Banu Qaynuqa
There were three Jewish tribes living in Medina, the Banu
Qainuqa, the Bani Nadir and the Bani Quraiza. Each of these
tribes had alliances with other Arab tribes and if there were
skirmishes between their Arab allies and the other Jewish tribes
they would have sided with their Arab friends. This is the proof
that in Medina prior to Islam there were no religious strives.
All the religious intolerance was introduced by the Prophet.
When the Prophet entered Medina, he was hopeful that the Jews
would accept his religion. He was preaching the same god of the
Jews, approving of their prophets and telling their stories. He
had chosen their holy land as his qibla (point of adoration) and
was humbugging them for their allegiance.
W. N. ARAFAT who denies the first holocaust writes; "It
is also generally accepted that at first the Prophet Muhammad
hoped that the Jews of Yathrib, as followers of a divine
religion, would show understanding of the new monotheistic
religion, Islam." (1)
But to his dismay the Jews, just like the Quraish, ridiculed
him and paid little heed to his calling. After his hopes were
shattered and his patience vexed the Prophet grew hostile
towards the Jews and it became evident that he would one day
take his revenge.
The first group of the Jews that fell under the wrath of the
Prophet were the Banu Qaynuqa. They lived in quarters within
Madinah named after them. As for jobs, they took up goldsmithery,
blacksmithing and crafts of making household instruments, that
is why war weaponry was available in large quantities in their
houses.
Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri in AR-Raheeq Al-Makhtum writes;
"They (the Banu Qaynuqa) started a process of
trouble-making, jeering at the Muslims, hurting those who
frequented their bazaars, and even intimidating their women.
Such things began to aggravate the general situation, so the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) gathered them in assemblage,
admonished and called them to be rational, sensible and guided
and cautioned against further transgression. Nevertheless they
remained obdurate and paid no heed to his warning, and said: “Don’t
be deluded on account of defeating some Quraishites
inexperienced in the art of war. If you were to engage us in
fight, you will realize that we are genuine war experts.” (2)
Whatever those few Jews retorted to
Muhammad, it was not the official voice of the whole population.
But for a man looking for an excuse to strike it was a golden
opportunity. Maududi says, “This was in clear words a
declaration of war.”
But it wasn’t. These words did not come
from the chief of the Bani Qainuqa and they were not
threatening. They were shouted down by a bunch of hooligans, to
someone who tried to bully them while they were acting on the
instructions of their own religion and took a life for a life.
Only one whose brain is numbed by his religious fanaticism can
interpret the defiant words of a few youth as the declaration of
war made by the entire Jews against Muslims.
It is the ultimate injustice to punish an entire population with
such severity with the pretext that few of them killed one man
in retaliation of him killing one of theirs. That is
despite the verse that says "... no bearer of burdens
can bear the burden of another" (Q.
53: 38)
The Muslim historians want to blame it all on the Jews and
depict them as the villains of the story. Jeering, however is
not a crime. But by paying a little attention to the response of
the Jews to the Prophet it is not difficult to see that he did
not go there to counsel them but to threaten them.
The following verse that was issued for that occasion reveals
the hostile tone of the Prophet when he met the Jews.
“Say [O Muhammad to those who disbelieve: ‘You
will be defeated and gathered together to Hell, and worst
indeed is that place to rest.’ There has already been a Sign
for you (O Jews) in the two armies that met (in combat —
i.e. the battle of Badr): One was fighting in the cause of
Allâh,
and as for the other (they) were disbelievers. They (the
believers) saw them (the disbelievers) with their own eyes
twice their number (although they were thrice their number).
And Allâh supports with His Victory whom He pleases. Verily,
in this is a lesson for those who understand.” [Q.3:
22,13]
"One day a Jewish goldsmith provoked a Muslim woman
whose genitals become uncovered when he had tied the edge of the
garment to her back. A Muslim man happened to be there and
killed the man; the Jews retaliated by killing that Muslim. The
man’s family called the Muslims for help and war
started." (2)
Incidents like these often happen in
primitive societies. As a matter of fact even in very civilized
societies many people are killed over something as trivial as
road rage. Humans are not completely rational beings. Most
people react in a very unpredictable way often with dire
consequences. Any wise man, in similar situations would have
eased the tension and would have calmed the mob without taking
sides. But Muhammad was far from it. Already emboldened by his
plundering of the passing caravans, he had his eyes on the
wealth of the Jews in Yathirb and was looking for an excuse to
make his move. This incident presented the golden opportunity
that the Prophet was waiting for and On Saturday, Shawwal 15th,
2 A.H., he marched out with his soldiers, and laid siege
to the Jews’ forts for 15 days. Without the water, the Bani
Qainuqa was forced to surrender and defer to the Prophet's
judgement on their lives, wealth, women and children.
Maududi writes, “Consequently, the Holy
Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) laid siege to their
quarters towards the end of Shawwal (and according to some
others, of Dhi Qa'dah) A. H. 2. The siege had hardly lasted for
a fortnight when they surrendered and all their fighting men
were tied and taken prisoners. Now Abdullah bin Ubayy came up in
support of them and insisted that they should be pardoned. The
Holy Prophet conceded his request and decided that the Bani
Qainuqa would be exiled from Madinah leaving their properties,
armour and tools of trade behind. (Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hisham, Tarikh
Tabari). (3)
The details of Ubayy's intercession with
the Prophet is reported in the first Islamic history book,
Sirat.
"Asim b. `Umar b. Qatada said that
the B. Qaynuqa` were the first of the Jews to break their
agreement with the apostle and to go to war, between Badr and
Uhud, and the apostle besieged them until they surrendered
unconditionally. `Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul went to him when
God had put them in his power and said, 'O Muhammad, deal kindly
with my clients' (now they were allies of Khazraj), but the
apostle put him off. He repeated the words, and the apostle
turned away from him, whereupon he thrust his hand into the
collar of the apostle's robe; the apostle was so angry that his
face became almost black. He said, 'Confound you, let me go.' He
answered, 'No, by God, I will not let you go until you deal
kindly with my clients. Four hundred men without mail and three
hundred mailed protected me from all mine enemies; would you cut
them down in one morning? By God, I am a man who fears that
circumstances may change.' The apostle said, 'You can have
them.' [Sirat, p. 363]
In the words of al-Mubarakpuri "Banu
Qainuqa‘ handed over all materials, wealth and war equipage to
the Prophet (Peace be upon him), who set aside one fifth and
distributed the rest to his men. After that they were banished
out of all Arabia to Azru‘a in Syria where they stayed for a
while and soon perished away." (2)
No one ever asked, why? Why a trivial
incident should become the excuse for the envoy of God to banish
a whole population and confiscate their entire belongings. The
scene of the exiles from Kosovo is too fresh in our memories yet
even Milosovic who is now a war criminal did not put hand on the
properties of the refugees. And the Jews did not have a UN
refugee camp set for them out of Medina with Red Cross and and
other humanitarian organizations waiting to alleviate their
pain. How any decent human being could justify these ruthless
genocidal acts of the Prophet? How can any person call himself a
Muslims after learning these historic truth about Muhammad? The
fact that Abdullah bin Ubayy, whom al-Mubarakpuri does not
hesitate to call a "hypocrite" came to the prisoner's
support pleading that they be pardoned demonstrates that
Muhammad’s original plan was to execute them all. It was bin
Ubayy’s intervention that saved their lives. How is it that a
"hypocrite" was more compassionate than the Messenger
of Allah and Allah himself? Wasn’t he a superior man to
Muhammad?
By Ali Sina
1- From Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (1976), pp.
100-107 By W. N. ARAFAT http://homepages.haqq.com.au/salam/misc/qurayza.html
2- AR-Raheeq Al-Makhtum by Saifur
Rahman al-Mubarakpuri http://islamweb.islam.gov.qa/english/sira/raheek/PAGE-26.HTM
3-
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/mau59.html
