Beheading in Islam: Roots and the repercussions
Beheading was in the news again. Islamic apologists never accept such acts as a part of the holy war rather they try to assuage the matter saying beheading is “not a part of Islam” or they try to show those terrorists as the wrong interpreter of Quranic verses. Is it so? Even if we go little deep into the Islamic code of conduct based on its Sharia law, beheading consists of a range of execution strategies that can be put to use. Saudi Arabia is one of the Islamic nations that has decapitation in practice on a regular basis.
As of 2004, many Islamic nations such as Yemen, Iran, and Qatar had laws on their books that proscribed beheading. When we go into history, we find that among Ottoman soldiers, decapitation of a dead enemy was the main form of symbolic aggression on the battlefield. The question is since when has beheading been in practice. Where does its roots lie?
How and when beheading started
There are two instances associated with Prophet Muhammad which indicate that somewhere along the line it all began after he gave his nod to behead those who didn’t want to follow his fanatical religion.
Beheading of Jews men of Banu Qurazya tribe by Prophet Muhammad
According to Ibn-Ishaq, Muhammad’s earliest biographer, the prophet gave his nod to the beheadings of between 600 and 900 men from the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe after the Battle of the Trench.
Beheading of Jewish poet Asma who criticised Muhammad
In another incident, Muhammad gave orders for the beheading of Asma bint Marwan, a poet. Her story appears in the works of Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa’d. Going by their accounts, Muhammad and his followers were seen as unwelcome interlopers in Medina by Asma and her family. In 623, following the Muslim victory over the Quraysh in Mecca in the Battle of Badr, numerous opponents of Muhammad were killed. Enraged Asma wrote poems criticizing publicly the local tribesmen who converted to Islam and collaborated with Muhammad. In her poems she called for Muhammad’s death. Also, she mocked Medinians for following a chief who didn’t represent their kin.
According to Ibn Ishaq, Asma also reflected her despise after the Medinian Abu Afak was slaughtered for fueling rebellion against Muhammad. The poem said: "Do you expect good from (Muhammad) after the killing of your chiefs" and asked: "Is there no man of pride who would attack him by surprise/ And cut off the hopes of those who expect aught from him?" After hearing the poem, in turn, Muhammad then asked for her death, saying "Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?"
A blind man named Umayr bin Adiy al-Khatmi replied Muhammad that he would murder her. He belonged to the same tribe as Asma bint Marwan's husband, Banu Khatma. Umayr beheaded Asma one night when she was sleeping with her five children.
Why beheadings?
Not only Muhammad, the roots of beheadings lie in Quran too. According to two verses in the Quran, decapitation is allowed in terms of religious war. Sura 47, verse 4 reads: “Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks.” However, this line has generally been interpreted by Islamic scholars to mean that when facing infidels on the battlefield, one must strike with a deadly force.
It also holds water in sura 8, verse 12, in which it’s recalled that the Allahsaid to the angels at the Battle of Badr, “I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.”
From here, it becomes clear that beheading has everything to do with Islam’s two most important symbols - Prophet and Quran. Beheadings in Islam have been going incessantly for centuries in the name of holy war, Jihad. Here are few examples:
Saladin, after the Battle of Hattin (1187), himself beheaded Raynald of Châtillon. Raynald was a Christian knight who served in the Second Crusade and organized attacks against Islam's two holiest cities - Mecca and Medina.
In 1480, forces of the Ottoman Empire invaded and laid siege to the city of Otranto and its citadel. As per a traditional account, after capture, more than 800 citizens of Otranto – who refused to convert to Islam – were beheaded. Locals call them the "Martyrs of Otranto".
In 1880, Muhammad Ahmad declared himself Mahdi and spearheaded Jihad against the Ottoman Empire and their British allies. He and his followers beheaded opponents including the British general Charles Gordon.
List of beheadings that shook us in the core
Beheading of Christians in Andalusian Spain
Following is a story from the book “The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise” written by Dario Fernandez Morera relating to the brutal execution of a sexual slave who had offended the caliph Abd al-Rahman III:
His executioner, Abu Imran [Yahya], whom he always had at the ready with his “instruments,” said that one night he called him to his room in the palace of an-Naura, where Yahya had slept with his sword and leather floor mat. [Yahya] then entered the room where [Abd al-Rahman III] was drinking and found him squatting, like a lion sitting on his paws, in the company of a girl, beautiful like an oryx, who was being held by his eunuchs in a corner of the room, who was asking him for mercy, while he answered her in the grossest manner. He then told [Yahya] “Take that whore, Abu Imran, and cut her neck.” [Yahya] said, “I procrastinated, asking him again, as was my custom, but he told me: ‘Cut it, so may Allah cut your hand, or if not, put down you own [neck].’ And a servant brought her close to me, gathering up her braids, so that with one blow I made her head fly; but the strike of the blade made an abnormal noise, although I had not seen it hit anything else [but the neck]. Afterwards they took away the body of the girl, I cleaned my sword on my leather mat, I rolled up the mat, and I left; but when I entered my own room and I unfolded the mat, there appeared in it pearls big and shiny, mixed with jacinths and topazes that shone like red-hot coals, all of which I gathered in my hands and I hurried to take it to an-Nasir; he rejected it immediately and told me, ‘We knew they were there, but we wanted to give them to you as a gift: take it and may Allah bless it to you.’ And with it I bought this house.”
Beheading of Daniel Pearl
In 2002, Daniel Pearl was beheaded by al-Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after he went on to investigate the role of al-Qaeda in 9/11 attacks. Located in Mumbai, Pearl was working as the South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal.
American Hostages and beheading
Nicholas Evan Berg, an American freelance radio-tower repairman, went to Iraq after the United States' invasion of Iraq. According to a video released in May 2004, he was abducted and beheaded by Islamist militants in response to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse involving the United States Army and Iraqi prisoners. According to the CIA, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheaded Berg.
Steven Joel Sotloff was an American-Israeli journalist. He was kidnapped b Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria. ISIS released a beheading video on September 2, 2014 showing one of its members beheading Sotloff.
The Vaughan Foods beheading incident took place on September 25, 2014. A man shouting “Allahu Akbar” attacked two employees with a knife at the Vaughan Foods food processing plant in Moore, Oklahoma, United States. He beheaded Colleen Hufford, while another employee, Traci Johnson, was stabbed and critically injured.
Peter Edward Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig, was an American aid worker who was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Bangladesh atheist beheading
In recent years, Bangladesh has witnessed a number of beheadings in the name of holy war. On the Bangladeshi internet, a group of people who deny the existence of God has grown up. Many internet bloggers are not eithers rather they believe in secularism. They make use of the internet to argue that religion should not be the breeding ground of politics. From the year 2013, these bloggers have continuously attracted the attention of Islamic groups - more so after they took part in street rallies demanding a death sentence for an Islamist leader convicted as a war criminal. In 2013, the first such atheist writer - named Rajib Haider or "Thaba Baba" - was killed in 2013. After him, Avijit Roy and her wife were attacked together in February. Her wife Bonya lost fingers. Roy was beheaded with machetes.
Beheading of Samuel Paty in France
In October 2020, an 18-year-old Chechen immigrant stalked, stabbed, and decapitated a history teacher, Samuel Paty, in a Paris suburb near the middle school where Paty worked. Paty in his class had used a cartoon of the Prophet which had irked few Muslims students and their parents alike.
Tunisian man beheads woman, kills two more people in Nice church
In a similar incident, a knife-wielding Muslim man beheaded a woman shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) in a church in the French city of Nice. Hailing from Tunisia, he also killed two other people.
Mozambique beheading
In November 2020, more than fifty people were beheaded by Islamic terrorists in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique.
ISIL beheading incidents
A copy of an ISIL penal code surfaced in January 2015 detailing the penalties it enforces in areas under its influence, including beheadings. Frequently the beheading videos have been posted by ISIL members to social media. Many videoed beheadings were conducted by Mohammed Emwazi widely known as “Jihadi John”. According to Political scientist Max Abrahms posited, ISIL may be using well-publicized beheadings to differentiate itself from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and identifying itself with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda member who beheaded Daniel Pearl.
Social media posts and beheading
Yati Narsinghanand and Amanatullah Khan
In April 2021, Yati Narsinghanand, erstwhile Mahant (chief priest) of Dasna temple gave some controversial statements on Prophet Muhammad which infuriated Muslims and soon they started asking for his beheading. Some among them went on to announce the booty of millions on his head.
Bengaluru riots 2020 and beheading threats
In August 2020, a Facebook post led to rioting by Muslim mob in Bengaluru’s Pulakeshi Nagar. Allegedly a local Hindu youth Naveen, who also happens to be the nephew of local congress MLA, had posted controversial contents regarding Prophet Muhammad which irked many Muslims. Soon Muslims started sharing posts and content asking for the beheading of Naveen.
Beheading is not just a norm, it is a form of jihad which is validated by the Quran.
Comments