Invasions by Muhammad

Invasion of Banu Qainuqa’

The first group of the Jews to fall under the wrath of Muhammad was the Banu Qainuqa.’ They lived in quarters within Yathrib named after them. They made their living as artisans, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, making household instruments and weaponry. They were not, however, skilled in the arts of soldiering and left that aspect to the Arabs, a mistake which eventually proved fatal to their existence. The Banu Qainuqa’ was allied with the Arab tribe of Khazraj and supported them in their conflicts with their rival Arab tribe, the Aws.

The opportunity to invade these Jews arrived when a skirmish broke out between a handful of Jews and Muslims. A member of Banu Qainuqa’ played a prank and pinned the skirt of a Muslim woman squatting in a Jeweler’s shop in the Banu Qainuqa’ marketplace to the ground. Upon standing, her cloth tore and she was stripped naked. A Muslim man passing by, already filled with the hatred of the Jews by his prophet, jumped on the Jew and killed him. The relatives of the victim then killed the Muslim in retaliation.

This was the opportunity Muhammad was looking for. Instead of trying to calm the situation, he unjustly blamed the Jews, all of them, and told them to submit to his religion or face war. The Jews answered his threats with defiance and shut themselves up in their quarters. He laid siege on them, shut off their water supply, and promised to kill them all.

In the Qur’an, verse 3:12, Muhammad reiterated his threat: “You will be defeated and gathered together to hell and worst indeed is that place to rest,” while bragging how he defeated the Quraish, earlier at Badr.

After a fortnight, the tribe tried to negotiate their surrender, but Muhammad would not budge. He wanted to slay them. Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the revered patriarch of the Khazraj, took hold of Muhammad’s collar and told him that he would not allow his allies and friends to be slain with no cause. Muhammad was aware of the respect that the Khazraj had for their chief. He knew that they could rally around him and this would mean his own defeat. He pushed away ibn Ubayy while his face was blackened with rage and agreed not to massacre the Jews provided they leave the city. This story is reported by Ibn Ishaq.

Babu Qainuqa’ were the first of the Jews to break their agreement with the apostle and to go to war, between Badr and Ohod, and the apostle besieged them until they surrendered unconditionally. `Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul went to him [Muhammad] when God had put them in his power and said, ‘O Muhammad, deal kindly with my clients’ (now they were allies of Khazraj), but the apostle put him off. He repeated the words, and the apostle turned away from him, whereupon he thrust his hand into the collar of the apostle’s robe; the apostle was so angry that his face became almost black. He said, ‘Confound you, let me go.’ He answered, ‘No, by God, I will not let you go until you deal kindly with my clients. Four hundred men without mail and three hundred mailed protected me from all mine enemies; would you cut them down in one morning? By God, I am a man who fears that circumstances may change.’ The apostle said, ‘You can have them.’ ¹

The biographers also add that Muhammad had sullenly said “Let them go. God curse them, and God curse him also! So Muhammad pardoned their lives provided they were sent into exile.”²

He demanded that the Banu Qainuqa’ hand over all their materials, wealth and war equipage, from which he set aside one fifth for himself and distributed the rest among his men. The tribe was then banished. The Muslim historians gloat saying that these refugees entered Azru‘a in Syria where they stayed for a while and soon perished.³

Invasion of Banu Nadir

Next it was the turn of the Banu Nadir. This was another Jewish tribe of Yathrib. After seeing what Muhammad did to the Banu Qainuqa’, Ka’b Ibn Ashraf, the chief of the Banu Nadir, sought the protection of the Quraish and as explained above, he was assassinated.

There was a retaliatory war (Ohud) between the Meccans and Muslims in which the latter had lost. Muhammad needed to compensate that loss and restore the faith of his followers that Allâh had not forsaken them with more victories. Banu Nadir was an easy target.

The Pakistani Muslim historian and commentator of the Qur’an, and ideologue of today’s Islamic revivalism, Maududi, narrates the story as follows: “For some time after these punitive measures [the banishment of the Qainuqa’ and serial assassinations of Jewish poets] the Jews remained so terror stricken that they did not dare commit any further mischief. But later when in Shawwal, A. H. 3, the Quraish in order to avenge themselves for the defeat at Badr, marched against Medina with great preparations. The Jews saw that only a thousand men had marched out with the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allâh’s peace) as against three thousand men of the Quraish, and even they were deserted by 300 hypocrites who returned to Madina, [The followers of Abdullah ibn Ubayy, Chief of the Khazraj] they committed the first and open breach of the treaty by refusing to join the Holy Prophet in the defence of the city although they were bound to it.”⁴

It is amazing that Muslims think that Jews were bound to help Muhammad wage a religious war against the Meccans, despite the fact that he had banished one of their tribes and had assassinated their chief and two poets. The war between Muhammad and the Quraish had nothing to do with the Jews, and by assassinating their people and banishing the Banu Qainuqa’, Muhammad had already broken any agreement he may have had with them. And yet, to justify his treacherous acts, Muslim apologists blame the Jews for being at fault with their agreement.

Muhammad was now looking for an excuse to get rid of the Banu Nadir. They owned the best cultivated lands of Yathrib and gardens with date trees, and employed many Arabs. Accordingly, a few Muslims, who thanks to Muhammad had become full-fledged bandits, killed two men from Banu Kalb. As it happened, this tribe had signed a treaty with Muhammad that his men would not rob or kill their people in exchange for their support. The killers had mistaken the victims for members of another tribe. Now, as tradition dictated, Muhammad was obliged to pay blood money for this bloodshed. Despite all the wealth grabbed from the Banu Qainuqa’, the Prophet went to the Banu Nadir and asked them that as part of their original covenant, they must also help pay this blood money. This was an outrageous demand, and Muhammad hoped that the Banu Nadir would balk and that this would give him an excuse to do with them as he did with the Banu Qainuqa’. The Banu Nadir, however, were too terrified to deny this unjust demand. They agreed to pitch in and withdrew to collect the money. Muhammad and his companions sat beneath a wall, waiting. This was not what Muhammad had in mind. He had come making the most unfair demand, hoping to get a negative reaction and act upon his devious design. Now, he needed to plot a new strategy.

Suddenly he had a new “inspiration.” He stood up and without saying anything to his companions left the place and went home. Later, when his companions joined him and enquired about it, he told them the Angel Gabriel had informed him the Jews were plotting to drop a rock on his head from atop the wall beneath which they were sitting. With this excuse he started to prepare his attack on the Banu Nadir.

None of Muhammad’s companions saw anyone climbing the wall or had any intimation about a plot against their lives. However, these men, having benefited financially from following him and believing everything he told them, had no reason or inclination to doubt what he was telling them then.

Any rational person can see the absurdity of Muhammad’s story. If the Banu Nadir really wanted and dared to kill him, they did not need to climb on a wall to throw a stone. This accusation was clearly false. Muhammad was accompanied by only a handful of his followers, Abu Bakr, Omar, Ali and perhaps one or two more. It was easy to kill them all, if that was what the Banu Nadir had in mind.

The Prophet who believed that God is khairul maakereen (the best of the deceivers), (Q.3:54) was himself a cunning man. The story of Gabriel informing him of the Jews’ plot against his life is as credible as the story of his visits to hell and heaven. Nonetheless his easy-to-fleece followers believed him and were so enraged by this fabrication that they rallied around him to shed the blood of the innocent people.

Maududi finishes this narrative by saying: “Now there was no question of showing them any further concession. The Holy Prophet at once sent to them the ultimatum that the treachery they had meditated against him had come to his knowledge; therefore, they were to leave Medina within ten days; if anyone of them was found staying behind in their quarters, he would be put to the sword.” Maududi demonstrates a perfect example of Muslim “logic” when he simply tells the story of Muhammad’s treachery as if it were the natural and normal way to behave.

Abdullah ibn Ubayy did his best to help the Banu Nadir, but by then his influence was too weak and Muhammad’s men had become too blinded by their zealotry. They did not allow bin Ubayy to enter Muhammad’s tent as they struck him and cut his face open.

After a few days the Banu Nadir negotiated to leave behind all their belongings for Muhammad and left town. Some of them went to Syria and some went to Khaibar to be slain only a few years later when Muhammad set his eyes on that prosperous and green Jewish fortress.

Even though Muhammad let these people go, his first thoughts were to massacre them. The following extract from Sira makes this clear.

Concerning B. al-Nadir the Sura of Exile came down in which it is recorded how God wreaked His vengeance on them and gave His apostle power over them and how He dealt with them. God said: ‘He it is who turned out those who disbelieved of the scripture people from their homes to the first exile…. ‘So consider this, you who have understanding. Had not God prescribed deportation against them,’ which was vengeance from God, ‘He would have punished them in this world,’ (Q. 59: 3) i.e. with the sword, ‘and in the next world there would be the punishment of hell’ as well.⁵

In this siege, Muhammad ordered the cutting and burning of the trees belonging to the Banu Nadir. This kind of savagery was unprecedented even amongst the primitive Arabs. All he had to do to justify this crime was to make his Allah approve of what he had done. That is easy when you have the God up your sleeve.

What you (O Muslims) cut down of the palm-trees (of the enemy), or you left them standing on their stems, it was by leave of Allâh. (Q. 59: 5)

It is easy to fathom why in the scorching barren desert, people considered cutting trees and poisoning wells to be capital crimes. Such barbarities were against Arab morality and ethos. Muhammad was no bond by any norm. Nothing could deter him from achieving his objectives. He was ready to sacrifice anything and anyone that stood in his way. His followers interpreted his ruthlessness as the sign of his resolve to fulfill the divine Will.

A Muslim scholar, Al-Mubarkpouri, says: “The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) seized their weapons, land, houses, and wealth. Amongst the other booty he managed to capture, there were 50 armours, 50 helmets, and 340 swords. This booty was exclusively the Prophet’s because no fighting was involved in capturing it. He divided the booty at his own discretion among the early Emigrants and two poor Helpers, Abu Dujana and Suhail bin Haneef. Anyway the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) spent a portion of this wealth on his family to sustain their living the year around. The rest was expended to provide the Muslim army with equipment for further wars in the way of Allâh. Almost all the verses of Sûra Al-Hashr (Chapter 59 – The Gathering) describe the banishment of the Jews and reveal the disgraceful manners of the hypocrites. The verses manifest the rules relevant to the booty. In this Chapter, Allâh, the All-Mighty, praises the Emigrants and Helpers. This Chapter also shows the legitimacy of cutting down and burning the enemy’s land and trees for military purposes. Such acts cannot be regarded as phenomena of corruption so long that they are in the way of Allâh.”⁶

Invasion of Banu Quraiza:

The last Jewish tribe of Yathrib to fall victim to Muhammad’s vindictiveness was the Banu Quraiza. Soon after the Battle of the Trench (Khandaq) was over,⁷ Muhammad set his eyes on the Banu Quraiza. He claimed that the Archangel Gabriel had visited him “asking that he should unsheathe his sword and head for the habitation of the seditious Banu Quraiza and fight them. Gabriel noted that he, with a procession of angels would go ahead to shake their forts and cast fear in their hearts,”⁸ writes Al-Mubarakpouri continues: “the Messenger of Allâh immediately summoned the prayer caller and ordered him to announce fresh hostilities against Banu Quraiza,”⁹

It is important, in studying Islam, to note that the call to prayer was also the call to war. Muslim’s riots and hooliganism always initiate from the mosques after they offer their prayers. They are most vicious during the holy month of Ramadan and on Fridays. In a sermon commemorating the Birthday of Muhammad, in 1981, Ayatollah Khomeini said:

Mehrab (Mosque) means the place of war, the place of fighting. Out of the mehrabs, wars should proceed. Just as all the wars of Islam proceeded out of the mehrabs. The Prophet had sword to kill people. Our Holy Imams were quite militants. All of them were warriors. They used to wield swords. They used to kill people. We need a Caliph who would chop hands, cut throats, stone people. In the same way that the messenger of Allâh used to chop hands, cut throats, and stone people.¹⁰

Muhammad headed an army of three thousand infantry men and thirty horsemen of Ansar (Helpers) and Muhajireen (Emigrants). The Banu Quraiza was accused of conspiring with the Meccans against the Muslims. In reality, the same Muslim historians deny this charge and say the Meccans withdrew without fighting because they did not receive support from the Banu Quraiza.

When Muhammad made his intentions known, Ali, his cousin and staunch supporter, swore he would not stop until he either stormed their garrisons or was killed. This siege lasted 25 days. Finally the Banu Quraiza surrendered unconditionally. Muhammad ordered the men to be handcuffed, while the women and children were confined in isolation. There-upon the Aws tribe, who were allies of the Banu Quraiza, interceded, begging Muhammad to be lenient towards them. Muhammad suggested that Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh, a ruffian among them who had been fatally wounded by an arrow, give a verdict on the Jews. Sa’d was a former ally of the Banu Quraiza, but since his conversion to Islam he had a change of heart against them. He also blamed them for the wound he received when a Meccan threw an arrow during the Battle of Trench. He was a bodyguard of Muhammad and Muhammad knew how he felt about the Banu Quraiza.

Sa’d’s verdict was that “all the able-bodied male persons belonging to the tribe should be killed, women and children taken prisoners and their wealth divided among the Muslim fighters.”

Muhammad became pleased with this cruel verdict and said that “Sa‘d (had) adjudged by the Command of Allâh.”¹¹ He often credited Allâh for his own decisions. This time he chose Sa’d to verbalize his whims.

Al-Mubarakpouri adds that “In fact, the Jews deserved that severe punitive action for the ugly treachery they had harbored against Islam, and the large arsenal they had amassed, which consisted of one thousand and five hundred swords, two thousand spears, three hundred armors and five hundred shields, all of which went into the hands of the Muslims.”

What Al-Mubarakpouri forgets to mention is that the Banu-Quraiza loaned their weapons as well as their shovels and picks to Muslims so they could dig the trench and defend themselves.

Muslim historians have been quick to accuse the Banu Quraiza of the usual baseless charges to justify their massacre. They accused them of being mischievous, causing sedition, being treacherous and plotting against Islam. However, no specifics exist as to the nature of those sins to warrant such a severe punishment and their genocide. Trenches were dug in the bazaar of Medina and between 600 to 900 men were beheaded and their bodies dumped in them.

Huyai Ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Banu Nadir whose married daughter, Safiya, Muhammad took as his share of the booty when he invaded Khaibar, was among the captives. He was brought to the victor with his hands tied from behind. In an audacious defiance he rejected Muhammad and preferred death to submission to this brute man. He was ordered to kneel and was beheaded on the spot.

To determine who should be killed, the youngsters were examined. Those who had grown pubic hair were bundled with the men and beheaded. Atiyyah al-Quriaz, a Jew who had survived this massacre later recounted: “I was among the captives of Banu Quraiza. They (the Muslims) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.”¹²

Muhammad killed and banished several Jewish tribes, among them are B. Qainuqa’, B. Nadir, B. Quraiza, B. Mustaliq, B. Jaun and the Jews of Khaibar. On his deathbed, he instructed his followers to cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of all non-believers,¹³ an order that Omar, the second Caliph carried out during his rule. He exterminated the Jews, the Christians and the pagans, forcing them to convert, leave or put them to death.

Now, enriched with the loot, Muhammad could be even generous to those who believed in him. Anas narrated: “People used to give some of their date palms to the Prophet (as a gift), till he conquered Banu Quraiza and Banu An-Nadir, where-upon he started returning their favors.”¹⁴

There is a verse in the Qur’an that speaks about the massacre of the Banu Quraiza approving Muhammad’s butcheries of their men and taking women and children as prisoners.

He caused those of the People of the Book who helped them (i.e. the Quraish) to come out of their forts. Some you killed, some you took prisoner. (Q. 33: 26)

Taqiyyah: the Holy Deception

Muhammad authorized his followers to lie, even to badmouth him, to win the trust of their victims in order to assassinate them. There are many other stories about Muslims feigning friendship with the non-believers, only to kill them once they are trusted.

At Hudaibiyyah, Muhammad signed a treaty with the Meccans, promising to return any of their youths and slaves that escaped and joined him. Ibn Ishaq narrates the story of Abu Basir, a Meccan, who went to Muhammad after this treaty was signed. The Meccans sent two men with a letter reminding him of his pact. Muhammad felt obliged and told Abu Basir: “Go, for Allâh will bring relief and a way of escape for you and the helpless ones with you.” Abu Basir got the hint. He returned with the emissaries. They had gone about six miles from Medina when the men stopped to rest. Abu Basir said, “Is your sword sharp, O brother?” When he said that it was, he said that he would like to look at it. “Look at it if you want to,” he replied. Abu Basir unsheathed it and dealt him a blow that killed him. Then he came to Muhammad and said: “Your obligation is over and Allâh has removed it from you. You duly handed me over to the men, and I have protected myself in my religion lest I should be seduced therein.” Muhammad did not punish this assassin but instructed him to go to al-Is, a region by the shore, on the road which Quraish were accustomed to take to Syria and rob the Caravans of the Quraish. Muhammad had signed a treaty not to waylay the caravans of the Quraish, so he found a way to go around it. Ibn Ishaq says: “The Muslims who were confined in Mecca heard what the apostle had said of Abu Basir, so they went out to join him in al-Is. About seventy men attached themselves to him, and they so harried Quraish, killing everyone they could get hold of, and cutting to pieces every caravan that passed them, that Quraish wrote to the apostle begging him by the ties of kinship to take these men in, for they had no use for them. So the apostle took them in, and they came to him in Medina.”¹⁵

These men were Muslims and as such they were the responsibility of Muhammad. He, instead, washed his hands by sending them to another place to rob the Meccans. He condoned and even authorized their robberies. Despite that, Muslims claim that it were the Meccans who broke the treaty. The following is another example:

When the Meccans, along with other Arab tribes, had enough of Muhammad’s raids and killings, they came together to punish him. However, unlike Muhammad, who never announced his plans and ambushed his victims with no warnings, the non-Muslims gave plenty of notice to their foe to prepare himself for the battle. This gave Muhammad enough time to dig a trench around Medina. The joint army of the Arabs, known as the Confederates, camped outside the town wondering how to cross the trench. They asked the Banu Quraiza to assist them. Muhammad was wary of this alliance. So he devised a trick to drive a rift and distrust between the Banu Quraiza and the confederates. A man named Nu’aym had recently converted to Islam; however he had not made his conversion known publicly. Muhammad summoned him and said, “You are only one man among us, so go and awake distrust among the enemy to draw them off us if you can, for war is deceit.” The following is the rest of the story as reported by Ibn Ishaq.

Nu’aym did as Muhammad told him. “He went to the B. Quraiza with whom he had been a boon companion, and reminded them of his affection for them and of the special tie between them. When they admitted that they did not suspect him, he said, ‘Quraysh and Ghatafan are not like you. The land is your land, your property, your wives, and your children are in it, you cannot leave it and go somewhere else. Now Quraysh and Ghatafan have come to fight Muhammad and his companions, and you have aided them against him, but their land, their property, and their wives are not here, so they are not like you. If they see an opportunity they will make the most of it, but if things go badly they will go back to their own land and leave you to face the man in your country, and you will not be able to do so if you are left alone. So do not fight along with these people until you take hostages from their chiefs, who will remain in your hands as security that they will fight Muhammad with you, until you make an end of him.’ The Jews said that this was excellent advice.

Then he went to the Quraish and said to Abu Sufyan b. Harb and his company, ‘You know my affection for you, and that I have left Muhammad. I have heard something which I think it my duty to tell you of as a warning, but regard it as confidential.’ When they said that they would, he continued, ‘Mark my words, the Jews have regretted their action in opposing Muhammad and have sent to tell him so, saying, ‘Would you like us to get hold of some chiefs of the two tribes, Quraysh and Ghatafan and hand them over to you, so that you can cut their heads off? Then we can join you in exterminating the rest of them. He has sent word back to accept their offer. So if the Jews send to you demanding hostages, don’t send them a single man.’

Then he went to Ghatafan and said, ‘You are my stock and my family, the dearest of men to me, and I do not think that you can suspect me.’ They agreed that he was above suspicion, and so he told the same story as he had told Quraysh. ¹⁶

The trick worked. When the Confederates asked the Banu Quraiza to join them for the attack, they brought an excuse and instead they demanded that the Quraish leave with them a few of their men as hostage, which confirmed what Nu’aym had said. The Confederates became disheartened and left without a fight.

This deception saved Muslims from certain defeat. This story has served as a lesson to Muslims, who ever since have incorporated treachery and deceit as strategies from which to deliver jihad. In one hadith we read:

Hajaj Ibn `Aalat told: ‘O Prophet of Allâh: I have in Mecca some excess wealth and some relatives, and I would like to have them back; am I excused if I bad-mouth you [to fool the non-Muslims]?’ The Prophet excused him and said: ‘Say whatever you have to say.’¹⁷

 

Lying as a strategy to advance Islam is called taqiyyah, or “holy deception.” Under taqiyyah, a Muslim is allowed to lie and say anything to pull the wool over the eyes of the non-Muslims and deceive them.

We smile for some people, while our hearts curse (those same people).¹⁸

References:

1 Ibn Ishaq Sirat, p. 363

2 Ibid

 ³ AR-Raheeq Al-Makhtum by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri http://islamweb.islam.gov.qa/english/sira/raheek/PAGE-26.HTM

⁴ http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/quran/maududi/mau59.html

⁵ Ibn Ishaq irat, p. 438

⁶ AR-RaheeQ Al-Makhtum (THE SEALED NECTAR)- Memoirs of the Noble Prophet Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri – Jamia Salafia – India http://www.al-sunnah.com/nektar/11.htm

7 The Meccans, fed up with Muhammad’s constant raids on their caravans, came to the gates of Medina to punish him. Unlike him, who was wont of raids, they gave him plenty of time to prepare for the war. Advised by a Persian believer, he dug trenches around the city making it difficult for the Meccans and other tribes that had joined them, (The Confederates) to enter, causing their retreat.

8 http://www.al-sunnah.com/nektar/12.htm

9 Ibid

10 Ayatollah Khomeini: A speech delivered on the commemoration of the Birth of Muhammad, in 1981.

¹¹ Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, number 280:

12 Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 38, Number 4390. Sunan Abu-Dawud is another collection of hadith regarded to be sahih.

13 Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 288

14 Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176

¹⁵ This story is reported by Tabari, Vol 3, Page 1126

16 Ibn Ishaq, Sirat, Battle of Trench

17 Sirah al-Halabiyyah, v3, p61

¹⁸ Sahih al-Bukhari, v.7, p102