Asma bint Marwan
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Asmā bint Marwān (Arabic: عصماء بنت مروان, namely "'Asmā the daughter of Marwān") was a poet who lived in Hijaz in medieval Arabia.
According to a story that first appeared in Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah" or the Biography of the Prophet of God, she was killed on the orders of the Islamic prophet Muhammad for composing poetry that satirized him. The story's authenticity as a historical record is a matter of dispute.
Poetry was the usual medium of political discourse in medieval Arabia. According to the story Asma wrote a politically charged poem against Muhammad and his army. Upon hearing the poem, Muhammad ordered her execution. The assassin is said to have killed Asma with knives while she was sleeping alongside her children.
Her fate was similar to that of Abu 'Afak and Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, also said to have been executed on Muhammad's orders.
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[edit] The death of Asma bint Marwan
An excerpt from Alfred Guillaume's translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sira follows:
- "She was of Banu Umayya bin Zayd. When Abu Afak had been killed she displayed disaffection. Abdullah bin al-Harith bin Al-Fudayl from his father said that she was married to a man of Banu Khatma called Yazid bin Zayd. Blaming Islam and its followers she said:
-
- "I despise Banu Malik and al-Nabit
- and Auf and Banu al-Khazraj.
- You obey a stranger who is none of yours,
- One not of Murad or Madhhij. {1}
- Do you expect good from him after the killing of your chiefs
- Like a hungry man waiting for a cook's broth?
- Is there no man of pride who would attack him by
- And cut off the hopes of those who expect aught from him?"
- Hassan bin Thabit answered her:
-
- "Banu Wa'il and Banu Waqif and Banu Khatma
- Are inferior to Banu al-Khazraj.
- When she called for folly woe to her in her weeping,
- For death is coming.
- She stirred up a man of glorious origin,
- Noble in his going out and in his coming in.
- Before midnight he dyed her in her blood
- And incurred no guilt thereby."
- When the apostle heard what she had said he said, "Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?" Umayr bin Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and that very night he went to her house and killed her. In the morning he came to the apostle and told him what he had done and he [Muhammad, the murderer] said, "You have helped God and His apostle, O Umayr!" When he asked if he would have to bear any evil consequences the apostle said, "Two goats won't butt their heads about her", so Umayr went back to his people.
- Now there was a great commotion among Banu Khatma that day about the affair of bint [daughter of] Marwan. She had five sons, and when Umayr went to them from the apostle he said, "I have killed bint Marwan, o sons of Khatma. Withstand me if you can; don't keep me waiting." That was the first day Islam became powerful among Banu Khatma; before that those who were Muslims concealed the fact. The first of them to accept Islam was Umayr bin Adiy who was called the "Reader", and Abdullah bin Aus and Khuzayma bin Thabit. The day after Bint Marwan was killed the men of Banu Khatma became Muslims because they feared for their lives."
- {1} The note reads "Two tribes of Yamani origin." [1]
[edit] Ibn Sa'd: Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir
Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir also described the death of Asma bint Marwan:
- Then (occurred) the sariyyah of Umayr ibn adi Ibn Kharashah al-Khatmi against Asma Bint Marwan, of Banu Umayyah Ibn Zayd, when five nights had remained from the month of Ramadan, in the beginning of the nineteenth month from the hijrah of the apostle of Allah. Asma was the wife of Yazid Ibn Zayd Ibn Hisn al-Khatmi. She used to revile Islam, offend the prophet and instigate the (people) against him. She composed verses. Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the prophet at al-Medina. The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?" He said: "Yes. Is there something more for me to do?" He [Muhammad] said: "No. Two goats will butt together about her. This was the word that was first heard from the apostle of Allah. The apostle of Allah called him Umayr "Basir" (the seeing). [2]
[edit] Ali Dashti: 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad
Following is a description of this assassination (as well as the assassination of Abu 'Afak) by the contemporary detractor of Islam and freethinker, Ali Dashti:
- "Abu Afak, a man of great age (reputedly 120 years) was killed because he had lampooned Mohammad. The deed was done by Salem b. Omayr at the behest of the Prophet, who had asked, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" The killing of such an old man moved a poetess, Asma b. Marwan, to compose disrespectful verses about the Prophet, and she too was assassinated." [3]
[edit] Allegations of forgery
Some Islamic scholars consider this story to be a forgery because the only sources for the story are Ibn Ishaq's Sira and Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir. Also, one of the reporters in the chain of narration, Muhammad Ibn Al-Hajjaj, is known for fabricating Hadiths.[4]
Ibn 'Adiyy mentions this incident in his book "Al-Kamel" on the authority of Ja'far Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn As-Sabah on authority of Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ash-Shami on authority of Muhammad Ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Lakhmi on authority of Mujalid on authority of Ash-Shu'abi on authority of Ibn 'Abbas, and added that
- "...this isnad (chain of reporters) is not narrated on authority of Mujalid but by Muhammad Ibn Al-Hajjaj and they all (other reporters in the chain) accuse Muhammad Ibn Al-Hajjaj of forging it." [5]
