Conquest of Khaybar: Difference between revisions

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According to the Islamic tradition in 628 AD the prophet [[Muhammad]] led an army of Muslims against the fortified Jewish oasis of Khaybar <ref>Watt 1956, pg. 341.</ref>. Muhammad and the companions launched this assault as the culmination of years of struggle against the Jews of Arabia and their pagan allies. After much struggle the fortresses of Khaibar were overtaken one by one. The Jews were allowed to leave, and those who stayed paid the [[jizya]] and become, according to the Islamic tradition, the first dhimmis. Muhammad took the wife of the leader of the Khaybar Jews, [[Safiyya]], as his wife, and tortured her husband Kinana to death in order to find his treasure, according to ibn Hisham and Tabari (themselves relating ibn Ishaq's account). In the aftermath of the victory, Muhammad ate of a sheep cooked by a local Jewish woman who had lost family in the battle. She poisoned the shoulder after finding out it was Muhammad's favorite part of the animal to eat. Muhammad spit the piece out without swallowing, but according to the Hadith it would later lead to his death. Despite this, the victory of the Muslims over the Jews at Khaybar was widely celebrated by the early Muslims, and the chant "Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahuud, jaysh Muhammad saya'uud" "Khaybar, Khaybar O Jews, the army of Muhammad shall return" has in modern times become an invocation of bellicosity against the Jews by Arab and Muslim forces such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Arab nationalists, and Islamist activists the world over.