Firstly: A Summary of the Quranic Chapter Eight:

 After the military defeat of Qorayish in the Battle of Badr, the history of early Muslims entered a new phase differed from the previous stages or phases. New rules had to be formulated to make early Muslims depend on themselves, not on angels to support their hearts and souls. Such rules are found in the Quranic Chapter 8, addressing Muhammad and Muslims concerning relations with aggressive polytheists and self-defense fighting. Such rules have predicted the future, as they were revealed by God the Omniscient and Omnipotent, let us begin with a short summary of the Quranic Chapter Eight, with its rules given in advance regarding events that would yet to occur later on during Muhammad's lifetime.

1- Spoils were never a goal in self-defense fighting within the early days of Islam, but they were the main aim behind intertribal wars and Arab conquests of other countries. Early Muslims quarreled with one another over the distribution of spoils and they asked Muhammad about how to ivied spoils, and hence, God asserts in Chapter 8 the minor importance of money and the vital importance of piety: "They ask you about the bounties. Say, "The bounties are for God and the Messenger." So be mindful piously of God, and settle your differences, and obey God and His Messenger, if you are believers." (8:1). And later on, the way of how to divide spoils: "And know that whatever spoils you gain, to God belongs its fifth, and to the Messenger, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and to the wayfarer, provided you believe in God and in what We revealed to Our servant on the Day of Distinction, the day when the two armies met. God is Capable of everything." (8:41). "So consume what you have gained in spoils, legitimate and wholesome; and remain conscious of God. God is Forgiving and Merciful." (8:69). In cases of fighting for the sake of spoils only, as in Arab conquests, conflicts arise, and they might lead to major civil wars, as happened to the companions of the Arab conquests. As in cases of self-defense fighting for the sake of God and to prevent religious persecution, there was no room for conflict; Chapter 8 contains warnings against such conflicts: "And obey God and His Messenger, and do not dispute, lest you falter and lose your unity. And be steadfast. God is with the steadfast." (8:46). This last verse is a general rule never understood by the companions; in the Battle of Uhud, early Muslims were defeated because they ran for spoils once the Qorayish armies retreated, and Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed led the Qorayish troops once more to battlefield and defeated and crushed the Muslims who were busy collecting spoils. Hence, when they fought for God's sake, they achieved victory at first, but once they were busy with spoils, fighting here was no longer for God's sake; rather, for the sake of worldly gains and based on military might, and hence the defeated was bound to occur. "God has fulfilled His promise to you, and you defeated them by His leave; until when you faltered, and disputed the command, and disobeyed after He had shown you what you like. Some of you want this world, and some of you want the next. Then He turned you away from them, to test you; but He pardoned you. God is Gracious towards the believers." (3:152).

2- The issue of POWs: the Quranic sharia is clear about setting them free with no ransoms, as the case after the Battle of Badr. God has rebuked Muhammad for setting them free in return for ransom: "It is not for a prophet to take prisoners before he has subdued the land. You desire the materials of this world, but God desires the Hereafter. God is Strong and Wise" (8:67). Hence, the existence of POWs is linked to self-defensive wars only, not linked to seeking money, and that is why God has rebuked those who sought money that way: "Were it not for a predetermined decree from God, an awful punishment would have afflicted you for what you have taken." (8:68). God tells Muhammad in the Quran that He will forgive those prisoners if they believed and compensate them for the money they paid, while assuring Muhammad to protect him if they betrayed him: "O prophet! Say to those you hold prisoners, "If God finds any good in your hearts, He will give you better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you. God is Forgiving and Merciful." But if they intend to betray you, they have already betrayed God, and He has overpowered them. God is Knowing and Wise." (8:70-71). POWs were to be released for free or in return for setting free the Muslims captured by the polytheists: "…Then, when you have routed them, bind them firmly. Then, either release them by grace, or in return for the captured ones, until war lays down its burdens. …" (47:4). The following clear Quranic rule was against the companions of the crime of Arab conquests as they killed one another when they held captives, a bad habit that went on during the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates: "And if anyone of the polytheists asks you for protection, give him protection so that he may hear the Word of God; then escort him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know." (9:6). M. Ibn Ishaq, who wrote the false accounts of the life of Prophet Muhammad, had fabricated falsehoods like that Muhammad used to kill captives and POWs including women and children, and other Arab historians imitated Ibn Ishaq in his claims, like Ibn Saad and Al-Tabary.  

3- Fighting within Islam is ONLY for the sake of warding off aggression and as a form of self-defense in cases of religious persecution; once the infidels/polytheists stop their aggression, God will forgive them, but if they go on with their aggression against believers, they must be fought against to stop persecution, as religion is a matter to be judged only by God in the Last Day; see 2:190-194. "Say to those who disbelieve: if they desist, their past will be forgiven. But if they persist-the practice of the ancients has passed away. Fight them until there is no more persecution, and religion becomes exclusively for God. But if they desist-God is Seeing of what they do." (8:38-39).

4- Within self-defense fighting, fleeing away is prohibited unless within plans to defeat the enemies, as obedience to God is required in devoutness and piety: "O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve on the march, never turn your backs on them. Anyone who turns his back on them on that Day, except while maneuvering for battle, or to join another group, has incurred wrath from God, and his abode is Hell-what a miserable destination!" (8:15-16). "O you who believe! When you meet a force, stand firm, and remember God much, so that you may prevail." (8:45). Of course, early Muslims forgot that in the Battle of Hunayn: "God has given you victory in numerous regions; but on the day of Hunayn, your great number impressed you, but it availed you nothing; and the land, as spacious as it was, narrowed for you; and you turned your backs in retreat." (9:25). They forgot God's warning against imitating troops of Qorayish: "And do not be like those who left their homes boastfully, showing off before the people, and barring others from the path of God. God comprehends what they do" (8:47).

5- Military preparations as much as believers could were NOT for aggression but for deterring the aggressive enemies beforehand to ward them off to stop their aggression. Hence, the Islamic country is to be a secure, peaceful, and powerful one; if it would be peaceful and weak, enemies would get encouraged to raid and destroy it. Being strong in the military sense, the Islamic country would deter any potential assaults, and hence stopping any future bloodshed. Hence, military power should be used to maintain peace, and Muslims are to accept truces and treaties of peace, even if such offers were not sincere, because Islam is the religion of peace: "And prepare against them all the power you can muster, and all the cavalry you can mobilize, to terrify thereby God's enemies and your enemies, and others besides them whom you do not know, but God knows them. Whatever you spend in God's way will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged. But if they incline towards peace, then incline towards it, and put your trust in God. He is the Hearer, the Knower. If they intend to deceive you-God is sufficient for you. It is He who supported you with His aid, and with the believers." (8:60-62).

6- Undeterred aggressive enemies who breach peace treaties should be fought as a form of self-defense to deter them against breaching and violating peace treaties: "Those of them with whom you made a treaty, but they violate their agreement every time. They are not righteous. If you confront them in battle, make of them a fearsome example for those who follow them, that they may take heed." (8:56-57). Hence, this is linked to the notion of deterrence; at the time, Yathreb must have suffered sudden attacks and assaults by those who violated peace treaties and sieged and/or entered the city by night or day; hence, one had to be cautious, and Muhammad has been commanded in the Quran as to how to react and deal with such cases: "If you fear treachery on the part of a people, break off with them in a like manner. God does not like the treacherous." (8:58). Fighting had a special nature at the time in the 7^th century A.D.; Yathreb had its settled dwellers and its settled location amidst Arabian deserts, under continuous threat of being sieged and/or assaulted with troops within its borders, not to mention riding Bedouins who cut off routes of caravans who must be fought before they raided Yathreb; if they entered the city, they must be chased away into the deserts once more to deter them. This was the nature of fighting battles inside and around Yathreb, the very first and last Islamic city-state, against its enemies. Hence, Muhammad and the rest of believers never fought for the sake of material gains or for the sake of aggression against peaceful ones; this is prohibited in the Quran and illogical in terms of military life of a city under siege and continual threat of being attacked by Jewish tribes, Bedouins, and Qorayish troops. Verses of Chapter 8 set the general rules of how to deal with such conditions and predict that the enemies will breach the general peace.   

7- Immigration to Yathreb was the basis of belonging to this city-state during Muhammad's lifetime; by immigrating to settle in Yathreb, this citizen is part of this city-state, with certain duties and rights, including defending the city with spending money and fighting for it. Those who converted to Islam but remained among the polytheists and disbelievers were NOT ruled or governed by the city-state of Yathreb; yet, they were to be aided in cases of their persecution unless there was a truce or a peace treaty that should not be breached: "Those who believed, and emigrated, and struggled in God's cause with their possessions and their persons, and those who provided shelter and support-these are allies of one another. As for those who believed, but did not emigrate, you owe them no protection, until they have emigrated. But if they ask you for help in religion, you must come to their aid, except against a people with whom you have a treaty. God is Seeing of what you do." (8:72).

8- The Quranic order here is concerned with believers as allies to one another in peace and good causes against the forces of aggression united against the believers: "As for those who disbelieve, they are allies of one another. Unless you do this, there will be turmoil in the land, and much corruption." (8:73). Most early believers disobeyed such order, and several Quranic verses warn them against making alliances and forming allegiance with aggressive polytheists, as Qorayish did its best to hold pacts with Bedouins and other tribes to be united against early Muslims. This leads us to the following point about the cunning ways of Qorayish.

Secondly: The Qorayish Cunning and the Manipulation of Bedouins to Fight Muhammad:

1- The Quranic Chapter 8 pre-warns against such Bedouins, but no one among the Yathreb dwellers heeded such warnings. As for military preparations, God tells them: "And prepare against them all the power you can muster, and all the cavalry you can mobilize, to terrify thereby God's enemies and your enemies, and others besides them whom you do not know, but God knows them…" (8:60), but at the time, they knew their enemies very well, but we assert that God means here to point at another future enemy of whom they did not know and that military preparations should have continued to face such enemy. This enemy was prepared and financed by the cunning ways of Qorayish tribe whose cunning and plotting would have eliminated mountains.    

2- The cunning of Qorayish began with making a pact with the Jewish tribes that used to live near Yathreb. Jews of the 7^th century Arabia were so keen on forming such an alliance that they told the Meccan polytheists that Qorayish tribesmen were on the right side while Muhammad and the early Muslims were on the wrong side: "Have you not considered those who were given a share of the Book? They believe in superstition and evil powers, and say of those who disbelieve, "These are better guided on the way than the believers." Those are they whom God has cursed. Whomever God curses, you will find no savior for him." (4:51-52). After the defeat of the Jewish troops and their fleeing from their residence around Yathreb, Qorayish needed other stronger yet more naïve allies to be controlled easily, unlike the Jews of Arabia who fled, to use them against Muhammad in Yathreb in an indirect manner. If such war by proxy achieved any measure of success, this would have been a better step toward the achievement of the ambitions of Qorayish, and if such allies were defeated, the Qorayish tribe would have been saved the disgrace of another defeat. Such available allies were the Bedouins, manipulated by Qorayish within certain conditions; Yathreb was an open city-state that received any peaceful immigrants who claim conversion to Islam. That is why within the last years of Muhammad's lifetime, the Quran mentions several times the existence of hypocrites and spying agents of war among the Bedouins. There were no reasons die these Bedouins to engage in wars waged against the Yathreb dwellers after several defeats of the Jews and the confederates, making dwellers of Yathreb reach the zenith of strength and power. Yet, some, and not all, Bedouins were urged to wage such wars by Qorayish and its cunning and plotting when its tribesmen made pacts with such Bedouins. Hence, some Bedouins were hypocrites and some were aggressors who harmed Yathreb dwellers openly, and both types of Bedouins coordinated with one another in their plotting, as we discern from the Quran.     

3- Immigration to Yathreb was a strong point that added number and power to believers in the city-state of Islam. Yet, it was a weak point as well; spies and agents used to infiltrate so easily inside Yathreb coming from Mecca and elsewhere and from Arabian Bedouins, urged and bribed by Qorayish and other Meccan enemies.  Hence, the number of hypocrites inside Yathreb increased as well, and instead of enemy troops attacking the city-state from outside, hypocritical Bedouins who entered it after feigning conversion to Islam attacked Muslims inside Yathreb, and some Bedouins made pacts and treaties with Yathreb to be violated and breached later on, while forming alliances with some Yathreb dwellers to recruit them as supporters, followers, and spies.

4- The Meccan members of the elite, especially among the Qorayish tribe, were clever tradesmen whose connections with customers everywhere was so strong that tradesmen inside Yathreb could never risk losing their relations with Mecca and Qorayish, even if this meant to form allegiance with Meccan agents and spies. It is noteworthy that within such a context, some verses of the Quranic Chapter 9 warn against forming such alliances and pacts with polytheists because of interests of trade, and we conclude then that the atmosphere of freedom in Yathreb was not only confined to cult, creed, and political expression, but also in trade, and such conditions led to the existence of a fifth column working against Muhammad. "O you who believe! Do not ally yourselves with your parents and your siblings if they prefer disbelief to belief. Whoever of you allies himself with them-these are the wrongdoers. Say, "If your parents, and your children, and your siblings, and your spouses, and your relatives, and the wealth you have acquired, and a business you worry about, and homes you love, are more dear to you than God, and His Messenger, and the struggle in His cause, then wait until God executes His judgment." God does not guide the sinful people." (9:23-24). This is the reference of the influence of trade and economy in creating agents and spies inside Yathreb city-state of Islam.    

5- God describes in the Quran the plotting conniving Bedouins who learned the cunning ways of Qorayish: "And among the Desert-Arabs are those who consider their contribution to be a fine. And they wait for a reversal of your fortunes. Upon them will fall the cycle of misfortune…" (9:98). Hence, these hypocrites among the Bedouins waited in anticipation to find any weak points among the Yathreb dwellers by spying on them to know all about the fortifications of the city and weak points that might be attacked and assaulted easily and to contact with other spies and agents among the hypocrites among Yathreb dwellers, so that such valuable information would be conveyed to other Bedouins outside Yathreb to prepare for their attacks and raids.

6- Those hypocritical Bedouins were coarse and uncouth people; yet, they learned from Qorayish how to be flattering hypocrites in order to make friendships inside Yathreb. Such Bedouins waited for any misfortunes to befall Muslims inside Yathreb; yet, some believers wanted to guide such deceived Bedouins to adhere to Islam faithfully to attain salvation, while justifying their manners. When the issue of how to deal with such hypocrites was raised as they breached pacts and changed their stances several times, Muslims were divided in opinion, and God has rebuked them for such division: "What is the matter with you, divided into two factions regarding the hypocrites, when God Himself has overwhelmed them on account of what they did? Do you want to guide those whom God has led astray? Whomever God leads astray-you will never find for him a way." (4:88). God has prohibited making friends with them unless they immigrate to and dwell in Yathreb; see 4:89-91. This means that if such desert Bedouins were really sincere and peaceful, they were to immigrate to Yathreb to become among its dwellers while enjoying complete religious freedom and political opposition as the case with hypocrites among Yathreb dwellers, as long as they adhere to peace and non-violence. Yet, if such Bedouins chose to stay outside Yathreb, they were to stick to peace and stop their aggression; otherwise, the Yathreb believers must fight them ack. This was a chronic problem created by the cunning Qorayish tribesmen to early Muslims in Yathreb.   

7- The cunning of Qorayish did not stop at this point; fighting groups of Bedouins emerged around the city borders, as we read in the Quranic Chapter 9, when God has ordered Muhammad and the believers to engage into self-defensive fighting against those who sieged Yathreb, waiting to attack it in the right moment, making use of information provided by agents and spies among Yathreb hypocrites who feigned conversion to Islam: "O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who surround you to attack you, and let them find severity in you, and know that God is with the righteous." (9:123). This verse ends in mentioning piety and righteousness to assert the fact that fighting in Islam is for the purpose of self-defense ONLY and exclusively, as God dislikes aggressors. Once some people rejected Islam after Muhammad's death, those hypocritical Bedouins were among the first people to attack Yathreb.

8- Let us re-read verses of the Quranic Chapter 9 about Bedouins, among the verses revealed to Muhammad shortly before his death:  "Among the Desert-Arabs around you there are some hypocrites…" (9:101), "The Desert-Arabs are the most steeped in disbelief and hypocrisy, and the most likely to ignore the limits that God revealed to His Messenger. God is Knowing and Wise. And among the Desert-Arabs are those who consider their contribution to be a fine. And they wait for a reversal of your fortunes. Upon them will fall the cycle of misfortune. God is Hearing and Knowing." (9:97-98), and "O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who surround you to attack you, and let them find severity in you, and know that God is with the righteous." (9:123). This means that there were disbelieving hypocrites living around Yathreb and its borders, waiting for a chance to attack believers, and they should be fought fiercely. All such conditions were the making of Qorayish with its cunning ways and plots that would have eliminated mountains, at the time when the Quran was being revealed.

9- Hence, we conclude that once Muhammad died, and the divine revelation stopped, the cunning of Qorayish increased exponentially; most Bedouins revolted simultaneously against the nascent Islamic city-state and attacked it militarily, not in a secular manner, but in a quasi-religious war led by someone who feigned being a prophet. It was funny and ironic that one of the Bedouins feigned to be a prophet; fighting among desert Arabs used to be for venal gains and interests and NOT for religious reasons. At the time, once Muhammad died, wars waged began to take up a quasi-religious veneer to be manipulated for ecclesiastical and trade reasons and interests, all fashioned by the cunning ways and plots of Qorayish. Such epidemic spread like fire; several men and women claimed to be prophets and prophetesses, as we read in history of Arabia, and we believe that this was under the control and orders of Qorayish and its cunning plotting ways.  

10- The one-million question is raised: why did the Qorayish rich retinue of tradesmen, who feigned conversion to Islam, resort to inciting others to wage war against early Muslims and to reject Islam, while never appearing in the picture? The agents and leaders of such wars were Muslims against rejecters of the new faith, why? The reason was that Qorayish plotted to return to its leading position to remain in the center of the scene/arena, as it used to be before Islam. More details are to be found in the next chapter, please read on.