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CHAPTER 1  THE FIRST SPIES

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THE RISE OF ISLAM

The extraordinary series of Islamic conquests that followed

the Prophet Muhammad’s seizure of Mecca in 630

ce owed

much to the military abilities of his generals and the hardiness

of his Arab soldiers. But behind these Arab victories lay the

foundation provided by Muhammad’s mastery of the covert arts

of intelligence gathering, deception, and assassination.

After Muhammad had experienced the divine revelation that he was God’s

messenger in 610

ce, his attempts to convert his fellow citizens in Mecca to

the new religion of Islam met with outright hostility. In 622, he was forced

into hiding to avoid being killed by Mecca’s dominant Quraish tribe. He fled

by camel to Medina, where he established an Islamic outpost, its goal to

overcome opposition to Islam in Mecca.

As well as building up his military forces, Muhammad waged an

intelligence war against the Quraish. He sent hand-picked men to monitor

trade routes into Mecca and establish a spy network within the city itself.

The spies sent information about life in Mecca, including details of the

arrival and departure dates of the caravans that provided the city’s

economic lifeblood. Muhammad attacked the caravans, and slowly but

steadily wore down the enemy’s resistance. He also sent assassins into

Mecca, mainly to kill those who, he believed, had publicly blasphemed

against Allah.

AGAINST TORTURE

Enemy troops captured by Muhammad’s forces were closely interrogated.

However, unusually, Muhammad discouraged his men from using torture to

gain information. On one occasion, an enemy slave was captured. He readily

gave his captors all they demanded except for the whereabouts of a Quraish

leader named Abu Sufyan. They beat him, but he still didn’t give the required

information. The beatings continued until he invented information about Abu

Sufyan’s whereabouts. When Muhammad found out, he upbraided his men:

“You beat him when he is telling the truth and stop and let him go when he

tells you a lie.” Muhammad’s words revealed the inherent untrustworthiness

of confessions extracted by duress—as relevant today as it was then.

In 630

ce, Muhammad decided to go on the offensive. He spread the

rumor that his army was marching towards Syria, before secretly advancing

on Mecca. When the surprised people of the city saw the powerful forces

arrayed against them, their resistance crumbled. Muhammad promised to

spare their lives if they converted to Islam, and they flung open the city

gates—an almost totally bloodless victory, based not on brute force but on

the skills of covert warfare, and reminiscent of the lessons in The Art of War.

Muhammad died two years later, but by then his Islamic armies were

well on their way to subduing the Arabian peninsula. By 650

ce, most of the

Middle East had been conquered by the Arabs, who continued to employ

the arts of deception and subterfuge to outmaneuver their hapless enemies.