According to his biographers, Muhammad had his men butcher at least three elderly persons: Umm Qirfa, Abu Afak and an unnamed man who refused to prostrate himself at the Kaaba.
After assuming military superiority in Arabia, Muhammad sent his adopted son, Zayd bin Haritha, on a raid against a tribe that wanted nothing to do with Islam. They resisted the first attempt to force them into the Muslim fold, and so Muhammad sent Zayd back, where he was successful in killing the men and capturing the women as they were attempting to flee with their children:
“…and then we attacked from all sides and reached their watering-place where a battle was fought. Some of the enemies were killed and some were taken prisoners. I saw a group of persons that consisted of women and children [escaping in the distance]. I was afraid lest they should reach the mountain before me, so I shot an arrow between them and the mountain. When they saw the arrow, they stopped. So I brought them, driving them along” (Sahin Muslim 4345)
The captured women included Umm Qirfa:
She was a very old woman, wife of Malik. Her daughter [and another] were also taken. Zayd ordered Qays to kill Umm Qirfa and he killed her cruelly by putting a rope between her legs and to two camels and driving them until they rent her in two). (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 980)
The old woman’s daughter was brought back to Mecca along with the other prisoners, where she was awarded to her captor as a “prize.” This was before Muhammad noticed her:
I drove them along until I brought them to Abu Bakr who bestowed that girl upon me as a prize. So we arrived in Medina. I had not yet disrobed her when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) met me in the street and said: “Give me that girl.” (Sahih Muslim 4345)
After having been “killed cruelly” the old woman was spared the sight of her daughter passed between lustful men, which included the prophet of Islam himself.
The eminent scholar, Sir William Muir, notes:
We read of no disapprobation expressed by the Prophet at the inhumane treatment of Omm Kirfa, and are therefore warranted in holding him to be an accomplice in the ferocious act. (The Life of Mahomet)
