The Sacking of Medina

[00:00:01]The destruction of Medina.

[00:00:04]>> My father told me that there will be a ram by whom Mecca's sanctity will be violated. I do not wish to be that ram.

[00:00:12]Hussein ibn Ali, if this narration is true, then what Ali was saying to his son Hussein was that there would be a man in Mecca whose presence in the city would cause the sanctity of the Haram to be violated. This may have been one of the reasons why Hussein chose to leave Mecca fearing that his enemies would come for him and massacre all those who tried to protect him.

[00:00:34]>> But Hussein was ultimately killed outside of Mecca and the Haram sanctity remained unviolated. So, if this were a true prophecy that Ali had heard from the Prophet Muhammad, then in order for it to be fulfilled, another man would have to come and be the cause of the bloodshed. Little did Abdullah ibn Zubair know he would be that man. Initially, Abdullah ibn Zubair had fled from Yazid at the same time as Hussein and they ended up in Mecca together. He was also one who advised Hussein to leave thinking that he would find support among the people of Kufa. But when the news arrived from Karbala that Hussein and his family had been massacred, the people of Mecca and Medina were shocked.

[00:01:16]Never could they have imagined that Yazid would commit such a crime. Dozens of the Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Prophet Muhammad, were killed in an instant and he was the one responsible.

[00:01:26]And so, the people of Mecca, they went to Abdullah ibn Zubair and they gave him their oaths of allegiance. And soon after the people of Medina followed them abandoning Yazid and the Umayyads. This was a declaration of war against Yazid and they knew what was going to follow.

[00:01:43]Now, the two cities began to raise their armies in preparation for another war.

[00:01:49]But to Yazid's credit, he sent one of the Ansar of the Prophet Muhammad to go to Medina and to try to reason with the people. But the people of Medina were set on avenging Hussein, and they were now preparing for a rebellion. So, Yazid understood that war was inevitable and he began his own preparations as well.

[00:02:07]The following year, Yazid's army was ready, and they marched towards Medina.

[00:02:12]And when they arrived in the city, they were to give the people 3 days to decide their fate. If they surrendered within that time, the people would be forgiven, but if they decided to fight, then the army would be given permission for 3 days to do whatever it pleased. This was the city of the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam that they were now surrounding, and in it many of his Sahaba still lived. What Yazid was threatening had never been done in the history of the Ummah. He was talking about killing and pillaging and violating the women. Who could have imagined that these threats would come true?

[00:02:54]But Yazid had already shown his true colors in the massacre of Karbala. The days now counted down one after the other, but the people of Medina refused.

[00:03:04]They believed that they were on the truth and that they were ready to fight.

[00:03:08]But soon they would realize they made a huge mistake. On the fourth day, the two armies lined up outside the gates of the city, but Yazid's army was several times larger and much better equipped, and they simply crushed the Medinans in an overwhelming attack. Quickly, Yazid's army entered the city, and for the next 3 days they killed and tortured thousands of people.

[00:03:32]Babies were ripped from the hands of their mothers and decapitated, while countless women were violated in horrendously vile attacks. The sanctity of the city had been completely desecrated, and the people of Medina suffered an unbelievable fate. This was supposed to be a fellow Muslim army, but in those three days they lost all of their humanity and we'll leave them to Allah to decide how they will fare on the day of judgement. This battle was known as the Battle of al-Harrah and it shook the ummah with an unbelievable shaking. But, everyone knew that this was only the beginning as the great city of Mecca was still standing in defiance.

[00:04:14]The writing was on the wall.

[00:04:16]The sacred haram was next. Does anyone who believes in Allah and the last day love Yazid?

[00:04:28]>> How could Muslims commit such crimes?

[00:04:30]>> When I first read about this story, how Muslims committed such egregious crimes even in the sacred city of Medina and even against other Muslims, I was genuinely shocked. Never would I have expected that Muslims could stoop to such low levels. Though, perhaps this was because I had an idealistic perception of Muslim history and not a realistic one. I had believed that Muslims throughout history acted with perfect respect to the law and carried pure and moral hearts in their chests that would never allow them to oppress others. I thought that the crimes that the Muslims committed all around us today were somehow unique to this modern era that we lived in today. But, the story of Islam really is the story of humanity. In it, you will see times of war and times of peace, times of chaos and of freedom, and times of oppression and times of justice. You will find moments of greatness and glory when the Muslims chose Allah and Islam over all else and they spread justice across the lands. But, you will also find those moments of despair and darkness when the Muslims have oppressed each other and corruption began to sow its seeds in the land. This moment here, this sacking of Medina right after the killing of Hussein indeed is one of the darkest moments in all of Islamic history. But, these were not our crimes and we will not be asked about them on the day of judgement. Rather, those who committed their crimes on that day will have to stand in front of Allah on their own.

[00:05:57]And even if they weren't punished for them in this life, they will certainly be held accountable in the next.

[00:06:26]For context, however, the actions of Yazid's army were not unique at the time, as it was an acceptable practice in the ancient world to give no quarter when conquering a city that didn't immediately surrender. This was a way for kings to warn their enemies not to fight back, but it was also a way to incentivize their soldiers to risk their lives in search of spoils and plunder.

[00:06:46]These soldiers were often on the road for months or even years without enjoying the company of their wives. And so, just like feeding meat to animals, the conquered women would be given to those soldiers as spoils of war in order to keep their soldiers from rebelling.

[00:07:02]This is the grotesque nature of war and has been a part of the human experience since the very beginning of time. And when I read these stories repeated again and again in every single civilization, I soon realized how vastly different the Prophet and the Sahaba were to the rest of those civilizations. Never has a generation of people fought wars with such mercy and care towards the enemy. Never have we seen such humanity on the battlefield that when the Prophet conquered Mecca, the entire city was left untouched and forgiven. It was one of the greatest conquests in all of history, and yet it was completely bloodless. And many of those who were conquered that day went on to fight alongside him in future battles. The Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam was completely different to any other human being in history. Never did he give in to his desires and oppress his enemies. And his Sahaba, his companions, stood behind him and obeyed him in his commands, waging a war against their own souls so that they wouldn't go beyond the limits that Allah had set. There is no one like the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and no generation like the Sahaba. They were so unique and so special and that's why we take them as our role models above anyone else. And no matter how many crimes and sins the Muslims have committed throughout history, the religion of Islam stands alone, perfected by Allah himself. You Muslims will surely follow the mistakes of the nations before you, span by span and inch by inch. Even if they entered a lizard's hole, you would follow them.