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PROPHET MUHAMMAD PBUH AS A MIL THEORIEST

1. Intro. Prophet Muhammad PBUH was the last Prophet of Allah. The long
shadow of Muhammad stretches across centuries of strife to the present. Today an
estimated 1.4 billion Muslim around the globe follow his teachings- The word of Allah as
revealed to Him PBUH. In an American publication entitled The Hundred, author, Doctor
Michael Heart has declared the Prophet Muhammad as the most influential Human
being of the history. He was born in Arabian Tribe of Quraish where mil training was
part and parcel of every Arab citizen yet he did not receive any such training being an
Orphan PBUH. Yet the time came when he proved himself a great General. Had
Prophet Muhammad PBUH, not succeeded as a commander, the conquest of the
Byzantine and Persian empires by Muslim armies might never have occurred. He was a
great Gen, in the space of a single decade he fought eight major battles, and planned
another thirty eight mil ops where other were in command but operating under his
orders and strategic direction. Wounded twice, he also twice experienced having his
positions over run by superior forces before he managed to turn the tables on his
enemies and rally his men to victory. More than a mil gen and tactician, he was also a
mil theorist, while this thing may look new to few of us but the fact remains that theories
given by Prophet PBUH are still applicable in modern Warfare.
2. Aim. To discuss the various military thoughts/ strategies used by Prophet
Muhammad PBUH during wars.
Strategies Adopted by Prophet Muhammad PBUH
3. Although Prophet PBUH was not a practicing military theorist yet by virtue of his
wisdom and circumstances, he applied various mil thoughts during early battles of Islam
and left behind lessons which are still applicable in modern warfare. These theories are
not available in form of some book or articles but one has to go through the life span of
Prophet PBUH to find out how PBUH used these theories before, during and after war.
4. War is cunning. Surprise and Deception if used artfully could be a powerful
and economical weapon Prophet Muhammad PBUH said on number of occasions that
“all War is Cunning” reminding modern analysts of Sun Tzu’s dictum, “all war is
deception.” Prophet Muhammad PBUH was not the first one to envision it as a “principle
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of war” but he employed it as an imp element while planning military campaigns esp in
battle of trench where Queraish were completely surprised when they encounter a obs
which they had never seen before and therefore could not negotiate it. Similarly It was
1st of Ramzan once a strong contingent of 10000 Muslim embarked upon a campaign
leading toward Makkah, The troops only knew once they were on move, strong security
elements were employed ahead of force to avoid detection of move and ensure
security. The security and speed being the main characteristics of this campaign, the
military history was being written the superb strategy, a total surprise breaking enemy’s
will to fight. The Quresh of Makah the strongest of all in Arabic peninsula were taken by
utter surprise, which was broken only on the night of 10 Jan 629AD, once all the hillocks
sorrowing Makkah were lit by camping lights of Muslims. This was by design as our
Commander had to leave a military lesson for us about use of surprise and deception as
a force multiplier. Troops were ordered to disperse in smaller groups of 2 – 4 and light
their own fire, to simulate an army of much greater in strength then it actual was ,
so that no one could dare resist the next morning the D Day . The history bears the
testimony to the fact that Makkah fell without least resistance and bloodshed. The
wining factor was that cunningness which is commonly known as Surprise and
Deception.
5. Importance of Intelligence. Prophet Muhammad had true understanding of the
importance of intelligence. In the beginning Muslims operations suffered from a lack of
tactical intelligence. Max Muslims were mostly townspeople with no experience in
desert travel. On some of the early operations Prophet PBUH had to hire bedouin
guides. However, Muslims intelligence service became more organized and
sophisticated, using agents-in-place, commercial spies, debriefing of prisoners, combat
patrols and reconnaissance in force as methods of intelligence collection. Prophet often
asked the Muslims to conduct advance reconnaissance of the battlefields upon which
he fought. In most cases intelligence service provided him with sufficient information as
to the enemy’s location and intentions in advance of any military engagement. However
exact knowledge of how the intelligence service was organized or where it was located
is not aval. Probably Suffah were part of int org.
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6. Concept of National Army. Prophet PBUH transformed the social

composition of Arab armies from a collection of clans, tribes, and blood kin loyal only to
themselves into a national army loyal to a national social entity, the ummah. The
ummah was not a nation or a state in the modern sense, but a body of religious
believers under the unified command and governance of Muhammad. The ummah
transcended the clans and tribes and permitted Muhammad to forge a common identity,
national in scope, among the Arabs for the first time. It was leadership of this national
entity that Muhammad claimed, not of any clan or tribe.

8. Concept of Combined Arms. Another achievement of Prophet PBUH was

the conversion of national army to unify the two traditional combat arms of infantry and
cavalry into a genuine combined arms force. Bedouins and town dwellers had
historically viewed one another with suspicion. Arab infantry had traditionally been
drawn from the people living in the towns, settlements, and oases of Arabia. Arab
cavalry was traditionally drawn from bedouin clans, whose nomadic warriors excelled at
speedy raids, surprise attacks, and elusive retreats, skills honed to a fine edge over
generations of raiding. These two different types of combatants possessed only limited
experience in fighting alongside one another. Bound by clan loyalties and living in
settlements, Arab infantry was steadfast and cohesive and could usually be relied upon
to hold its ground, especially in the defense. Arab cavalry, on the other hand, was
unreliable in a battle against infantry, often breaking off the fight to keep their precious
mounts from being hurt or make off with whatever booty they had seized. Bedouin
cavalry was, however, proficient at reconnaissance, surprise attack, protecting the
flanks, and pursuing ill-disciplined infantry. Muhammad was the first Arab commander to
successfully join both combat arms into a national army and use them in concert in
battle. Thanks to the larger religious community of believers, the ummah, he could
combine the two primary elements of traditional Arab society, town dwellers and
bedouin tribes, into a single Arab national identity. That change was actually preceded
by a shift in the social composition of Arab society.
9. Importance of Logistics. Prophet Muhammad PBUH had been an organizer of
caravans for twenty-five years, and he showed the caravaner’s concern for logistics and
planning. His expertise in those areas permitted him to project force and conduct
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military operations over long distances across inhospitable terrain. In 630 on the eve of
Battle of Tabuk, he led Muslim army of twenty to thirty thousand men on a 250-mile
march across the desert from Medina to Tabuk lasting eighteen to twenty days during
the hottest season of the year. By traditional Arab standards, that trek was nothing short
of astounding.
10. Code of Restraint. Prophet PBUH proved that he was the Prophet of Mercy.
Since the actual goal of Prophet Muhammad in battles was not to destroy the enemy
troops, he never attempted to do so. He always attached great importance to peace.
The Treaty of Hudaybiyah was a great victory accomplished during his lifetime. The
Prophet conquered Mecca without shedding even one drop of blood. If he had wished to
do so, he could have put the people of Mecca to the sword; however, he chose not to,
as he was the Prophet of Mercy. In order to prevent the people of Mecca from making
the mistake of attacking the Islamic army he ensured that they had accepted defeat in
advance and sent the following information to them:

a. He who takes shelter in the Kaaba is secure,

b. Whoever takes shelter in Abu Sufyan’s house is secure,

c. Whoever locks the door of his house and stays in his own house will not
be touched, he will be secure.”

11. Winning Heart and minds. The essence of Islam is accord, that is, peace.
War is an exceptional situation. Prophet discouraged the believers from seeking war
while at the same time stating that they should have faith in success if war is inevitable.
Treaty of Hudabiya and conquest of Makkah without bloodshed were few examples of
winning hearts and minds of people.

12. Use of Force for Attainment of Political Aims. Arab warfare prior to
Prophet Muhammad’s reforms involved clans and tribes fighting for honor or loot. Arab
warfare had been tactical warfare, nothing more. There was no sense of strategic war in
which long-term, grand strategic objectives were sought and toward which the tactical
application of force was directed. Prophet was the first to introduce to the Arabs the
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notion of war for strategic goals. He was always Clausewitzian in his view that the use
of force was a tactical means to the achievement of larger strategic objectives. Had
Muhammad not introduced this new way of thinking to Arab warfare, the use of later
Arab armies to forge a world empire would not only have been impossible, it would have
been unthinkable. Various texts also mention Muslims use of catapults (manjaniq) and
movable covered cars (dabbabah) in siege warfare. Most likely these siege devices
were acquired in Yemen, where Persian garrisons had been located on and off over the
centuries. Muhammad seems to have been the first Arab commander to use them in
the north. Where once Arab warfare had been a completely tactical affair, Prophet
Muhammad’s introduction of strategic war permitted the use of tactics in the proper
manner, as a means to greater strategic ends. War, after all, is never an end in itself. It
is, as Clausewitz reminds us, always a method, never a goal.

13. People’s War. People’s war also known as “Protracted People’s War” is a
mil political strategy of having support of the population. Modern analysts believe Mao
Zedong who coined this strategy. However Prophet Muhammad PBUH was probably
the first commander in history to understand and implement the doctrine. He said that
God had commandeered that all Muslims had a responsibility to fight for the faith. All
Muslims had an obligation for military service in defense of the faith and the ummah. It
is essential to understand that the attraction of the Islamic ideology more than
anything else produced the manpower that permitted Muhammad’s PBUH small
revolutionary cadre to evolve into a conventional armed force capable of large-scale
engagements.
14. Use of Force for Political Goal. Prophet Muhammad was a combination of Karl
von Clausewitz and Niccole Machiavelli, as regards his thinking and application of force
was concerned for he always employed force in the service of political goals. An astute
grand strategist, he used non military methods (alliance building, religious appeals and
mercy) to strengthen his long-term position, sometimes even at the expense of short-
term military considerations.
15. Concept of National Army. Prophet PBUH transformed the social
composition of Arab armies from a collection of clans, tribes, and blood kin loyal only to
themselves into a national army loyal to a national social entity, the ummah. The
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ummah was not a nation or a state in the modern sense, but a body of religious
believers under the unified command and governance of Muhammad. The ummah
transcended the clans and tribes and permitted Muhammad to forge a common identity,
national in scope, among the Arabs for the first time. It was leadership of this national
entity that Muhammad claimed, not of any clan or tribe.

16. Welfare of Tps. Muslim army demonstrated a higher degree of military

motivation than traditional Arab armies. Being a good warrior had always been at the
center of Arab values, but Prophet enhanced the warrior’s status. Muslim soldiers were
always guaranteed a share in the booty. It became a common saying among Muslims
that “the soldier is not only the noblest and most pleasing profession in the sight of
Allah, but also the most profitable.” Muhammad’s soldiers were usually paid better than
Persian or Byzantine soldiers.

Concl

17. Prophet’s personality have numerous dimensions however we have discussed

His personality as a mil strategist. Lessons which He had left and theories he devised
are still applicable today.