What the Apologists Want You to Believe
Since everyone agrees that Muhammad's men began robbing and killing the Quraish about a year after leaving Mecca, apologists try to show it was justified based on "persecution" at Medina. In
this case, DTT wants to prove that Muhammad feared being assassinated by his old adversaries from
Mecca.
What They Offer as Proof
Four impressive Hadith from Sahih Bukari, Sahih Muslim and Tirmidhi are provided.
Somewhat less impressive is that all four refer to exactly the same episode. One night, Muhammad was in bed with his
child bride, Aisha, and the 9-year-old girl reported that
her 53-year-old 'lover' couldn't sleep. A guard arrives and nothing further is said.
What They Leave Out and Why They are Wrong
What DTT would love to have is a sahih hadith verse in which the Quraish carry out an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Muhammad after he arrives in Medina (and before he starts robbing and killing them).
What they have instead is an account in which Muhammad has a half-night of restless sleep because
he fears that harm might be done to him. The passage does not even say by whom, nor does it offer
any proof that the fear was valid.
Muhammad also feared that there were spells cast on him at various times, and that he had been possessed by demons. In fact, Sahih Bukhari
(54:516) reports
that he thought Satan slept in his nose.
The point is that Muhammad's anxiety is not proof that Muslims were under real persecution
at Medina.
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