Talk:Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf

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Furthermore, if anyone wants to see a different perspective of why Ka'b was killed look at this site:

http://www.answering-christianity.com/sami_zaatri/rebuttal_to_silas_2.htm

Whoever wrote this article about Ka'b is probably non-muslim and it sounds like he gives anti-muslims the benefit of the doubt. Ka'b committed treason, which is still punishible today by death in the USA because his tribe signed a peace treaty with muslims then he went to instigate the enemies of the muslims just because Prophet Muhammad killed 3 war criminals of the 73 prisoner of war that he captured. These 3 war criminals, such as Utba, had tortured and killed muslims in Mecca just because they refused to leave their newly embraced faith. Shed no tears for these men or Ka'b who one can compare to Tokyo Rose. Would any of you shed a tear if Tokyo Rose was killed for spewing Japanese Propaganda against the USA in World War 2? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.97.84.243 (talkcontribs) .

Can you cite any sources here? Even just a news article would help! EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 21:24, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Great work you did on this article Pecher. I was going to work on it but you did all I wanted to do. Thanks OceanSplash19:12 30, May 2006

“Because the norms of the Arab society of that period demanded retaliation for a slight to a group's honor,[2] Muhammad called upon his followers to kill Ka'b”. I am not sure whether it is true that the norms of the Arab society of that period demanded that if someone writes a romantic poetry about a woman, his blood must be shed. However the hadith specifies clearly why Muhammad ordered the assassination of Ka’b. It’s because he had been critical of Muhammad after he banished the Bani Qaynuqa and had been writing poetries. This hurt Allah and His Apostle and that is why Muhammad ordered his assassination. OceanSplash19:56 31, May 2006

The stuff on the norms of the Arab society is sourced. Pecher Talk 19:00, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
Those are excuses of Ibn Hisham to justify the assassination of Ka’b. The pre Islamic literature is full of romantic poetry and love songs. The woman in question for whose beauty and slenderness K’ab composed his poetry was not related to Muhammad. The actual motivation for the assassination was given by Muhammad himself. Ka’b was critical of Muhammad banishment of the Bani Qaynuqa, feared similar fate for his own people Bani Nadir and was seeking the protection of the Quraish for his tribe. Muhammad, unable to tolerate opposition, ordered his assassination. We should also write about the assassinations of Asma Bint Marwa, Abu Afak and Abu Rafi and the cold blooded murder of Al-Nadr bin al-Harith and `Uqba bin Abi Mu`ayt. There are more OceanSplash20:52 31, May 2006
I think its inclusion violates NPOV, because it's outright excusing the behavior as though he had no choice in the matter. In an article about anyone else, such an attempt to excuse the behavior, attributing it to the culture of the place and time as though the individual in question had no choice, would never qualify as NPOV, and most regular people have a lot more pressure on them to follow cultural norms. Mohammed was the founder of a religion, and was certainly NOT bound by cultural norms. I don't recall anything about religious leaders like Jesus or Sadarta following cultural norms just because they were cultural norms. Hell, the message of Jesus was to pray for your enemies, even as they watch you slowly die nailed to a cross, which was a complete 180 on the cultural norms of his time. Founders of religions are by their very nature revolutionaries in terms of changing cultural norms, so if anyone could get away with breaking such a tradition it was Mohammed, as his influence on Islam is at least as great as Jesus' influence on Christianity. He could've done whatever he wanted (or, if you actually believe him, then whatever "Allah" wanted) and he (or perhaps "Allah") chose murder. Those are the facts, and attempts to downplay them have no place here; this is supposed to be an encyclopedia, not a fansite for Islam or Mohammed. Rich333 06:06, 8 December 2006 (UTC)