Jihad

One finds sustained, connected narratives about the earliest Islam in Arabic books on Muhammad's life (called sira, "the way") and on the early community and its wars (called maghazi, "raids") as well as in works of Koranic exegesis and in the hadith, which one may define as reports of authoritative sayings and deeds attributed to the Prophet or to those around him. In the form in which they exist, these works date from the ninth century C.E. or later. Here one finds that the last part of Muhammad's life, after the Emigration (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina in 622, was devoted largely, though not entirely, to the conduct of war.

In year 2 of the Hijra (624), at a place called Badr, a raiding expedition turned into a full confrontation with Muhammad's kin and adversaries, the Quraysh of Mecca. Divine intervention came in the form of angels fighting on the Muslim side—this is how the maghazi narratives interpret several passages in the Koran regarding Badr, the first full battle of Islam and a great victory. Once Muhammad achieved final victory in his war against Mecca, he sent expeditions against Byzantine frontier defenses in the north, and he may have been planning an extensive campaign against Palestine and Syria. However, he died (in 632) before this campaign could get under way. The works of sira and maghazi place these narratives squarely in the foreground, providing a kind of salvation history (Heilsgeschichte). The hadith, by contrast, directs all eyes toward the Prophet, who, with epigrammatic precision, dictates the Example (Sunna) through his actions and words. Here one finds the doctrine of the jihad enunciated clearly, together with eloquent exhortations to perform jihad.