Sa’ûd sent the looters he raised from the villages to
Medina
after capturing al-Makkat al-Mukarrama and the
villages around it. He appointed two brothers named Badây and Nâdî as
commanders of the looters. They plundered the Muslim villages on their way and
killed many Muslims. Most of the villages around Medina were set to fire and
demolished. The Muslims who were on the right path shown by the ’ulamâ’ of Ahl
as-Sunna were looted and put to the sword. There were so many villages burnt
and Muslims killed that nobody could make an approximate estimate. The villages
around Medina accepted the Wahhâbite beliefs for fear of plunder, torture and
death. They became servants and slaves to Sa’ûd. Sa’ûd sent a letter addressing
the Medinan Muslims with Sâlih ibn Sâlih:
“I begin with the name of He who is the Owner of the
Day of Judgement. May it be known by the ’ulamâ’, officials and merchants of
Medina that comfort and peace in the world is only for those who attain
guidance. Oh the people of Medina! I invite you to the true religion. The 19th
and 85th âyats of Sûrat Âl ’Imrân says, ‘The correct religion in Allah’s esteem is Islam. The religion of
those who adopt any religion other than Islam will not be accepted. They will
suffer loss on the Day of Judgement!’ I
want you to know about my feelings about you. I bear love and faith towards the
people of Medina. I want to come and live in Rasûlullâh’s city with
you. I will not distress or torture you if you listen to me and obey my orders.
The people of Mecca have been enjoying favour and kindness from me since the
day I entered Mecca. I want you to become Muslims anew. You will be safe
against plunder, death and torture if you obey my orders. Allah will protect
you and I shall be your protector. I send this letter by my trustworthy man
Sâlih ibn Sâlih. Read it carefully and make a decision with him! What he says
is what I say.”
This letter frightened the Medinans very much. They
had heard about the tortures and massacre inflicted upon the Tâ’ifian women and
children (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în) a few days ago and had shuddered
with fear. They could say neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ to Sa’ûd ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz’s
letter. They could surrender neither their lives nor their religion.
Seeing no answer to the letter, the head of the
bandits, Badây the treacherous, attacked Yanbû’, the seaport of Medina. After
capturing Yanbû’, he laid siege to Medina and severely attacked the ’Anbariyya
gate of the walls. Just on that day, the Damascene pilgrims came with their
leader ’Abdullâh Pasha. Upon seeing the city under siege, the pilgrims and the
accompanying soldiers
started fighting against the bandits. About two
hundred bandits were killed in two hours of bloody battle while the remainder ran away.
The Muslims enjoyed peace in Medina until ’Abdullâh
Pasha completed his duties of pilgrimage, but the traitorous Badây besieged the
city again after the Damascene pilgrims left. He captured Qubâ, Awalî and
Qurban and built two bastions in the district. He barred the roads to the city
and demolished the aqueducts called the ’Ain az-zarqâ.’ Thus, the
Muslims were left without food and water.
A mu’jiza: The water of the well at the Baghchat ar-Rasûl in
Masjid an-Nabî increased and its hardness decreased and brackish taste
disappeared after the ’Ain az-zarqâ’ was demolished and the water-supply in the
city was exhausted. No Muslim suffered thirst. Formerly, this well was known
for its brackish water.
The
siege continued for months. The Muslims endured heavy distress in the hope that
the Damascene pilgrims would come and rescue them again. At last, the pilgrims
arrived, but the head of the caravan, Ibrâhîm Pasha, said, “Surrender the city
to them,” because he did not have sufficient armed forces to fight against
them. The Muslims thought that Ibrâhîm Pasha had talked and agreed with Badây
and obtained promise that the Muslims would not be tortured or harmed. They
wrote the following letter to Sa’ûd and sent it by a council of four
representatives, namely Muhammad Tayyâr, Hasan Chawush, ’Abd al-Qâdir Ilyâs and
’Alî:
“We
offer the respect to be paid to you and say salâms. May Allâhu ta’âlâ
make you successful in your deeds which are compatible with His approval! Oh
Shaikh Sa’ûd! Ibrâhîm Pasha, the amîr of the Damascene pilgrims, arrived and
saw that the city was besieged, the roads barred, and the water cut off by
Badây. He asked the reason and learnt that it was an order of yours. As we hope
you bear no evil intention towards the people of Medina, we think that you have
no information about these unbecoming and evil events. We, the notables of
Medina, assembled and decided to inform you of what has been happening to us.
We unanimously elected the four best, purest persons and sent them to you as
messengers. We pray to Allâhu ta’âlâ that they will come back to us with good
news to make us happy.”
Sa’ûd
treated the messengers very violently upon reading the letter and was not
ashamed of saying that he was very angry with and hostile towards the people of
Medina. The messengers
begged him much to
forgive them and imploringly cast themselves at his filthy feet. But, he said,
“I conclude from your letter that you will not obey my orders, that you will
not accept my true religion, that you are trying to deceive me with soft words
for you are overwhelmed by thirt, hunger and distress, and that you are begging
just to get rid of this distress. There is no other way out but to do whatever
I wish. I will make you groan and vanish as I did with the people of Tâ’if, if
you pretend
to be accepting my orders but speak or act unfavourably.” He forced the Muslims
to renounce their madhhabs.
The
fallacious, heretical terms dictated to the Medinan messengers by Sa’ûd are
written in detail in the book Târîkh-i Wahhâbiyyân.
The
Medinan messengers went back to Medina after accepting Sa’ûd’s orders under
compulsion. The Medinans, stupefied by these events, showed acceptance
unwillingly, as the one who falls into the sea grasps the serpent. They
surrendered the Medina fortress to seventy men of Badây as required by the
seventh clause of the agreement. One of the terms of the agreement was that the
shrines in Medina should be demolished. They unwillingly fulfilled the terms in
order not to be tortured. Although they did so unwillingly, these deeds of
theirs gave way to very bad consequences.
No
answer came from the letters written to Istanbul for help. The Medinans lived
under torture and oppression for three years. When they lost hope of help from
Istanbul, they wrote a letter to Sa’ûd asking for forgiveness and mercy and
sent it to Dar’iyya with Husain Shâkir and Muhammad Saghâyî. But Sa’ûd did not
receive the messengers for he had heard that the people of Medina had asked
Istanbul for help before. He set out for Medina with a large flock of brigands
to increase the oppression and torture on the Medinans.
All
the savages and villagers of the deserts of Arabia recognized Sa’ûd as the
ruler of the Najd, who signed the letters he wrote to here and there with the
title “al-Imâm ad-Dar’iyyat
al-majdiyya wa ’l-ahkâmi ’d-da’wati ’n-Najdiyya.”
As soon as he entered
Medina, Sa’ûd ordered the servants of shrines themselves to demolish the
shrines. Although the Muslims had demolished many noble shrines as required by
the third clause of the terms accepted three years before, they had not dared
to touch a few thrines which they knew to be great and blessed. The servants of
these shrines started demolishing them
while weeping and lamenting. The servant of Hadrat
Hamza’s (radî-’Allâhu ’anh) shrine said he was very old and could not do
anything, and Sa’ûd ordered a treacherous slave of his to demolish the shrine.
That person climbed up the dome to start demolishing it but fell down and died,
and Sa’ûd, the filthy, gave up demolishing Hadrat Hamza’s shrine, yet he had
its door removed. After supervising the operation of this base order of his, he made a
speech on the dais constructed in Manâha Place. He said that the Medinans did
not want to obey him, but became munâfiqs out of fear and wanted to go on being
polytheists as before. He added, in a very ugly and impertinent voice, that those
who took refuge in the fortress should come and show humility, and that those
who did not come would suffer the “Wahhâbite justice” performed in Tâ’if.
Everybody was frightened
when the fortress gates were closed and it was announced in every street that
all the people should assemble in Manâha Place. They supposed they, too, like
the Tâ’ifians, would be tortured to death. They went to Manâha Place after
kissing away, the children’s tears and saying good-bye to and mutually asking
forgiveness from their wives. Men and women assembled in two separate groups
and bowed their neck towards the bright dome of Rasûlullâh’s
(sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed shrine. The blessed city of Medina had
not suffered such a sad day ever before. Sa’ûd was mad and enraged with a blind
grudge towards the Muslims. But, Allâhu ta’âlâ protected the city of Medina
from being painted with blood, with the blessing of Rasûlullâh. After insulting the Muslims with unbecoming and mean words
incompatible with modesty, Sa’ûd ordered his bandits to settle in the Medina
fortress. He appointed Hasan Chawush, one of the rascals he trusted the most,
to be the governor of Medina and went back to Dar’iyya. He came to Medina again
after performing hajj in Mecca during the pilgrimage season. Sa’ûd came out
from his den to the courthouse when the Damascene caravan went two or three
days’ way away from Medina. Without even a tremble of his dark, stony heart, he
let his bandits plunder the precious gifts; the works of art of great historical
value; invaluable pieces of art gilded with gold and inlaid with jewels and
with precious stones; and select copies of the Qur’ân al-karîm and
rare books, which had been kept in Rasûlullâh’s blessed shrine
and in the treasure of Masjid an-Nabawî that had been sent as choice, elaborate
gifts by Muslim sultans, commanders, artists and ’ulamâ’ from the whole Muslim
world over a millennium. The fire of hatred in him
against the Muslims did not calm down even after this shameful vileness of his,
and he went on demolishing the remaining graves belonging to the Sahâbîs and
martyrs. Although he attempted to demolish the dome of Rasûlullâh’s blessed shrine, the Muslims’ cries and entreaties made him give up;
yet he ruined the Shabakat as-Sa’âda, fortunately not touching the
walls. He ordered that the walls around Medina should be repaired. He assembled
the Medinans in Masjid an-Nabî. He closed the gates of the Masjid and delivered
the following speech on the dais:
“Oh
congregation! I have summoned you here to advise you and to warn you to obey my
orders. Oh people of Medina! Your religion has now been completed. You became
Muslims. You pleased Allah. Do not ever admire the false religion of your
fathers and grandfathers any more! Do not pray to Allah to show mercy upon
them! They all died as polytheists. They all were polytheists. I have explained
how you should worship and pray to Allah in the books which I gave to your men
of religious authority. It should be known that your possessions, children,
wives and blood are mubâh for my soldiers if you do not obey my men of
religious authority! They will chain and torture all of you to death. It is
forbidden in the religion of Wahhâbism to stand in front of the Prophet’s shrine with an
attitude of respect to say salât and salâm as your grandfathers used to do. You
must not stand in front of the shrine, but walk away and say only, ‘As-salâmu ’alâ Muhammad,’ while passing by.
According to the ijtihâd of our imâm Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhâb, this much
respect is sufficient for the Prophet.”
Sa’ûd, after making many similar unbecoming and vulgar slanders, which we dare not to quote, let the gates of Masjid as-Sa’âda be opened. He appointed his son ’Abdullâh the govenor of Medina and went to Dar’iyya. Thereafter, ’Abdullâh ibn Sa’ûd left no harm undone to the Medinan Muslims.