Conquest of Khaybar

According to the Islamic tradition in 628 AD the prophet Muhammad led an army of Muslims against the fortified Jewish oasis of Khaybar. 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). 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.

Background

The prophet arrived in Medina from Mecca having left his homeland in the year of the hijrah. There, according to the sirah, he found 3 large Jewish tribes, the Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa', and the Banu Qurayzah. The prophet preached to them and attempted to convert them to his new religion, and the Constitution of Medina actually shows that the Jews of Medina did agree to form one "ummah" or community (although the three tribes mentioned in the Sirah accounts are nowhere to be found in the Constitution of Medina). Things quickly came to a head with the new religion and the more established Judaism.

After the Battle of Badr the prophet became more forceful in his demands that the Jews accept him as a prophet. According to the Sirah and Hadith, a number of the Jews including Kinanah, the leader of the Banu Nadir, knew that Muhammad was a prophet but deliberately sought to oppose him anyway due to stubborness and fear for their own power. This led to a series of skirmishes and conflicts with the Banu Nadir which ended in their expulsion (along with the Banu Qaynuqa') from Medina. They migrated to the Jewish stronghold oasis of Khaybar, where they had many fortresses and made a nice income from harvesting dates and other agricultural products.

Although exiled, the Jews continued to agitate and plot against Muhammad there, and also hired the sorcerer Labid to curse Muhammad, vexing him with confusion, feelings of weakness, and the impression that he had had sex with his wives when he had not. They also bank rolled Arab tribes like their allies the Ghatfan who military opposed Muhammad, and engaged in a plot with the remaining Jews of Medina, the Banu Qurayzah, to betray Muhammd during the battle of the trench (this Jewish treachery would lead to the Massacre of the Banu Qurayzah.

After the Treaty of Hudaybiyah brought the war between the Meccans and the Muslims to a ceasefire, many Muslims were still hungry for the booty that the wars against the pagans and the Jews had so far delivered them. Waqidi claims that Muhammad rebuked his followers for thinking of only earthly gains, while ibn S'ad claims that the expidition was motivated in large part by avarice. In any event, the spoils of war would soon come into the Muslims' hands.

Narrative from the Sira

Tafsir Accounts

Accounts in Hadiths

Modern Views and Perspectives

Problems with the Traditional Narrative

References