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{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}[[File:Banu qurayza massacre.jpg|175px|right|thumb|Detail from miniature painting: ''The Prophet, Ali, and the Companions at the Massacre of the Prisoners of the Jewish Tribe of Beni Qurayza'', illustration of a 19th century text by Muhammad Rafi Bazil.]]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 Qurayzah compound. After a siege of around 2 weeks, depending on the source, the Jews of Banu Qurayzah surrendered and entrusted their fate to a trusted intermediary from the Muslims of the tribe of 'Aws, Sa'd bin Mu'adh. Sa'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 take the women and children as captives. Muhammad took this advice and as a consequence between 400 and 900 male prisoners of the tribe including any boys showing signs of puberty were beheaded, many in front of their families, and the rest of the tribe were taken or sold into slavery. The event is well attested to in the Islamic historical tradition, and has served as the basis for multiple rulings throughout history dealing with the treatment of captured non-Muslims by Muslim military forces. | {{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}[[File:Banu qurayza massacre.jpg|175px|right|thumb|Detail from miniature painting: ''The Prophet, Ali, and the Companions at the Massacre of the Prisoners of the Jewish Tribe of Beni Qurayza'', illustration of a 19th century text by Muhammad Rafi Bazil.]]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 Qurayzah compound. After a siege of around 2 weeks, depending on the source, the Jews of Banu Qurayzah surrendered and entrusted their fate to a trusted intermediary from the Muslims of the tribe of 'Aws, Sa'd bin Mu'adh. Sa'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 take the women and children as captives. Muhammad took this advice and as a consequence between 400 and 900 male prisoners of the tribe including any boys showing signs of puberty were beheaded, many in front of their families, and the rest of the tribe were taken or sold into slavery. The event is well attested to in the Islamic historical tradition, and has served as the basis for multiple rulings throughout history dealing with the treatment of captured non-Muslims by Muslim military forces. | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad's constant aggressive raids and warmongering against the Meccans had driven them, in alliance with the Jewish tribes he had expelled from Yathrib and the north Arabian tribe of Ghatfan, to put an end to him and his movement once and for all. The three original Jewish tribes of Medina, the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qaynuqaa', and the Banu Qurayza, had seen their number dwindle to one as Muhammad had expelled the Banu Nadir and the Banu Qaynuaqaa' from Medina on different pretexts. Meanwhile their property, including their precious palm trees, had been seized by Muhammad and the Muslims. Together with the Meccans and the Ghatfan, the exiled Jewish tribes of Medina had formed an alliance and gathered an army whose numbers are given in the sira as being around 10,000 strong, including over 600 mounted horsemen against very few cavalry for the Muslims, and 7,000 stronger than the army which had defeated Muhammad | According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad's constant aggressive raids and warmongering against the Meccans had driven them, in alliance with the Jewish tribes he had expelled from Yathrib and the north Arabian tribe of Ghatfan, to put an end to him and his movement once and for all. The three original Jewish tribes of Medina, the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qaynuqaa', and the Banu Qurayza, had seen their number dwindle to one as Muhammad had expelled the Banu Nadir and the Banu Qaynuaqaa' from Medina on different pretexts. Meanwhile their property, including their precious palm trees, had been seized by Muhammad and the Muslims. Together with the Meccans and the Ghatfan, the exiled Jewish tribes of Medina had formed an alliance and gathered an army whose numbers are given in the sira as being around 10,000 strong, including over 600 mounted horsemen against very few cavalry for the Muslims, and 7,000 stronger than the army which had defeated Muhammad and the Muslims at Uhud. Muhammad at this time could call on a force of only around 3,000 men. Muhammad received word of their advance and began to make preparations. A Persian companion of the prophet named Salman, an apparent veteran of the Sassanid's many wars against the Romans, advised that when facing a great number of enemy horseman such as the confederate Jews and Meccans possessed, a good stratagem was to dig a defensive trench. It was decided to pursue this strategy <ref>Martin Lings Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources Inner Traditions 2006, pages 222-223</ref>. The Banu Qurayzah did not provide men to help but did provide entrenching tools and the Muslims strategy relied on the Banu Qurayza, whose fort lay in the rear of the Muslim defenses, not breaking their alliance with Muhammad and joining with the confederates. The strategy of the trench worked to win the battle against the Meccans and their allies, and the confederates were beaten back without many casualties for the Muslims, but this proved to be no end to the fighting. | ||
==Narrative from the Sira== | ==Narrative from the Sira== | ||
The series of events leading to the destruction of the Banu Qurayzah started during the battle of the trench. Unable to break the defenses of the Medinian Muslims, the Meccans sent an emissary from their Jewish allies, “the enemy of Allah, Huyayy bin Akhtab An-Nadri” <ref>Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq, Alfred Guillaume (translator), The life of Muhammad: a translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat rasūl Allāh Oxford Universite Press 2005, p.453</ref>, to the Banu Qurayzah in an attempt to bring their aide and end the stalemate by attacking Muhammad and the Muslims in the rear of their defenses. According to Ibn Ishaq, initially the leader of the Banu Qurayzah Ka'b bin Asad al-Qurayzi did not even allow Huyayy bin Akhtab to enter the compound, but was goaded into doing so be Huyayy's accusation that bin Ka'b did not want to share his food. Ibn Ishaq does not make it clear how he knows this however he claims that the negotiation came to naught due to the Qurayza’s insistence that the Meccans offer hostages in order to assure they would not leave the field of battle till Muhammad was defeated (though they did in fact end up leaving without defeating Muhammad). According to Ibn Ishaq, the Banu Qurayzah after much "wheedling" agreed only to not aide the Muslims or to obstruct or fight the confederates. Ibn Ishaq offers as evidence of the Banu Qurayza’s perfidy an Isnad chain from Yahya bin ‘Abbaad bin ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr with a story that a Muslim woman, Safiyah bint ‘AbdulMuttalib, who saw a Jewish scout of the Banu Qurayzah reconnoitering a Muslim fort in preparation for an attack. She told the fort's commander Hassan of this and asked him to kill the scout, and when he refused she took a club and went out and beat the man to death<ref>ibid, 458</ref>. Other than this Ibn Ishaq presents no evidence that the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah were in league with the confederates. He does, however, relate that Allah “sowed discord” between the confederates and the Banu Qurayza, which resulted in the Meccans retreating without having defeated Muhammad or engaged in a coordinated attack upon the Muslims with the Banu Qurayzah<ref>ibid, 459</ref> | The series of events leading to the destruction of the Banu Qurayzah started during the battle of the trench. Unable to break the defenses of the Medinian Muslims, the Meccans sent an emissary from their Jewish allies, “the enemy of Allah, Huyayy bin Akhtab An-Nadri” <ref>Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq, Alfred Guillaume (translator), The life of Muhammad: a translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat rasūl Allāh Oxford Universite Press 2005, p.453</ref>, to the Banu Qurayzah in an attempt to bring their aide and end the stalemate by attacking Muhammad and the Muslims in the rear of their defenses. According to Ibn Ishaq, initially the leader of the Banu Qurayzah Ka'b bin Asad al-Qurayzi did not even allow Huyayy bin Akhtab to enter the compound, but was goaded into doing so be Huyayy's accusation that bin Ka'b did not want to share his food. Ibn Ishaq does not make it clear how he knows this however he claims that the negotiation came to naught due to the Qurayza’s insistence that the Meccans offer hostages in order to assure they would not leave the field of battle till Muhammad was defeated (though they did in fact end up leaving without defeating Muhammad). According to Ibn Ishaq, the Banu Qurayzah after much "wheedling" agreed only to not aide the Muslims or to obstruct or fight the confederates. Ibn Ishaq offers as evidence of the Banu Qurayza’s perfidy an Isnad chain from Yahya bin ‘Abbaad bin ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr with a story that a Muslim woman, Safiyah bint ‘AbdulMuttalib, who saw a Jewish scout of the Banu Qurayzah reconnoitering a Muslim fort in preparation for an attack. She told the fort's commander Hassan of this and asked him to kill the scout, and when he refused she took a club and went out and beat the man to death<ref>ibid, 458</ref>. Other than this Ibn Ishaq presents no evidence that the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah were in league with the confederates. He does, however, relate that Allah “sowed discord” between the confederates and the Banu Qurayza, which resulted in the Meccans retreating without having defeated Muhammad or engaged in a coordinated attack upon the Muslims with the Banu Qurayzah<ref>ibid, 459</ref> | ||