Ibn Ishaq reports:

’UMAYR B. 'ADIY'S JOURNEY TO KILL 'ASMA’ D. MARWAN

She was of B. Umayya b. Zayd. When Abu ‘Afak had been killed she displayed disaffection. ‘Abdullah b. al-Harith b. al-Fudayl from his father said that she was married to a man of B. Khatma called Yazid b. Zayd.

Blaming Islam and its followers she said:

Our Comments:

Note that an extra-judicial assassination is called a “journey” by the reporter. A journey to kill.

The crime leading to the assassination was “displaying disaffection” for the killing of an old man.



Asma bint Marwan blames Islam and the Muslims which is quite understandable since the killings were ordered by Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. Whatever Muhammad said was Islam; his followers were clearly to blame for blindly following him.

Nowadays, the poor lady would be called an Islamophobe because she dared to criticize the revered person of Muhammad. People should understand that Muslims are bound to react violently given such provocation. Violence is only to be expected if anyone dares to assert that Muhammad was a violent man.

I despise B. Malik and al-Nabit
And ‘Auf and B. al-Khazraj.
You obey a stranger who is none of yours,
One not of Murad or Madhhij.'
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 surprise
And cut off the hopes of those who expect aught from him?

At the time there were no newspapers, and people used to comment on current events by means of poetry.

In this poem, Asma Bint Marwan scolds the tribes that converted to Islam early on and that were following Muhammad blindly. She denounces the killings that were done under his leadership, and asks if somebody will stand up and stop him.

Hassan b. Thabit answered her:

Hassan b. Thabit was the poet employed by Muhammad to answer critics of Islam with poetry. The elimination of critics was carried out by others.

Asma is threatened. Hassan the poet knows already which fate is awaiting her: death.  The crime: insulting Muhammad.


The poet apparently did not see the contradiction between the supposed noble aspect of Muhammad and the cruel killing that his victim underwent.
And the killer incurred no guilt!

Simply criticizing Muhammad justified the death penalty, and since that time nothing has changed. A number of Islamic countries today still carry the death penalty for “defaming Prophet Muhammad”. If somebody in Pakistan says that Muhammad killed innocent people, he will be sentenced to death. However, if he says that Muhammad killed his critics and they deserved it, he is a hero. There is indeed a fine line between a hero and a dead man ... or woman

When the apostle heard what she had said he said, 'Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter ? ‘Umayr b. '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 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 B. Khatma that day about the affair of Bint 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 that Islam became powerful among B. Khatma; before that those who were Muslims concealed the fact. The first of them to accept Islam was ‘Umayr b. `Adiy who was called “the Reader”, and 'Abdullah b. Aus and Khuzayma b. Thabit.

The day after Bint Marwan was killed the men of B. Khatma became. Muslims because they saw the power of Islam.

There were always volunteers to execute the orders of Muhammad. This time it was a Muslim convert from the tribe of Asma’s husband. No legal proceedings were necessary, no trial to assess her guilt.

Here comes a typical expression used by Muhammad: the killer has “helped Allah and his Prophet” (as if Allah could not have killed Asma himself).

Here Muhammad himself says that Asma Bint Marwan was a politically harmless person and thereby admits that she was killed solely because she spoke out against him.

Having heard this, the killer gets even more self-confident and goes out to challenge her family. It was not enough that he had killed their mother.



And yes, Ibn Ishaq associates Islam with violence. Islam became powerful by killing its critics. Non-Muslims who say the same thing, however, are Islamophobes, racists, ...



The same thing is happening right now. After every major Islamic terrorist attack, there is a peak in conversions to Islam in the West. Probably because they see that Islam is indeed a powerful religion, inspiring people to do “great things”.