OmaricJudgement: A Dispute Between a Muslim and a Jew.

There was a hypocrite named Bishor. He involved in a dispute with a land with some Jew. The Jew said to him, ‘Let us go to Muhammad for the settlement.’

But Bishor was not agreed with this proposal. He said, ‘No, but we have to go Kab ibn Ashraf.’

This Kab was one of the leaders of Jews and a difficult enemy of Muslims and Muhammad. Therefore, externally this subject was too surprising that the Jew likes the settlement of Muhammad instead his own leader, but Bishor, who himself known as Muslims interested for the settlement of the Jews Leader instead of Muhammad. Though the Jew and Bishor both knew that what Muhammad will settle will be right- no doubt of bias to someone. But as the Jew was based on justice, so he has much faith on Muhammad rather than his own leader. On the other hand, Bishor was on unjust, so he knew clearly that the settlement of Muhammad will go against him though he is a Muslim.

They went to Kab. And hearing all, his proposal goes in favour of the Jew. But Bishor rejects the settlement. And after a long quarrel they decided to resolve the issue through Muhammad.

They came to Muhammad. And Muhammad searches the details of the case. It was proved through the evidence that the Jew is right. So he refused Bishor and ordered on the behalf of Jew.

Bishor was unwilling to accept this settlement. So he proposed a new proposal to the Jew. He said, ‘Let us go to Omar ibn Khattab. Surely I will agree to the settlement what he proposes.’

It was Bishors assumption that as Omar was too difficult to the disbelievers, so he will not on the Jewish side of his business.

They two came to the door of Omar. He was in his home. After describing the whole event the Jew said at the end, ‘Rasulallah also judge this case, but this man not agreed with that. So we come to you.’

Omar said, ‘O Bishor is that true?’

Bishor admitted. Then Omar said to them, ‘Wait a bit, I am coming soon.’

Omar enter into his home very quickly and came out with a open sword in his hand. Seeing this, faces of the two became pale. Omar said, ‘The person, who is not willing to accept the judge of the messenger of Allah, his judgement will be this.’ With one hit of the sword, Omar makes Bishor into two pieces.

When this event disclosed to Medina, the Jews rebuked the Muslims. They said, ‘What type of Muslim you are, to whom you respect as the messenger of Allah and claim yourself as his follower, yet you do not accept  his settlement. On the other hand, look at us, when we ordered to kill each other to remove our sins, we obey that type of difficult order. And thus our 70 (seventy) men get killed. Now we see, if such an order imposed on you, surely you will turn away.’

Hearing this, a Muslim commented, ‘That state may for the case of hypocrites, not for the true Muslims. And by God, we did not encounter any serious examination.’

The relatives of Bishor filed a case against Omar in the court of Muhammad. Their saying were-‘Omar killed a Muslim without any documents accomplished by Shariah. And killing a Muslim is a serious crime.’

Besides this, to prove Bishor as a pure Muslim, they submit a lots explanation of his words and deeds.

Muhammad too dissatisfied with the settlement of Omar. He said, ‘I did not think that Omar ever dare to murder any devotee Muslim.’

Then Allah revel the real significance of the event and cleaned Omar from the charge of Murder. Qur’an says- But the hypocrites say, "We have believed in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey"; then a party of them turns away after that. And those are not believers. And when they are called to (the words of) Allah and His Messenger to judge between them, at once a party of them turns aside (in refusal). But if the right is theirs, they come to him in prompt obedience. Is there disease in their hearts? Or have they doubted? Or do they fear that Allah will be unjust to them, or His Messenger? Rather, it is they who are the wrongdoers. The only statement of the (true) believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, "We hear and we obey." And those are the successful.(24:47-51)

O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best (way) and best in result. Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you and what was revealed before you? They wish to refer legislation to Taghut, while they were commanded to reject it; and Satan wishes to lead them far astray. And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger," you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion. So how (will it be) when disaster strikes them because of what their hands have put forth and then they come to you swearing by Allah, "We intended nothing but good conduct and accommodation."

Those are the ones of whom Allah knows what is in their hearts, so turn away from them but admonish them and speak to them a far-reaching word. And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allah. And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful. But no, by your Lord, they will not (truly) believe until they make you judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in (full, willing) submission. And if We had decreed upon them, "Kill yourselves" or "Leave your homes," they would not have done it, except for a few of them. But if they had done what they were instructed, it would have been better for them and a firmer position (for them in faith). And then We would have given them from Us a great reward. And We would have guided them to a straight path.(4:59-68)

End.

Abraha: Story of the Year of the Elephant.

At the beginning of 570 CE, Abraha al-Ashram, the Ethiopian governor of Yemen with his great army came nearer to Kaaba and set tent. There are some Elephants in Abrahas Battalion. And as Arabs never seen an Elephant before, the year 570 CE recalled by them as the Year of the Elephant later.

'Abraha's accounts of origin differs. He was an Ethiopian general then the viceroy of southern Arabia for the Kingdom of Aksum, and later declared himself an independent King of Himyar and ruled much of present-day Yemen and Hijaz.

Elephant

Dhu Nuwas, the Jewish Himyarite ruler of Yemen, launched military operations against the Aksumite Christians and their local Arab Christian allies. The Aksumites in Zafar were killed, their fortresses in the Yemeni highlands destroyed, and Najran sacked.

Najran fell and many members of the Himyarite Christian community were put to death evoking great sympathy throughout the Christian regions of the Orient and prompting an Aksumite military intervention aided by a Byzantine fleet.

According to al-Tabari's history, Abraha was one of the commanders of one of the armies led by King Kaleb of Axum against Dhu Nuwas and is said to have been the commander of the second army sent by Kaléb after the first, led by 'Ariat, had been annihilated by Dhü Nuwäs through a ruse.

This second army of 100,000 men with hundreds of elephants to successfully crush all resistance of the Yemeni army and then, following the suicide of Dhu Nuwas, seized power and established himself at Sana‘a. He aroused the wrath of Kaléb, however, by withholding tribute who then sent his general 'Ariat to take over the governorship of Yemen. 'Abraha rid himself of the latter by a subterfuge in a duel resulting in 'Ariat being killed and 'Abraha suffering the injury which earned him the sobriquet of al-Asräm, "scar-face."

According to Procopius, 'Abraha seized the control of Yemen from Esimiphaeus (Sumuafa' Ashawa'), the Christian Himyarite viceroy appointed by Kaléb, with the support of dissident elements within the Aksum occupation force who were eager to settle in the Yemen, then a rich and fertile land. This event would have happened about 543  [postulated by Jacques Ryckmans].

An army sent by Kaléb to subdue 'Abraha joined his ranks and killed the ruler sent to replace him and a second army was defeated. After this Kaléb had to accord him de facto recognition before earning recognition under Kaleb's successor for a nominal tribute.

Abraha is seen as then becoming a prominent figure in Yemen's history, promoting the cause of Christianity in the face of the prevalent Judaism and the paganism of Central Arabia.

The royal title adopted by 'Abraha "King of Saba' and dhü-Raydän and Hadhramaut and Yamanat and of their Arabs on the plateau and the lowland." was of the Himyarites. Abraha was zealous observing the Glory of Ka'ba, so he built a great church at San'a'

Abraha with a military expedition against Mecca in an invasion of Hejaz in 570 and set tent near the holy city. Later a small contingent of Abraha move towards Mecca and captured domestic animals. Among those 200 camels were belongs to Abdul Muttalib. When Abdul Muttalib informed this news, he moved forward accompanied with Amr ibn Lu'aba to meet with Abraha and set free his camels.

Meanwhile, a representative of Abraha was sent to Quraish to inform them that Abraha have no intension to fight with them, he came only to demolish Ka'ba. But if the Quraish try to resist him, he will surely crush them all, and followed a frightening description of his well armed huge army.

This representative meets Abdul Muttalib on the way. So he came back with them and informed Abraha that a Quraish leader wants to meet with him. Abraha thought the Quraish leader comes to compromise with him.

When Abdul Muttalib represents to Abraha in his tent, he said, ‘O Abdul Muttalib, what’s the proposal you brings to me?’

He said, ‘I came to you with a request to release my camels those captured by your troops.’

Abraha was astonished hearing this request. He laughed loudly, and then said, "Abdul Muttalib, I was impressed to see you. But now, I have no respect for you. Here I have come to demolish your religious center which is the foundation of your prestige and respect in Arab and you say nothing of it; instead, you request me to return your few camels back!"

Abdul-Muttalib said boldly, "I am the owner of the camels, so, I came to save them and that House has an Owner too, He will decided whether it is necessary to protect the house or not."

Abraha stunned with this reply. However, he ordered to release the camels.

Abraha al-Ashram, envied the reverence in which the Ka'ba was held by the Arabs. Being a staunch Christian, he built a huge cathedral in Sana, tall and beautifully crafted and decorated on all sides. ie such a cathedral had never been built before. The Arabs called it Al-Qullays because of its great height, and because if one looked at it, his cap would be in danger of falling off as he tilted his head back. Then Abrahah Al-Ashram decided to force the Arabs to make their pilgrimage to this magnificent cathedral, just as they had performed pilgrimage to the Ka'ba in Mecca. He announced this in Yemen, but it was rejected by the Arab tribes of Adnan and Qahtan. Actually Arabians showed no interest to perform their pilgrimage to the cathedral. So Abraha was looking for a way to demolish Ka'ba.

Once, a Meccan trade group set their tent closer to that Cathedral. And at night, during the cooking, the cathedral set fired by the wind. The trade group leaves the place at that night in fear. Hearing this, the wrath of Abraha knew no bounds. And he founds a way to avenge it. In a short time he prepared himself and advanced towards Mecca with a large army to destroy Ka'ba.

The next day, Abraha moves with his troops towards Kaaba. He was on the cart on his Elephant. It’s a bright sunny morning. The Meccan leaved the city and seek refuge in the surrounding hills. And they hope and pray that their gods will save their houses and Ka'ba. And when they saw the big animal in the middle of a large Battalion, they were too surprised as they never saw an animal like that before.

No sooner had the army reached near the Ka'ba, the sky covered with dark cloud that appeared from the western side. Actually it was the flock of small birds, Ababil. And those birds overshadowed quickly the entire army of Abraha that looks like dark cloud. Each bird had three pebbles- two in its claws and one in its beak. Thus a rain of the pebbles poured down from the sky, and in a few minutes, the whole army was destroyed. Abraha himself was seriously wounded. He fled to Yemen and died in a short time.

Now we will see, what Qur'an says- Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the companions of the Elephant? Did He not make their treacherous plan go astray? And He sent against them birds in flocks, striking them with stones of baked clay and He made them like eaten straw.(105: 1-5)

End.

Not Yet Corrected.

Source:
Wikipedia.
Stuart Munro-Hay, "Abraha" in Siegbert Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003)
S. C. Munro-Hay, Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), p. 87
The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity; edited by Scott Fitzgerald Johnson; p. 287
Muhammad and the Origins of Islam; by Francis E. Peters; p. 88
"Abraha." Dictionary of African Christian Biographies. 2007. (last accessed 11 April 2007)
Walter W. Müller, "Outline of the History of Ancient Southern Arabia," in Werner Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix. 1987.
Scott Fitzgerald Johnson The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity p.285
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraha
Qur'an, al-Fil

Jizya: A Decree to the Najranian Christian and the Jizya.

Muhammad sent a decree to Najranian Christian. It notifies on the following three subjects-

• Accept Islam, Or
• Pay Jizya Tax, Or
• Be Prepare for a war.

Najran was the centre place of Arabian Christian. It was a vast area near Yemen. Previously Muhammad sent Mugira bin shoba to this area to spread Islam. People asked him hearing the following verses of Qur’an, related to Jesus and Mary - 

Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste."(19-27-28) 

‘O, Mugira, Why in this Qur’an, you have been told Mary as sister of Aaron?’ And Mugira came back to Medina failing to answer that Question.

When Mugira inform this to Muhammad, the gist what he said were- ‘At that period, it is consider to be gracious if someone named after the name of a prophet or pious one. Thus Anna named her daughter as Maryam (in short Mary) after the name of Moses’ and Aaron’s famous sister Maryam.

And when Mary came home with a baby when she was unmarried, People in a phase, called her ‘sister of Aaron’ instead of calling Mary or Maryam to compare her with two Maryams, one is pious, respectable and other is sinner, hatred and thus to show her, feel her the difference and to be shamed. ie What a dishonor of a holy name!’

However, getting the decree from Muhammad, the Christian leaders of Najran discuss the matter among them and sent a three member delegates to Medina. The members of this group were Sherahbil, Abdullah ibn Sherahbil and Jibar ibn Fayez. They began to discuss the matter of religion with Muhammad. They said, “O Muhammad! Do you want that, we pray to you and worship you as we do it to Jesus?”

He said, “How it is possible that we worship others leaving Allah or call others to do such?”

At this time the following Verse of Qur’an sent down- It is not for a human (prophet) that Allah should give him the Scripture and authority and prophethood and then he would say to the people, "Be servants to me rather than Allah," but (instead, he would say), "Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied."(3:79)

After being sent down the verse, at a stage, the representatives put disputs to prove Jesus as God. Then the following verses of Qur’an sent down- Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created Him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was. The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters. Then whoever argues with you about it after (this) knowledge has come to you - say, 

"Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then supplicate earnestly (together) and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars (among us)."

Indeed, this is the true narration. And there is no deity except Allah. And indeed, Allah is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.(3:59-62)

After this verse has been revealed, Muhammad called the delegation for ‘Mubahala’ and next day he came prepared for Mubahala with Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Hossain. Seeing the self-confidence of Muhammad, Sherahbil became afraid and said to his accompanied, “If he really a Messenger of God then we will be surely perish, if we make a Mubahala with him. Therefore, we have to find another way out.”

They said, “Then how do we release?”

He said, “It is good to compromise on condition.”

Then they agreed to pay the Jizya Tax fixed by Muhammad.

Jizya-It’s a poll tax demanded from the non Muslim subjects for residing independent and secure in an Islamic Republic. And this tax fixed for Najranian was- Annual two thousand pairs of clothes. One lungi and a sheet of clothe is a pair and the price of each pair fixed as one ukiya (one ukiya equal to 40 dirhams, or 11.5 gms of silver).

Jizya applied especially to followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, who were tolerated in the practice of their religion because they were “peoples of the Scripture”. Polytheists of Arabia were not included, never a Jizya have taken from them.

The Jizya originally intended to be used for charitable purposes. The revenues were paid into the private treasuries of rulers. The Ottoman Sultans used the proceeds to pay military expenses.

Qur’an not fixed any rates for Jizya. It depends on the kind consideration of the ruler. In this regard, the direction of Muhammad was- ‘The man who will torture a non Muslim imposing a burden beyond his capacity, on the Day of Judgement I will take the side of the non Muslim. And surely he will be loser against whom I will stand.’

According to this instruction, Calipha Omar fixed Jizya during his period as- for rich 4 (four) dirham/month, for middle class 2 (two) dirham/month and for lower class 1(one) dirham/month (1 dirham equal to 3.5 masha of silver). The jizya was levied on men who had reached their majority; women, children, slaves, poor people, and monks were exempted.

The End.
Not Yet Verified

# Who is that one may able to explain, why the Qur'an says 'o sister of Aaron' instead of 'o sister of Moses' in verses 19-27-28?