User:Striver/Siege of the Banu Qurayza

The Coran, our surest guide, says simply that they "assisted" the allies, (S. xxxiii. 20); and the best traditions confine themselves to this general expression. Had there been any active hostilities entered upon, they would, I think, according to Mahomet's habit, have been more distinctly specified in the Coran.

On the other hand, a tradition from Ayesha states that, when the allies broke up, the Coreitza "returned", to their fort; and some traditions, though not of much weight, speak of them as part of the besieging force before Medina.

There is also a weak tradition that Hodzeifa, sent as a spy to the enemy's camp, overheard Abu Sofian telling his comrades the good news that the Coreitza had agreed to join him, after ten days' preparation , provided he sent seventy warriors to hold their fortress while they were absent in the field; and that Hodzeifa's report was the first intelligence Mahomet had of the defection.

On the whole, any impression is that the Coreitza entered into a league with Huwey, making common cause with him, and promising to take part in following up any success on the part of the Coreish, - a promise which they were in the best position to fulfill, - their fortress being, though at some distance, on the undefended side of Medina. But, before any opportunity offered, they saw the likelihood of the siege failing, and then distrust and disunion broke out.

It is to be noticed that the compact existing betwixt them and Mahomet is admitted to have been a slight one K.Wackidi, 114 ½. Al Jowhari says that this term means a treaty entered into without forecast or design, or without confirmation, a slight one. "Foedus vel pactum forte initum, vel haud firmum." ^[2]

There was a man of the allied army ... Nueim ... This man offered his services to the Prophet and they were gladly accepted. "See now;" said Mahomet to him, "whether thou canst not break up this confederacy against us: for War verily is a game of deception." Nueim went first to the Bani Coreitza, and representing himself as a true friend, artfully insinuated that the interests of the Allies were diverse from theirs, and that before they coinpromised themselves irretrievably with Mahomet, by joining in the impending general attack on Medina, they ought to demand from the Coreish hostages, as a guarantee against being deserted and left in their enemy's power.19 They suspected no harm, and agreed to act on his advice. Going next to the allied chiefs, he cautioned them against the Jews: - "I have heard;" he said, " that the Bani Coreitza intend to ask for hostages; beware how ye give them, for they have already repented of their compact with you, and promised Mahomet to give up the hostages to be slain, and then to join in the battle against you." The insidious plot immediately took effect; for when the Coreish sent to demand of the Coreitza the fulfilment of their engagement to join in a general attack on the following day, they pleaded their Sabbath as a pretext against fighting, and their fear of being deserted as a ground for demanding hostages. The Allies regarded this as a confirmation of Nueim's intelligence, and were so fully persuaded of the treachery of the Coreitza that they began even to fear an attack from that quarter ... The hope entertained (by the Meccans) from another engagement, during which the Coreitza were to have fallen upon the city in the rear of Mahomet, was now changed into the fear of hostilities from the treacherous Coreitza themselves... Abu Sofian suddenly resolved on an immediate march ... Break up the camp," he said, "and march ; - as for me, I am gone." ^[2].

Ahul Fida and Tabari in their histories and Hirwi in Habib al Siyar say that soon after his return from the battle of Khandaq, while laying aside his armour, the Holy Prophet was washing his hands and face in the house of his beloved daughter Fatimah whom he used to visit before going to his own quarter on return from an expedition or excursion the angel Jibrail brought a command from Allah to proceed immediately against the Qurayza Jews ^[5].

Abu Lubaba visits them,

He came, and overcome by the wailing of the children and the cries of the women, he had no heart to speak, but symbolically drawing his hand across his throat, intimated that they must fight to the last, as death was all they had to hope for. On retiring, he felt that he had been too plain and honest in his advice; for "war," as the Prophet had said, "is a game of deception." Therefore he went to Mahomet, and confessing his guilt, said, - " I repent: for verily I have dealt treacherously with the Lord, and with his Prophet." Mahomet vouchsafed no reply; and Abu Lubaba, more strongly to mark his contrition, went straightway to the Mosque and bound himself to one of its posts. In this position he remained for several days, till at last Mahomet relented, and sent to pardon and release him. The "pillar of repentance" is still pointed out in the Mosque to the pious pilgrim.

They surrendered at the discretion of the Bani Aws

At last the wretched Jews, brought now to the last verge of starvation, offered to surrender, if their fate were decided by their allies, the Bani Aws. To this Mahomet agreed; and, after a siege of fourteen days, according to others of twenty five, the whole tribe, men, women and children, came forth from their stronghold. ^[2].

Sad ibn Muadz appointed arbiter of their fate

The Bani Aws were importunate that their ancient allies should be spared. "These were our confederates;" they urged. "We pray thee that the same consideration may be shown to them, as aforetime, at the suit of the Bani Khazraj, thou didst show to their allies." "Are ye content, then; replied Mahomet, "that their fate be committed to one of yourselves?" They expressed their satisfaction, and Mahomet forthwith nominated Sad ibn Muadz to be their judge.

The bloody judgement of Sad

Sad still suffered from the severe wound received at the trench. From the field of battle he had been carried to a tent pitched by Mahomet in the courtyard of the Mosque, where the wounded men were waited on by Rufeida, an experienced nurse. His wound had begun apparently to heal. But the sense of the injury still rankled in his heart: and Mahomet knew well the bitter hate into which his former friendship had been turned by the treachery or the Coreitza. He was now summoned. His figure was large and corpulent. Having been mounted with some difficulty on a well-padded ass, he was conducted to the camp. The men of his tribe who thronged about him by the way continually reminded him of the friendship and services of the Coreitza, and urged him as their own representative to deal gently with the prisoners. He answered not a word till he approached the scene: and then he said - "Verily, this grace is given to Sad, that he careth not, in the affairs of God, for any blame the Blamers may cast upon him." As he drew near, Mahomet called aloud to those around him, - "Stand up to meet your master, and assist him to alight."35 Then he commanded that Sad should pronounce his judgment on the Coreitza. It was a scene well worthy the pencil of a painter. In the background, the army of Medina watch with deep interest this show of justice, regardinig with eager eye the booty, the household stuff, the armour, the camels, the flocks, and the deserted town, as about, by the expected decree of confiscation, to become their own. On the right, with hands pinioned behind their backs, are the captive men, seven or eight hundred in number, dejection or despair at the ominous rigour of their treatment stamped on their faces. On the left, are the women and the little children, pale with terror, or frantic with grief and alarm for themselves and for the fate of their husbands and fathers, from whom they have been just now so rudely dragged. In front is Mahomet, with his chief companions by his side, and a crowd of followers thronging behind. Before him stands Sad, supported by his friends, weak and jaded with the journey, yet distinguished above all around by his portly anid commanding figure. "Proceed with the judgement!" repeated tge Prophet. Sad turned himself to his people, who were still urging mercy upon him, and said, - "Will ye, then, bind yourselves by the covenant of God that whatsoever I shall decide, ye will accept the same?" There was a general murmur of assent. Then he proceeded: - "This verily is my judgment, that the male captives shall be put to death, that the female captives and the children shall be sold into slavery, and the spoil be divided amongst the army." Many a heart quailed, besides the hearts of the wretched prisoners, at this savage and bloody decree. But all questionings were forthwith stopped by Mahomet, who adopted the verdict as his own, nay, declared it to be the Solemn judgment of the Almighty ; - cold and unmoved, he said, -- "Truly thou hast decided according to the judgement of God pronounced on high from beyond the seven heavens." ^[2].

There were fifteen hundred swords, one thousand lances, five hundred shields, and three hundred coats of mail looted ^[2].

The butchery of the Bani Coreitza

No sooner was the sentence passed and ratified than the camp broke up, and the people wended their way back to Medina. The captives were dragged roughly along; one alone was treated with tenderness and care,- it was Rihana the beautiful Jewess, set apart for Mahomet. The men were penned up in a closed yard, while graves or trenches were being dug for them in the chief marketplace of the city. When these were ready, Mahomet, himself a spectator of the tragedy, gave command that the captives should be brought forth in companies of five or six at a time. Each company was made to sit down by the brink of the trench destined for its grave, and there beheaded. Party by party they were thus led out, and butchered in cold blood, till the whole were slain.37 One woman alone was put to death; it was she who threw the millstone from the battlements. For Zoheir, an aged Jew, who had saved some of his allies of the Bani Aws in the battle of Boath, Thabit interceded and procured a pardon, including the restoration of his family and his property. "But what hath become of all our chiefs, - of Kab, of Huwey, of Ozzal the son of Samuel?" asked the old man. As one after another he named the leading chiefs of his tribe, he received to each inquiry the same reply; - they had all been slain already. - "Then of what use is life to me any longer? Slay me also, that I may go and join those that have preceded me." When this was told to Mahomet, he said, "Yea, he shall join them, in the fire of Hell?"

Mahomet takes Rihana, a captive girl, for his concubine

Having sated his revenge, and drenched the market-place with the blood of eight hundred victims,^[12] and having given command for the earth to be smoothed over their remains, Mahomet returned from the horrid spectacle to solace himself with the charms of Rihana, whose husband and all whose male relatives had just perished in the massacre. He invited her to be his wife, but she declined; and chose to remain (as indeed, having refused marriage, she had no alternative) his slave or concubine ^[13]. She also declined the summons to conversion, and continued in the Jewish faith, at which the Prophet was much concerned. It is said, however, that she afterwards embraced Islam. She lived with Mahomet till his death.

In Najd, in exchange for horses

Mahomet made certain presents to his friends, of female slaves and servants; and then sent the rest of the women and children to be sold among the Bedouin tribes of Najd, in exchange for horses and arms; for he kept steadily in view the advantage of raising around him a body of efficient horse.^[2].

"You shall put all its males to the sword, but you may take the women, the dependants, and the cattle for yourselves."

Please refer to Deuteronomy 20: 10 to 18. ^[5]

11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.

12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.

13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.

14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. ^[14]

After the Battle of the Ditch in 627, the Jews of the Banu Quryza were denounced as traitors who had consorted with the Meccans. As was common in Arab (and, indeed, Semitic ^[20]) practice, the men were massacred; the woman and children were spared but enslaved. However, it is important to note that the motivation for such actions were political rather than racial or theological. Although the Banu Qurayza had remained neutral, they had also negotiated with the Quraysh. Moreover, the exiled Jewish clans ^[21] had actively supported the Meccans. Muhammad moved decisively to crush the Jews who remained in Medina, viewing them as a continual political threat to the consolidation of Muslim dominance and rule of Arabia.

One final point should be made. Muhammad's use of warfare in general was alien to neither to Arab custom nor to that of the Hebrew prophets. Both belived that God had sanctioned battle with the enemies of the Lord. Biblical stories about the exploits of kings and prophets such as Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Samuel, Jehu, Saul and David recount the struggle of a community called by by God and the permissibility, indeed requirement, to take up arms when necessary against those who had defied God, and to fight "in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel" Similarly, in speaking of the Israelite conquests, Moses recalls: "And i commanded you commanded you at the time, saying, "The Lord your God has given this land to posses....You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights with you" (Deuteronomy 3:18-22). ^[22]

Effect of the massacre of the B. Coreitza

The sanguinary fate of the Coreitza removed the last remnant of open opposition, political or religious, from the neigbourhood of Medina; and, though it did not at the time escape criticism, yet it struck so great a terror into the hearts of all, and the authority of the Prophet was already invested with so mysterious and supernatural a sanction, that no one dared openly to impugn it: and, moreover, the links which bound this ill-fated tribe to the citizens of Medina had begun to grow obsolete and feeble. That the massacre was savage and cruel, to a barbarous and inhuman degree, it does not require any comment to prove. The ostensible grounds upon which Mahomet proceeded were purely political, for as yet he did not profess to force men to join Islam, or to punish them for not embracing it. It may be admitted that a sufficient casus belli had arisen. The compact with the Coreitza was indeed weak and precarious.50 Mahomet's policy towards the Jews, from a very early period after his arrival at Medina, had been harsh and oppressive; he had attacked and expatriated two whole tribes on very doubtful grounds; he had caused the assassination of several Jews in so perfidious a manner, as to create universal distrust and alarm; after the murder of Kab and the incautious permission then given to slaughter the Jews indiscriminately, he himself felt that the existing treaty had been practically set aside, and, to restore confidence, he had entered into a new compact. All these circumstances must plead against the strength of obligation which bound the Coreitza to his cause. They, moreover, had stood by the second compact at a time when they might fairly have set it aside, and joined the Bani Nadhir. That they now hearkened to the overtures of the Coreish, though a proof of want of prudence and foresight, was no more than Mahomet might have expected, as the result of his own hostile and treacherous conduct. Still the Coreitza had joined his enemies at a critical period, and he had now a good cause for warring against them. He had, furthermore, fair grounds of political necessity for requiring them perhaps even to quit altogether a vicinity where they must have continued to form a dangerous nucleus of disaffection, and possibly of renewed attack upon Medina.

We might even concede that the conduct of their leaders amounted to treason against the city, and warranted a severe retribution. But the indiscriminate slaughter of eight hundred men, and the subjugation of the women and children of the whole tribe to slavery, can be recognized by no civilized people otherwise than as an act of enormous ferocity. The plea of Divine ratification or command may allay the scruples of the credulous Moslem; but it will be summarily rejected by others, who call to mind that the same authority was now habitually produced for personal ends, and for the justification event of unhallowed actions. However much Mahomet may have deluded himself into the vain belief that he had the Divine sanction for that which he did, a candid and severe examination of his heart must have shown him that these so-called revelations were but the counterpart of his own will, that they followed the course of his own longings and desires, and that he was himself responsible for their shape and colour. The butchery of the Coreitza leaves a dark stain of infamy upon the character of Mahomet ^[2].