The Warrior Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا رسول الله

Apparently, the earliest known Christian reference to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is recorded in a Greek polemical tract called the Teaching of Jacob which says: “And they said that a prophet appeared, coming with the Saracens and he is proclaiming the arrival of the coming Anointed One and Christ. And when I went out into Sykamina I communicated it to a certain very scriptural old man and I said to him: ‘What do you say to me about this prophet who is appearing with the Saracens?' And with a great groan he said: ‘He is a deceiver. Do prophets come with swords and chariots? Really these are works of disorder set in motion today, and I fear that the Christ who came earlier, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and instead of him we shall accept Hermolaos. For Isaiah said that we Jews have a mistaken and hardened heart, until all the land is made a desert. But go forth, Mr. Abraham, and learn about this prophet who is appearing.' And I, Abraham, thoroughly investigating, heard from those who met him that you find nothing true in this so-called prophet, except shedding human blood. For he says that he has keys of Paradise which is unbelievable.” From this brief excerpt we learn a few matters concerning the Prophesy of Muhammad, peace be upon him, firstly, that he preached the imminent coming of the Messiah, and therefore his Prophesy was apocalyptic and Millenarian. Secondly, one of the claims of the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, which had apparently reached the Christians was that he was in possession of the keys of Paradise. This may likely correspond to one of the Ahadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him, such as:

اللهُ أَكْبَرُ أُعْطِيتُ ‌مَفَاتِيحَ ‌الشَّامِ

Allahu Akbar! I have been given the keys to Sham (Musnad Ahmad)

The blessed region of Sham, where Jerusalem is located, is indeed to be the place of gathering at the Resurrection. The New Earth and the New Jerusalem are terms for Paradise. In another Hadith:

مَفَاتِيحُ الْجَنَّةِ شَهَادَةُ أَنْ لَا إِلَه إِلَّا الله

The keys of Paradise are to testify that there is no god except Allah (ibid)

According to this, the meaning of the Prophet, peace be upon him, possessing the keys of Paradise would mean that he is the one who has brought the teaching, or more accurately restored the teaching, that there is no god except Allah and that this is the key to Paradise, to salvation. In another Hadith:

وَبَيْنَا أَنَا نَائِمٌ رَأَيْتُنِي أُتِيتُ بِمَفَاتِيحِ خَزَائِنِ الأَرْضِ فَوُضِعَتْ فِي يَدِي

While I was sleeping I saw that the keys of the treasures of the Earth were give to me and placed in my hand (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Like the first Hadith quoted, it is a prophecy that the Ummah of Muhammad, peace be upon him, particularly his immediate Successors, shall have the Earth opened for them and in particular they will enter into Jerusalem, the Holy Land, which is also called Paradise.

However, the excerpt about our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon, from the Teaching of Jacob is clearly hostile to him, calling him a “deceiver”, God forbid. Yet the argument behind such an allegation is that only a false prophet comes with a sword, or riding on a chariot, meaning that Prophets are not men of war, violence or bloodshed. This polemic is laughable since many of the Prophets spoken of in the Old Testament did come with a sword and were indeed violent. Consider Moses at the Battle of Rephidim (Exodus 17:8-13). Joshua, who would later become a Prophet himself, served as his general. According to the Book of Joshua, the Prophet Joshua, who was Moses’s successor, initiated the campaign for the Conquest of Canaan, and led his Israelites into no less than thirteen battles. The Prophet Samuel instructed King Saul to utterly decimate Amalek, but when Agag, King of Amalek, was spared, Samuel personally had him cut to pieces (1 Samuel 15:33).

There is no doubt our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was what one may term a “warlord”, defined as: “a military commander, especially an aggressive regional commander with individual autonomy”, “a military leader of a nation or part of a nation, especially one who is accountable to nobody”. Therefore, I have no objection to our Prophet, peace be upon him, being considered a warlord, nor is the word itself inherently negative in connotation. Although the precise number is contested, the Prophet, peace be upon him, led dozens of military expeditions known as Ghazwat.