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TheReligionofPeace.com Presents:
The Muslims were
Persecuted and The Truth: It’s true that there was persecution of the Muslims at Mecca, but the extent of the suffering is greatly exaggerated by modern-day storytellers, who are desperate to justify subsequent Muslim aggression. It is important to note that Muhammad himself was the
source of bitterness against the
early Muslims, yet he was protected from
personal consequence by his powerful uncle, Abu Talib. Muhammad’s biographer
recorded many instances in which the leading men of Mecca beseeched Muhammad
(either directly or through his uncle) to stop mocking the religion of their
ancestors:
Modern apologists are fond of repeating an
apocryphal tale concerning the "martyring" of an elderly woman named Umm
Summayah. She was one of the first converts to Islam and a slave of Abu
Jahl, an adversary of Muhammad. According to the contemporary version of
the tale, Umm Summayah died of a spear thrust from Abu Jahl.
Unfortunately, there is scant evidence to support this. It is likely that Umm Summayah died at Mecca, since it is mentioned by an
earlier historian, Ibn Sa'd. Tellingly, however, he does not say how she
died, which makes little sense if it was truly in the fashion that today's
apologists would prefer. Until recently, in fact, it was generally thought
that she simply died from stress (as Muhammad's own daughter later would under
Muslim persecution only three months after the death of her father). If Umm Sumayyah was killed by a spear thrust from Abu Jahl, then why did it
escape the notice of the earliest and most reliable biographers and historians?
In fact, Bukhari, Sahih, Muslim, al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq, do not record the death of a single Muslim at the
hands of the Meccans during this period, although they do detail a torturous
episode in the life of a slave named Bilal. There is no reason for them to
document the one and not the other if both accounts are reliable. In short, there is little to substantiate the wild tales of
deadly abuse that contemporary Muslims are fond of claiming. |
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