MUHAMMAD AND THE JEWS OF KHAYBAR (A.H. 7/628)

 

Muhammad b. Isbaq stated: The Apostle of Allah -may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑stayed in Medina upon returning from Hudaybiyya1 during the month of Dhu ‘I-Hijja and part of Muharram since the polytheists were overseeing the pilgrimage. Then he set out against Khaybar during the latter part of Muharram. (Ibn Hisham adds:) Numayla b. Abd Allah was left in charge of Medina, and the standard was entrusted to Ali b. Abi Talib 2 ‑may Allah be pleased with him. The banner was white.

(Ibn Ishaq continued,) I was told by someone whom I do not suspect on the authority of Anas b. Malik that whenever the Apostle of Allah -may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑raided a people, he would not attack until it was morning. If he heard the call to prayer, he held back. If he did not hear it, he attacked .3  We arrived in Khaybar at night, and so the Apostle spent the night there. When it became light, and he did not hear the call to prayer, he mounted up ‑and we with him. I rode behind Abu Talha, and my foot touched against the Apostle's foot. We encountered some workmen from Khaybar coming out with their spade baskets. When they saw the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑and the troops, they exclaimed, "It is Muhammad and the army with him!" Then they turned in flight. The Apostle of Allah shouted, "Allah is most great! Khaybar is destroyed! When we come into a people's square, it is an ill‑fated morning for those who have been warned!"

 

The Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace‑, seized the various properties one by one, and he conquered the fortresses in the same manner. The first to be captured was the fortress of Na’im. Mahmud b. Maslama was killed there by a millstone which was thrown upon him from above. Next was al‑Qamus, the fortress of the Banu Abi ‘L‑Huqayq. The Apostle of Allah‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace‑took some of them captive. Among those taken were Safiyya b. Huyyay b. Akhtab and two cousins of hers. She had been the wife of Kinana b. al‑Rab‑ic b. Abi 'L‑Huqayq. The Apostle chose Safiyya for himself. Now Dihya b. Khalifa al‑Kalbi had asked the Apostle for Safiyya, and so when he chose her for himself, he gave Dihya her two cousins. The female captives from Khaybar were distributed among the Muslims.

Until this time, the Muslims ate the meat of domestic donkeys, but then the Apostle of Allah‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -­arose and forbade the people to do several things which he enumerated.

Abd Allah b. Abi Najih informed me on the authority of Makhul that the Apostle of Allah‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -­forbade four things that day: approaching pregnant captives sexually, eating the meat of domestic donkeys, eating the flesh of any beast of prey, and selling booty before it was properly distributed.

When the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑had taken nearly all their fortresses and had got possession of most of their property, he came to al‑Watih and al‑Sulalim, which were the last fortresses of the people of Khaybar to be captured. The Apostle besieged them for approximately ten days. (Ibn Hisham adds:) The war‑cry of the Apostle's companions at the battle of Khaybar was "O you who have been given victory, kill! kill!"

Abd Allah b. Sahl b. Abd al‑Rahman b. Sahl, brother of the Banu Haritha, told me on the authority of Jabir b. Abd Allah that the Jew Marhab came out of their fortress fully armed and said:

 

Khaybar knows that I am Marhab

A seasoned warrior fully armed

Sometimes piercing, sometimes striking

As when lions advance in rage.

My inviolable sanctuary may not be approached.

 

He was saying, "Who will meet me in combat?"

The Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -­then asked, "Who will take care of this man?"

I shall take care of him for you," answered Muhammad b. Maslama. "By Allah, I have the duty of an avenger who has not yet had satisfaction because my brother was killed yesterday."

"Go to him then," he said. "O Allah, help him against the other."

When the two approached each other, there was an old tree whose wood had become soft standing between them. Each of them began to take shelter from the other behind it. When one of them dodged behind it, other would back at it with his sword, until finally each one was exposed to the other. The tree had become like a man standing up erect. No branches were left on it. Then Marhab attacked Muhammad b. Maslama and struck at him. The latter protected himself with his shield. The sword cut into it and became stuck. Muhammad b. Maslama struck him back and killed him.

Kinana b. al‑Rabi, who had custody of the treasure of the B 'I Nadir, was brought before the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him grant him peace. He questioned him concerning its whereabouts. He, however, denied knowing its location. Then one of the Jews came to the Apostle and told him, “I saw Kinana walking around in a certain ruin early each morning."

At this, the Apostle said to Kinana, "Do you know that if we find that you have it, I shall have you killed?"

"Yes," he replied.

The Apostle of Allah‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -ordered the ruin to be excavated, and part of the Banu ‘L Nadir's treasure was dug up. So the Apostle questioned him about the rest, but he refused hand it over. Then the Apostle ordered al‑Zubayr b. al‑Awwam, saying "Torture him until you extract it from him." Al‑Zubayr struck a fire with flint on his chest until he nearly expired. Then the Apostle gave him over to Muhammad b. Maslama who cut off his head as part of his revenge his brother Mahmud b. Maslama.

The Apostle of Allah‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -had besieged the people of Khaybar in their fortresses al‑Watih and al-Sulalim until they came to realize all was lost, and they entreated him to lenient with them and to refrain from shedding their blood. This he agreed to do. The Apostle had already taken possession of all their property –al-­Shaqq, Natah, al‑Katiba, and all their fortresses‑with the sole exception of what belonged to these two fortresses.

When the people of Fadak4 heard about what happened to them, they sent to the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace entreating him to be lenient with them too, and refrain from shedding their blood. They in turn would surrender all of their property to him. He agreed to this.  Muhayyisa b. Masud,5 brother of the Banu Haritha, was one of the intermediaries between them and the Apostle.

When the people of Khaybar had surrendered on these terms, they asked the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace -­to employ them on their former property for half the produce. "We are more knowledgeable about that than you and are better cultivators. So the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑made peace with them in return for fifty percent of their produce, adding, "On condi­tion that we may expel you if and when we wish to expel you."6 He made peace with the inhabitants of Fadak on the same terms. Thus, Khaybar became part of the communal spoils of the Muslims, whereas Fadak was exclusively for the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑because they had not driven horses or camels against it.7

When the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑had rested, Zaynab b. al‑Harith, Sallam b. Mishkam's wife, pre­sented him with a roasted lamb. She had previously inquired as to which joint of lamb was the Apostle's favorite. When told it was the shoulder, she put a great deal of poison in it, poisoning the rest of the lamb as well. Then she brought it. When she had placed it before the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑he took the shoulder and chewed a piece of it, but he did not swallow it. Bishr b. al‑Bara’ b. Marur was with him, and also took a piece from it as did the Apostle. Now Bishr swallowed it, whereas the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑spit it out and said, "This bone tells me that it is poisoned." Then he summoned her, and she confessed. "What brought you to do this?" he asked.

"You know very well what you have brought upon my people," she replied. "I thought to myself, if this man is only a king I shall be rid of him, and if he is a prophet, he will be informed [that the lamb was poisoned]."

At these words, the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑let her off. Bishr died from what he had eaten.

Marwan b. Uthman b. Abi Said b. al‑Mualla told me that the Apostle of Allah ‑may Allah bless him and grant him peace ‑said to Umm Bishr b. al‑Bara when she came to visit him during the illness from which he was to die, "O Umm Bishr, this is the time in which I feel a deadly attack from what I ate with your brother at Khaybar."

Indeed, the Muslims consider the Apostle to have died a martyr in addition to the prophethood with which Allah had honored him.

 

Ibn Hisham, al‑Sira al‑Nabawiyya, v (Cairo, 1955), pp. 328

 

I About six weeks before the expedition against Khaybar, Muhammad signed an agreement with the Quraysh at this spot on the edge of the sacred territory of Mecca. Among other things, Muhammad agreed not to make pilgrimage that year. Many of his followers were dismayed and disappointed. The raid against Khaybar was in part a consolation. See W. Montgomery

"al‑Hudaybiyya," 02 3: 539.

2 He was Muhammad's cousin, son‑in‑law, and the fourth caliph.

3 This is not as generous as it may seem at first, for only Muslims can make the call to prayer.

4 This agricultural settlement was located not far from Khaybar, and like it was inhabited by Jews. After the death of Muhammad, Fadak became a point of contention between Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, and Abu Bakr, the first caliph. She claimed that it had been left to her by her father, but Abu Bakr argued that its pious foundation was established by Muhammad for charitable purposes. The dispute over who was entitled to the revenues

of Fadak was to continue for nearly two centuries. See L. Veccia Vaglieri, "Fadal; E12 2: 725‑27.

5 Concerning him, see above, p. 128.

6 This clause is most probably a later interpolation that was put in to justify the expulsion of the Jews from northern Arabia by Caliph Umar in 642.

7 In Sura 17:64/66, the Muslims are enjoined to urge horse and foot against the unbelievers so as to ‑"share in their wealth and children." Since Fadak surrendered without being attacked, there was no need to share the booty.