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→Aisha and Jihad
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Two years later, Muhammad took Aisha to the Battle of the Trench. This was much less dangerous, for the “battle” was a stalemate siege with little actual fighting.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 454, 469.</ref> Aisha’s services were only required by night, when Muhammad was guarding the narrowest and most vulnerable point of the trench. Whenever he became overwhelmed by the bitter cold, he went into Aisha’s tent “to be warmed by her embrace.”<ref>Waqidi, ''Al-Maghazi'' Vol. 1 p. 463.</ref> Since there was nothing that she could actively contribute to this campaign, it seems an unnecessary hardship to have imposed on a 13-year-old. | Two years later, Muhammad took Aisha to the Battle of the Trench. This was much less dangerous, for the “battle” was a stalemate siege with little actual fighting.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 454, 469.</ref> Aisha’s services were only required by night, when Muhammad was guarding the narrowest and most vulnerable point of the trench. Whenever he became overwhelmed by the bitter cold, he went into Aisha’s tent “to be warmed by her embrace.”<ref>Waqidi, ''Al-Maghazi'' Vol. 1 p. 463.</ref> Since there was nothing that she could actively contribute to this campaign, it seems an unnecessary hardship to have imposed on a 13-year-old. | ||
The following month, Muhammad captured the [[The Genocide of | The following month, Muhammad captured the [[The Genocide of Banu Qurayza|Qurayza]], the last Jewish tribe living in Medina, and ordered that every adult male should be decapitated. Muhammad personally supervised the executions in Medina Market.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 464; {{Tabari|8|pp. 40-41}}.</ref> Aisha did not directly witness the killings but she was within earshot. She chatted to a woman named Bunanah, who was “laughing immoderately as the Apostle was killing her men in the market. Suddenly a voice called her name. ‘Good Heavens,’ I cried, ‘what is the matter?’ ‘I am to be killed,’ she replied. ‘What for?’ I asked. ‘Because of something I did,’ she answered. She was taken away and beheaded. I shall never forget my wonder at her good spirits and her loud laughter when all the time she knew that she would be killed.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 464-465.</ref> Bunanah’s crime had been to participate in the Jewish defence by throwing a millstone onto the assailants, which had crushed to death a Muslim warrior.<ref>{{Tabari|8|p. 41}}. Bunanah was doubtless inspired by the example in Judges 9:53, a story that every Jewish child knows.</ref> As for how the executions affected Muhammad: “His eye did not weep for anyone.”<ref>{{Tabari|8|p. 40}}.</ref> | ||
That day an Aws chief named Saad ibn Muaz died of a battle-injury, and Muhammad announced that Allah’s throne had shaken when the doors of Paradise were flung open for him.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468. This was the Saad ibn Muaz who had just pronounced the death-sentence on the men of Qurayza.</ref> Soon afterwards, Aisha was with Saad’s kinsman, Abu Yahya ibn Hudayr, when the news arrived that the latter’s wife had died. He was overcome with grief. Aisha exclaimed: “Allah forgive you, O Abu Yahya! Will you weep over a woman when you have lost your [second cousin twice removed<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq pp. 204, 330. This was their patrilinear relationship; it is possible that they were more closely related in one of the female lines.</ref>], for whom the throne shook?”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468.</ref> Her astonishment over Abu Yahya’s attachment to his wife speaks volumes about her own experience of marriage. | That day an Aws chief named Saad ibn Muaz died of a battle-injury, and Muhammad announced that Allah’s throne had shaken when the doors of Paradise were flung open for him.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468. This was the Saad ibn Muaz who had just pronounced the death-sentence on the men of Qurayza.</ref> Soon afterwards, Aisha was with Saad’s kinsman, Abu Yahya ibn Hudayr, when the news arrived that the latter’s wife had died. He was overcome with grief. Aisha exclaimed: “Allah forgive you, O Abu Yahya! Will you weep over a woman when you have lost your [second cousin twice removed<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq pp. 204, 330. This was their patrilinear relationship; it is possible that they were more closely related in one of the female lines.</ref>], for whom the throne shook?”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468.</ref> Her astonishment over Abu Yahya’s attachment to his wife speaks volumes about her own experience of marriage. | ||