Historical Insights into Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Early Islamic Era

Kirazli, Harris Sadik

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-53927-5_7

Harris Sadik Kirazli³

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History ((ITLH))

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Abstract

This chapter invites us to embark on a profound exploration of the historical accounts that illuminate the art of conflict resolution during the era of the Prophet Muhammad. In this expansive introduction, we lay the foundation for a comprehensive journey through the chapter’s central themes, objectives, and the profound questions that guide our examination of conflict resolution practices within the Islamic tradition. This chapter serves as an illuminating roadmap, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of the historical narratives that underpin Islamic conflict resolution.

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Notes

1.
See Qur’an 8:26.
2.
Muhammed Tayyib Okic, “Islamiyette Ilk Nufus Sayimi” (The First Census in Islam), Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 7 (1958): 11; Yildirim, “Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Medina Charter,” 110; Hamidullah, The First Written Constitution in the World: An Important Document of the Time of the Holy Prophet, vol.1, 3rd revised ed. (Lahore, Pakistan: Ashraf Printing Press, 1975), para. 9. Also, see Watt, Muhammad at Medina; and Michael Lecker, Muslims, Jews and Pagans: Studies on Early Islamic Medina (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995).
3.
Hamidullah, First Written Constitution in the World, para. 11.
4.
Qur’an 2:8, 14; 63:1–11.
5.
See Qur’an 2:8–20.
6.
Qur’an 4:137.
7.
Qur’an 2:14.
8.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 180.
9.
Qur’an 12:53.
10.
See Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 321–27; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah, 2:295–96; al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:99; al-Ṭabarī, Foundation of the Community, Vol. 7 of Ta’rīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk. Translated by W. Montgomery Watt and M. V. McDonald (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987, 63–65; Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:312–15. Also, in the Qur’an, sūrah al-Anfāl (Chapter of the Spoils) talks about this incident.
11.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah, 2:296.
12.
al-Ṭabarī, Foundation of the Community, 64. Also, see Ahmad b. Hanbāl quoted in Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:313–4; Rodinson, Muhammad, 167.
13.
Qur’an 8:1.
14.
See Qur’an 22:36–40; 2:217.
15.
Qur’an 2:217.
16.
Cited in Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:314.
17.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 321.
18.
al-Ṭabarī, Foundation of the Community, 64.
19.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 321.
20.
Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:313.
21.
See Al-Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar, 20.
22.
Rodinson, Muhammad, 167.
23.
Qur’an 8:41.
24.
For these scholars, cited by Ibn Kathīr, and their claims, see Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:314–15.
25.
al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:99; Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad, vol.1, ḥadīth 173; and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book Virtues and Merits of the Prophet and his Companions,’ ḥadīth 136.
26.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 312.
27.
Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:305–310.
28.
Ibid., 2:306–7; Rodinson, Muhammad, 167.
29.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 358; Rodinson, Mohammed, 181.
30.
Rodinson, Muhammad, 167–68.
31.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 309.
32.
Ibid., 213.
33.
Cited in Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:309. Also, see Rodinson, Muhammad, 168.
34.
Cited in Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:309.
35.
Ibn Hishām, Sīrah, 2:316; al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:129.
36.
Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2:22; Ahmad b. Ḥanbāl, 1:247.
37.
Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2:22.
38.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 314.
39.
Ibid.; al-Ṭabarī, Foundation of the Community, 75.
40.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 312–13; al-Ṭabarī, Foundation of the Community, 71–72 At the ‘Aqabah pledges, al-‘Abbās appeared as a Muslim. But, by asking him publicly to ransom himself and his three men, Prophet Muhammad allegedly wanted to keep his being Muslim from the Quraysh because he should serve him as his spy in Mecca.
41.
Qur’an 8:67–8.
42.
Ibid.
43.
It was a watering place belonging to Banū al-Muṣṭaliq of Khuzā‘a, about 15 kilometres from Medina. See Toufic Fahd, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1991), s.v. “Manat.”
44.
Although historians agreed that this event took place at the end of the expedition against the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq of Khuzā‘a, there seems to be no consensus among them about its year. While al-Wāqidī, Ibn Sa‘d, al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported that it took place in the month of Sha‘bān in 5 AH, Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī set it in the same month but in 6 AH. When the expedition of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq of Khuzā‘a is examined holistically, the first group of scholars’ accounts seem more reasonable than Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī. See al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:404; Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2:63; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ hadiths 420-427–400; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ‘Book of Repentance,’ ḥadīth 65; Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 490–92; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, Vol. 8 of Ta’rīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk. Translated by Michael Fishbein (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997), 51–55. The study of Rodinson also supports the first group of scholars. See Rodinson, Mohammed, 196. See also, Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah, 3:303–04; Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 3:213–15.
45.
Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah, 3:303.
46.
al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:415.
47.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 490; Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2:65; al-Bukhāri, Ṣaḥīḥ, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 425, 426 and 427.
48.
Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2/65; Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad, vol.3, ḥadīth 392, 395.
49.
al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:415.
50.
Sir William Muir, Mahomet and Islam, new and revised ed. (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1887), 82.
51.
See Qur’an 2:8, 14; 63:1–11.
52.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; see also, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīths 425 and 427.
53.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491.
54.
Ibid.
55.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 262, 491; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53; Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:214.
56.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 185.
57.
Qur’an 5:52.
58.
It is an Islamic concept of “ignorance of divine guidance” or “the state of ignorance of the guidance from God” or “Days of Ignorance” referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia or prior the revelation of the Qur’ān to Muhammad.
59.
Ibn Ḥanbal, Musnad, vol.3, ḥadīth 338; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 425.
60.
Qur’an 42:37.
61.
Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam, 108.
62.
Ibn Sa‘d, al-Ṭabaqāt, 2:65.
63.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; also, see al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 425.
64.
al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīths 424, 425, 426 and 427.
65.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 426.
66.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; also, see al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53 and Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:214.
67.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 184.
68.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 425.
69.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 491; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 53; Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:214; Rodinson, Muhammad, 199.
70.
Qur’an 63:1–11.
71.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 492. Also, see al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 55.
72.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 492.
73.
Ibn Kathīr, Life of Prophet Muhammad, 2:215.
74.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 492.
75.
Ibid. Also, see al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 55.
76.
See Wilmot and Hocker, Interpersonal Conflict, 112–120.
77.
Scholars agree that this incident occurred at the end of the expedition against the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq of Khuzā‘a. Even though Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī narrated the story from ‘Ā’ishah’s version, they did not mention Sa‘d b. Mu’ādh as one of the focal participants in this case. This incident, for them, happened after the expedition against the Banū Qurayẓah in the 6th year of Hijrah. Sa‘d b. Mu’ādh died soon after that expedition. See Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 468, 494; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 39–40, 58. However, based on the same ḥadīth from ‘Ā’ishah, ḥadīth scholars al-Bukhārī and Muslim, mufassirūn al-Wāhidī and others, and historian al-Wāqidī cited Usayd b. Ḥuḍayr and Sa‘d b. Mu’ādh as the leaders who were involved in that dispute. According to this second group, this incident occurred before the expedition against the Banū Qurayẓah. See Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Witnesses,’ ḥadīth 25; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ‘Book Repentance,’ ḥadīth 65; al-Wāhidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl, 117; al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 1:404; Hamidullah also supports this claim. See Hamidullah, The Battlefield of the Prophet Muhammad, 2nd ed. (Hyderabad-Deccan: Kitab Bhavan, 1973), 29–30. As mentioned in the previous case, my holistic examination also found the accounts of the second group seem more reasonable than Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī. Nevertheless, it does not matter whether Sa‘d b. Mu’ādh or Usayd b. Ḥuḍayr was involved in the dispute. Both were the leaders and represented the Aws. The important thing is the content of the dispute, how the dispute escalated into an intergroup conflict and how the Prophet dealt with it.
78.
See 24:11–26.
79.
Qur’an 24:11.
80.
Qur’an 24: 23.
81.
See ‘Abdullāh b. ‘Abbās, Tanwīr al-Miqbās min Tafsīr Ibn ‘Abbās, trans. Mokrane Guezzou (Amma: Royal Āl al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, 2007), 387.
82.
See Qur’an 24:11–26.
83.
For example, it is claimed that one of the reasons for the expulsion of the Jewish tribe of Qaynuqā’ from Medina was the Jewish men’s assault on a Muslim woman in the goldsmith shop in their market.
84.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 229.
85.
See Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 495–96; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Commentary,’ ḥadīth 274; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ‘Book of Repentance,’ ḥadīth 65.
86.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 495.
87.
According to Ibn Isḥāq, this is Usayd b. Hudayr. Although I used the text of Ibn Isḥāq, I modified the conversation according to the accounts of al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Wāhidī and al-Wāqidī.
88.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 496.
89.
Ibid.
90.
Ibid.
91.
Ibid.; al-Ṭabarī, Victory of Islam, 61; al-Wāhidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl, 117.
92.
Tillett and French, Resolving Conflict, 245.
93.
Tillett and French, Resolving Conflict, 120.
94.
Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam, 65.
95.
Ibn Isḥāq, Life of Muhammad, 496.
96.
Present-day Sistan in the south-east of Iran.
97.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Judgements,’ ḥadīth 272; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ‘Book of Judicial Decisions,’ ḥadīth 21.
98.
Joseph Montville. “The Healing Function in Political Conflict Resolution.” In Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: Integration and Application, edited by Dennis J. D. Sandole and Hugo van der Merwe, 112–127. New York: Manchester University Press, 1993), 113.
99.
Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam, 64.
100.
Qur’an 16:125.
101.
Qur’an 24:21.
102.
See Qur’an 24:12–19.
103.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 229.
104.
Ibid., 186.
105.
See, for example, Kevin Avruch, Peter Black, & Joseph Scimecca, eds. Conflict Resolution: Cross-Cultural perspectives (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1991); Lederach, Conflict Transformation Across Cultures.
106.
Hitti, History of the Arabs, 46.
107.
See Richard Antoun, “Institutionalized Deconfrontation: A Case Study of Conflict Resolution among Tribal Peasants in Jordan”, in Conflict Resolution in the Arab World: Selected Essays, ed. Paul Salem (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1997), 144–63; Nizar Hamzeh, “The Role of Hizbullah in Conflict Management within Lebanon’s Shi‘a Community,” in Conflict Resolution in the Arab World: Selected Essays, ed. Paul Salem (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1997), 113–15; Irani and Funk, “Rituals of Reconciliation,” 53–73.
108.
See Mahmud Zinati. Nuzum al-Arab al-Qabaliyah al-Mu`sīrah (Cairo: Madbouli Publications, 1992); Kirazli, “Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the pre-Islamic Arab Society” Islamic Studies 50, no. 1 (2011), 25–52.
109.
See, for example, Antoun, “Institutionalized Deconfrontation,” 144–63; Hamzeh, “The Role of Hizbullah in Conflict Management,” 113–15; Irani and Funk, “Rituals of Reconciliation,” 65–66.
110.
al-Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, 2:435.
111.
Mālik, Muwatta, ‘Book of Good Character,’ ḥadīth 16.
112.
Ibid., ḥadīth 14; Sunan Abī Dāwud, ‘Book of General Behaviour,’ ḥadīth 138.
113.
Said Nursi, The Rays Collection, trans. Vahide Sukran (Istanbul: Sozler Publications, 1998), 346–47.
114.
Mālik, Muwatta, ‘Book of Good Character,’ ḥadīth 14; Sunan Abī Dāwud, ‘Book of General Behaviour,’ ḥadīth 138.
115.
Al-Asqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī, ḥadīths 30 and 31.
116.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Judgements’, ḥadīth 80.
117.
See, for example, Qur’an, 49:13.
118.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Good Manners and Form,’ ḥadīth 80.
119.
See Sunan an-Nasā’ī, ‘Book of the Etiquette of Judges,’ ḥadīth 38; Sunan Ibn Mājah, ‘Book of the Sunnah,’ ḥadīth 15; Jāmi` at-Tirmidhī, ‘Book of Tafsir,’ ḥadīth 79; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Book of the Office of the Judge,’ ḥadīth 67; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ‘Book of Virtues,’ ḥadīth 170.
120.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Peacemaking,’ ḥadīth 18.
121.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 46; Watt. “Al-Ḥudaybiya”. The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Vol. III: H–Iram. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971), 539; G.R. Hawting,“Al-Hudaybiyya and the Conquest of Mecca: A Reconsideration of the Tradition about the Muslim Takeover of the Sanctuary.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 8, no. 2 (1986): 1–24.
122.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19; Fred M. Donner. (1979). “Muhammad’s Political Consolidation in Arabia up to the Conquest of Mecca: A Reassessment”. The Muslim World. 69 (4): 240; Watt, “Al-Ḥudaybiya”, 539.
123.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19; Ibn Isḥāq, The Life of Muhammad, 504.
124.
Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 47–48; Hawting,“Al-Hudaybiyya and the Conquest of Mecca, 1–24.
125.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19; See also Andreas Goerke. (2000). “The Historical Tradition about al-Ḥudaybiya: A Study of ʿUrwa B. al-Zubayr’s Account”. In Motzki, Harald (ed.). The Biography of Muhammad: The Issue of the Sources. (Leiden: Brill), 240.
126.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19; Ali, “Al-Ḥudaybiya,” 61–2.
127.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19.
128.
See Qur’an, 48:1.
129.
See the whole text of the narration, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ‘Book of Conditions,’ ḥadīth 19.

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Kirazli, H.S. (2024). Historical Insights into Conflict Resolution: Lessons from Early Islamic Era. In: Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking in Islam. Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53927-5_7

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