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Banu Qurayza



 
 
The Banu Qurayza ( alternate spellings include Quraiza, Qurayzah, Quraytha, and the archaic Koreiza) were a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish tribe who lived in northern Arabia until the 7th century, at the oasis of Yathrib (now known as Medina
Medina

Medina is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad....
).

Jewish tribes reportedly arrived in Hijaz in the wake of the Jewish-Roman wars
Jewish-Roman wars

The Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt ....
 and introduced agriculture, putting them in a culturally, economical and politically dominant position.






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The Banu Qurayza ( alternate spellings include Quraiza, Qurayzah, Quraytha, and the archaic Koreiza) were a Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish tribe who lived in northern Arabia until the 7th century, at the oasis of Yathrib (now known as Medina
Medina

Medina is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad....
).

Jewish tribes reportedly arrived in Hijaz in the wake of the Jewish-Roman wars
Jewish-Roman wars

The Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt ....
 and introduced agriculture, putting them in a culturally, economical and politically dominant position. However, in 5th century, the Banu Aws and the Banu Khazraj
Banu Khazraj

The Banu al-Khazraj was one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era....
, two Arab tribes that had arrived from Yemen
Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
, gained dominance. When these two tribes became embroiled in conflict with each other, the Jewish tribes, now clients or allies of the Arabs, fought on different sides, the Qurayza siding with the Aws.

In 622, the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad

Muhammad Patronymic#Arabic Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib , is the founder of the Major religious groups of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a Rasul and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets....
 arrived at Yathrib from Mecca
Mecca

Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
 and reportedly established a compact
Constitution of Medina

The Constitution of Medina , also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 622. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib , including Muslims, Jews, and pagans....
 between the conflicting parties. While the city found itself at war with Muhammad's native Meccan tribe of the Quraysh
Quraysh

Quraysh or Quraish was the dominant tribe of Mecca upon the appearance of the religion of Islam. It was the tribe to which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad belonged, as well as the tribe that led the initial opposition to his message....
, tensions between the growing numbers of Muslims and the Jewish communities mounted.

In 627, when the Quraysh and their allies besieged the city in the Battle of the Trench
Battle of the Trench

The Battle of the Trench also known as Battle of the Confederates , was a fortnight-long siege of Medina by Tribes of Arabia and Jewish tribes of Arabia tribes....
, the Qurayza entered into (eventually inconclusive) negotiations with the besiegers. Subsequently, the tribe was charged with treason and besieged by the Muslims. The Banu Qurayza eventually surrendered and all the men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were beheaded, while the women and children were enslaved.

History in pre-Islamic Arabia


Early history

Extant sources provide no conclusive evidence whether the Banu Qurayza were ethnically Jewish or Arab
Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
 converts to Judaism
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
. Just like the other Jews of Yathrib, the Qurayza claimed to be of Israelite
Israelite

According to the Tanakh, the Israelites were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. They were divided into twelve tribes, each descended from one of twelve sons or grandsons of Jacob....
 descent and observed the commandments of Judaism, but adopted many Arab customs and intermarried with Arabs. They were dubbed the "priestly tribe" (kahinan in Arabic from the Hebrew kohanim
Kohen

A kohen is a Jew who is a direct male descendant of the Bible Aaron, brother of Moses, with a separate status in Judaism. Another term for the descendants of Aaron are the Aaronites or Aaronids....
). Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq

Mu?ammad ibn Is?aq ibn Yasar was an Arab Historiography of early Islam. He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of the first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, the author of the traditional Muslim biography of Muhammad, traces their genealogy to Aaron
Aaron

In the Hebrew Bible, Aaron , or Aaron the Levite , was the brother of Moses. He was the great-grandson of Levi and represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first Kohen Gadol of the Hebrews....
 and further to Abraham
Abraham

Abraham is a man featured in the Book of Genesis and an important figure in several monotheistic religions. Judaism, Christianity and Islam traditions regard him as the founding Patriarchs of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples....
 but gives only eight intermediaries between Aaron and the purported founder of the Qurayza tribe.

In the 5th century CE, the Qurayza lived in Yathrib together with two other major Jewish tribes: Banu Qaynuqa
Banu Qaynuqa

The Banu Qaynuqa were one of the three main Jewish Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad of Medina, now in Saudi Arabia. In 624, they were expelled by Muhammad....
 and Banu Nadir
Banu Nadir

The Banu Nadir were a Jewish tribe who Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad, at the oasis of Yathrib . They came into conflict with Muhammad and, having been expelled from the city, together with the Quraysh planned the Battle of the Trench....
. Al-Isfahani writes in his 10th century collection of Arabic poetry
Kitab al-Aghani

Kitab al-aghani , is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions by the 8th/9th-century litterateur Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani ....
 that Jews arrived in Hijaz in the wake of the Jewish-Roman wars
Jewish-Roman wars

The Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt ....
; the Qurayza settled in Mahzur, a wadi
Wadi

Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley; in some cases it may refer to a dry Stream bed that contains water only during times of heavy rain....
 in Al Harrah
Al Harrah

Al Harrah is a large basaltic volcanic field in northwestern Saudi Arabia near the Jordanian border. It covers an area of 15,200 km2....
. The 15th century Muslim scholar Al-Samhudi
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Samhudi

Ali bin Ahmad al-Samhudi was a Sunni Shafi'i Islamic scholar ....
 lists a dozen of other Jewish clans living in the town of which the most important one was Banu Hadl, closely aligned with the Banu Qurayza. The Jews introduced agriculture to Yathrib, growing date palm
Date Palm

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the Date Palm, is a Arecaceae in the genus Phoenix , extensively cultivated for its edible sweet fruit....
s and cereals, and this cultural and economic advantage enabled the Jews to dominate the local Arabs politically. Al-Waqidi
Al-Waqidi

Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ?Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami , commonly referred to as al-Waqidi , was an early Arab Muslim historian.He was born and educated in Madina....
 wrote that the Banu Qurayza were people of high lineage and of properties, "whereas we were but an Arab tribe who did not possess any palm trees nor vineyards, being people of only sheep and camels." Ibn Khordadbeh
Ibn Khordadbeh

Abu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh , author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer and bureaucrat of the 9th century....
 later reported that during the Persian domination in Hijaz, the Banu Qurayza served as tax collectors for the shah
Shah

Shah is a Persian language term for a monarch that has been adopted in many other languages.Shah used as a last name by Jains and Hindus is unrelated....
.

Account of the king of Himyar

Ibn Ishaq tells of a conflict between the last Yemen
Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
ite King of Himyar
Himyar

The Himyarite Kingdom or Himyar , anciently called Homerite Kingdom by the Greeks and the Romans, was a state in ancient Yemen dating from 110 BC Taking the modern date city of Sanaa as its capital after the anciant city of Zafar....
 and the residents of Yathrib. When the king was passing by the oasis, the residents killed his son, and the Yemenite ruler threatened to exterminate the people and cut down the palms. According to Ibn Ishaq, he was stopped from doing so by two rabbi
Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
s from the Banu Qurayza, who implored the king to spare the oasis because it was the place "to which a prophet
Prophet

In religion, a prophet is a person who has claimed to have encountered the supernatural or the Divinity, often one who serves as an intermediary with humanity....
 of the Quraysh
Quraysh

Quraysh or Quraish was the dominant tribe of Mecca upon the appearance of the religion of Islam. It was the tribe to which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad belonged, as well as the tribe that led the initial opposition to his message....
 would migrate in time to come, and it would be his home and resting-place". The Yemenite king thus did not destroy the town and converted to Judaism. He took the rabbis with him, and in Mecca
Mecca

Mecca , also spelled Makkah , Makka is a city in Saudi Arabia. Home to the Masjid al-Haram, it is the holy city in Islam and plays an important role in the faith....
, they reportedly recognized Kaaba
Kaaba

The Kaaba "Cube" is a cuboidal building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the Most holy place#Islam in Islam. The building is more than two thousand years old, and according to Islamic tradition the first building at the site was built by Abraham ....
 as a temple built by Abraham and advised the king "to do what the people of Mecca did: to circumambulate the temple, to venerate and honor it, to shave his head and to behave with all humility until he had left its precincts." On approaching Yemen, tells Ibn Ishaq, the rabbis demonstrated to the local people a miracle by coming out of a fire unscathed and the Yemenites accepted Judaism.

Arrival of the Aws and Khazraj

The situation changed after two Arab tribes named Banu Aws and Banu Khazraj
Banu Khazraj

The Banu al-Khazraj was one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era....
 arrived to Yathrib from Yemen
Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
. At first, these tribes were clients of the Jews, but toward the end of the 5th century CE, they revolted and became independent. Most modern historians accept the claim of the Muslim sources that after the revolt, the Jewish tribes became clients of the Aws and the Khazraj. William Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt

William Montgomery Watt was an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh. Watt was one of "the foremost non-Muslim interpreter of Islam in the West, was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world." Watt's comprehensive bio...
 however considers this clientship to be unhistorical prior to 627 and maintains that the Jews retained a measure of political independence after the Arab revolt.

Eventually, the Aws and the Khazraj became hostile to each other. They had been fighting possibly for around a hundred years before 620 and at least since 570s. The Banu Nadir and the Banu Qurayza were allied with the Aws, while the Banu Qaynuqa sided with the Khazraj. There are reports of the constant conflict between Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir, the two allies of Aws, yet the sources often refer to these two tribes as “brothers”. Aws and Khazraj and their Jewish allies fought a total of four wars. The last and bloodiest altercation was the Battle of Bu'ath
Battle of Bu'ath

The Battle of Bu'ath was fought in 617 between Banu Aus and Banu Khazraj, the Arab tribes of Medina , in the south-eastern quarter of the Medinan oasis, belonging to the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza....
, the outcome of which was inconclusive.

The Qurayza appear as a tribe of considerable military importance: they possessed large numbers of weaponry, as upon their surrender 1,500 sword
Sword

A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used as a cutting, thrusting, and clubbing weapon in many civilizations throughout the world. The word sword comes from the Old English language wikt:sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sver? Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Dutch langua...
s, 2,000 lances, 300 suits of armor, and 500 shields were later seized by the Muslims. Kister notes that these quantities are "disproportionate relative to the number of fighting men" and conjectures that the "Qurayza used to sell (or lend) some of the weapons kept in their storehouses". He also mentions that the Qurayza were addressed as Ahlu al-halqa ("people of the weapons") by the Quraysh and notes that these weapons "strengthened their position and prestige in the tribal society".

Arrival of Muhammad


The continuing feud between the Aws and the Khazraj was probably the chief cause for several emissaries to invite Muhammad
Muhammad

Muhammad Patronymic#Arabic Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib , is the founder of the Major religious groups of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a Rasul and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets....
 to Yathrib in order to adjudicate in disputed cases. Ibn Ishaq recorded that after his arrival in 622, Muhammad established a compact, the Constitution of Medina
Constitution of Medina

The Constitution of Medina , also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 622. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib , including Muslims, Jews, and pagans....
, which committed the Jewish and Muslim tribes to mutual cooperation. The nature of this document as recorded by Ibn Ishaq and transmitted by Ibn Hisham
Ibn Hisham

Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Malik bin Hisham , or Ibn Hisham edited the biography of Muhammad written by Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq's work is lost and is now only known in the recensions of Ibn Hisham and Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari....
 is the subject of dispute among modern historians, many of whom maintain that this "treaty" is possibly a collage of agreements, of different dates, and that it is not clear when they were made. Watt holds that the Qurayza and Nadir were probably mentioned in an earlier version of the Constitution requiring the parties not to support an enemy against each other.

Aside from the general agreements, the chronicles by Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi contain a report that after his arrival, Muhammad signed a special treaty with the Qurayza chief Ka'b ibn Asad
Ka'b ibn Asad

Ka?b ibn As?ad was the leader of the Jewish tribe of the Banu Qurayza of Yathrib. After the Battle of the Trench, the Muslim forces under Muhammad turned on the Banu Qurayza, besieged them in their citadel, and upon surrender killed all their men numbering 600-900 with their hands tied to their necks....
. Ibn Ishaq gives no sources, while al-Waqidi refers to Ka’b ibn Malik of Salima, a clan hostile to the Jews, and Mummad ibn Ka’b, the son of a Qurayza boy who was sold into slavery in the aftermath of the siege and subsequently became a Muslim. The sources are suspect of being against the Qurayza and therefore the historicity of this agreement between Muhammad and the Banu Qurayza is open to grave doubt. Among modern historians, R. B. Serjeant supports the historicity of this document and suggests that the Jews knew "of the penalty for breaking faith with Muhammad". On the other hand, Norman Stillman
Norman Stillman

Norman Arthur Stillman, also Noam , b. 1945, is the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma. He specializes on the intersection of Jewish and Islamic culture and history, and on Mizrahi Jews and Sephardim Jewry, with special interest in the Jewish communities in North Africa....
 argues that the Muslim historians had invented this agreement in order to justify the subsequent treatment of the Qurayza. Watt also rejects the existence of such a special agreement but notes note that the Jews were bound by the aforementioned general agreement and by their alliance to the two Arab tribes not to support an enemy against Muhammad. Serjeant agrees with this and opines that the Qurayza were aware of the two parts of a pact made between Muhammad and the Jewish tribes in the confederation according to which "Jews having their religion and the Muslims having their religion excepting anyone who acts wrongfully and commits crime/acts treacherously/breaks an agreement, for he but slays himself and the people of his house."

During the first few months after Muhammad's arrival in Medina, the Banu Qurayza were involved in a dispute with the Banu Nadir: The more powerful Nadir rigorously applied Lex talionis against the Qurayza while not allowing it being enforced against themselves. Further, the blood money paid for killing a man of the Qurayza was only half of the blood-money required for killing a man of the Nadir, placing the Qurayza in a socially inferior position. The Qurayza called on Muhammad as arbitrator, who delivered the surah and judged that the Nadir and Qurayza should be treated alike in the application of lex talionis and raised the assessment of the Qurayza to the full amount of blood money.

Tensions quickly mounted between the growing numbers of Muslims and Jewish tribes, while Muhammad found himself at war with his native Meccan tribe of the Quraysh. In 624, after his victory over the Meccans in the Battle of Badr
Battle of Badr

The Battle of Badr , fought March 17, 624 AD Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca....
, Muhammad expelled the Banu Qaynuqa from Medina. The Qurayza remained passive during the whole Qaynuqa affair, apparently because the Qaynuqa were historically allied with the Khazraj, while the Qurayza were the allies of the Aws.

Soon afterwards, Muhammad came into conflict with the Banu Nadir. He had one of the Banu Nadir's chiefs, the poet Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf

Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was a chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir and a poet, who was assassinated by an order of Muhammad. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was born to a Jewish mother from the Banu Nadir tribe and an Arab father, and he followed his mother's religion....
, assassinated and after the Battle of Uhud
Battle of Uhud

The Battle of Uhud was fought on 19 March 625 at Mount Uhud, in what is now north-western Arabia. It occurred between a force from the Muslim community of Medina led by Muhammad, and a force led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb from Mecca, the town from which many of the Muslims had previously emigrated ....
 accused the tribe of treachery and plotting against his life and expelled them from the city. The Qurayza remained passive during this conflict, according to R. B. Serjeant because of the blood money issue related above.

Battle of the Trench

In 627, the Meccans, accompanied by tribal allies among whom were Abyssinian mercenaries as well as the Banu Nadir - who had been very active in supporting the Meccans - marched against Medina - the Muslim stronghold - and laid siege to it. It is unclear whether or not their treaty with Muhammad, obliged the Qurayza help him defend Medina or merely to remain neutral, according to Ramadan, they had signed an agreement of mutual assistance with Muhammad. The Qurayza did not participate in the fighting - according to David Norcliffe, because they were offended by attacks against Jews in Muhammad's preaching - but lent tools to the town's defenders. According to Al-Waqidi, the Banu Qurayza helped the defense effort of Medina by supplying spades, picks, and baskets for the excavation of the defensive trench the defenders of Medina had dug in preparation. According to Watt, the Banu Qurayza "seem to have tried to remain neutral" in the battle but later changed their attitude when a Jew from Khaybar persuaded them that Muhammad was sure to be overwhelmed and though they did not commit any act overtly hostile to Muhammad, according to Watt, they entered into negotiations with the invading army.

Ibn Ishaq writes that during the siege, the Qurayza readmitted Huyayy ibn Akhtab
Huyayy ibn Akhtab

Huyayy ibn Akhtab was a chief of the Banu al-Nadir, a Jewish tribe of pre-Islamic Arabia....
, the chief of the Banu Nadir whom Muhammad had exiled and who had instigated the alliance of his tribe with the besieging Quraysh and Ghatafan tribes. According to Ibn Ishaq, Akhtab persuaded the Qurayza chief Ka'b ibn Asad to help the Meccans conquer Medina. Ka'b was, according to Al-Waqidi's account, initially reluctant to break the contract and argued that Muhammad never broke any contract with them or exposed them to any shame, but decided to support the Meccans after Huyayy had promised to join the Qurayza in Medina if the besieging army would return to Mecca without having killed Muhammad. Ibn Kathir
Ibn Kathir

Ismail ibn Kathir was an Islamic scholar and renowned commentator on the Qur'an....
 and al-Waqidi report that Huyayy tore into pieces the agreement between Ka'b and Muhammad.

Rumors of this one-sided renunciation of the pact spread and were confirmed by Muhammad's emissaries, Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh

Sa?d ibn Mu'adh was a chief of the Banu Aus tribe in Medina and later converted to Islam....
 and Sa'd ibn Ubadah
Sa'd ibn Ubadah

Sa'd ibn Ubadah ibn Dulaim was one of the prominent Sahaba and Ansar , the chief of the Khazraj .He participated in the secret Second pledged at al-Aqabah....
, leading men of the Aws and Khazraj respectively. Sa'd ibn Mua'dh reportedly issued threats against the Qurayza but was restrained by his colleague. As this would have allowed the besiegers to access the city and thus meant the collapse of the defenders' strategy, Muhammad "became anxious about their conduct and sent some of the leading Muslims to talk to them; the result was disquieting." According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad ordered Nuaym ibn Masud, an well-respected elder of the Ghatafan who had secretly converted to Islam, to go to Muhammad's enemies and sow discord among them. Nuaym went to the Qurayza and advised them to join the hostilities against Muhammad only if the besiegers provide hostage
Hostage

A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war....
s from among their chiefs. He then hurried to the invaders and warned them that if the Qurayza asked for hostages, it is because they intended to turn them over to the Medinan defenders. When the representatives of the Quraysh and the Ghatafan came to the Qurayza, asking for support in the planned decisive battle with Muhammad, the Qurayza indeed demanded hostages. The representatives of the besiegers refused, breaking down negotiations and resulting in the Banu Qurayza becoming extremely distrustful of the besieging army. The Qurayza did not take any actions to support them until the besieging forces retreated. Thus the threat of a second front against the defenders never materialised.

Siege and surrender

On the day of the Meccans' withdrawal, Muhammad led his forces against the Banu Qurayza neighborhood. According to the Muslim tradition, he had been ordered to do so by the angel
Ángel

?ngel is the third single from Belinda Peregr?n's debut album: Belinda. It was a massive hit in Mexico and an international hit for Belinda....
 Gabriel
Gabriel

In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger from God. He first appears in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. In some traditions he is regarded as one of the archangels, or as the angel of death....
. The Banu Qurayza retreated into their stronghold and endured the siege for 25 days. As their morale waned, Ka'b ibn Asad suggested three alternative ways out of their predicament: embrace Islam, kill their own children and women, then rush out for a charge to either win or die; or make a surprise attack on the Sabbath
Shabbat

Shabbat or Shabbos , is the weekly day of rest in Judaism, symbolizing the seventh day in Genesis, after the six days of creation. Though it is commonly said to be the Saturday of each week, it is observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night....
. The Banu Qurayza accepted none of these alternatives. Instead they asked to confer with Abu Lubaba
Abu Lubaba ibn Abd al-Mundhir

Abu Lubaba ibn Abd al-Mundhir was a leading member of the Banu Aws, an Arabic tribe in Medina.At some point after Muhammad's Hijra in 622, Abu Lubaba converted to Islam....
, one of their allies from the Aws. According to Ibn Ishaq, Abu Lubaba felt pity for the women and children of the tribe who were crying and when asked whether the Qurayza should surrender to Muhammad, advised them to do so. However he also "made a sign with his hand toward his throat, indicating that [their fate] would be slaughter". The next morning, the Banu Qurayza surrendered and the Muslims seized their stronghold and their stores. The men - numbering between 400 and 900 - were bound and placed under the custody of Muhammad ibn Maslamah
Muhammad ibn Maslamah

Muhammad ibn Maslamah, sometimes surnamed Ansari was a Sahaba of Muhammad.He was among the first in Yathrib to become a Muslim and was a halif or an ally of the Aws tribe in Medina indicating he was not an Arab....
, who had killed Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf

Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was a chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir and a poet, who was assassinated by an order of Muhammad. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was born to a Jewish mother from the Banu Nadir tribe and an Arab father, and he followed his mother's religion....
, while the women and children - numbering about 1,000 - were placed under Abdullah ibn Sallam, a former rabbi who had converted to Islam.

Demise of the Banu Qurayza


The circumstances of the Qurayza's demise has been related by Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq

Mu?ammad ibn Is?aq ibn Yasar was an Arab Historiography of early Islam. He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of the first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
 and other Muslim historians. Since their accounts are contradictory, modern scholars have interpreted them differently:

According to Watt, Peters and Stillman, the Qurayza surrendered to Muhammad's judgement - a move Watt classifies as unconditional. The Aws, who wanted to honor their old alliance with the Qurayza, asked Muhammad to treat the Qurayza leniently as he had previously treated the Qaynuqa for the sake of Ibn Ubayy. (Arab custom required support of an ally, independent of the ally's conduct to a third party.) Muhammad then suggested to bring the case before an arbitrator chosen from the Aws, to which both the Aws and the Qurayza agreed to. Muhammad then appointed Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh

Sa?d ibn Mu'adh was a chief of the Banu Aus tribe in Medina and later converted to Islam....
 to decide the fate of the Jewish tribe.

According to Hashmi, Buchanan and Moore, the tribe agreed to surrender on the condition of a Muslim arbitrator of their choosing. According to Khadduri (also cited by Abu-Nimer), "both parties agreed to submit their dispute to a person chosen by them" in accordance with the Arabian tradition of arbitration.

Muir holds that the Qurayza surrendered on the condition that "their fate was decided by their allies, the Bani Aws".

In all accounts, the appointed arbitrator was Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh

Sa?d ibn Mu'adh was a chief of the Banu Aus tribe in Medina and later converted to Islam....
, a leading man among the Aws. During the Battle of the Trench, he had been one of Muhammad's emissaries to the Quarayza (see above) and now was dying from a wound he had received later in the battle. When Sa'd arrived, his fellow Aws pleaded for leniency towards the Qurayza and on his request pledged that they would abide by his decision. He then pronounced that "the men should be killed, the property divided, and the women and children taken as captives". Muhammad approved of the ruling, calling it similar to God's judgment.

Sa'd dismissed the pleas of the Aws, according to Watt because being close to death and concerned with his afterlife, he put what he considered "his duty to God and the Muslim community
Ummah

Ummah is an Arabic language word meaning "community" or "nation". It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of Islamic state, or the whole Arab world....
" before tribal allegiance. Tariq Ramadan argues that Muhammad deviated from his earlier, more lenient treatment of prisoners as this was seen as "as sign of weakness if not madness" and Peterson concurs that the Muslims wanted to deter future treachery by severe punishment.

According to Stillman, Muhammad chose Sa'd so as not to pronounce the judgment himself after the precedents he had set with the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Nadir: "Sa`d took the hint and condemned the adult males to death and the hapless women and children to slavery." Furthermore, Stillman infers from Abu Lubaba's gesture that Muhammad had decided the fate of the Qurayza even before their surrender.

Ibn Ishaq describes the killing of the Banu Qurayza men as follows:

Several accounts note Muhammad's companions
Sahaba

In Islam, the abah "Companions" were the companions of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad. This form is plural; the singular is masculine ?a?abiyy, feminine ?a?abiyyah....
 as executioners, Ali
Ali

Ali ibn Abi alib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, who ruled over the Rashidun empire from 656 to 661. Sunni Muslims consider Ali as the fourth and final Rashidun while Shia Islam Muslims regard Ali as the first Imamah and consider him and his descendants as the Succession to Muhammad, all of which are me...
 and Al-Zubayr in particular, and that each clan of the Aws was also charged with killing a group of Qurayza men. Subhash Inamdar argues that this was done in order to avoid the risk of further conflicts between Muhammad and the Aws. According to Inamdar, Muhammad wanted to distance himself from the events and, had he been involved, would have risked alienating some of the Aws.

It is also reported, that alongside all the men, one woman who had thrown a millstone from the battlements during the siege and killed one of the Muslim besiegers, was put to death. Ibn Asakir
Ibn Asakir

Ibn Asakir was a Sunni Islamic scholar ....
 writes in his History of Damascus
History of Damascus (book)

History of Damascus is a book by Islamic scholar Ibn Asakir. It covers the life of every important man and woman who visited Damascus. That is not only limited to Ilm ar-Rijal , but it also includes historian, and political figures....
 that Banu Kilab, a clan of Arab clients of the Banu Qurayza, were killed alongside the Jewish tribe.

Three boys of the clan of Hadl, who had been with Qurayza in the strongholds, slipped out before the surrender and converted to Islam. The son of one of them, Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi, gained distinction as a scholar. One or two other men also escaped.

The spoils of battle, including the enslaved women and children of the tribe, were divided up either upon the warriors that had participated in the siege or among the emigrees from Mecca
Muhajirun

Muhajirun are the early, initial Muslims who followed Muhammad on his Hijra . Most of the Muhajirun later pledged allegiance to Ali and count among his earliest Shi'a....
 (who had hitherto depended on the help of the Muslims native to Medina
Ansar (Islam)

Ansar is an Islamic term that literally means "helpers" and denotes the Medinan citizens that helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the Migration to Medina....
. Muhammad himself took a fifth of the value
Khums

Khums is the Arabic word for One Fifth . According to Shia Islamic legal terminology, it means "one-fifth of certain items which a person acquires as wealth, and which must be paid as an Islamic tax"...
, as was customary among Muslims. As part of his share of the booty, Muhammad selected one of the women, Rayhana, and took her as part of his captives
Ma malakat aymanukum

Ma malakat aymanukum is a reference in the Qur'an to slaves....
. She is said to have later become a Muslim. and Muhammad offered to free and marry her. According to some sources she accepted his proposal, while according to others she rejected it.

Some of the women and children of the Banu Qurayza were bought and sold by Jews ,in particular the Banu Nadir. Peterson argues that this is because the Nadir felt responsible for the Quarayza due to the role of their chieftain
Huyayy ibn Akhtab

Huyayy ibn Akhtab was a chief of the Banu al-Nadir, a Jewish tribe of pre-Islamic Arabia....
 in the events.

Walid N. Arafat and Barakat Ahmad
Barakat Ahmad

Syed Barakat Ahmad was a AhmadiMuslim scholar and India diplomat. He had a doctorate in Arab#History from the American University of Beirut and a doctorate in literature from the University of Tehran....
 have disputed that the Banu Qurayza were killed on a large scale. Arafat disputes large-scale killings and argued that Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq

Mu?ammad ibn Is?aq ibn Yasar was an Arab Historiography of early Islam. He collected oral traditions that formed the basis of the first biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
 gathered information from descendants of the Qurayza Jews, who embellished or manufactured the details of the incident. Ahmad argues that only some of the leaders of the tribe were killed, while some of the fighters were taken prisoners. Watt finds Arafat's arguments "not entirely convincing", while Meir J. Kister has contradicted the arguments of Arafat and Ahmad.

Analysis

The Qur'an briefly refers to the incident in Surah and Muslim jurists have looked upon Surah as a justification of the treatment of the Banu Qurayza, arguing that the Qurayza broke the pact with Muhammad, and thus Muhammad was justified in repudiating his side of the pact and declaring war on the Qurayza. Arab Muslim theologians and historians have either viewed the incident as "the punishment of the Medina Jews, who were invited to convert and refused, perfectly exemplify the Quran's tales of what happened to those who rejected the prophets of old" or offered a political explanation.

In the 8th and early 9th century Muslim jurists, such as Ash-Shafii, based their judgements and decrees about collective punishment for treachery on the accounts of the demise of the Qurayza, with which they were well acquainted. However, the proceedings of Muhammad with regard to the Banu Nadir
Banu Nadir

The Banu Nadir were a Jewish tribe who Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad, at the oasis of Yathrib . They came into conflict with Muhammad and, having been expelled from the city, together with the Quraysh planned the Battle of the Trench....
 and the Banu Qurayza were not taken as a model for the relationship of Muslim states toward its Jewish subjects.

Paret and Watt say that the Banu Qurayza were killed not because of their faith but for "treasonable activities against the Medinan community". Watt relates that "no important clan of Jews was left in Medina" but he and Paret also note that Muhammad did not clear all Jews out of Medina.

Aiming at placing the events in their historical context, Watt points to the "harsh political circumstances of that era" and argues that the treatment of Qurayza was regular Arab practice. Similar statements are made by Stillman, Paret, Lewis and Rodinson. On the other hand, Michael Lecker and Irving Zeitlin consider the events "unprecedented in the Arab peninsula - a novelty" and state that "prior to Islam, the annihilation of an adversary was never an aim of war." Similar statements are made by Hirschberg and Baron.

See also

  • Rules of war in Islam
    Rules of war in Islam

    Islamic military jurisprudence consists of the basic laws governing the conduct of the military aspects of jihad . These laws govern actions pertaining to diplomacy and warfare, in accordance with the shar'iah....
  • Muhammad as a general
    Muhammad as a general

    Muhammad as a general refers to one of the roles played by the Islamic prophet Muhammad as the leader of the ummah at Medina during the last ten years of his life....
  • Jihad
    Jihad

    Jihad , an List of Islamic terms in Arabic, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic language, the word jihad is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah "....
  • Criticism of Islam
    Criticism of Islam

    Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to 1000 AD, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy....
  • Criticism of Muhammad
    Criticism of Muhammad

    Criticism of Muhammad has existed since the 7th century, when Muhammad was decried by his non-Muslim Arab contemporaries for preaching monotheism, Muhammad's wives, and Muhammad as a general....


Literature


General references


  • Encyclopaedia of Islam
    Encyclopaedia of Islam

    The Encyclopaedia of Islam is the standard encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies. It embraces articles on distinguished Muslims of every age and land, on tribes and dynasties, on the crafts and sciences, on political and religious institutions, on the geography, ethnography, flora and fauna of the various countries...
    . Ed. P. Bearman et al., Leiden: Brill, 1960-2005.
  • Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth
    Cecil Roth

    Professor Cecil Roth, was a British Jewish historian and educator.He was educated at Merton College, Oxford and returned to University of Oxford as reader in Jewish Studies from 1939 to 1964....
    . Keter Publishing House, 1997. ISBN 965-07-0665-8
  • Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam. Ed. Hamilton A. R. Gibb, Johannes Hendrik Kramers. Leiden:Brill, 1953.
  • Handwörterbuch des Islam. Ed. A. J. Wensinck, J. H. Kramers. Leiden: Brill, 1941.


Jewish tribes


  • Arafat, Walid N., "", in: JRAS
    Royal Asiatic Society

    The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, established to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society has been a forum, through lectures, its jour...
     1976, p. 100-107.
  • Ahmad, Barakat
    Barakat Ahmad

    Syed Barakat Ahmad was a AhmadiMuslim scholar and India diplomat. He had a doctorate in Arab#History from the American University of Beirut and a doctorate in literature from the University of Tehran....
    , Muhammad and the Jews, a Re-examination, New Delhi. Vikas Publishing House for Indian Institute of Islamic studies. 1979
  • Baron, Salo Wittmeyer. A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Volume III: Heirs of Rome and Persia. Columbia University Press, 1957.
  • Firestone, Reuven, "", in: Judaism (Fall 1997).
  • Hirschberg, Hayyim Ze'ev, Yisrael Ba'Arav. Tel Aviv: Mossad Bialik, 1946.
  • Kister, Meir J., "The Massacre of the Banu Quraiza. A re-examination of a tradition", in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam
    Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam

    Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam is a peer reviewed, international journal devoted to the study of classical Islam, Islamic religious thought, Arabic language and Arabic literature, the origins of Islamic institutions and the interaction between Islam and other civilizations....
     8 (1986).
  • Lecker, Michael, "On Arabs of the Banu Kilab executed together with the Jewish Banu Qurayza", in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19 (1995), p. 69.
  • Newby, Gordon Darnell, A History of the Jews of Arabia: From Ancient Times to Their Eclipse Under Islam (Studies in Comparative Religion). University of South Carolina Press, 1988.
  • Lewis, Bernard, The Jews of Islam. Princeton University Press, 2004.
Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam, University of Chicago Press, 1991.
  • Nemoy, Leon, "Barakat Ahmad's "Muhammad and the Jews"", in: The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, vol. 72, No. 4. (April 1982), p. 325.
  • Serjeant, R. B., "The "Sunnah Jami'ah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the "Tahrim" of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation of the Documents Comprised in the So-Called Constitution of Medina", in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 41 (1978), p. 1-42.
  • Stillman, Norman
    Norman Stillman

    Norman Arthur Stillman, also Noam , b. 1945, is the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma. He specializes on the intersection of Jewish and Islamic culture and history, and on Mizrahi Jews and Sephardim Jewry, with special interest in the Jewish communities in North Africa....
    , The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0


Further reading
  • Bat Ye'or
    Bat Ye'or

    Bat Ye'or ; a pseudonym of Gis?le Littman, n?e Orebi, is an Egypt-born United Kingdom scholar, who writes about the history of non-Muslims in the Middle East, and in particular the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis living under Islamic governments....
    , The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam. London: Associated University Presses, 1985.
  • Lecker, Michael, Jews and Arabs in Pre- And Early Islamic Arabia. Ashgate Publishing, 1999.


Background: Muhammad, Islam and Arabia


  • Abu-Nimer, Mohammed, "A Framework for Nonviolence and Peacebuilding in Islam", in: Journal of Law and Religion Volume 15, No. 1/2 (2000-2001), p. 217-265.
  • Adil, Hajjah Amina, Muhammad: The Messenger of Islam. Islamic Supreme Council of America, 2002.
  • Ananikian, M. H., "Tahrif or the alteration of the bible according to the Moslems", in: The Muslim World Volume 14, Issue 1 (January 1924), p. 63-64.
  • Ayoub, Mahmoud, "Dhimmah in Qur'an and Hadith", in: Arab Studies Quarterly 5 (1983), p. 179.
  • Brown, Daniel W., A New Introduction to Islam. Blackwell Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0631216049
  • Firestone, Reuven, Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-512580-0
  • Guillaume, Alfred, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press, 1955. ISBN 0-1963-6033-1
  • Hashmi, Sohail H., Buchanan, Allen E. & Moore, Margaret, States, Nations, and Borders: The Ethics of Making Boundaries. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
  • Hawting, Gerald R. & Shareef, Abdul-Kader A., Approaches to the Qur'an. Routledge, 1993. ISBN 0415057558
  • Heck, Gene W., "Arabia Without Spices: An Alternate Hypothesis", in: Journal Of The American Oriental Society 123 (2003), p. 547-567.
  • Hodgson, Marshall G.S., The Venture of Islam. University of Chicago Press, 1974.
  • Inamdar, Subhash, Muhammad and the Rise of Islam: The Creation of Group Identity. Psychosocial Press, 2001.
  • Khadduri, Majid, War and Peace in the Law of Islam. John Hopkins Press, 1955.
  • Meri, Josef W., Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0415966906.
  • Muir, William
    William Muir

    Sir William Muir, Order of the Star of India was a Scotland Orientalist and popularized the "Muir style" beard....
    , A Life of Mahomet and History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira
    A Life of Mahomet and History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira

    A Life of Mahomet and History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira or The Life of Mahomet is a book written by William Muir. It was first published in London by Smith, Elder & Co....
    , . London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1861.
  • Nomani, Shibli
    Shibli Nomani

    Allama Shibli Nu'mani was an India scholar on Islam. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh. He is known for the founding the Shibli National College in 1883 and the Darul Mussanifin in Azamgarh....
    , Sirat al-Nabi. Karachi: Pakistan Historical Society, 1970.
  • Norcliffe, David, Islam: Faith and Practice. Sussex Academic Press, 1999.
  • Paret, Rudi, Mohammed und der Koran. Geschichte und Verkündigung des arabischen Propheten.
  • Peters, Francis E., Muhammad and the Origins of Islam. State University of New York Press, 1994. ISBN 0-7914-1875-8.
  • Peters, Francis E., Islam. A Guide for Jews and Christians. Princeton University Press, 2003.
  • Peterson, Daniel C., Muhammad: the prophet of God. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2007.
  • Ramadan, Tariq
    Tariq Ramadan

    Tariq Said Ramadan is a Swiss Muslim academic whose views on Islam reflect a reformist perspective. He advocates the study and interpretation of Islamic texts, and emphasizes the heterogeneous nature of Western Muslims....
    , In the Footsteps of the Prophet. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  • Rodinson, Maxime
    Maxime Rodinson

    Maxime Rodinson was a France Marxist historian, sociologist and orientalist.The son of a Russians-Poles clothing trader who died in Auschwitz with his wife after being deported under the racial laws, Rodinson studied oriental languages, and became professor of Ethiopian at EPHE ....
    , Muhammad: Prophet of Islam, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2002. ISBN 1860648274
  • Watt, William Montgomery
    William Montgomery Watt

    William Montgomery Watt was an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh. Watt was one of "the foremost non-Muslim interpreter of Islam in the West, was an enormously influential scholar in the field of Islamic studies and a much-revered name for many Muslims all over the world." Watt's comprehensive bio...
    , "Muhammad", in: The Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, 1970.
  • Watt, William Montgomery, Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press, 1961.
  • Watt, William Montgomery, Muhammad at Medina, 1956.
  • Zeitlin, Irving, The Historical Muhammad. Polity Press 2007. ISBN 0745639984


External links