The Massacre of the Banu Qurayzah: Difference between revisions

According to the traditional Islamic sources, in 627 AD as a result of the [[Battle of the Trench]] and the betrayal of the Muslims by the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, the Muslims under the direct military command of the prophet [[Muhammad]] laid siege to the Banu Qurayza compound. After a siege of around 2 weeks, depending on the source, the Jews of Banu Qurayza surrendered and entrusted their fate to a trusted intermediary from the Muslims of the tribe of 'Aws, Sa'ad bin Mu'adh. Sa'a'd bin Mu'adh, however, claiming to be following the law of the Torah itself, advised Muhammad to slaughter the men folk of the tribe and sell the women and children into slavery. Muhammad took this advice and as a consequence over 900 prisoners of the tribe were slaughtered, many in front of their families, and the rest of the tribe were sold into slavery. Although later Muslim historians such as Tabari and ibn Kathir attest to and provide details of this event, the lack of attestation to this event in any primary sources for over 100 years after the event and the lack of attestation of the existence of the Banu Qurayza in early documents such as the [[Constitution of Medina]], as well as evidence of continued Jewish-Arab (Muhaajir) cooperation well into the period of the early Arab conquests, has caused critical historians to call into question the historicity of the entire event.  

According to traditional sources, in Hijra year 5 (627 AD), on the orders of the Islamic Prophet [[Muhammad]], almost nine hundred Jews of a Medinan tribe named Banu Qurayza were massacred by the muhaajiruun and their Medinese Muslim allies. The killing began early in the day, ending in torchlight. Those who escaped death were taken captive and sold at [[Slavery|slave]] markets.

Muhammad’s problems with the Jews had not started here. Before the Abu Qurayza, the Jews of the tribes of the Banu Nadir and Banu Qaynuqaa’ had already been assaulted, stripped of their goods including their precious palm trees and exiled. The Banu Qurayzah had retained their position in Medinah through an alliance with the prophet. All was not well with them, tho, as Muhammad continued to press on them to accept him as the messenger off [[Allah]]. As Muhammad had lost the battle of [[Uhud]] this had become difficult for him, and there was already doubt in the minds of some Muslims (mostly muhaajiruun) as to their loyalty to the prophet.

The battle over, Muhammad and his men put their entrenching tools and weapons down to head home. According to the sira, though, Allah had other plans.

According to the traditional narrative the [[Qur'an]] refers to this incident in [[Surah]] 33:

And He caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land ye have not trodden. Allah is Able to do all things }}

According to the traditional exegetes the people being referred to in the above verse are the Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe. The reason given for slaying them is their alleged support of the Meccans "ahzaab" or confederates/parties (tribes) who came to fight the Muslims of Medina. Reading the verse in this light, it is [[Allah]] accusing people of the scripture of supporting Meccans. According to the [[sira]] and the [[hadith]], the Banu Qurayza, upon seeing the size of the enemy army confronting the Muslims, waivered in their allegiance to Muhammad and went over to the enemy, creating a huge strategic problem for Muhammad as the Banu Qurayzah were situated behind his lines and he had made no preparations to go to war with them.  

{{Quote|1=[http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=33&tid=41359 Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Quran 33:10) - The Campaign of the Confederates (Al-Ahzab)]|2=Ibn Jarir said: "Some of those who were with the Messenger of Allah , had doubts and thought that the outcome would be against the believers, and that Allah would allow that to happen."}}

After establishing through Qur'anic text that the war of Khandaq was never fought, it is necessary to investigate other authentic sources of Islam to discover what prompted Muhammad and his army (who had just salvaged their lives and pride without fighting a war) to turn their attentions towards the Banu Qurayza. We saw Allah himself attest to the fact he was the one who drove away the Meccans and helped Muslims escape an otherwise inevitable extermination. Let's now turn to Ibn Kathir to find out what happened next:

How appropriate is it for a religious leader to abuse helpless people with words like "brothers of monkeys" and to incite his followers to do as he did? Not to mention, he traded these insults prior to besieging them.

Muslims propose many apologetic arguments to excuse this crime. The most favored argument they use is the alleged treachery of Banu Quraiza. Its flaws are evident when considering any act of treachery from this tribe would have put an end to Islam at Khandaq, and as a result, Islam would never have existed outside of Arabia.  

Moreover, when the latter pronounced his verdict, it was Muhammad who rushed in favor of it, proclaiming it to be Allah's judgment. Taking all of these issues into account, there is no valid argument that can be used in its defense. After this incident, there remained not a tribe named Banu Qurayza in Arabia.

==See Also==