Religious Beliefs

The aspect of Arab society that predominantly changed by the advent of Islam was the religious beliefs of that society. As a matter of fact, Islam was a religious movement. Political changes and the rise of statehood were secondary gains due to it.

Two basic beliefs of Islam (shahada)

Prophet Muhammad put forward two interwoven beliefs; the denial of one was an automatic denial of the other. ¹  Both were imbibed into the formula which every Muslim had to chant at the time of conversion and which has been preserved by Waqidi: ‘I witness that there is no Allah but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger’. ²  The earliest instance of the use of this formula comes from the story of the conversion of Umar bin Khattab when he chanted, “I testify that there is no Allah but Allah and that Muḥammad is His servant and Messenger”. ³  Interestingly, proclaiming this formula called ‘shahada’ (shahādah شَهادة) publicly was such a basic foundation of faith that once Prophet Muhammad himself was made to chant it publicly. It happened when the deputation of Thaqif came to Medina after the war of Hunayn for conversion.  They were accommodated in Medina for negotiations. The Prophet used to prescribe them the tenants of Islam.  They doubted that the Prophet asks them to testify that he is the messenger of Allah but he himself does not testify it.  When the words reached the Prophet, he said indeed he was the first to testify to it.  Then he stood up and testified loudly that he is the Messenger of Allah. ⁴

Just mentioning shahada was enough to be a Muslim. Usama bin Zayd killed a man who spoke the shahada just when he was overtaken and was about to be killed during the raid on Banu Murra. The Prophet rebuffed Usama.  Usama argued that the man proclaimed shahada out of fear of death. The Prophet again asked him ‘who will absolve you, Usama, from ignoring the confession of faith?’ Finally, Usama had to apologise for his actions. ⁵  We come across numerous contracts between a tribe and the Prophet at the time of conversion. Each contract was unique and the Prophet was willing to accept any tribe in the Muslim community that met even minimum conditions of Islam but witnessed shahada. ⁶

Five worships (pillars of Islam)

Worship is an essential part of any religion.  Muslims had five types of obligatory worship (‘ibādah عِبادَة) during the Prophetic times. These were ritual prayer, fasting, payment of zakat to the Islamic state, pilgrimage to the Ka’ba and fighting for the sake of religion. (ṣalāt, ṣoum, zakāt, hajj and jihād صَلاة ,صَوم ,زَكوٌة ,حَجّ ,جِهاد).  All of them developed gradually.  It is evident from a tradition of Ma’mar that the Muslims had to obey the later commands leaving behind the earlier matters. ⁷

Salat

First worship was salat (ṣalāt ritual prayer), which is generally translated as prayer in English. Prophet Muhammad is shown to pray salat from the very beginning of his prophetic mission when he and his wife Khadija were the only Muslims. ⁸  We cannot know from early Islamic sources when it became obligatory. Ma’mar reports that it was still not obligatory by the time of the second revelation. ⁹  Its form has gradually evolved. It is evident from a tradition of A’isha recorded by Ibn Ishaq, that in the beginning there were only two prostrations (sajdah) in the salat which were later increased to four. ¹⁰

Waqidi documents that during the war of Khandaq, Muslims used to offer five salats a day. They were named Subh (Ṣubḥ صُبح), Zuhr (Ẓuhr ظٌهر), Asr (‘Aṣr عَصر), Maghrib (Maghrib مَعرِب) and Isha (‘Ishā’ عِشاء). ¹¹  Ṣubḥ prayer was called Fajr (Fajr فَجر) too. ¹² Ibn Ishaq preserves their exact timings that were at daybreak, at noon when the sun declines, in the afternoon when the sun is descending, when night approaches not delaying it until the stars appear in the sky and at the beginning of the night. ¹³

Waqidi discloses what was recited in the salat a bit here and a bit there in his Maghāzi.   By putting these pieces together, one gets a fair picture of what was salat like during the Prophetic times.  Iqāma was recited in response to āzān. ¹⁴  The basic unit of salat was one bow, two prostrations and greetings (salāms). ¹⁵  Salat ended with greetings. ¹⁶  A portion of the Qur’an was recited in each bowing of salat. ¹⁷  Shahādah was said during the last sitting of the prayer.  Even the prophet himself said it. ¹⁸  The prophet used to pray du’ā with hands outstretched. ¹⁹  In his letter to Amr bin Ḥazm, whom he had appointed over Najranis to teach Islam, the Prophet instructs the Muslims to do ablutions, their faces, and their hands to the elbows and their feet to the ankles, and wipe their heads. ²⁰

In addition to the five salats that were offered daily, there were special salats for particular occasions.  Muslims offered salat when they were overwhelmed with fear of the enemy. ²¹  The Prophet used to offer two bowings before leaving for a journey and after returning from it. ²²  Another special salat that was offered regularly was the Friday prayer (Jum’ah جُمعَه). As’ad bin Zurara is credited with starting of Friday salat at Yathrib, just after the first pledge of Aqabah. ²³  Maṣ’ab bin ‘Umayr used to lead the Jum’ah salat. ²⁴ Once the Prophet complained that ‘some people rarely attended Jum’ah salat.’²⁵  As this complaint came during the campaign of Tabuk, this was the state of affairs when the Prophet was almost finishing his mission. The Prophet used to attach special significance to the day of Friday and in addition to the extra prayer, he used to preach each Friday. ²⁶ The Prophet is reported to have prayed Tahajjat, the late-night salat, while Tabuk and others did not join him. ²⁷  Khubayb bin Adi (Khubayb bin ‘Adi خُبَيب بِن عَدى) offered two bowings of salat before being executed by the Quraysh after Raji.  This is the first incidence of praying in this situation. ²⁸  Later on, it became a regular ritual for the Muslims to pray two bowings before being prosecuted.

Ṣalat was routinely offered in mosques (masjid) but it could be offered anywhere.  The Prophet was proud of this fact.  He said ‘those who were before you were not permitted to pray except in churches and synagogues.  To me, the clean earth is permitted whenever prayer time catches up with me’. ²⁹  The earliest Muslim mosques were open to people of all faiths including polytheists. Christians of Najran came to Medina before the battle of Badr for a theological debate with the Prophet.  On that occasion, they prayed inside the mosque of the Prophet in their own way, facing east. They were allowed to do so. ³⁰  When a deputation of Thaqif polytheists came to Medina, they entered the mosque of the Prophet and greeted in a polytheist way ‘have a good morning’.  Muslims present there objected to how polytheists could enter the mosque. The Prophet said ‘indeed, nothing pollutes the earth’. ³¹

A prayer call (āzān) started a few months after Immigration, before battling of Badr.  Ibn Ishaq records the full wording of the prayer call: say thrice “Allah Akbar.  I bear witness that there is no Allah but Allah.  I bear witness that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Come to prayer.  Come to prayer.  Come to divine service (falah).” ³²  Bilal bin Rabah al-Habshi (Bilāl bin Rabah al-Ḥabshiالحَبشِى  بِلال بِن رِباح) was chosen to be muaʾzzin only because he had a penetrating voice. ³³  In the same tradition, Ibn Ishaq mentions that the call was given from a tall house around the mosque, confirming that the mosque was functioning by that time without minarets.  Another point of note is that by that time azan was called only once at the dawn of the day. ³⁴

Soum

Ibn Ishaq notes that while addressing Negus Ja’far bin Abu Talib told that the Prophet had ordered them to fast (ṣoum). ³⁵  If true, Muslims were already fasting during a Meccan time when they had to immigrate to Ethiopia. Later on, Ibn Ishaq tells on his own that fasting had become compulsory somewhere between the Immigration and Badr. ³⁶  Prophet Muhammad fasted for a day or two on the way to Badr, though he permitted those on the journey not to fast. ³⁷ Muslims being required not to fast when on a journey is also evident from the tradition of Ma’mar that the Muslims did not fast after passing a certain distance from Medina during the expedition of Fatḥ Mecca. ³⁸  Muslims used to not eat anything between sunrise and sunset when fasting. ³⁹

Zakat

Zakāt became compulsory for the Muslims somewhere between the Immigration and the battle of Badr according to Ibn Ishaq’s knowledge. ⁴⁰  Ibn Ishaq gives a glimpse of the rate of zakat during Prophetic times.  There was 10% of the crop from a field that received water from a stream or from rain.  The rate of zakat was 5% of the crop from a field which received water from a well. Two sheep had to be given for every ten camels, and for every twenty camels were four sheep.  It was one cow for every forty cows (2.5%), a bull or a cow calf for every thirty cows, and one sheep for every forty grass-fed sheep (2.5%). ⁴¹  Ibn Ishaq and early Islamic sources do not explicitly mention who collected zakat in Medina and what was the mechanism of collection. One can assume that people brought it to Prophet Muhammad (state).

Hajj

Pilgrimage to the Ka’ba (ḥajj) remained a cornerstone of Muslim worship.  The Prophet made an intention of performing umrah as soon as circumstances became favourable.  The Prophet took bath inside his house and wrapped two garments around him in Medina for the umrah which ended up in the Peace Treaty of Hudaibiyah.⁴²  He recited four times ‘here I come to you, O Lord! There is no partner to You.  Here I come my Lord! Praise and goodness and possession is Yours.  You have no partners’.⁴³  Ibn Ishaq is brief in describing actual rites that Prophet Muhammad performed during the Pilgrimage of Farewell but reading his pages gives one an idea that the Prophet had brought animals of sacrifice with him when he entered into the haram of Mecca in pilgrim’s garments.  He circumambulated around Ka’ba and then sacrificed the animals.  Later he went for throwing pebbles.  The last he made a speech at Arafat. ⁴⁴

Jihad

People have been known to die happily for a cause they perceive ‘great’ since the beginning of human civilization.  Even pre-Islamic Arabs did not mind dying for tribal dignity.  But the Prophet declared fighting for the sake of Allah a kind of worship called jihad (jihād) and dying in the jihad a virtue. Ibn Ishaq has documented the odes composed by the Muslim participants in first ever raids.  In those odes they describe the campaigns as religious war and not raids for worldly material gain. ⁴⁵  The prophet always announced paradise (Jannah جَنَّة) for anybody who died fighting loyally.  He announced presence of two hur (Ḥūr حُور) wives at the head of a martyr during the campaign of Khaybar. ⁴⁶

The Qur’an and the Sunnah

Reciting Qur’an had been a pious deed from the very beginning of Islam. It is evident from the story of conversion of Umar where his sister was reciting Qur’an in Mecca. ⁴⁷ As the volume of Qur’an increased, its memorization became pious deed too. While distributing the flags during the campaign of Tabuk, the Prophet established precedent of a ḥāfiz of Qur’an over others to carry the war flag.⁴⁸

The only sources of religious tenants during the Prophetic times were the Qur’an and the Sunnah (sunnah سُنَّة) of the Prophet.  According to Waqidi, the Prophet said on the way to Hudaibiyah,‘O people, indeed I exist for you as a reward, I leave with you, in your hands, what will not lead you astray, the book of Allah and its practices.’ Here Waqidi adds that there is another version of this tradition in which some people say that he said ‘I have left with you the Book of Allah and the practices of His Prophet.’ ⁴⁹  Sunnah of Prophet as a religious duty to be adhered to is mentioned by Ibn Ishaq for the first time during the raid of Khalid bin Walid to Najran in 631 CE, when he taught it to Banu Harith bin Ka’b (Ḥārith bin Ka’b حارِث بِن كَعَب) who accepted Islam there. ⁵⁰

Eating Taboos

Taboos about eating are present in almost all cultures and religions.  Most of the taboos are related to eating meat. Some kind of eating taboos might have been present in pre-Islamic Arabs but we are not sure about their presence or absence. Neither have we known what kind of taboos they were, if present. Muslims definitely had eating taboos during the Prophetic times. During Amr bin As’s campaign against Udhra, Abu Bakr and Umar ate camel meat.  They tried to regurgitate when they came to know they had eaten a camel of unknown source. ⁵¹ But it is difficult to determine with certainty by using early Islamic sources what were Muslims allowed to eat and what not. The most common scenario we come across studying early Islamic sources is that when Muslims ate something unusual they asked the Prophet after eating it, if they did the correct thing.  This was particularly true during the campaigns where wild animals were part of diet in addition to the ration which they took with them.  Once, Muslims ate a dead whale found on the coast, during one campaign in early years of Medinan life. They asked the Prophet later on about validity of eating. The Prophet allowed it. ⁵² During the campaign of Khaybar people captured donkeys of the Jews and roasted them to eat. The Prophet prohibited eating domesticated donkey and all other animals that possess a sharp tooth or claw. ⁵³ Horses were allowed to be eaten on the occasion of Khaybar. ⁵⁴  On another occasion during the campaign of Khaybar it is said that the Prophet forbade eating domesticated donkey, horse or mule.  He also forbade eating all animals that possess teeth of a beast of pray, and claws of the birds. ⁵⁵ As this tradition of Waqidi is credited to Khalid bin Walid who is shown to be present at Khaybar and Waqidi confirms at other place that he did not convert except just before Fatḥ Mecca, it is unlikely to be a valid story. Muslims ate lizards and donkey on the way to Hudaibiyah and the Prophet did not prohibit them. ⁵⁶ Sheep and camel were a part of their routine diet, in any case. ⁵⁷  Some men of Qays clan of Bajila were suffering from an epidemic in which their spleens got enlarged. The prophet told them to drink camel’s milk and urine to cure them. ⁵⁸  These anecdotes establish that early Muslims had taboos of eating and establish to some extent what were they allowed to eat but do not establish it beyond doubt.

One thing is definite: they were not allowed to eat pork. During address of Fatḥ Mecca, the Prophet categorically disallowed eating pork. ⁵⁹  Early Islamic sources do not give any reason for this prohibition. Ibn Ishaq writes that the Prophet blamed the Christians that they cannot be Muslims since they eat pork. ⁶⁰ Prohibiting pork could be to distinguish themselves from the Christians. It is noteworthy that pork eating is not mentioned even in pre-Islamic Arabian sources. Sozomenos, who was active in 5^th century CE, testifies that pre-Islamic Arabs avoided eating pork. ⁶¹  Modern research has shown that pig consumption was on a decline in the Middle East even before Islam and chicken use was on rise instead. ⁶²

Miscellaneous beliefs

Muslims continued to believe in many prophets like their pre-Islamic Arab predecessors.  They particularly believed in Moses and Jesus. A change in this area was that they considered Muhammad to be the last prophet.  Prophet, while talking to Ali on the way to Tabuk said, ‘there is no prophet after me’. ⁶³

Pagan ideas of angels, jinn and demons found their place in Islam.  Watt believes that they were deep-rooted and were not in direct contradiction with Allah’s oneness. ⁶⁴    The Prophet is attributed to say ‘indeed, in Medina are Jinn who have converted. When you see among them something, grant it three days, and if it appears to you after that, kill it, for surely it is Satan’. It was in relation to a youth who killed a snake in his home and the youth died instantly. ⁶⁵ The Prophet meant that the snake was actually a jinn and that the youth should have waited for at least three days before killing him, making sure that he was not a jinn but Satan. On another occasion, during the march to Tabuk, the Prophet told people about a snake that it was actually a jinn. ⁶⁶

Respect for the dead continued. The prophet used to visit the graves of martyrs of Uhud yearly and prayed over them. Abu Bark, Umar, Uthman and Mu’awiya continued this tradition.⁶⁷, ⁶⁸ Actually, the Prophet prayed for all the dead buried in Baqi’ just before his terminal sickness. ⁶⁹

Sa’d bin Mu’adh said at his death bed that he had satisfied himself with Banu Qurayzah for their enmity to Allah, His prophet and His awliya. ⁷⁰ Now, whom Sa’d is referring to as ‘His awliya’ is not clear.  Probably the root of the word is wali (protector). Qur’an announces Allah as true wali of the believers. ⁷¹

Ibn Ishaq talks about the punishment of the grave. ⁷²  It was also a new concept which is not heard of among pagan Arabs.

End notes

1. Margoliouth, D. S. Muhammad and the rise of Islam New York: knickerbocker press,1905) 81.
2. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 272.
3. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony,  (New York: New York University Press, 2015),  14.
4. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 473.
5. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 667.
6. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina (London: Oxford University Press, 1956),
7. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, Trans. Sean W. Anthony, (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 59.
8. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 112.
9. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions. Ed. Joseph E. Lowry, Trans. Sean W. Anthony.  (New York: New York University Press, 2015). 12.
10. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 112.
11. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 231.
12. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 497.
13. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 647.
14. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 231.
15. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 194.
16. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 48.
17. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 313.
18. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 286.
19. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 239.
20. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 647.
21. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 286.
22. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions. Ed. Joseph E. Lowry, Trans. Sean W. Anthony.  (New York: New York University Press, 2015). 82.
23. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 198.
24. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 199.
25. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 498.
26. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony, (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 91.
27. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 500.
28. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony, (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 40.
29. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 209.
30. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 271.
31. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 472.
32. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 236.
33. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 236.
34. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 236.
35. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 152.
36. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 236.
37. Tabari 128 I.  See also:  Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 203.
38. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony,  (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 59.
39. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 478.
40. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 236.
41. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 647.
42. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 281.
43. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 282.
44. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 649 – 650.
45. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 281 – 285.
46. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 319.
47. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 155 – 158.
48. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 491.
49. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 284.
50. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 645.
51. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 669.
52. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 633.
53. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 325.
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58. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 677.
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60. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 272.
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64. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 313.
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66. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 497.
67. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 151.
68. Here Waqidi does not mention Ali.  Probably Ali did not have any theoretical objection to this practice, he did not get a chance to visit Medina throughout his tenure as caliph.  Worth noting is that Mu’awiya prayed on the graves while his father was instrumental in the deaths of those people.
69. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 678.
70. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī.  Ed. Rizwi Faizer, Trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 258.
71. Q 2:257.  See also comments of Chabbi who interprets that Allah promises to be a true guardian of the tribes rather than their own halifs.  (Jacqueline Chabbi, in the origins of Islam in Roads of Arabia ed. ‘Ali ibn Ibr ā h ī m Ghabb ā n, Beatrice Andre-Salvini Francoise Demange, Carine Juvin and Marianne Cotty (Paris: Louvre, 2010) 105.).
72. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 624.