usama as commander of the army, so that everyone might understand that young age is no reason to deny the caliphate. He placed an eighteen-year-old youth in command over those who later assumed the reins of government, so that all might understand that, in the arena of merit and capability, every claimant to the caliphate was less qualified than the eighteen-year-old Usama—even for command of an army, let alone for the caliphate and succession to the Prophet of Islam.
The calamity of losing the Prophet is exceedingly great and immense. The Prophet’s martyrdom is deeply heartbreaking and, without doubt, constitutes a great and irreparable loss for the Muslim community. Its enormity has also been mentioned in various supplications, in which we complain to the presence of the Almighty of the absence of the Prophet of Islam: «اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا نَشْکُو إِلَیْکَ فَقْدَ نَبِیِّنَا وَ...» (12); “O God, we complain to You of the loss of our Prophet and …”
Footnotes
- Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 28, p. 20
- Kāmil al-Ziyārāt, p. 194, chapter seventy-nine
- Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, vol. 6, p. 65, chapter on his visitation, peace be upon him
- Miṣbāḥ al-Mutahajjid, p. 724, the visitation of al-ʿAbbās, upon him mercy
- al-Istiʿāb, no. 12
- Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, 2/190–192, Beirut edition
- Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāghah by Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd, 6/52
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, chapter “Writing Knowledge,” from the Book of Knowledge, 1/22
- He himself admitted this audacity. Years later, in a lengthy discussion with Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: «پیامبر تصمیم داشت که، به هنگام بیماریش تصریح به نام او [علی بن ابیطالب] کند ولی من نگذاشتم.» [“The Prophet had decided, during his illness, to explicitly name him [ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib], but I did not allow it.”] Tārīkh Baghdād; Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāghah by Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd, 3/97; also al-Murājaʿāt by ʿAllāmah Sharaf al-Dīn
- Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, 2/242, Beirut edition
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, chapter “Writing Knowledge,” from the Book of Knowledge, 1/22
- Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, vol. 3, p. 110, supplication for the first day of the month of Ramadan.
Author: Hamed Sarem
Related articles
Comments
No comments yet.