The Death of Muhammad

[PoliticalChic]

This day....June 8th, of 632 A.D.

Believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God, the founder of Islam, according to tradition, died on this day.
A few months after the farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with fever, head pain, and weakness.

"Muslims to this day revere Muhammad as the embodiment of the perfect believer and take his actions and sayings as a model of ideal conduct" PBS - Islam: Empire of Faith - Profiles - Muhammad




Some sources proved the following details relating to his death.

1. "Muhammad died in 632 A.D. He died as a result of being poisoned following his attack upon and conquest of the Jewish settlement of Khaibar.

2. About 2 month before his attack on Khaibar Muhammad failed in an attempt to go to Mecca. This failure resulted in the Treaty of Hudaybiyya with the Meccans. He returned humiliated in the eyes of the Meccans and in the minds of his people.... not able to deliver the Meccan's goods as booty, so Muhammad told his followers that they were going to attack and plunder the weaker Jewish settlement of Khaibar.

3. ... Muhammad led his army and attacked the Jews while they were on their way to work on their date palms.

4. ... the last few surrendered to him. Muhammad had several of the leaders of the Jewish settlement beheaded, one leader (Kinana) was tortured to reveal where buried treasure was hidden. Then when Kinana was near death, Muhammad commanded that he be beheaded. Many of the women and children were enslaved. Muhammad even took the most beautiful woman for himself and married her (Safiyah)."
The Death of Muhammad




5. "When Khaibar was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet as a gift (by the Jews)..... He asked, "Have you poisoned this sheep?" They said, "Yes." He asked, "What made you do so?" They said, "We wanted to know if you were a liar in which case we would get rid of you, and if you are a prophet then the poison would not harm you."
Bukhari's Hadith 4.394: This Hadith is considered to be the most important Islamic book, after the Quran.




6. A similar narrative from a second source, Ibn Sa'd biography, the "Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir" (Book of the Major Classes), Volume 2.
Ibn Sa'd's Sirat contains the most information relative to Muhammad's death.
"Verily a Jewish woman presented poisoned (meat of) a she goat to the apostle of Allah. He took a piece form it, put it into his mouth, chewed it and threw it away. Then he said to the Companions: "Halt! Verily, its leg tells me that it is poisoned." Then he sent for the Jewish woman and asked her; "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "I wanted to know if you are true; in that case Allah will surely inform you, and if you are a liar I shall relieve the people of you."
Ibn Sa'd page 249




7. "The beginning of his death-sickness and its cause:
The death-sickness of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was the result of a Jewish conspiracy. This happened because some Jews inKhaybar invited the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and some of his companions for a meal which they had poisoned. The Prophetsallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and his companions began to eat, then, suddenly, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:
"Everybody stop eating, because the food just spoke to me and told me that it was poisoned."
Recalling this whilst on his deathbed, the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: "I can still feel the effect of what I ate in Khaybar, therefore, the time for my death time has come."(Abu Daawood).
The Death of the Prophet



Not all the narratives explain Muhammad's death in this way.

 

[PoliticalChic]

8. Although the sources above are Muslim, it is uncharacteristic to find the above narrative, the death due to poisoning, in most Islamic histories. This is more often the recitation:

"The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, died in Medina on June 8th 632 AD from a high-fever. Muhammad fell ill, suffering from head pains and a high fever and eventually succumbed to this illness, dying in his wife, Aisha’s, arms."
How did the Prophet Muhammad Die?



9. Most often, we find this sort of account: "After the pilgrimage, he returned to Medina. Three months later on June 8, 632 he died there, after a brief illness."
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet . Life of Muhammad: HTML Timeline | PBS




10. . This is the orthodox belief, as "poisoning" would be considered a refutation of Muhammad as a true prophet....one who would have been warned by God of the poison.

"I want to stress on the fact that the hadith do not clearly indicate that the Prophet did die from poison. The Prophet was aging and was getting sick and the Prophet just simply said that he still tastes the poison in his mouth. That does not necessarily imply that the poison killed him. Personally, I do not think that the Prophet died from the poison."
Does the Prophet’s Death from Poison Disprove His Prophethood Or Was It An Honorable Death For Our Beloved Prophet?




As with any religion, a believer will believe what he believes.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Here, a middle ground, accepting that poison caused Muhammad's death, but finding it no rebuttal of his prophethood.


"The prophet of Islam died from an illness aggravated by poison. After his conquest of the predominantly Jewish city of Khaybar (or Khaibar) in AD 628, a Jewish woman offered him mutton (sheep) that she had poisoned. Another report says a group of Jews had poisoned it.

The most reliable hadith collector and editor is Bukhari (d. 870). This one indicates that the poison caused Muhammad some pain four years later at his death in AD 632.

.... Jews wanted to see if the poison would affect him, and it did. So why could he not heal himself by the power of Allah? The Quran teaches that Muhammad could work no miracles...

However, we should not take this "prophet test" as the only explanation of the Jews’ motive. The hadith seems also to hint at revenge in the words "we would get rid of you." Why revenge? Before Muhammad immigrated to Medina in AD 622, Jews thrived there. But Muhammad expels two tribes of Jews: the Qaynuqa (AD 624) and the Nadir (AD 625). He massacres the Jewish men and pubescent boys and enslaved the women and children of the Qurayza tribe (AD 627). Muhammad the newcomer to Medina had caused the Jews a lot of needless tragedy and grief."
The death of Jesus and the death of Muhammad

 

[PoliticalChic]

The following is an analysis by anti-Muslim David Wood, explaining the death of Muhammad, and the implications of same.


It will be offensive to some, hardly respectful....but below is the Muslim response.
Both should be watched and read.







A rebuttal to the video can be found here:

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Taking of Poison


The rebuttal begins with this:

"David Wood's video could be seen here. We encourage our readers to first watch the video in full and understand the arguments raised by Wood before proceeding to read this article, as this article will dive straight into addressing the arguments with the assumption that the reader has already seen the video. We apologize to our fellow Muslims for having to endure the offensive, sarcastic and immature video of Wood, however in order to be fully cognizant of what this article is refuting, one is recommended to watch Wood's video in full first, before proceeding on to read this rebuttal."

 

[Avatar4321]

The way Muhammad died doesn't matter much to me.

It's the fact that he stayed dead that has significance.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

It is a fascinating story, [MENTION=12394]PoliticalChic[/MENTION] although I do not know the first thing about it! This is the first I have even heard of it. So I won't respond to the subject of the topic but rather the nature of the Prophet.

If you look at the story of Moses who was a prophet - you'll see he knew when he was going to die. How did he know? God let him know. If you look at the story of Elijah you'll see again that God tells him, I'm taking you home, do this and this... So the relationship between God and the prophet is very intimate and unusual.

To attempt to poison a prophet would be useless. The prophet will know. The prophet will simply speak over the food - alter it back to a right state and eat it. You cannot poison a prophet that is walking with God. Impossible. God tells us what his relationship is with His Servants the Prophets in Amos 3:7.

It is written: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

If the Lord plans on destroying a nation? He tells His servants about it first. If the prophet is sounding the alarm to repent and false prophets or mockers come along trying to denounce the words of that prophet the penalty on the false prophets or mockers is death. This is also a sign that they have encountered a true prophet of God.

We see this is precisely what happened when Jeremiah was warning of destruction and the false prophets lied to the people and said peace and safety are ahead.

If the prophet is going about the Lords work and a stranger comes about to harm the prophet be it by word or deed - the judgment is death. Sometimes the prophet will know those who have deceptively planted themselves within a church, a group, a ministry but will say nothing until God is ready to bring judgment and says, Now.

I would liken the prophet to an arrow hidden in the quiver of God's hand. When He is ready he pulls that arrow out and strings it into his bow. Then He aims at the target and when He is ready? He releases his Hand and that arrow flies straight and hits the bullseye.

Who gets the glory for hitting the bullseye? God, the bow or the arrow? God gets the glory. All the Glory. It is Him, His decision,His Eye, His steady Hand, His Timing, His Aim, His target, His Bow, His "arrow"... it is all Him.

God will not use a warped arrow. The arrow must be straight, sharp and ready for use. It must be content to be hidden in the quiver of God's hand until that exact moment that He desires to pull it out and use it.

The prophet does what God tells him to do but they could also plead with God to have mercy because the heart is wrenched in the agony of knowing what lies ahead. This makes the prophet a type of intercessor pleading with God to give more time, Moses went so far as to say if you are going to blot out the names of these people then blot my name out of your book also. That is the heart of a true prophet. They would rather go to hell with them than to heaven without them. It's all about God. That is how God made his prophets to be.

I would imagine it is quite a lonely walk. Thanks for an interesting thread, PC.

 

[PoliticalChic]

It is a fascinating story, [MENTION=12394]PoliticalChic[/MENTION] although I do not know the first thing about it! This is the first I have even heard of it. So I won't respond to the subject of the topic but rather the nature of the Prophet.

If you look at the story of Moses who was a prophet - you'll see he knew when he was going to die. How did he know? God let him know. If you look at the story of Elijah you'll see again that God tells him, I'm taking you home, do this and this... So the relationship between God and the prophet is very intimate and unusual.

To attempt to poison a prophet would be useless. The prophet will know. The prophet will simply speak over the food - alter it back to a right state and eat it. You cannot poison a prophet that is walking with God. Impossible. God tells us what his relationship is with His Servants the Prophets in Amos 3:7.

It is written: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

If the Lord plans on destroying a nation? He tells His servants about it first. If the prophet is sounding the alarm to repent and false prophets or mockers come along trying to denounce the words of that prophet the penalty on the false prophets or mockers is death. This is also a sign that they have encountered a true prophet of God.

We see this is precisely what happened when Jeremiah was warning of destruction and the false prophets lied to the people and said peace and safety are ahead.

If the prophet is going about the Lords work and a stranger comes about to harm the prophet be it by word or deed - the judgment is death. Sometimes the prophet will know those who have deceptively planted themselves within a church, a group, a ministry but will say nothing until God is ready to bring judgment and says, Now.

I would liken the prophet to an arrow hidden in the quiver of God's hand. When He is ready he pulls that arrow out and strings it into his bow. Then He aims at the target and when He is ready? He releases his Hand and that arrow flies straight and hits the bullseye.

Who gets the glory for hitting the bullseye? God, the bow or the arrow? God gets the glory. All the Glory. It is Him, His decision,His Eye, His steady Hand, His Timing, His Aim, His target, His Bow, His "arrow"... it is all Him.

God will not used a warped arrow. The arrow must be straight, sharp and ready for use. It must be content to be hidden in the quiver of God's hand until that exact moment that He desires to pull it out and use it.

The prophet does what God tells him to do but they could also plead with God to have mercy because the heart is wrenched in the agony of knowing what lies ahead. This makes the prophet a type of intercessor pleading with God to give more time, Moses went so far as to say if you are going to blot out the names of these people then blot my name out of your book also. That is the heart of a true prophet. They would rather go to hell with them than to heaven without them. It's all about God. That is how God made his prophets to be.

I would imagine it is quite a lonely walk. Thanks for an interesting thread, PC.

Thank you, Jeri....

Yes...when I first came across the story, I found it of interest, and though others would, too.


You pointed out the heart of the issue:
"To attempt to poison a prophet would be useless. The prophet will know. The prophet will simply speak over the food - alter it back to a right state and eat it. You cannot poison a prophet that is walking with God. Impossible. God tells us what his relationship is with His Servants the Prophets in Amos 3:7."

That is the point that David Wood is making.

It would be no more than an attack on Islam, and I wouldn't have posted it....except that the more I looked into it, the more I found Islamic scholars commenting on it.

So....that does seem to be the correct story of Muhammad's death.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

It is a fascinating story, [MENTION=12394]PoliticalChic[/MENTION] although I do not know the first thing about it! This is the first I have even heard of it. So I won't respond to the subject of the topic but rather the nature of the Prophet.

If you look at the story of Moses who was a prophet - you'll see he knew when he was going to die. How did he know? God let him know. If you look at the story of Elijah you'll see again that God tells him, I'm taking you home, do this and this... So the relationship between God and the prophet is very intimate and unusual.

To attempt to poison a prophet would be useless. The prophet will know. The prophet will simply speak over the food - alter it back to a right state and eat it. You cannot poison a prophet that is walking with God. Impossible. God tells us what his relationship is with His Servants the Prophets in Amos 3:7.

It is written: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

If the Lord plans on destroying a nation? He tells His servants about it first. If the prophet is sounding the alarm to repent and false prophets or mockers come along trying to denounce the words of that prophet the penalty on the false prophets or mockers is death. This is also a sign that they have encountered a true prophet of God.

We see this is precisely what happened when Jeremiah was warning of destruction and the false prophets lied to the people and said peace and safety are ahead.

If the prophet is going about the Lords work and a stranger comes about to harm the prophet be it by word or deed - the judgment is death. Sometimes the prophet will know those who have deceptively planted themselves within a church, a group, a ministry but will say nothing until God is ready to bring judgment and says, Now.

I would liken the prophet to an arrow hidden in the quiver of God's hand. When He is ready he pulls that arrow out and strings it into his bow. Then He aims at the target and when He is ready? He releases his Hand and that arrow flies straight and hits the bullseye.

Who gets the glory for hitting the bullseye? God, the bow or the arrow? God gets the glory. All the Glory. It is Him, His decision,His Eye, His steady Hand, His Timing, His Aim, His target, His Bow, His "arrow"... it is all Him.

God will not use a warped arrow. The arrow must be straight, sharp and ready for use. It must be content to be hidden in the quiver of God's hand until that exact moment that He desires to pull it out and use it.

The prophet does what God tells him to do but they could also plead with God to have mercy because the heart is wrenched in the agony of knowing what lies ahead. This makes the prophet a type of intercessor pleading with God to give more time, Moses went so far as to say if you are going to blot out the names of these people then blot my name out of your book also. That is the heart of a true prophet. They would rather go to hell with them than to heaven without them. It's all about God. That is how God made his prophets to be.

I would imagine it is quite a lonely walk. Thanks for an interesting thread, PC.

Thank you, Jeri....

Yes...when I first came across the story, I found it of interest, and though others would, too.


You pointed out the heart of the issue:
"To attempt to poison a prophet would be useless. The prophet will know. The prophet will simply speak over the food - alter it back to a right state and eat it. You cannot poison a prophet that is walking with God. Impossible. God tells us what his relationship is with His Servants the Prophets in Amos 3:7."

That is the point that David Wood is making.

It would be no more than an attack on Islam, and I wouldn't have posted it....except that the more I looked into it, the more I found Islamic scholars commenting on it.

So....that does seem to be the correct story of Muhammad's death.

Yes, a prophet can even tell someone else toss some salt in the food and then eat it. It's whatever the prophet speaks to the situation. I'm astonished at this story as it is the first time I ever heard of Mohammad dying by poison. This must not be well known but it is interesting that Islamic scholars are discussing this openly.

What a story!

 

[Sunni Man]

The whole idea that Muhammad died from being poisoned is nonsense.

There was a 4 year span between the poisoning attempt and his death. (read the OP)

Muhammad was 62 when he died.

Which was well above the 45 year average life span of adults in the middle east at the time. ..

 

[The Irish Ram]

Hey Sunni, how are you doing? Hope all is well with you and yours.
While the poison may not have killed him immediately, it could have done enough damage to cause his demise down the road.

 

[Sunni Man]

Hey Sunni, how are you doing? Hope all is well with you and yours.
While the poison may not have killed him immediately, it could have done enough damage to cause his demise down the road.

The poison had no affect on Muhammad either physically or mentally.

In the 4 years from the attempted poisoning until his death.

He adroitly masterminded the Treaty of Hudaybiyya; organized and oversaw the governmental functioning of Medina; formulated and lead the eventual conquest of Mecca.

All arduous tasks that only a healthy man would have had the strength to facilitate. ..

.

 

[The Irish Ram]

Were you his physician? The point was well made. Your Messiah stayed dead. Christ did not. Death has no sting for those in Christ.

 

[Sunni Man]

Were you his physician? The point was well made. Your Messiah stayed dead. Christ did not. Death has no sting for those in Christ.

Don't be such a foul mouthed idiot.

No muslim views Prophet Muhammad as a messianic figure. ..

 

[PoliticalChic]

Hey Sunni, how are you doing? Hope all is well with you and yours.
While the poison may not have killed him immediately, it could have done enough damage to cause his demise down the road.

The poison had no affect on Muhammad either physically or mentally.

In the 4 years from the attempted poisoning until his death.

He adroitly masterminded the Treaty of Hudaybiyya; organized and oversaw the governmental functioning of Medina; formulated and lead the eventual conquest of Mecca.

All arduous tasks that only a healthy man would have had the strength to facilitate. ..

.

This post suggests that the story of imminent death following the eating of poisoned meat is correct, rather than the story of a four year delay......

 

[The Irish Ram]

Poison is hard on humans.

 

[Sunni Man]

Read the OP again.

The battle of Khaybar started late in 628 and was concluded early in 629.

And the poison meat incident happened two months after the conquest of Khaybar according to your article.

Prophet Muhammad didn't die until 632.

So I guess that's almost 4 years difference.


But even if the poison meat did lead to the death of Prophet Muhammed it is of no consequence to the muslim people (ummah).

Because he died as a martyr (shaheed) for the faith. ..

.

 

[Sunni Man]

[ame=http://youtu.be/p1HBNe3R0vI]The poisoned meat eaten by Prophet Muhammad PBUH - YouTube[/ame]

 

[PoliticalChic]

This day, July 16th..622 AD

The Hegira: Mohammad forced to flee Mecca for Medina, where he became king.

The Moslim era dates from the first day of the lunar year in which the Hegira took place.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

This day....June 8th, of 632 A.D.

Believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God, the founder of Islam, according to tradition, died on this day.
A few months after the farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with fever, head pain, and weakness.

"Muslims to this day revere Muhammad as the embodiment of the perfect believer and take his actions and sayings as a model of ideal conduct" PBS - Islam: Empire of Faith - Profiles - Muhammad




Some sources proved the following details relating to his death.

1. "Muhammad died in 632 A.D. He died as a result of being poisoned following his attack upon and conquest of the Jewish settlement of Khaibar.

2. About 2 month before his attack on Khaibar Muhammad failed in an attempt to go to Mecca. This failure resulted in the Treaty of Hudaybiyya with the Meccans. He returned humiliated in the eyes of the Meccans and in the minds of his people.... not able to deliver the Meccan's goods as booty, so Muhammad told his followers that they were going to attack and plunder the weaker Jewish settlement of Khaibar.

3. ... Muhammad led his army and attacked the Jews while they were on their way to work on their date palms.

4. ... the last few surrendered to him. Muhammad had several of the leaders of the Jewish settlement beheaded, one leader (Kinana) was tortured to reveal where buried treasure was hidden. Then when Kinana was near death, Muhammad commanded that he be beheaded. Many of the women and children were enslaved. Muhammad even took the most beautiful woman for himself and married her (Safiyah)."
The Death of Muhammad




5. "When Khaibar was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet as a gift (by the Jews)..... He asked, "Have you poisoned this sheep?" They said, "Yes." He asked, "What made you do so?" They said, "We wanted to know if you were a liar in which case we would get rid of you, and if you are a prophet then the poison would not harm you."
Bukhari's Hadith 4.394: This Hadith is considered to be the most important Islamic book, after the Quran.




6. A similar narrative from a second source, Ibn Sa'd biography, the "Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir" (Book of the Major Classes), Volume 2.
Ibn Sa'd's Sirat contains the most information relative to Muhammad's death.
"Verily a Jewish woman presented poisoned (meat of) a she goat to the apostle of Allah. He took a piece form it, put it into his mouth, chewed it and threw it away. Then he said to the Companions: "Halt! Verily, its leg tells me that it is poisoned." Then he sent for the Jewish woman and asked her; "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "I wanted to know if you are true; in that case Allah will surely inform you, and if you are a liar I shall relieve the people of you."
Ibn Sa'd page 249




7. "The beginning of his death-sickness and its cause:
The death-sickness of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was the result of a Jewish conspiracy. This happened because some Jews inKhaybar invited the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and some of his companions for a meal which they had poisoned. The Prophetsallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and his companions began to eat, then, suddenly, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:
"Everybody stop eating, because the food just spoke to me and told me that it was poisoned."
Recalling this whilst on his deathbed, the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: "I can still feel the effect of what I ate in Khaybar, therefore, the time for my death time has come."(Abu Daawood).
The Death of the Prophet



Not all the narratives explain Muhammad's death in this way.

Uh ya. Hence the Dome of the Rock...

 

[PixieStix]

The way Muhammad died doesn't matter much to me.

It's the fact that he stayed dead that has significance.

And that he is sucking fire balls with the likes of Hitler and other genocidal maniacs.