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Muhammad: The Warrior Prophet
By Richard A. Gabriel |
MHQ | The long shadow of Muhammad stretches across centuries of strife to the present. Today an estimated 1.4 billion Muslims around the globe follow his teachings—the word of God as revealed to Muhammad and set down in the Koran—making Islam the world’s second-largest religion behind Christianity. But despite Muhammad’s remarkable accomplishments, there is no modern account of his life that examines his role as Islam’s first great general and the leader of a successful insurgency. Had Muhammad not succeeded as a commander, however, Islam might have been relegated to a geographic backwater—and the conquest of the Byzantine and Persian empires by Arab armies might never have occurred. The idea of Muhammad as a military man will be new to many. Yet he was a truly great general. In the space of a single decade he fought eight major battles, led eighteen raids, and planned another thirty-eight military operations where others were in command but operating under his orders and strategic direction. Wounded twice, he also twice experienced having his positions overrun by superior forces before he managed to turn the tables on his enemies and rally his men to victory. More than a great field general and tactician, he was also a military theorist, organizational reformer, strategic thinker, operational-level combat commander, political-military leader, heroic soldier, and revolutionary. The inventor of insurgency warfare and history’s first successful practitioner, Muhammad had no military training before he commanded an army in the field. Muhammad’s intelligence service eventually rivaled that of Byzantium and Persia, especially when it came to political information. He reportedly spent hours devising tactical and political stratagems, and once remarked that “all war is cunning,” reminding modern analysts of Sun Tzu’s dictum, “all war is deception.” In his thinking and application of force Muhammad was a combination of Karl von Clausewitz and Niccolo Machiavelli, for he always employed force in the service of political goals. An astute grand strategist, he used nonmilitary methods (alliance building, political assassination, bribery, religious appeals, mercy, and calculated butchery) to strengthen his long-term position, sometimes even at the expense of short-term military considerations. Muhammad’s belief in Islam and his own role as the “Messenger of God” revolutionized Arabian warfare and resulted in the creation of the ancient world’s first army motivated by a coherent system of ideological belief. The ideology of holy war (jihad) and martyrdom (shahada) for the faith was transmitted to the West during the wars between Muslims and Christians in Spain and France, where it changed traditional Christian pacifistic thinking on war, brought into being a coterie of Christian warrior saints, and provided the Catholic Church with its ideological justification for the Crusades. Ideology—whether religious or secular—has remained a primary component of military ventures ever since. Muhammad forged the military instrument of the Arab conquests that began within two years of his death by bringing into being a completely new kind of army not seen before in Arabia. He introduced no fewer than eight major military reforms that transformed the armies and conduct of war in Arabia. Just as Philip of Macedon transformed the armies of Greece so his successor, Alexander, could employ them as instruments of conquest and empire, Muhammad transformed the armies of Arabia so his successors could use them to defeat the armies of Persia and Byzantium and establish the heartland of the empire of Islam. Muhammad was first and foremost a revolutionary, a fiery religious guerrilla leader who created and led the first genuine national insurgency in antiquity that is comprehensible in modern terms, a fact not lost on the jihadis of the present day, who often cite the Koran and Muhammad’s use of violence as justification for their own insurgencies. Unlike conventional generals, Muhammad did not seek the defeat of a foreign enemy or invader; rather, he sought to replace the existing Arabian social order with a new one based upon a radically different ideological worldview. To achieve his revolutionary goals Muhammad utilized all the means recognized by modern analysts as characteristic of a successful insurgency in today’s world. Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10            Tags: Ancient-Medieval, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, Religion
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12 Comments to “Muhammad: The Warrior Prophet”
1-Muhammad himself was under siege by 10,000 arabian soldiers in his Madina and he had onlyt 3,000 soldiers!
2-Muhammad in the 1st 6 years in Madina was attacked 3 times each time by a massive force more than his army at least 3 time and he won!
“Deffensive wares”
3-All the dead soldiers from both sides in Muhaammad’s camaign was 270 soldiers and no 1 single Civilian !
4-”offence” Muhammad orderd an attack and Assasination of only 2 leadders later after being attacked to stop the danger comming from the arbian and Jewsh tribes after the 6th year in Madina and after bieng attacked from these tribes for a continious 6 years and by massive forces.
By muslim on Jul 25, 2008 at 8:39 am
Great. Very informative my friend. The muslims had such a huge empire. No other religion had such an empire. The muslims defeated all the greeks, romans and the mongols when they were asians. Then the muslims took over the mongol empire, from Arghun Khans childern.
By Sikh on Aug 17, 2008 at 6:27 am
Most people do not know though. But 15 000 muslims fought 600 000 Romans. ZafarKhan, who was a very blessed general of the delhi sultan reign, he was truly blessed by the Great Allah. He defeated both Kublai Khan, and Chingiizz Khan again and again. Google mongol conquests of india. The mongols ran from the muslims so many times. THIS WAS BEFORE THE MONGOLS CONVERTED TO ISLAM. The muslims conquered more then anyone else had ever had. The ottomans, and the mongols. Great respect to MY MUSLIM BROTHERS. MAD RESPECT!!!
By Sikh on Aug 17, 2008 at 6:28 am
sikh is full of it
By CREEK on Aug 28, 2008 at 9:17 am
Creek is right.
By McHugh on Aug 29, 2008 at 6:39 pm
mohammadism is a Satantically inspired belief, and mohammad was nothing but a bandit who was chosen by Satan to conduct the last attack on the True Faith of Christ. All of his success is due to the support of Satan. And now the muhamadins kill each other over the importance of the man’s brother-in-law! Get a grip.
By Stewart Moneymaker on Sep 12, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hello friends,
Glad to address myself to knowledgeable ones.
Could you gear me toward a source on the above quotes Jewish tribes in arabia who fought against the Prophet?
And something about the ”Khans”.I believe they left footprints in the Levant: do you think they intermarried with Mohammed’s family?
By Chantal-E. on Sep 21, 2008 at 5:40 pm
anyone with a sane mind will immediately know that the great messenger of ALLAH never killed or attacked any kind of people except by rightous causes …. he accepted peace and offered it …. but the real problem is in the other side the west … you curse the messenger of GOD and you through charges as you like all because he defended whats right and banished what is wrong … you fight a man only because he says i worship ALLAH the all mighty god where there is no god but him … THE GOD of every thing … you accuse Mohamed of being satanic … if braying to god giving charity to the poor and protecting the weak from the strong .. ordering people to do whats right and leave whats wrong is satanic then you are crazy hard minded people with great envy on this region and its followers … notice that every single technology the Christians ever made was because their separation of science and Christianity which they missed up badly … and every single failure of Muslims made was because leaving the Islamic way of live …. and you are the last people to talk about the bandits because you annihilated complete civilizations with your ignorance and Christianity and stealing complete continents … and you never noticed that until you abandoned your sick satanic remodeling of the true Christianity given to you by GOD who has no partners ….
By karim on Sep 26, 2008 at 1:05 am
. . . karim, you prove my point better than I ever could. Your ignorance and thinly veiled hatred of everything you can’t understand, and mindless denial of the truth is what makes mohammadans like yourself a plague to mankind.
By Stewart on Oct 1, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Jesus never ordered the killing of anyone. People, having free will, have killed in His name, but He spoke of love, peace and respecting everyone. Including women. He never married either.
Mohammad had eleven wives - one nine years old! He ordered people killed if they did not convert to Islam. Very respectful.
By Jan Willard on Oct 14, 2008 at 8:19 am
The crusades were an eye opener to the muslims. A rag tag army from europa crushed muslim resistance each and every step of the way and conquered the ancient world’s biggest prize, Jerusalem. Amazing! It was just a prelude to the global dominance of the western world that was to come. Segno della croce invictus!
By The Realist on Nov 23, 2008 at 11:59 pm
to me prophet mohammad is indeed a bandit,adulterer and a murderer.he killed and rapped many people.it is a undeniable history truth.if he was really a prophet he should had shown love but not sexual addictions.he indeed inherited satanic characteristics.but the doloress lord jesus died for us to go to heaven.this is what we call a messiah or the son of god.he did not order people killing nor raping.BLESS THE LORD GOD.IN JESUS NAME I PRAY.
By jesussservant7 on Nov 29, 2008 at 12:20 pm