The Life of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq

Appendix 3. The Top 20 Military Tactics of the Prophet Muhammad

The genius of the Prophet Muhammad 

 From the nine chapters of extracts from Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah (Life of Muhammad) on this website, we can follow the progress, chapter by chapter, of Prophet Muhammad’s genius, cunning and charisma as a military leader. 

   Many books and many treatises posted online have been written by Muslims and non-Muslims alike about the military tactics of the Prophet Muhammad as a great guerrilla leader. Here follows a list of the top twenty strategies that the Prophet used in his lifetime, as described by Ibn Ishaq. 

Tactic 1. Give your warriors a promise of Paradise to come

Although not a soldier or warrior himself, the Prophet Muhammad’s genius lay in his own charismatic personality, and his ability to persuade his devout but ignorant followers that to die as martyrs fighting in the cause of Allah, and in defence of the Prophet, would guarantee their instant entry to a Paradise of eternal bliss. 

   This Paradise was where ‘Allah’s true servants shall feast on fruits in the Gardens of Delight, reclining face to face upon soft couches, drinking from a goblet fine wine that neither dulls their senses nor befuddles them, and attended by bashful, dark-eyed virgins as chaste as sheltered eggs of ostriches (Quran 37).’ 

   What more potent motivation could there be for the Prophet’s devout followers, primitive 7th century tribesmen and inhabitants of the desert wastes of North Arabia?

   Ibn Ishaq describes the death of one of the first martyrs at Badr, Ubayda b. Harith: ‘Ubayda’s leg had been cut off and his life was ebbing away. On being brought to the apostle, he asked, I am a shahid [martyr], am I not, O apostle of God?’ And as he died, he recited poetry saying, ‘I hope for a life close to Allah in the highest heaven, with houris fashioned like the most beautiful statues.’ (See Chapter 4)   

Tactic 2. Exploit all available resources to create a power-base 

On the death of his two most powerful protectors in Mecca, his wife Khadijah, and his uncle Abu Talib, and without any way of earning a living, the Prophet’s first step was ‘to offer himself to the Arab tribes, summoning them to Allah, to believe in His apostle and to give him protection and support’ against his own people.   

   Even when rejected at al-Taif by the leaders of the Thafiq, Muhammad continued to preach at the fairs, until eventually [in 620CE] he gained the adherence of the battle-hardened and experienced warriors of the Aus and Khazraj from Yathrib [Medina] who pledged their allegiance to him at the Second Pledge of Aqaba, The Pledge of War, in 622CE, and thus became known as the Ansar [Helpers]. (See Chapter 2)

Tactic 3. Obtain control of a base from which to launch attacks upon the enemy 

As soon as the Pledge of War had been made, and Muhammad had gained religious authority over these primitive, ignorant and violent tribesmen, he ordered his Muslim companions to emigrate to Medina, where with the help and hospitality of the Ansar, he and his companions were able to construct a mosque, and firmly institute strict Islamic rites and rituals. (See Chapter 2)

Tactic 4. Unite your men into one indissoluble brotherhood of faith

Within his first year at Medina, the Prophet realised that it was important to draw up a treaty between the Ansar, his helpers in Medina, and the Emigrants, his companions who had emigrated with him from Mecca. 

  Hence, in 622CE/1AH the Prophet drew up a charter, known as the Charter of Medina, in which it was stated that the Muslims were to form one umma (community) to the exclusion of all other men, that Muslims were now friends to each other to the exclusion of all other men, and, most importantly, that Muslims should forever forsake all previous ties or loyalties with non-Muslims:

    ‘The Muslims of Quraysh and Yathrib, and those who followed them and joined them and laboured with them. They are one community (umma) to the exclusion of all men. Believers are friends one to the other to the exclusion of outsiders. A Believer shall not slay a Believer for the sake of an unbeliever, nor shall he aid an unbeliever against a Believer.’ (See Appendix 4: The Charter of Medina)

Tactic 5. Undermine and nullify the local opposition 

The Charter of Medina was also designed to supersede all other previous alliances and treaties that each side may have had with other tribes. Muhammad was particularly concerned about any alliances, treaties and friendships that the Aus and Khazraj already had with the Jews of Medina. He had realised early on that the Jews, the wealthiest and most educated people in Medina, would never accept him either as a messiah or as a prophet. 

   Muhammad also realised that as soon as he and his violent new followers began to make attacks and raids on the Quraysh, there would be reprisals against Medina, and that he would not get the necessary support either from the Jews, or from those so-called ‘hypocrites’ in Medina, including their leader Abdullah b. Ubayy, who, as Ibn Ishaq says, ‘had been forced to convert to Islam to save their lives.’ 

   Abdullah b. Ubayy was nullified after he was overheard complaining about the emigrants, saying, ‘They treat us as inferiors and outnumber us in our own land! It reminds me of the old saying: ‘Feed a dog and it will feed on you.’ By God, when we get back to Medina, the stronger will soon drive out the weaker!’ 

   Omar wanted Muhammad to have Abdullah beheaded immediately. Abdullah’s son even offered to kill his own father, but the Prophet let Abdullah live on, whilst cunningly undermining him at every turn until he was able to say to Omar, ‘You see, Omar, if I had had him killed the day you suggested, their leaders would have been furious. But if I commanded them to kill him today, they would surely do so.’ (See Chapter 7)

   So the Charter included clauses that would (a) force the Jews and suspected unbelievers to recognise Muhammad as virtual ruler of Mecca and (b) ensure that if they showed the least sign of hostility, they could quickly be punished as traitors. (See Chapter 3 and Appendix 4: The Charter of Medina) 

Tactic 6. Attack the enemy’s supply lines 

Throughout the year 623CE/2AH, the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, the emigrants, led a series of raids and attacks on the Quraysh’s sole source of wealth, their trading caravans. (See Chapter 3 and Appendix 5: The Prophet’s Raids and Battles))

   Such raids and attacks were to continue remorselessly both before and after the Battle of Badr, until the eventual signing of the Treaty of Hudaybiya in 628CE/6AH. 

Tactic 7. Create a network of alliances

Even when these raids failed, the Prophet took advantage of any opportunity to sign useful peace treaties with the leaders of neighbouring Arab tribes in the area, thereby building up a network of alliances for the future. (See Chapter 3) 

Tactic 8. Keep attack plans secret

After the failure of the first seven raids in 623CE/2AH, the Prophet realised that the Quraysh were probably being tipped off about his attack plans. So for the eighth raid, to Nakhla, he sent his trusted cousin, Abdullah b. Jahsh, with a letter of instructions to be opened only after two days journeying. 

   After this, the Prophet never again revealed the purpose or destination of a raid beforehand even to his most trusted companions. The only exception was the attack on Tabuk in 630CE/9AH, due to the particular reasons listed by Ibn Ishaq. (See Chapter 8)

Tactic 9. Confound your own men and your enemies with revelations from Allah

When the eight Muslims under Abdullah b. Jahsh attacked and killed Amr b. al-Hadrami in the sacred month of Rajab, and brought back the spoils to Medina, the Prophet distanced himself from them, and refused to touch the spoils, thus absolving himself personally of any responsibility for their irreligious act. 

   He then deliberately waited several days until he had put the fear of God into his followers to such an extent that they and their enemies thought that they were ‘doomed.’

Then he had a sudden ‘revelation from Allah’. 

   As Ibn Ishaq says, ‘God then turned the omen against his enemies, saying ‘Waging war in a holy month is a grave offence, but turning people from the way of Allah, disbelieving in Him and in the Holy Mosque and expelling His people from it, is more grievous in His eyes. Oppression is worse than killing (Quran 2.217).’ 

   This Quranic pronouncement is one of the most important announcements ever made in the history of humankind. From this moment on, right up to the present day, Muslims have been able to use this revelation as a justification for killing anyone of any other religion who they perceive, rightly or wrongly, to be ‘oppressing’ them in any way. (See Chapter 3) 

Tactic 10. Incentivise and reward your men with spoils of war

As soon as this revelation came down from Allah, Abdullah b. Jahsh and his men were rewarded with the spoils, with one Fifth going to the Prophet. 

   A few months later, with a wealthy new caravan to attack, it was not surprising that the Prophet was able to muster over 300 men this time, including men of the Ansar (the Aus and the Khazraj), by saying, ‘Perhaps Allah will grant it to us as prey!’ (See Chapter 4)

   The spoils of war were to become such a great motivational force for all future battles fought by Muslims that there is a sura [chapter] of the Quran devoted to the subject, Sura 8: The Spoils.

   Captive women in particular were prize spoils of war. After the Prophet had had his pick, women were freely distributed among the Muslims as household slaves or concubines and those not wanted could be sold off at slave markets. After the massacre of the Beni Qurayza, the Prophet ‘divided the property, wives and children among the Muslims.’ He then sent some of the captive women to Najd, where ‘they were sold in exchange for horses and weapons.’ (See Chapter 6)

   In the case of the defeated and fleeing Beni al-Mustaliq, Muhammad had already taken ‘their wives, children and property as booty’, and had already ‘distributed them amongst his men’ when he decided to ransom the beautiful Juwayriya and marry her himself.  The Beni al-Mustaliq thus became relatives of the apostle by marriage, so the Muslim men had to release their prisoners. ‘Over a hundred captive families’ were thus spared slavery and concubinage, and the tribe later submitted to Islam. (See Chapter 7)

   Similarly, after the Battle of Hunayn, the Muslims were holding no less than 6000 captive women and children. The men of the Hawazin came before Muhammad to say that they had converted to Islam, imploring him for mercy because among the captives were ‘the apostle’s paternal and maternal aunts and his foster-mother.’ Muhammad then had them choose between their 6000 women and children, or their property, ‘and they all chose to have their families returned to them.’ 

   Some of the Prophet’s newly-converted allies, however, refused to give up their captive women and children until they were bribed into doing so with the promise of ‘six camels apiece from the next booty to be taken.’ (See Chapter 8)

   Ibn Ishaq says that Muhammad had already given his three companions and sons-in law, Omar, Uthman and Ali, a concubine each, and Omar had re-gifted his concubine to his son Abdullah. Abdullah had sent the girl to his aunts to ‘get her ready for him until he had circled the Kabah and could come to them, wanting to take her when he returned’ when the news came that the prisoners were to be released. So Abdullah never got to enjoy the girl because the Prophet’s orders were that she had to be returned to the Hawazin intact. (See Guillaume transl, p 593)

Tactic 11. Accumulate and stockpile weapons of war

The Battle of Badr in 624CE/2AH was the first great opportunity for the Prophet to obtain weapons and armour for his men. On the suggestion of Sa’d b. Muadh, many of the wounded and fleeing Quraysh were killed instead of being ransomed. The headless bodies, even of the noblest chiefs, were stripped of armour and weapons and thrown ignominiously into the wells of Badr. 

   According to Ibn Ishaq, the Muslims then quarrelled about the spoils, so the Prophet ordered every man to turn in what they had taken and throw it into a heap. Only on the homeward journey did the Prophet himself divide the booty equally between the Muslims. 

   Ibn Ishaq says that on his return to Medina, the victorious Prophet ordered the Jewish tribe, the Beni Qaynuka to accept him as a prophet foretold in their scriptures, and when they refused, he treated them as having broken the terms of the Charter of Medina and  ‘besieged them until they surrendered unconditionally.’ (See Chapter 4)

   Chained up and shackled ready for execution, they were saved by their ally, Abdullah b. Ubayy, leader of the Khazraj, and the only man left in Medina at that time with the power and authority to defy Muhammad’s orders. The Beni Qaynuka were goldsmiths. Whilst Muhammad did allow them to take their women and children into exile with them, he seized all their possessions, and the Muslims found many fine weapons in the fortresses, along with the tools for making them. According to Al-Waqidi, the Prophet took one Fifth [khums] of the spoils, including bows, coats of mail, swords and spears, all of the finest workmanship. (See Chapter 4 and Appendix 2: The Swords of the Prophet)

   More weaponry was accumulated after every expulsion, massacre, battle and conquest until the Prophet attacked Tabuk in Syria in 630CE/9AH with no less than thirty thousand well-equipped and well-armed men. (See Chapter 8)

Tactic 12. Make a point of consulting your men before action 

There are three reasons for consulting your men before action: (1) to gauge the extent of your men’s commitment, (2) to pick their brains and use the benefit of their experience, and (3) to leave an avenue for deniability and blame. 

   So, before the Battle of Badr, in 624CE/2AH, the Prophet was careful to consult with the leaders of the Aus and Khazraj. He discovered that their commitment to him was total, with Sa’d b. Muadh saying that they would ‘dive with him into the sea’ if he ordered them to.

   It was one of the Ansar who came up with the tactic of blocking up all the wells of Badr apart from one for the Muslims to use, and to prevent the Quraysh from having access to drinking water. 

   It was Sa’d b. Muadh who also came up with the tactic of slaughtering the fleeing and wounded Quraysh instead of taking the usual captives for ransom. (See Chapter 4)

   Both these tactics broke all basic honourable conventions of tribal warfare of the time, but they were to prove invaluable to the Prophet in gaining victory, and exterminating the flower of the Quraysh nobility in the name of Allah, whilst blaming others for the atrocities.  

Tactic 13. Terrorize your opponents into submission

After his victory at the Battle of Badr in March 624CE/2AH, the Prophet went on a first Campaign of Terror: (1) Taunting the bodies of his fallen enemies whilst refusing them a decent burial. (2) Giving praise to Allah as the head of Abu Jahl was thrown at his feet. (3) Ordering the executions of prisoners al-Nadir b. al-Harith and Uqba b. Abu Muayt who had mocked his claim to prophethood in Mecca.(4) Leading more armed raids against local tribes. (5) Commanding the Jewish tribe, the Beni Qaynuka, to convert to Islam or die, and when they refused, exiling them and taking possession of their weapons. (6) Ordering the assassination of Jewish poet Ka’b b. al-Ashraf at Khaybar. (7) Ordering his followers to kill Jews in Medina. 

   This first Campaign of Terror was successful. As Ibn Ishaq says, ‘This attack on Ka’b cast terror amongst the Jews, and there was not a single Jew in Medina who did not fear for his life after that.’ (See Chapter 4)

   A second Campaign of Terror came after the Battle of Uhud in 625/3AH, which saw the Prophet: (1) Ordering the assassination of aged chieftain Abu Afak. ( 2) Ordering the killing of Asma b. Marwan. (3) Sending Ibn Unays to assassinate Khalid b. Sufyan. (4) Sending Amr b. Umayya to Mecca to kill Abu Sufyan b. Harb in Mecca. (5) Besieging and exiling the Jewish tribe, the Beni al-Nadir. (See Chapter 5)

   A third Campaign of Terror took place in 627CE/5-6AH after the Battle of the Trench, with: (1) The massacre of the Beni Qurayza. (2) The assassination of Jewish leader Sallam at Khaybar. (3) Attacks on the Beni Lihyan and the Ghatafan. (4) A surprise attack on the Beni al-Mustaliq. (5) A raid on the Beni Fazara and the hideous death of their female leader Umm Qirfa. (6) The killing of Yusayr b. Rizam, leader of Khaybar (7) The famous assault on Khaybar and the torture and killing of Jewish leader Kinana. (See Chapters 6 and 7)

Tactic 14. Find, or if necessary, invent pretexts for war

The elimination of the main tribes of Jews quickly became the Prophet’s top priority. Having forced them to sign the Charter of Medina, it was a relatively simple matter to find a pretext to accuse them of breaking one of its clauses. 

   Once the Beni Qaynuka had been exiled in 624CE/2AH, the next to be accused were the Beni al-Nadir. The Prophet claimed that he had personally overheard them planning to kill him. Like the Beni Qaynuka before them, the Beni al-Nadir took refuge in their fort. To no avail. Muhammad simply ordered their date palms to be felled and burnt, thus depriving them of their livelihood. The Beni al-Nadir were sent into exile in 625CE/4AH, on condition of leaving all their weapons and armour behind. (See Chapter 6)  

   The last remaining tribe of Jews in Medina, the Beni Qurayza were slaughtered in 627CE/5AH after being deceived and betrayed by Nuaym b. Masud of the Ghatafan during the Battle of the Trench. (See Chapter 6)

   After the treaty of Hudaybiya, Muhammad turned his attention to the conquest of the Jewish settlement of Khaybar and attacks on Christian Syria. To create a pretext for war, he sent out envoys to the leaders and rulers of neighbouring tribes and countries, summoning them to Islam and threatening them with dire consequences if they refused. He then ordered his men to ‘wage war on those People of the Book [Jews and Christians] who do not embrace the Religion of Truth until they pay the jizyah (tribute) by hand in abject submission.’ (Quran 9.29) 

     Thus, when the Jews of Khaybar did not reply to his summons, he had the pretext he needed for attack. The murder of one of his envoys to Syria became a pretext for an attack on Muta. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius’s failure to reply became the pretext he needed to attack Tabuk with an army of 30,000 fanatical warriors and force the local Christian tribes to pay him tribute. (See Chapters 7 and 8)  

Tactic 15. Build up an extensive intelligence operation

The Prophet’s uncle, al-Abbas, was captured at Badr. In stark contrast to some of the other prisoners, he was released from his fetters, well-treated, and released on paying a ransom. From then on, al-Abbas created a network of Muslim sympathisers and spies in almost every household in Mecca, and a network of allied tribal horsemen to convey messages to Medina. This meant that the Meccans were unable to plan any retaliatory action against Muhammad without his being informed of it well beforehand. 

   Thus Muhammad received early warning before the Battle of Uhud in 625CE/3AH (See Chapter 5), and before the Battle of the Trench in 627CE/5AH, when the warning from al-Abbas came so early that the Muslims had time to dig an enormous defensive ditch at Medina before the Quraysh and their allies arrived. (See Chapter 6)

   Muhammad built up such an extensive network of Muslim couriers and spies that he was very often able to astound visitors with news that he said had come ‘down to him from heaven.’ 

   Ibn Ishaq relates a story about how delegates from Badhan, ruler of the Yemen, sent to Muhammad on the orders of the Shahanshah of Persia, Khusrow II in 628CE/AH7, were confounded by the Prophet’s news that Khusrow had already been killed by one of his own sons. On receiving written confirmation of Khusrow’s death later, Badhan and the other Persians in the Yemen converted to Islam, convinced that Muhammad was indeed ‘an apostle.’ (Guillaume, pp 658-659) 

Tactic 16. Use lies, deceit and disinformation against the enemy

At the Battle of the Trench in 627CE/5AH, as the Quraysh and their Jewish, Christian and polytheist allies camped before Medina, Muhammad sent the two Sa’ds as spies to find out the thoughts of the Beni Qurayza, the only significant Jewish tribe left in Medina.

   When it was reported that, in their terror, they were thinking of siding with the allies, Muhammad said, ‘War is deceit’ and sent Nuaym b. Masud of the Ghatafan to deceive the Jews and the Quraysh and his own people into thinking that the other side was untrustworthy. 

   Then when the allies retreated, doubting the support of the Jews, the Prophet was able to justify carrying out an armed attack on the Jews by claiming that they had broken the Charter of Medina. (See Chapter 6 and Appendix 4: The Charter of Medina)

Tactic 17. Commit necessary atrocities whilst avoiding blame

In another clever piece of deceit, the Prophet managed to rid himself of the Beni Qurayza whilst making it appear that the decision was imposed upon him by oath. As Ibn Ishaq says, ‘The apostle besieged the Jews for twenty-five nights until they were sore pressed and Allah cast terror in their hearts.’ 

   Then when the Aus spoke up on behalf of their Jewish allies, ‘the apostle said ‘Will you be satisfied, O Aus, if one of your own number pronounces judgement on them? When they agreed, he said that Sa’d b. Muadh was the man.’   

   The Aus were evidently unaware that the Prophet had visited the dying Sa’d who was being cared for in the mosque. Muhammad had seen S’ad’s anger at the Beni Qurayza, and knew full well what Sa’d’s judgement would be. When Sa’d gave his devastating ‘judgement that the men should be killed and the women and children taken as captives,’ Muhammad could not restrain himself from shouting with joy, ‘O Sa’d, you have given the judgement of Allah from above the seven heavens!’ (See Chapter 6)

   This was a doubly successful strategy in that the Prophet obtained the massacre of the Jews that he wanted, but was not seen to have given the order himself, an argument used by Muslim apologists in his defence to the present day.  

Tactic 18. Use insulting and derogatory terms to demean and demoralise the enemy

From the very beginning of his ministry in Mecca, the Prophet consistently invented insulting epithets for anyone of any religion or nationality who opposed his teachings.  

      Thus Maslama, the Judeo/Christian prophet of the Beni Hanifa, many of whose beliefs Muhammad had been accused of adopting, was nicknamed Musaylima [Little Maslama]. Musaylima and his followers were killed by the Muslims at the Battle of al-Yamama barely six months after the apostle’s own death in 632CE/11AH.

   Amr b. Hisham was one of the leaders of the Quraysh, known as Abu al-Hakam [Father of Wisdom]. Because of his intelligence, he was an elite member of the Council at the age of only thirty, and became a formidable and educated opponent of the Prophet’s teachings. Muhammad cunningly labelled him Abu Jahl [Father of Ignorance], the derogatory name by which Ibn Hisham is still known [and cursed] throughout the Muslim world today

   Abdullah b. Ubayy, the charismatic leader of the Aus and Khazraj in Medina who had been forced to save his life by paying lip-service to Islam was always referred to by Muhammad as the leader of the munafiqun [hypocrites]. Verses of the Quran condemn all such hypocrites to Hellfire for concealing the unbelief in their hearts: ‘Allah will never forgive them. Believers are to regard them ‘as the enemy’ and be on their guard against them.’ (Quran 63)

   Unbelievers, whether Jews, Christians or polytheists, were consistently referred to by Muhammad, and in the Quran, as ‘the worst of creatures’, ‘the Fuel of Hell’, or ‘the Inhabitants of the Fire.’ Christians were accused of being idolators, who had ‘corrupted their own scriptures given to them by Allah.’ 

   The worst epithets used by Muhammad, and in the Quran, were reserved for Jews, who he called sub-human ‘apes and swine’ and ‘brothers of monkeys.’ In several hadith, the Prophet is reported as having referred to Jews as ‘rats’. He even claimed that ‘the Jews say that ‘Ezra is the Son of God just as the Christians say that Jesus is the Son of God. They are like the infidels of old. May Allah smite them.’ (Quran 9.30)

   A concerted campaign of extermination and genocide by the Muslims led to the final expulsion of all Jews from North Arabia during the Caliphate of Omar. 

   Ibn Ishaq says that the Prophet threatened the Jews of Medina, saying ‘Stand in awe of Me (Allah), lest I bring down on you what I brought down on your fathers before you – bestial transformation and the like.’ (Guillaume transl, p 250)

   Jews who broke the Sabbath were condemned by Allah thus: ‘Be ye apes despised and loathed! (Sura 2.65)(Sura 7.166)’ 

   Even today, Muslim children are taught to recite the Quran which tells them that Allah turned some Jews into ‘apes and swine (Quran 5. 60)’ and that Allah has eternally ‘cursed the Jews’ as ‘descendants of monkeys and pigs.’ 

Tactic 19. Use bribery to ensure loyalty 

After every successful raid and battle, the Prophet made sure that the spoils of war were heaped together and then distributed to the men according to Allah’s strict new rules. 

   But after the Conquest of Mecca in 630CE/8AH, when he had added 2000 recently-converted Qurayshi fighters to his army and defeated the Hawazin at the Battle of Hunayn, he broke these rules, much to the distress of his faithful followers, the Ansar.  

   As Ibn Ishaq says, ‘From the spoils the apostle gave gifts to the Meccan chiefs of the army, to whom he gave a hundred camels each, to win them over, and through them their people.’ (See Chapter 8)    

Tactic 20. Use the element of surprise to catch your enemy off-guard

It became a favourite strategy of the Prophet to make surprise attacks at dawn. In 628CE/7AH, determined to conquer Khaybar, he ordered his army to surround the city stealthily by night and then charge at daybreak. As Ibn Isahq says: ‘As he and his men rode towards the city shouting ‘Allah akbar!’ they met the labourers of Khaybar coming out in the morning with their shovels and baskets and they turned and fled.’ (See Chapter 7) 

   Again, when determined to conquer Mecca in 630CE/8AH, the Prophet ordered his 10,000-strong army to surround the city overnight, this time adding an element of terror by ordering the men to build thousands of campfires overnight to frighten the Meccans into submission. (See Chapter 8)

   Even on his deathbed, in 632CE/11AH, the Prophet Muhammad was telling Osama, son of Zayd, to take revenge for the death of his father at Muta, saying: ‘Go in the name of Allah to the place where your father was killed, and attack them with the horses. Attack the people of Ubna at dawn and destroy and burn! Hasten the march so as to take them by surprise.’ (See Chapter 9)

Thus did the Prophet Muhammad begin in 610CE with a few impoverished companions in Mecca and end with a fanatical force of well-armed Islamic believers who, after his death in 632CE, would spill out of Arabia and go on to conquer and pillage much of the known world, and threaten the very existence of Judaism and Christianity in the Middle East.