Abu 'Afak

Abu 'Afak was a Jewish poet who lived, in the Hijaz region, during the time that Islam's prophet Muhammad was alive.¹ According to tradition, Abu 'Afak did not accept the religion preached by his contemporary (Muhammad), and was vocal about his opposition to Muhammad. As a poet, he became a significant enemy of Muhammad's, and was assassinated. Poetry was the usual medium of political discourse in medieval Arabia.² As an elderly man, Abu 'Afak Arwan wrote a politically charged poem against Muhammad and his army; this poem was preserved in the Sira .³ Poetry, being the political medium of the time, could have a huge impact on the political landscape. Muhammad decided to silence him by having him assassinated. His affair was first written in Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah" (Biography of the Prophet of Allah - see Sira ), the oldest and primary biography of Muhammad . The veracity of some of the stories collected in the Sira are questioned, including this one. Some Muslims reject the following story as a fabcrication [1] The Following is an excerpt from Alfred Guillaume 's translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sira , describes that Muhammad commanded one of this soldiers to murder of the elderly Abu 'Afak; the assassination squad is described as having murdered Abu 'Afak while he was in his sleep. He showed his disaffection when the apostle killed al-Harith b. Samit and said: "Long have I lived but never have I seen An assembly or collection of people More faithful to their undertaking And their allies when called upon Than the sons of Qayla when they assembled, Men who overthrew mountains and never submitted, A rider who came to them split them in two (saying) "Permitted", "Forbidden", of all sorts of things. Had you believed in glory or kingship You would have followed Tubba. [Tubba was a ruler from Yemen who invaded the Hijaz and was resisted by the Qaylites] The apostle said, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" Whereupon Salim b. Umayr, brother of B. Auf, one of the "weepers", went forth and killed him. Muzayriya said concerning that: You gave the lie to God's religion and the man Ahmad [the prophet]! By him who was your father, evil is the son he produced! A "hanif" [monotheist] gave you a thrust in the night saying "Take that Abu Afak in spite of your age!" Though I knew whether it was man or jinn Who slew you in the dead of night (I would say naught). [END QUOTE] Another source that discusses is KITAB AL TABAQAT AL KABIR (BOOK OF THE MAJOR CLASSES), Volume 2, BY IBN SA'D, (2), page 32: "Then occurred the "sariyyah" [raid] of Salim Ibn Umayr al-Amri against Abu Afak, the Jew, in [the month of] Shawwal in the beginning of the twentieth month from the hijrah [immigration from Mecca to Medina in AD 622], of the Apostle of Allah. Abu Afak, was from Banu Amr Ibn Awf, and was an old man who had attained the age of one hundred and twenty years. He was a Jew, and used to instigate the people against the Apostle of Allah, and composed (satirical) verses [about Muhammad]. "Salim Ibn Umayr who was one of the great weepers and who had participated in Badr, said, "I take a vow that I shall either kill Abu Afak or die before him. He waited for an opportunity until a hot night came, and Abu Afak slept in an open place. Salim Ibn Umayr knew it, so he placed the sword on his liver and pressed it till it reached his bed. The enemy of Allah screamed and the people who were his followers, rushed to him, took him to his house and interred him." [END QUOTE] Following is a description of this assassination (as well as the assination of Asma bint Marwan by the contemporary Muslim scholar of Islam, Ali Dashti. FROM ALI DASHTI'S "23 YEARS: A STUDY OF THE PROPHETIC CAREER OF MOHAMMAD", (3) page 100: "Abu Afak, a man of great age (reputedly 120 years) was killed because he had lampooned Mohammad. The deed was done by Salem b. Omayr at the behest of the Prophet, who had asked, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" The killing of such an old man moved a poetess, Asma b. Marwan, to compose disrespectful verses about the Prophet, and she too was assassinated." [END QUOTE] Before listing all the assassinations that Muhammad ordered in his life, Ali Dashti wrote on page 97: "Thus Islam was gradually transformed from a purely spiritual mission into a militant and punitive organization whose progress depended on booty from raids and revenue from the zakat tax." [END QUOTE]⁴