Action against Banū Qurayẓah

Banū Qurayẓah’s Breach of Faith

Not long after his arrival in Madīnah, the Prophet made a covenant between the Anṣār and the Muhājirīn to which the Jews were also a party and were guaranteed protection of life and property as well as the freedom of professing their faith. The covenant, which was put down in writing, accepted certain rights of the Jews and also put them under certain obligations. Some of the important clauses of this covenant were as follows:

Those among the Jews who side with us shall be liable to equality and help. They shall not be wronged, nor shall their enemies be given any help. No polytheist of Madīnah shall afford protection to the property or life of any Quraysh [of Madīnah], nor shall he intervene against a believer on their behalf. The Jews shall bear the expenses of war, so long as the war lasts, like the believers. The Jews shall be considered as one community along with the believers; they shall have the freedom of their religion, and the believers shall be free to profess their faith. They shall have full freedom to deal with their allies and slaves and to settle their affairs. (The covenant gives the names of various Jewish tribes of Madīnah, such as Banū ‘Awf, Banū Sā‘idah, Banū Jusham, Banū ’l-Aws, and Banū Tha‘labah, who were made party to the covenant).

The pact also made both parties liable to help one another in the event of war, and, subject to the limits of divine injunctions, to promote mutual co-operation, goodwill, and cordial relations between the confederates. One of its clauses stated that if an enemy attacked Yathrib, both the Jews and the Muslims should join hands in its defense.¹

But despite this clear agreement, Banū Qurayẓah were won over by Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab an-Naḍrī to go back on their word to help Quraysh. As a matter of fact, when Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab came to Banū Qurayẓah to win them over to the allies against the Muslims, their chief Ka‘b ibn Asad replied, “I have always found Muḥammad truthful and trustworthy.” However, Ka‘b ibn Asad broke his word and absolved himself of every responsibility devolving upon him by the covenant.

When the Apostle heard of the betrayal of Banū Qurayẓah, he sent a few persons, including Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh and Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubādah, the two chiefs of Aws and Khazraj, to see if the report was correct. They found that the situation was even worse than they had heard. Banū Qurayẓah spoke disparagingly of the Apostle and said, “Who is the apostle of God? We have no pact or pledge with Muḥammad.”²

Banū Qurayẓah then started making preparations for an armed conflict with the Muslims. They threatened to stab them in the back and actually placed the Apostle and his followers between the hammer and the anvil.³ In truth, the situation would not have been so hazardous had the Jews declared their intention from the outset to fall out with the Muslims. The Qur’ān has vividly depicted the plight of the Muslims then:

It was but natural that the Muslims felt upset by the perfidy of the Jews. How great a blow it was to the Muslims can be judged by the fervent prayer sent up by Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh. As the chief of Aws, he had been in partnership with these Jews for many years and was, thus, their ally and sympathizer. When he was shot by an arrow that severed the vein of his arm, and he lost hope of surviving for long, he supplicated to God, saying, “O Allah, do not let me die until I have set my eyes on the destruction of Banū Qurayẓah.”

Banū Qurayẓah Assailed

The Prophet, as well as the Muslims, laid their arms aside on their return from the Battle of the Trenches. An account of what happened thereafter, as related by the traditions, is that Gabriel came to the Prophet and asked, “O Apostle of God, have you put aside your arms?” When the Apostle replied that he had, Gabriel said, “But the angels have not put away their arms.” “Allah commands you,” continued Gabriel, “to march on Banū Qurayẓah. I am also going there to make them tremble.” Thereupon, the Prophet announced that everyone who listened and followed him ought to perform the ‘aṣr prayer at Banū Qurayẓah.⁵

The Prophet besieged the district inhabited by the Jewish clan of Banū Qurayẓah. The beleaguered Jews defied the siege for twenty-five days; Allah cast terror into their hearts⁶ after which they gave in and offered to surrender.

Repentance of Abū Lubābah

In the meantime, the Jews asked the Apostle to send them Abū Lubābah of Banū ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf (who were allies of Aws) so that they might consult him. The Apostle accepted their request. When Abū Lubābah went to the Jews, all of them stood up to receive him. Abū Lubābah was moved by the plight of the women and children who started wailing and dissolving into tears in his presence. The Jews asked Abū Lubābah whether they should surrender to the judgment of the Apostle. “Yes,” replied Abū Lubābah, but he also pointed with his hand to his throat.

Abū Lubābah says that before he left the place, he realized that he had not been faithful to the Apostle of God. He hastened back, but instead of presenting himself to the Prophet, he tied himself to one of the pillars in the Prophet’s mosque. He declared his intention not to leave the place until God had forgiven him. He also resolved not to go back to Banū Qurayẓah nor to set his eyes again on the place where he had betrayed Allah and His Apostle.

The repentance of Abū Lubābah wiped away his guilt, with the revelation descending from God:

Several people rushed forward to set Abū Lubābah free, but he refused, saying, “No. By God, not until the Apostle of Allah frees me with his own hands.” The Apostle removed the rope with which Abū Lubābah had tied himself when he came out to perform the morning prayer. Abū Lubābah had remained bound to the pillar of a date-palm trunk in the Prophet’s mosque for about twenty days. At the time of prayers, his wife would set him free, and he would again bind himself after the prayer was over.⁸

Truth in Action

Banū Qurayẓah submitted to the Apostle’s judgment, but the people of Aws, who had long been friendly with the Jews, had a soft corner in their hearts for them. They said to the Apostle, “O Messenger of Allah, they are our allies against Khazraj, and you know well what they have done jointly with Banū Qaynuqā’, the allies of our brothers.” The Apostle listened to them patiently and then asked, “Would you agree to place the decision in the hands of an arbitrator from amongst you?” They agreed, and the role was entrusted to their chief, Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh.

When Sa‘d arrived, his clansmen begged him to be lenient to Banū Qurayẓah, for they insisted that the Apostle had made him arbiter so that he might be considerate to his allies. When they persisted in their demand, Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh replied, “Fate has brought this opportunity to Sa‘d; let him not be ashamed of aught in fulfilling the commandment of God.” Then Sa‘d gave his decision: “I judge that the men should be killed, the property divided, and the women and children taken as captives.” The Prophet, on hearing the award of Sa‘d, remarked: “You have awarded them God’s decision.”⁹

Decision Consistent with the Law of Moses

Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh’s verdict was nothing more than what is laid down by the Israelite law of war. The fifth Book of Moses, Deuteronomy, containing the sacred law of the Jews on the subject, runs:

When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it maketh thee answer of peace and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but, will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it; and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword; but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

Jews had adhered to this practice since ancient times. We read in the Book of Numbers that:

And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle; and all their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.¹⁰

This law not only enjoyed the approval of Moses but was also enforced by him.

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them: Have ye saved all the women alive?¹¹

The sentence that Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh had pronounced was soon carried out, and ensured that Madīnah would henceforth be safe from them. The Muslims could now be confident that none would act as a traitor.

Sallām ibn Abi ’l-Ḥuqayq was one of the Jews who had played a leading role in inciting the desert clans to make a united bid to uproot Islam. The Khazraj killed him at his house in Khaybar. Aws had already done away with Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf, who had done his utmost to incite Quraysh against the Muslims and to slander the Apostle of God. The assassination of these two implacable enemies of Islam removed the source of danger ever willing to foment new trouble for the nascent community in Madīnah.¹²

The pact that the Apostle entered into with Banū Qurayẓah and other Jews of Madīnah was a defensive alliance along with an arrangement that provided the basis for establishing a confederate administration of the city, which gave considerable autonomy to the members and was consistent with the needs and wishes of the Jewish tribes of Arabia. But Banū Qurayẓah had broken their word without any justification whatsoever. Therefore, an exemplary punishment was called for, if only to warn other double-dealing people against running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Commenting upon the imperative need for a deterrent punishment of the traitors on this occasion, R. V. C. Bodley writes in The Messenger: The Life of Muḥammad:

Mohammad stood alone in Arabia, a country equivalent in area to one-third of the United States, populated by about five million people. His own dominion was not much larger than Central Park; his means of enforcing his wishes, three thousand badly armed soldiers. Had he been weak, had he allowed treachery to go unpunished, Islam would never have survived. This massacre of the Hebrews was drastic but not original in religious history. From a Moslem point of view, it was justified. From now on, the Arab tribes, as well as the Jewish, thought twice about defying this man who evidently intended to have his own way.¹³

Another advantage gained by the destruction of this last but influential warren of treachery was that the bastion of hypocrisy built by ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy automatically became weak and impotent. The lukewarm among the Muslims at Madīnah, who masqueraded as believers but concealed evil designs against the Muslims, were shocked and dejected and were ultimately driven to despair. With the stalking-horse destroyed before their eyes, they gave up the habit of spreading cynicism among Muslims. A Jewish scholar, Dr. Israel Wellphenson, reached the same conclusion, concluding that the punishment inflicted on Banū Qurayẓah helped frighten and discourage the hypocrites. He says:

Insofar as the hypocrites were concerned, their clamors declined after the expedition against Banū Qurayẓah. Thereafter, they said or did nothing against the decisions of the Apostle and his companions, as was expected earlier.¹⁴

Benevolence and Largesse

The Apostle sent some cavalrymen on an expedition to Najd, who captured Thumāmah ibn Uthāl, the chieftain of Banū Ḥanīfah. When they returned to Madīnah, they tied him to a stump in the Prophet’s Mosque. God’s Messenger came out to him and asked, “What do you imagine will happen to you, Thumāmah?” He replied, “If you kill me, Muḥammad, you will kill one whose blood will be avenged. If you show me favor, you will show it to one who is grateful. And if you want property, you will be given as much as you wish.” The Apostle left him, and when he passed by him next time, he asked him the same question. Thumāmah repeated his earlier reply, and the Apostle left him again. When the Prophet passed by him for the third time, he ordered Thumāmah to be set free.

Thumāmah went away to a grove of palms and returned to the Prophet after taking a bath. He accepted Islam and said to the Apostle, “I swear to God, Muḥammad, that there was no face on the face of the earth that I detested more than yours, but now your face is the dearest of all to me. And I swear to God that there was no religion more hateful to me than yours in the entire world, but it is now the dearest of all to me. What happened to me is that your cavalry seized me when I was going to perform ‘umrah.” The Apostle congratulated him and bade him perform the ‘umrah.

When Thumāmah came to Makkah, someone asked him if he had turned a disbeliever. He replied, “No, by God, I have adopted faith at the hands of the Messenger of God. I swear to God that not a grain of corn will reach you from al-Yamāmah until God’s Messenger accords permission to it.”

Al-Yamāmah was the chief market for food grains in Arabia, from which the Makkans used to import their requirements. When Thumāmah went back to al-Yamāmah, he prevented the caravans that carried wheat to Makkah. The people of Makkah were so hard pressed by the ban imposed by Thumāmah that they wrote to the Apostle requesting him to get the ban lifted. The kind-hearted Apostle asked Thumāmah to allow the supplies of food grains to Makkah.¹⁵

Expedition of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq and the Affair of Ifk

After some time, the Apostle led an expedition against Banū Liḥyān and went up to the hills of Dhū Qarad in pursuit of some raiders, but there was no fighting. In Sha’bān, 6 AH, the Apostle was informed that Banū al-Muṣṭaliq were gathering to attack him. The Apostle went out with a force to face the enemy. A large party of the hypocrites, still skeptical and reticent, accompanied the Apostle with their leader ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl. The hypocrites had never gone out before with the Apostle in such large numbers on any previous expedition.¹⁶

The failure of the Quraysh in the battle of Trenches, even when they had mustered all the warriors of their confederate clans for the destruction of Islam, had made the hypocrites bitter and resentful, burning with the jaundice of their souls. The Muslims were gaining victory after victory. The star of their fortune was in the ascendant, and this had set the Quraysh, the Jews, and their fellow travelers among the pagans and hypocrites on tenterhooks. They knew that the Muslims could not be humbled in “open” combat by their enemies, and the only way to checkmate them was through sowing dissension in their ranks and pitting them against one another. They also knew that the means at their disposal to undermine the confidence of the Muslims in Islam and its Apostle and to create a rift between them was to disparage the holy Prophet and arouse pre-Islamic sentiments of tribal pride. With this end in view, the hypocrites started a furtive campaign of casting aspersions upon the honor of the Prophet. An entirely new type of society had, however, been brought into existence at Madīnah, whose members loved and respected every other man and went by the common ideal. These pretenders had therefore realized that nothing could weaken the foundations of this ideological fraternity more effectively than a slanderous campaign aimed at creating misgivings about the leader of that order and his family. Undoubtedly, this was a well-devised conspiracy of the hypocrites which was vigorously pursued during the expedition of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq, when, for the first time, as stated earlier, a large number of them accompanied the Apostle.

The Apostle met the enemy at a watering place of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq, in the direction of Qudayd towards the shore known as al-Muraysī‘,¹⁷ where the battle brought Banū al-Muṣṭaliq to defeat and flight.

While the Prophet was still at this place, a hired servant of Banū Ghifār, belonging to the Muhājirīn, got into a row with another man belonging to the tribe of Juhaynah, which was an ally of the Khazraj. The man of Juhaynah called out, “O ye Anṣār!” and the hired servant shouted, “O ye Muhājirīn.” ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl at once flared up and said to his friends who happened to be present with him, “Did they dare it? They set themselves against us in our own country and tried to outnumber us. By God, it is just the same as the ancient saying: Feed the dog and it will bite you. I swear by God that when we return to Madīnah, those who are worthy and noble will drive out the unworthy wretches.” Then, admonishing his men, ‘Abdullāh continued, “You have yourselves wrought it. You allowed them to settle in your country and shared your property with them. By God, had you held back and not been so generous, they certainly would have gone elsewhere.”

The Apostle came to know about the incident, and he at once gave orders to break the camp and set off, although he was not accustomed to travel at that disagreeable hour. The Apostle did not want to give the people time for vain disputation and the promptings of the devil. The Apostle continued to move all that day, and through the night till dawn, and during the following day till the sun became grueling. He made a halt when the people had become so tired that they fell asleep as soon as their backs touched the ground.

‘Abdullāh was the worthy son of the unworthy ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy. He rushed to Madīnah ahead of the troops and awaited his father’s arrival. When ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy came, his son knelt his camel obstructing the passage of his father, whom he told that he would not allow him to enter Madīnah until he had acknowledged that he was the unworthy wretch while the Apostle was worthy and noble. In the meantime, the Apostle also came up. He said to ‘Abdullāh, “No, let us deal kindly with him while he is with us.”¹⁸

The Apostle would cast lots whenever he intended to go on an expedition to decide which one of his wives would accompany him. In the expedition of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq, the lot had fallen on ‘Ā’ishah, and she had accordingly accompanied the Prophet. At one of the halts on the way back to Madīnah, the Apostle spent a part of the night before he ordered to break the camp. ‘Ā’ishah had gone to relieve the needs of nature, and when she returned, she discovered that she had dropped her necklace. She went back to search for it, but by the time she returned, the army had moved off. The camel drivers, who had the charge of ‘Ā’ishah’s transport, saddled her litter, thinking that she would be in it as usual. Now ‘Ā’ishah was small and very light, so none would notice if she was in the litter or not. When ‘Ā’ishah came back, she found no trace of the army. She wrapped herself in her smock and lay down in the hope that as soon as they would discover the mistake, someone would come to fetch her. Ṣafwān ibn al-Mu‘aṭṭal as-Sulamī had earlier fallen behind the army for a purpose. He happened to pass by ‘Ā’ishah. He saw her. “Innā lillāh,” he called out, “the Apostle’s wife!” Then he brought his camel near her and turned back a few paces. After ‘Ā’ishah had mounted, Ṣafwān took hold of the halter and went ahead quickly in search of the army. Ṣafwān overtook the army when it had again halted. Nobody took any notice of the incident, for such mishaps were not unusual in the caravans trekking the vast emptiness of the Arabian wilderness. To the wayfaring Arabs, it was just a familiar happening, and their code of honor, even in the days of pagan past, never tolerated the disgrace of their daughters. The Arabs, both as pagans as well as after embracing Islam, were chivalrous enough to lay down their lives defending the honor of their women rather than to countenance any disgrace.

A poet of pre-Islamic days expresses the Arab sentiment of chastity and virtue in a couplet that gives a fine picture of Arab womanhood.¹⁹

If my glance meets the eyes of a neighboring maiden,

I cast low my gaze till her abode takes her in.²⁰

The Companions beheld the Apostle with the same esteem and reverence that one would have for one’s father, while the wives of the Apostle were all “mothers of the faithful” to every Muslim. In fact, never have any people loved anyone more than the Prophet was loved by his companions. Ṣafwān ibn al-Mu‘aṭṭal was, as they say, a man of sterling qualities, noble, true of soul, and God fearing, who had the reputation of being least interested in women.

In short, nobody paid any attention to the incident, and the matter would have been forgotten had not ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy walked into the picture. On coming back to Madīnah, ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy went to work to capitalize on the incident. He had found out, as he would have thought, something by which he could slander the Apostle and his household and thus weaken the sentiments of love and admiration the Muslims held for the Prophet. His treacherous disposition was not slow to realize that his shameless attack on the Apostle’s honor would create enough misgivings to destroy the mutual trust among the Muslims as well. The crafty conspirator also took in a few injudicious Muslims, who were used to rambling on without confirming the veracity of the matter they talked about.²¹

‘Ā’ishah had no idea of her vilification. As it normally happens in such cases, she came to know of it very late, and when she did realize it, she was bewildered. Plunged into sorrow, her anguish brought her to tears, and she kept on sobbing with overflowing eyes.

The scandal was even more distressing to the Apostle of God. When he had made sure who was at the bottom of this intrigue, he came to the mosque and, ascending the pulpit, he said, “O you believers, who would allow me to say something about the man, who, I have come to know, has caused trouble to my family. What I know of my family is naught but good, and what they say concerning the man, I have heard only good of him. Whenever he enters my house, he enters with me.”

The people of Aws were filled with indignation at the unhappiness of the Prophet. They said, “Whether he belongs to Aws or Khazraj, we are prepared to behead the man who has given tongue to this calumny.” ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy belonged to the Khazraj, and hence his tribesmen took the remark as an affront to their tribal honor. Feelings ran high, and the two tribes were about to engage one another, but the presence of the Apostle calmed them down, and the matter ended there.

‘Ā’ishah was convinced of her innocence. She was distressed, but was also confident and composed like one who knows that truth ultimately prevails. She knew in her heart of hearts that God would ultimately protect her honor and bring shame to the lying slanderers, but it had never crossed her mind that God would send down a revelation concerning her that would be read in the mosques and in prayers to the end of time. She had not to wait for long when the verses attesting her innocence were sent down by God.

And thus ended the foul menace which was forgotten completely by the Muslims of Madīnah who devoted themselves again to the great task on which depended not only their own success, but the salvation of all mankind.²³