Here’s a very interesting piece in Saudi Arabia’s English-language mouthpiece, ArabNews, about Mohammed’s history as a warrior: The Prophet as a Man — 108: War Preparedness. (Hat tip: Fjordman.)

Despite what the enemies of Islam say, particularly nowadays, and what impression some fringe groups of Muslim hard-liners advocate, Islam is a religion of peace, which prefers to live with all communities in an atmosphere of mutual respect and true understanding. However, Islam does not shrink from fighting a war imposed on it by its enemies.

The interesting part isn’t the long discourse on Mohammed’s great wisdom and prowess in battle, it’s the last paragraph, which concludes with an offhand admission that Mohammed ordered slave girls murdered for no other crime than verbally mocking him:

Abdullah ibn Khatal used to be a Muslim. The Prophet once sent him to collect zakah from people who lived far away. He traveled with another man and a servant of his who was a Muslim. At one stage on the way they stopped. He gave the servant orders to slaughter a big goat and prepare food for him while he himself went to sleep. When he woke up, he discovered that the servant had not done anything. He killed his servant and, fearing the Prophet’s punishment, reverted to idolatry. He also had two slave girls who used to sing for him and for his companions songs full of abuse of the Prophet. The Prophet’s instructions specified that the two slave girls should also be killed. The man was killed as he was actually holding on to the coverings of the Kaaba. Abu Barzah Al-Aslami and Saeed ibn Hurayth Al-Makhzumi killed him along with one of his slave girls. The other managed to flee until someone sought a special pardon for her from the Prophet, which he granted.

This is held up as a model for Muslim behavior, and it’s clear from the context that the author doesn’t even recognize he’s describing sheer savagery.