The Path of the Prophet

THE PATH OF THE PROPHET As news of the advance of Usamah’s army spread around Arabia, opponents saw it as a sign of the Muslims’ confidence. They presumed that the Prophet’s followers must have considerable reserves of strength to send an army so far from Madinah at such a critical time. Accordingly, they decided to await the outcome of the Syrian campaign before attacking the city: if the Muslims met defeat, they would be sufficiently weakened for an offensive against their capital to be feasible. Usamah ibn Zayd’s army was eminently successful against the Romans. The campaign, which lasted forty days, also proved that Usamah was the most suitable person for this expedition for his father, who had been martyred fighting the Roman army at Muta and was keen for revenge. Consequently, many captives and significant booty returned with the Muslims to Madinah. The rebels lost heart on seeing this, and their revolt was quelled with comparative ease. So the Muslims achieved success on both fronts, simply by having done as the Prophet said. They thus provided an excellent lesson for subsequent generations of Muslims: that the place for Muslims to test their strength was the outside world, not among themselves. But successive generations of Muslims have failed to learn this lesson, and in the present age, the situation has deteriorated to the point where the Muslim world is locked in battle with itself on every front. No one is ready to face any challenge outside the Muslim world, but all are willing to fight against their Muslim