Muslims must not only fight, kill and slay the infidels,
after they have attacked and defeated an infidel tribe, village or country; they
must capture the remaining women and children as slaves/captives and take
possession of their homes, land and wealth [Koran 33:26-27].
After that Muslims have the right to rape those captured women (right hand
possession) through a divine revelation [Koran 70.29-30
; 4:3].
These edicts, orders and responsibilities as allegedly revealed from Allah are
meant for eternal application, until no other faith or unbelief is left.
On that ground, Prophet Muhammad had applied each of these
edicts in his life time. In April 624, on the excuse of a marketplace brawl
between a Muslim and Jew man of the Kaynuka tribe, the Prophet besieged the
settlements of that tribe – the wealthiest community in the region [1].
After 15 days of siege, the Jewish tribe surrendered. Their men were tied and
preparations were made for their summary execution. At this point, Abdullah ibn
Obayi, chief of the Khazraj clan, seriously intervened. He urged Muhammad,
"By God, would you cut down these 700 men in one morning?" He further
cautioned, "I am a man, circumstances may change!" Muhammad, prudent
as always, relented from the slaughtering and instead exiled them to
Syria
. They were given three days to leave but forbidden to take any implements of
their trade. Once the Jews left, Muhammad quickly captured their homes and
properties and distributed amongst the Muslims as booty obtained through winning
Jihad. According to ibn Ishaq, Muhmmad had already approved slaying the Jews
before this event and at least one Jew, named Ibn Sunayna was assassinated.
The most horrendous act of cruel barbarity against the Jews
came in April 627, immediately after the
Battle
of the Ditch when the Muslim army seized the Jewish clan of Banu Quraiza and
extirpated the entire male population of 800-900 [1]
. After surrender by Quraiza tribesmen, they offered to go to exile like the
Banu Nadhir tribe people but Prophet Muhammad refused. He instead ordered them
to accept Islam to spare their lives. Only one Jew agreed. The responsibility of
deciding on fate of the Quraiza people was handed to one Saad ibn Muad, a
fanatical follower of Muhammad, who was known to be hostile to the Jews and
himself was wounded in the same seize. He decided that the men of Quraiza tribe
be slain, the women and children be taken as slaves and their homes and
properties, as usual, be captured and distributed amongst the Muslims. As
protests were raised from a number of Arabs against such barbaric and cruel
punishment, the Prophet quickly found a revelation to justify this barbaric
verdict as inspired by Allah [Q 33:26-27]:
When Saad ibn Muad died shortly after passing this verdict,
the prophet allegedly said that he was such a holy man his death shook the
throne of Allah in heaven.
Following this, a trench was dug at the market-place and in
Prophet Muhammad's presence, more than 8 hundreds captives, in groups of five,
were brought to the brink of the trench with their hands tied behind and were
beheaded with swords before pushing the dismembered bodies into the trench. It
went on all through the day and continued by torchlight into the night. This
ghastly massacre even created repulsion in Karen Armstrong, a renowned writer
sympathetic to Islam, so much that she termed it impossible to dissociate from
the Nazi. Clearly this cruel event can be termed the "First Holocaust"
against the Jews.
Following this, Jewish strongholds of Khaybar, Fadak, Kamus,
Watih, Solalim, Wadi al-Kora and other were also forced to submit and exiled and
no important Jewish settlements were left around
Medina
. After defeating the Khaybar settlement of the Jews, the Prophet took the
captured beautiful young woman named Safiya to bed at nightfall as her slain
husband's dead body awaited burial the next day.
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