are narrated by European biographers of Mohammad as assassinations
committed through the countenance and connivance which he lent them.
They were about five or six in number, and they are styled
assassinations from there being no trials of the prisoners by a judge
and a jury, nor by any systematic court-martial. The punishment of death
was inflicted upon the persons condemned, either from private enmity or
for the unpardonable offence of high treason against the State, but it
cannot be said, as I will hereafter show, that these so-called cases of
assassinations had received the high sanction of Mohammad, or they were
brought about at his direct instigation and assent for their commission.
The alleged instances are as follows:--

1. Asma-bint Marwan.
2. Abu Afak.
3. Kab-ibn Ashraf.
4. Sofian-ibn Khalid.
5. Abu Rafe.
6. Oseir-ibu Zarim.
7. The attempted assassination of Abu Sofian.

[Sidenote: 45. Mr. Poole quoted.]

Before reviewing the truth and falsity of evidence in each of these
cases, and showing how far the Prophet was privy to them, I will avail
myself of a quotation from Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, who has remarked with
his usual deep discernment and accurate judgment, in his Introduction to
Mr. E.W. Lane's Selections from the Koran:

"The execution of the half-dozen marked Jews is generally called
assassination, because a Muslim was sent secretly to kill each of the
criminals. The reason is almost too obvious to need explanation. There
were no police or law-courts, or even courts-martial, at Medina; some
one of the followers of Mohammad must therefore be the executer of the
sentence of death, and it was better it should be done quietly, as the
executing of a man openly before his clan would have caused a brawl and
more bloodshed and retaliation, till the whole city had become mixed up
in the quarrel. If secret assassination is the word for such deeds,
secret assassination was a necessary part of the internal government of
Medina. The men must be killed, and best in that way. In saying this I
assume that Mohammad was cognisant of the deed, and that it was not
merely a case of private vengeance; but in several instances the
evidence that traces these executions to Mohammad's order is either
entirely wanting or is too doubtful to claim our credence."[205]

1.--_Asma-bint Marwan._

[Sidenote: 46. Asma-bint Marwan.]

"The first victim was a woman," writes Major Osborn, "Asma,