According to Prophet Muhammad’s biographer Ibn Ishaq [1], during the battle of the Ditch in 628 in which the Mecca army seized the Muslims in Medina, a Jewish man from the Banu Quraiza tribe allegedly appeared near the quarter of the Muslims where the women and children were camping in safety. Prophet’s aunt Safiyah, suspected him of being a spy and reported to the sole man, Hasan, who was guarding the camp. After observing the Jewish man closely, the Hasan noticed no trace of hostility in the man and left him alone. Not satisfied by Hasan’s inaction, Safiyah, joined with other women, attacked the man and brutally killed him.

Mecca army withdrew the siege seeing no hope of overcoming the Trench Muslims had dug for protection and retreated to Mecca. Soon afterwards, the Prophet, apprised of the allegedly Jewish spy, rushed attacked the tribe of Banu Quraiza to avenge the alleged betrayal. Here is how the Prophet received the command from Allah:

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 59, Number 443: Narrated 'Aisha:

When the Prophet returned from Al-Khandaq (i.e. Trench) and laid down his arms and took a bath, Gabriel came and said (to the Prophet), You have laid down your arms? By Allah, we angels have not laid them down yet. So set out for them." The Prophet said, "Where to go?" Gabriel said, "Towards this side," pointing towards Banu Quraiza. So the Prophet went out towards them.

Muslims, with Muhammad at the lead, seized the Jewish outpost for 25 days before the latter surrendered. The Prophet resolved to slaughter the 800-900 adult males, to capture the women and children as slaves and to confiscate the land, homes and assets. When people frowned over the cruelty of the verdict, Allah from heaven quickly rushed to the rescue of Prophet’s design to annihilate the Jewish tribe:

33:26 And He brought those of the People of the Scripture who supported them down from their strongholds, and cast panic into their hearts. Some ye slew, and ye made captive some.

33:27 And He caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land ye have not trodden. Allah is ever Able to do all things.

So, the Muslims dug a ditch near the marketplace (such that every one can see the show), brought the chained Jewish men in batches of five or six, chopped the heads and thrown into the ditch. The Muslims stood by to watch and enjoy the carnival.

Thus, the hadiths, the biographies of the Prophet and the language of the Koran (Allah) evidently show the Prophet of Islam as an extremely cruel man. His aggressive engagement in raids of trade foreign caravans and attacks against any community residing within hundreds of miles from his abode in Medina, vividly recorded in the pious biographies and hadiths in graphic details, bear a clear testament to that. On the other hand, the Bible depicts Jesus as a humble man dying cruelly on the cross and never touched a woman in his life. Critics of the Christian religion in the West, against all odds, can sketch a naked Jesus wearing a condom in a French magazine or show him in movies as a lustful married man in the name of freedom of expression. 

Yet, when the Danish Newspaper published the caricature of Muhammad showing him as a purported terrorist, quite consistent with his actions, Muslims went  berserk around the world attacking Western embassies and killing over a hundred people in Afghanistan, Iraq and Nigeria. Howsoever, consistent and accurate the assessment of Muhammad those cartoons might have represented, the freedom of expression does not apply to issues related to Islam, even in the Western countries. The cartoonists, who are being pursued by the Muslim assassins, are still under police protection.

Then we witnessed the worldwide carnival of Muslim outcry and violence over the Pope's citation of a remark by a Byzantine emperor of the 14th century which again reflected nothing but the truth in the light of the Islamic literatures. The worldwide protests and violence resulted in a number of deaths, multiple churches were attacked or bombed, there were demands for the Pope's immediate conversion to Islam and there have been death-threats on his life. The Pope had to express regret for simply citing a quote which represented nothing but the truth according to the literatures Muslims proudly distribute around the world. 

Then, there is the case of cancellation of a Mozart opera production in Germany, which contained a scene of sacrifice of Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. The fear behind the cancellation was not for showing the offensive sacrifice of Jesus in a predominant Christian country. The fear is the threat of the tiny minority of Muslims, who came there as economic refugees for making a good life. 

This Jihadist tactic of forcing the non-believers to capitulation to the rage of Muslims has now reached the Cricket pitch in India [2]. Australian umpire Darrell Hair (holding the finest umpiring record in Cricket) and his West Indies co-umpire fined the Pakistan team for five runs over an alleged foul-playing of ball-tempering in England. An extraordinary series of events followed: Pakistan refused to continue to play the match and after 30 minutes, the umpires decided to award the game to the opposition England team. 

Hair's controversy on the cricket pitch is not new. He has pulled players and teams from India, Sri Lanka, England, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and where not. Every time, he has pulled a player from the subcontinent, there have been all sorts of accusation of racism and biases against the colored and subcontinent people. Yet, he came out victorious every time because of the accuracy of his judgments, rubbishing the accusation of racism and biases. The fact remains that Hair has been the most consistent umpire in the world during his entire term. In every controversy he has been proved right. His calls have been so accurate that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had to modify/change the rules of the game to accommodate those who have learned only throwing, not bowling the ball. Majority of these throwers came from Pakistan – others being from Sri Lanka and India.

However, in the current controversy, Hair got himself in the hot soup. The clearest evidence of ball tempering, as goes the vogue, is the video evidence captured in cameras on the field. The rule, however, is that video evidence is not necessary; neither the video evidence is always absolutely correct. Booking of Sachin Tendulkar a few years ago over what was his attempt to remove clay stuck on the ball is one such example. The altered condition of the ball is the ultimate criteria and to any experienced umpire, it is not difficult to judge whether a ball has been doctored or not. And the two umpires had decided the same.

The Pakistanis have remained the most dishonest players in the field of cricket with tarnished history of ball-tampering. In the confession of Imran Khan in his autobiography, Pakistani bowlers did tampering with the ball regularly and to his admission, ball-tampering was rife in international cricket.

The extraordinary event that followed in the wake of the current controversy, lead to a hearing of the case by the Sri Lankan match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, who decided that whatever might have been the condition of the ball, it might have been caused by the battering by the bats and hence, did not warrant the tempering charges and exonerated the Pakistan team. A proud Pakistan captain came out of the judgment defending the honor of his country. When Hair, facing a hoard of journalists, was asked about the judgment he refused to be drawn into it in order to follow the ICC guideline but fiercely defended his umpiring record during his 21 year career.

Ranjan Mudgalle and the ICC had definitely realized what was at stake had the verdict gone against the Pakistan team. And this was further manifested in later exclusion of Darrell Hair from umpiring in the ICC Championship trophy in India on the excuse of security to Hair [3]. Security threat from whom? From Al-Qaeda, the fans or the Pakistan teams or who? India can assure security to Al-Qaeda’s deadliest enemies President Bush, Parvez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai but not to Darrell Hair. Writing is on the wall, clear and obvious, where the threat comes from.

The fact remains that the world’s finest umpire sits out of world’s second-most important cricket tournament in the shorter version of game. It should not be him but other umpires be sitting out of this tournament, if at all. This is a massive disgrace for the ICC to capitulate to Pakistan’s unjustified demand to exclude Mr. Hair from umpiring, which bodes badly for the future of the game of cricket. Nullification of umpires’ judgment on flimsy ground also tells a telling tale of how it will play on the minds of the umpires on the field of future games, especially while officiating in games involving Pakistan. After arriving home, a proud Pakistan captain declared: “I forgive him (Darrell Hair)” which receiving any admonishing from ICC or Pakistan cricket. Such has become the fate of the umpires, who should be calling the shot at the field of play.

What could be assured is that had similar judgments by Hair or any other umpire gone against teams like England, Australia or New Zealand, the umpires would have prevailed. Like the Western infidels’ capitulation over the cartoon, the Pope’s comment and the Mozart show cancellation, this is another capitulation by the infidels of the ICC and India to the Jihadi campaign of the Muslim nation of Pakistan. Jihad has finally made its inroad to the cricket pitch. Pakistan, being at the fore-front, in the expansion of the worldwide Jihad, which has turned the world upside-down, there is little hope that an ever-feeble and 13-century-long Dhimmi nation of India would take a  stand against the demand of the deadliest Jihadi nation on earth and employ Hair to officiate in the upcoming tournament for the sake of cricket. The rapid expansion of the Jihad to all spheres and affairs of the world has started in real earnest.

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[1]  Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasoul Allah: The Trench