I continue the series that I began here: A Coptic Convert Exposes Muhammad Pt. 1.
In this post I will be citing from David Bertaina’s work Būluṣ ibn Rajāʾ The Fatimid Egyptian Convert Who Shaped Christian Views of Islam, pp. 139-147. Ibn Raja shows that Muhammad was murderous false prophet who imposed his religion by violence and murder. All emphasis will be mine.
[Chapter 4]
[42] On those who converted to Islam for fear of the sword.
[43] Someone told me al-Qasim Muḥammad ibn al-Qurṭī ibn Shaʿbān92 reported from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī,93 from Mālik [ibn Anas],94 from Ḥamīd al-Ṭawīl95 from Anas ibn Mālik96 that Abū Sufyān Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb,97 and he was the father of Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān,98 that when he converted to Islam, his wife Hind came to him (and she was Muʿāwiya’s mother).99 Then she slapped him on the face and she blackened him with soot and she said to him: “Evil old man, you converted to Islam and you left your venerable fathers’ religion.” So he said to her: “Hind, were you not concerned about the sword?”100 This is one of their nobles and their leaders, who only converted to Islam for fear of the sword.
[44] And Al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (and he is his uncle), Muḥammad’s uncle in Mecca, was brought as a captive on the day of Mecca’s conquering.101 Then he offered him to convert to Islam. So he said to him: “Convert, my uncle.” He replied: “Or else what, nephew?” He said: “I will kill you, my uncle. What will it be, uncle?” He said: “I will say what you want me to say, not with my heart, for fear of the sword.” He replied to him: “No one knows what is in hearts except God. Come on, uncle, and convert.” So he converted at that moment for fear of the sword.102
[45] ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib brought ʿAmr ibn Maʿd al-Zubaydī103 as a captive to Muḥammad. So he offered him to convert to Islam but he refused. He said to him: “If you do not convert to Islam, I will kill you.” So he replied to him: “You know that I will only convert to Islam for fear of the sword.”
[46] Khāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿa also converted to Islam for fear of the sword.104 When Muḥammad wanted to conquer Mecca, he decided to come upon them at night so that they would be unaware. So Khāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿa – this one whom we have already mentioned – wrote a letter to the people of Mecca telling them about Muḥammad coming to them. He handed over the letter to a woman and commanded her to rush to Mecca. So she hid the letter in her braid and she set out for Mecca. Then a scout came and informed Muḥammad about it. He commanded ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwām to search for her. The two of them encountered her in a place said to be the Ṣāj mountain pass. They said to her: “Give us the letter which you have with you.” She replied: “I don’t have a letter.” They said: “Hand over the letter or take off your clothes.” When she saw the seriousness of the matter, she handed the letter over to them from her braid. They brought it to Muḥammad and when he read it he said: “What is this, Khāṭib?” So he bowed his head in shame. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: “Will you permit me to cut off this hypocrite’s head? He only converted to Islam for fear of the sword.” But he forgave him and he did not kill him.105
[47] Now one day, which was a Friday, [Thumāma ibn Ashras] saw the people were heading to prayer.106 So he said to his entourage and to those who were present: “Look at these cattle, what did this Arab man Muḥammad do to them?” Some of his companions asked him one day saying to him: “Do you think God will punish us since we are not following this one who claims prophethood without proof or sign?” He replied: “No, by God, he will not punish us, but we cannot say anything.”107
[Chapter 5]
[48] On Musaylima the False Prophet108 and al-ʿAnsī.109
[49] It was in [Muḥammad’s] lifetime that two men claimed prophethood for themselves. One of them was Musaylima the false prophet and the other was al-ʿAnsī. The adherents of the two of them and Muḥammad would make the call to prayer upon platforms in their names. Musaylima’s companions would say in their call to prayer that Musaylima was God’s messenger. Muḥammad’s companions would say he was God’s messenger. Al-ʿAnsī’s companions would say that al-ʿAnsī was God’s messenger. As for al-ʿAnsī, Muḥammad captured him during his lifetime and killed him. Musaylima continued his [prophetic] affair through Muḥammad’s entire life. A large number of the Ḥanīfa tribe listened to him. When Muḥammad died and Abū Bakr took over after him, he killed [Musaylima] at the Battle of al-Yamāma. Musaylima the false prophet used to sit in the midst of his companions and beneath his garments were two pigeons.
He put musk and a lot of camphor in their wings and their feathers. Then he would say to whoever was around him: “These are Gabriel and Michael under my garments, saying peace be upon you,” so they would bow to him. Then he would open his belt and the pigeons would fly away. Then some of that perfume would fall upon the people, so they would try to touch him so they would receive his blessing.110
92 Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim ibn Shaʿbān (d. 966) was a tenth-century Egyptian Mālikī jurist known as Ibn al-Qurṭī. One of his known works is on the principles of Islamic law.
93 On Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Shaybānī al-Nasāʾī (d. 915), see Sezgin, GAS, 167–169. Al-Nasāʾī spent time in Egypt and is most famous for his collection of hadith known as the Sunan al-Nasāʾī. It has been translated into English as Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Nasāʾī, English Translation of Sunan an-Nasāʾī (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2007). See also Christopher Melchert, “The Life and Works of al-Nasāʾī,” Journal of Semitic Studies 59 (2014): 377–407; reprinted in Christopher Melchert, Hadith, Piety, and Law: Selected Studies (Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2015), 89–115. 94 Mālik ibn Anas, Sezgin, GAS, 457–464.
95 Ḥamīd al-Ṭawīl (d. ca. 760).
96 Anas ibn Mālik, EI2, 1:482.
97 Abū Sufyān Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb (d. ca. 652); EI2, 1:151.
98 Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān (d. 680) was the founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Damascus; see EI2, 7:263.
99 Hind bint ʿUtba was employed in fabricated stories to defame the Umayyads. See El-Cheikh, Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity, 17–37. 100 I have not been able to identify the source for this narrative but it is likely a product of Islamic anti-Umayyad legends.
101 Other Islamic sources put his capture at the battle of Badr in 624 or Uḥud in 625. On Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, who became a faithful Muslim according to Islamic lore, see EI2 3:152–154.
102 This account is a Christian interpretation based upon the story of the conversion of al-Muṭṭalib to Islam. See Burman, Religious Polemic, 265.
103 ʿAmr ibn Maʿd al-Zubaydī (d. 642) was a pre-Islamic leader from Yemen, mentioned in Muḥammad’s biography, who later was part of the Islamic conquest of the Middle East. See Guillaume, ed., The Life of Muhammad, 20.
104 Khāṭib (Ḥāṭib) ibn Abī Baltaʿa is known as an early convert who fought at the Battle of Badr. When he learned of Muḥammad’s planned attack on Mecca, he composed a letter to the Quraysh explaining Muḥammad’s intentions. When his letter with a female messenger was discovered, he explained that he was only trying to ensure that his family would be safe and Muḥammad forgave him. According to Islamic tradition, later he wrote a letter to Egypt that resulted in Mary the Copt coming to Yathrib/Medina as a gift for Muḥammad.
105 This accurate retelling (other than the reference to conversion for fear of the sword) is found in the hadith collection of al-Bukhārī and they were said to be the occasion for the revelation of Q 60:1. See al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 4:154–155 (Book 56, #3007); 5:191–192 (Book 64, #3983); and 6:344–345 (Book 65, #4890).
106 The manuscript is missing some context. However, this passage is taken from Ibn Qutayba, Taʾwīl mukhtalaf al-ḥadīth, 47–48; Ibn Qutayba, Traité des divergences, #55. Ibn Qutayba criticizes the Abbasid Muʿtazilī court theologian Thumāma ibn Ashras (d. 828), commenting: “Let us move on to Thumāma, who was poorly religious, scorned Islam and mocked it, and made his tongue speak like no man would who knew God and believed in Him. This well-known account is preserved: One Friday, he saw people rushing to the mosque, for fear of missing prayer. He said, ‘Look at those cattle! Look at those donkeys!’ Then he said to one of his colleagues: ‘[Look at] what this Arab [i.e., Muhammad] has done done with [these] men’.”
107 Ibn Rajāʾ is commenting on the fact that Thumāma ibn Ashras was said to have held the position that non-Muslims would not be condemned if they did not explicitly reject the revelation of God. Ibn Qutayba barely considered Thumāma a Muslim, and Ibn Rajāʾ exploits this point for his argument.
108 On Musaylima/Maslama ibn Ḥabīb (d. ca. 633), see EI2, 7:664; and al-Makin, Representing the Enemy: Musaylima in Muslim Literature (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2010).
109 Al-Aswad ibn Kaʿb al-ʿAnsī (d. 632); EI2, 1:728.
110 Ibn Rajāʾ is arguing that the existence of these two pseudo-prophets suggests Muḥammad’s appearance was not unique but part of a prophetic spirit of the place and time, although he does not make this explicit.
We have more from from this blessed Coptic monk in the third part of this series: A Coptic Convert Exposes Muhammad Pt. 3 .
FURTHER READING
What really happened to the Banu Qurayza
“Kill those who Associate Partners (Mushrikun) Wherever You Find Them!”
Muhammad and the Meccans: Who Antagonized Whom?
Muhammad the Antagonist Still!
The Byzantine Christians: Antagonists or Antagonized? Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Addendum
Answering Islam Blog 
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