WERE THE JEWS ‘MALTREATED’ BY PROPHET MUHAMMAD, OR VICE-VERSA?
-
[With an
intention of attacking Islam, some people raise the issue of Prophet’s
treatments of the Jews in Madina. However, nobody could ever prove that the
treatments were unjust. Accusing the Prophet of ‘mistreating’ the Jews is an
absolute reflection of having shallow knowledge on the history of the contexts.
Let the history talk for itself.]
Introduction:
If
you do not observe and fulfil the law… and the Lord will scatter you among all
peoples from one end of the earth to the other… Among those nations you will
find no peace, no rest for the sole of your foot. Then the Lord will give you
an unquiet mind, dim eyes and a failing appetite. Your life will hang
continually in suspense, fear will beset you night and day, and you will find
no security all your life long. Every morning you will say, "Would God it
were morning!" and every evening, "Would God it were morning!"
for the fear that lives in your heart. (Deuteronomy 28: 56-68)
The policy of Prophet (peace be upon him) towards the Jews in Madina is still a burning issue, for even now the Jews in the world have not forgotten the event. Since then, they have been cherishing a smouldering discontent and an urge of revenge in their hearts against the Muslims in a great antagonistic manner. The annals of the Jews history are fraught with numerous atrocities that cast them into various types of punishments and anguishes. The punishment meted out to the Jews in Madina was the inevitable consequence of their deviation from, and superciliousness towards, the religious life and social order, of their rebellions, infidelity, perfidies, subversive activities, breach of treaty and so forth. If we take the trouble of ransacking the vast treasures of Islamic history and invaluable stock of research piled up by the renowned Muslims scholars in the past, it will be ‘as plain as the nose of our face’ that the verdicts of Prophet (peace be upon him) against the Jews were absolutely just. Muslims, on the other hand, justify the policy adopted by the Prophet affecting the Jews on various grounds. The policy, therefore, necessitates considerable analytical discussion in an objective perspective. Hence our attempt would be devoted to the back projection of the discussion towards the historical incidents with a socio-political and religious analysis purported to overview the justification of policy within the preview of multi-racial groups’ right and duties in a society required by the well-established norms and values of intra-national relations.
How the Jews Came to Madina:
The Jews in
There was another phase of migration,
as the Jews claimed, and that was in 587 BC. Then Bakhtanasar,
the king of
Islamic State in Madina:
The Jews of Yathrib
were divided into several clans, traditionally grouped into three tribes,
namely- Bani an-Nadir, Bani
Qaynuqa and Bani Qurayza. Bany Qaynuqa
possessed no agricultural lands, but they lived in a compact of settlement
where they had a market and carried on several crafts, especially of gold
smith, and banking. Other two tribes, an-Nadir and Quraiza,
were agriculturists. In fact, they possessed some of the richest lands in Yathrib where they had many gardens and date palms.[3]
In this situation, Islam came to
Madina. After hijrat
to Madina, Prophet (peace be upon him) established the foundation of Islamic
State and made a bond of strong brotherhood among Aws
and Khajraz. Secondly, whatever might be the attitude
of the Jews, Prophet (peace be upon him) endeavoured at first to win their
favour of his nascent Medinese state during the early
days of hijrat. For this purpose, he drew the
charter of the treaty of Madina (the constitution of
the new state) under which he gave them an important position in the new state
he was building.[4]
In order to establish peace and happiness in Madina, the Jews together with
Muslims took the following responsibilities:
·
The
Jews and the Muslims will bear their respective expenses.
·
The
parties to the treaty are bound to help each other in confrontation with rival
fighters.
·
There
should be sincerity, benediction and fairness among themselves without any harm
caused to each other.
·
No
harm and misbehaviour should be committed against any of signatory parties to
the treaty.
·
The
parties should help the persecuted/oppressed people.
·
The
Jews should pay the expenses together with Muslims so long as they are involved
in battle.
·
It
is unlawful for any of the parties to cause unrest or mischief in Yathrib.
·
In
case of disputes leading to mischief between the parties, it should be referred
to (the rules of) God and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for settlement.
·
No
harbouring and assistance should be extended in favour of Quraysh
traders.
·
In
case of attack on the
Policies to Win the Heart of the
Jews:
Prophet (peace be upon him) turned his
attention to the problems of relations between the Jews and the Muslims, the
restoration of peace and order in Madina, torn by a century of strive and
bloodshed, and the organisation of the city as a community of believers.[6] In the charter of Madina, the Jews got the
following privileges:
·
The
Jews domiciled in Yathrib shall form with Muslims one
composite nation or ummah.
·
The
Jews who attach themselves to the commonwealth shall have an equal right with
the Muslims to assistance and good offices.
·
The
Jews shall practise their religion as freely as the Muslims.
·
The
clients and allies of the Jews shall enjoy the same security and freedom.
Besides these political rights, Prophet (peace be upon him) made several concessions to win their hearts, like:
·
The
·
Following
the Jews practice, the Muslims also kept fast of Ashura.
·
Like
the Jews, they also prayed at the mid-day worship.
·
The
prophet (peace be upon him) permitted the Muslims to eat food with the Jews and
also to marry Jewish women.[7]
Hostilities of the Jews against
Islam:
Cast in the mould of antagonism, the
Jews as a community, has decided upon assuming overbearing attitude towards
Prophet (peace be upon him) and his followers.[8] In
antagonism they reached to the extreme verge because of the following reasons:
·
The
popularity of Islam awakened the Jews to the loss of their influence, which
they had founded on the sandy grounds of the oppressive materialism and not
true mosaic practice.[9]
·
The
Jews accepted Prophet (peace be upon him) just as a political leader. But when
they observed the cosmopolitan and comprehensive mission and attitude of the
Prophet, they thought that if this universal movement would go on in this way,
obviously their hypocrite way of life might be dismantled.[10]
·
The
Jews used to instigate and create feuds and battles between the Khajraj and the Aws, and cast the
leaders of both tribes into high debts. When the Jews saw that the Aws and the Khazraj came to a
bond of strong fraternity due to Islam and people from other tribes were also
joining with them, they became tremendously irritated and afraid of their
existence.[11]
·
The
Jews suffered from certain horrible ailments such as greed that made them stick
to usury and devour substance or things of others which were forbidden to do;
their sinful life and virulence, which suppressed their very soul, and their
listening to falsehood against the true facts about Islam and its Messenger.[12]
Therefore, the Jews built up their
national goal to continue antagonism against Prophet (peace be upon him). They
joined hands with the hypocrites (munafiqeen)
led by Abdullah bin Obay. Their poets and bards
composed verses and lampoons against the Prophet and the Qur’an.[13] They left no stone unturned to harass the
Prophet and the Muslims.
Expulsion of Bani-Qaynuqa
(February, 624 AD.):
After Islam emerged victorious from
the battlefield of al-Badr,
the first among the Jews to have apprehension as to what their failure would
be, were the ‘Qaynuqa’. Looking coolness of
temperament, they acted in a manner as to lead to the estrangement of the
Muslim feelings. Their jealousy grew into enmity. Insinuation against Muslim
ladies in obscene verses also freely indulged in. They stooped so low as molest
them in streets. Meanwhile, a Jewish shopkeeper added fuel to the fire when he
offended a Muslim woman, resulting in the death of a Jew and a Muslim. The
Prophet admonished the Jews but they responded by rude behaviour and warned the
Muslim that they would teach them a good lesson. Discarding the terms of the
covenant, they betook themselves to fortified places. The Muslim besieged them
for two weeks and obliged them to surrender.[14] The
whole tribe of Qaynuqa was ordered to leave Madina.
They proceed towards the north and ultimately reached Azriat
on the borders of
Expulsion of Bani-Nadir
(June, 625 AD.):
A few months after the expulsion of Bani-Qaynuqa, one of the Jewish poets, Ka’b
ibn al-Ashraf, a member of
an-Nadir, was assassinated by five Muslims. He had incited the Quraysh in Makka, vilified the
Prophet and the Muslims and insulted the Muslim women in his verses and
lampoons. The death of Ka’b alarmed the Jews. After
that the defeat of the Muslims in the battle of Uhud
encouraged their enemies to rise their hands against them. The desert tribe of Najid resorted to treachery. The Bedouin tribes, bani Sulaman, treacherously
killed a party of 40 Muslims who were invited by the chief of Bani Amir to teach Islam to his
tribe. This is known as the incident of ‘Bir- Ma’una’, where this tragedy had taken
place. Only two Muslims survived. When one of the survivors, Amir bin Umayyah was returning to
Madina, he met two men of Bani Amir.
Believing them to be enemies, he killed them, although they had come from
Madina under the protection of the Prophet. When Amir
related this incident to Prophet (peace be upon him), he decided that blood
money must be paid.[16] The
Prophet went to demand from them the blood money and while he waited on them,
the Nadir sent up a man to drop a stone on him from the housetop. Similarly,
they pretended twice to accept Islam and invited the Prophet (peace be upon
him) to hold a conversation with the scholars of Judaism. On both occasions,
their aim was to kill him, but he was saved because of pre informed.[17]
The Nadir joined a conspiracy and went
down to Makka, telling the Quraysh:
“If you lend us support against Islam, we shall uproot it altogether”. Besides
rousing the Makkans, they roamed about the desert,
visiting the haunts of Bedouins and stirring them against Islam. The Nadir also
remained in close touch with Ibn Ubay
who guided them along in correct lines.[18]
When approached by the Muslims for
renewing the old agreement, the Nadir refused to do so. This showed that they
harboured evil intentions against Islamic community. Accordingly, when they
fortified themselves within their strongholds, the Muslim laid siege to their
order for number of days, may be two weeks. The Jews surrendered on the
condition that they would be permitted to leave the
Allah said this event in the Qur’an:
-It is He Who
got out the unbelievers among the people of the Book from their homes at the
first gathering (of their farces). Little did ye think that they would get out;
and they thought that their fortresses would defend them from Allah! But the
(wrath of) came to them from quarters...[20]
-That is
because they resisted Allah and His messenger; and if anyone resists Allah,
verily Allah is severe in Punishment.[21]
Extirpation of Bani-Qurayzah (March, 627AD.):
It was during the battle of Ahzab that the Qurayzah, the last tribe of Jews that had an alliance with
the Muslims, turned to be perfidious. When the 'confederates' (namely the Quraysh, the Nadir, the Ghatfan
and the Bedouins) were knocking at the doors of Madina, Huary
bin Akhtab of the banished Nadir, approached Kaab bin Asad, the chief of the Qurayzah and won him and his men by his eloquence and
assurance that Islam was on its last leg. At first Kaab
rejected the invitation on the ground that he “always found Muhammad true to
his word; to be perfidious to him will be against manliness.” But, later Qurayzah informed the Muslims: “We do not know who Muhammad
is, and what the agreement was like.” This attitude pointed to their decision
to join the confederates in the effort of undermines Islam.[22] It was
agreed that as soon as the confederates were able to force a passage across the
trench, The Jews would rise to attack the Muslim quarters, so that the Muslims
would be between the confederates in front and the Jews in the rear.[23]
It was a heinous crime for which they
deserved severer punishment than the one meted out to other Jews tribes. As
soon as the Quraysh and their allies raised the Siege
and departed home, the Prophet (peace be upon him) called upon Muslims to march
against the traitorous Jews. Their stronghold was besieged for about 25 days.
Reduced to bitter straits, they offered to surrender on the same conditions, as
did the Nadir, which was rejected. At last they were compelled to surrender
unconditionally. Their men were let out of the fort to one side, with their
hands tied behind their backs and were placed under a guard commanded by
Muhammad bin Maslama. The women and children were
separated from their men folk and placed under another guard.[24]
In pre-Islamic days the Bani Qurayzah were the
confederates of the Aus tribe, just as an-Nadir were the allies of the Khazraj. The Aus appealed to the Prophet to treat their
allies in the same lenient way as he had treated an-Nadir on the appeal of Khazraj. "Are you content"- asked the prophet,
"that they be judged by one from yourselves?" The Ausites
readily accepted the arrangement and Prophet (peace be upon him) nominated Sa’d bin Muadh, one of the Aus
Chiefs, as a judge.[25]
Sa’ad bin Muadh
viewed the treachery in the hour of peril with great abhorrence. The gravity of
their offences, he believed, called for an exemplary punishments, in absence of
what solemn agreements could in future command little respect, and be treated
as worthless scraps of paper by any of the parties concerned. Hence he came to
conclusion that the punishments in no way milder than that prescribed for the
vanquished in their own scripture, the Old Testament, was their own desert.[26] This is
what the Law of Moses lays down on the point:
When
you draw near to a city fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if
its answer to you is peach and it opens to you, then all the people who are
found in it shall do force labour for you and shall serve you. But if makes no
peach with you, but make war against you, then you shall besiege it; and when
the Lord, your God, gives it into your hand, you shall put its males to the
sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle and everything else in the
city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty as yourselves; and you shall enjoy
the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord, your God has given you...[27]
According to the judgement of Sa’d, about three hundreds of Qurayzah,
chiefly the fighters, were beheaded under the arbitration award under the
supervision of Ali and Zubayr bin Awam
while their children and women were sold to the slave merchants.[28] The
Treatment seemed justifiable for the reason that the Qurayza
had recognised themselves and the Muslims as “one people” in the covenant and
then renewed the agreement. But contrary to it, they deserted their partners in
the common cause in the hour of peril and thereby exposed them to jeopardy. The
Qurayzah had, besides this, done many aggressive
things, which forced the Prophet to take drastic action against them.[29]
Analysis of the Judgement:
The verdict against the Jews tribes,
especially the extermination of the Qurayzah has
evoked much criticism from the European historians of Islam. For instance, Sir
William Mur has called it ‘a butchery’ and a
‘massacre’ while others have dubbed it was savage and inhuman.[30] If we
observed or ponder over the annals of the history of the Jews with an
analytical view, obviously it will be clear to us, as broad day light, that the
punishments were in no way unjust. Let's analyse few points here:
1.
Cause and
Effect theory:
“It
may be that your Lord may (yet) show mercy unto you; but if ye revert (to your
sins) We shall revert (to Our punishments): and We have made Hell a prison for
those who reject (all Faith).[31]
The Holy Qur’an thus sets forth the
theory of cause and effect, which has been at work throughout the history of
nations. If one nation were to continue in their sins, God’s punishment would
also continue to visit them.[32] So,
apparently the punishments to Jews came from God due to this cause and effect
theory.
2.
The Biblical
Record of the Jewish
The
above warning of the Qur’an points to yet greater historical fact about the
Jewish people. They had repeatedly ignored acting upon the teachings of Moses,
rejected apostles and reformers and even killed and attempted to kill some of
them.[33] They
suffered from a superiority complex, but they never adhere to the Lord’s
commands whereby they could really become great.[34] Here
are their own apostles who frequently denounced the abominations of the
legatees of Moses and forewarned them about the consequences:
(a)
The apostle David points to
the recalcitrance and iniquity of people of
“Many times
He delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought
low through their iniquity.”[35]
(b)
The apostle Isaiah was
dismayed as he found himself among the iniquitous, corrupt, haughty, and
insubordinate and insurgent children of
“Ah, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
Of spring of evildoers,
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have disposed the Holy one of
They are utterly estranged.”[36]
3.
What Prophet
(peace be upon him) precisely wanted:
The
prophet of Islam, wanted the Jews to do two things: firstly, to live with the
Muslims like trustworthy and peace-loving brothers, and, secondly, (as it
happened later) to accept the citizenship of Islamic state through not the
faith of Muhammad (which primarily was indistinguishable from what Moses had
taught). The Jews certainly undertook to fulfil the conditions. But they did
not take these pledges so seriously.[37]
4.
The
invaluable record of Prophet’s (peace be upon him) sayings:
Little
do the crisis know about the essence of the Qur’anic
teachings, the precepts of Islam, and the literary treasures repeat with
imperishable sayings of the Prophet with which they could rectify glaring
mistakes. Was it not Muhammad who repeatedly said:
(a)
Observe scrupulously the
protection accorded by me to the Zimmis.
(b)
Whoever oppresses
non-Muslims (the Zimmis)
shall find me to be their advocate on the Day of Resurrection (against the
oppressing Muslims).
(c)
One, who murdered a Zimmi, shall not
smell of paradise although its fragrance can be smelt from a distance of forty
years of journey.
(d)
That person is not a
perfect Muslims who eat his fill, and leave his neighbour hungry.
5.
Perfidy that
brought the punishment:
Not
only had the Jews rejected the similarities between Islamic fundamentals and
the principles of their original faith, but they also tried to outmanoeuvre the
Muslims both in peach and war. They usually added to their embarrassment when
it was the question of their life and death.[38]
6.
Punishment,
not an innovation:
Some
writers have sobbed over the “terrible” nature of the sentence given by Sa’d bin Muath. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) had not until then received any command from the Lord to
handle the cases of general perfidy. Moreover, the arbitrator himself was not
unaware of the instruction of the Torah. Accordingly, he consulted the Jewish
legal code in the giving of award. Had the Jews trusted the Prophet himself, he
might have probably sent them into exile.[39]
7.
The Arab
Prophet unacceptable to the Jews:
The
Judaic community did not consider a non-Israelite fit for the divine office. It
was an enigma to them that a backward people or the “Gentiles” should produce
one as an apostle of God. [40]This
kind of thinking was due to their feeling of superiority complex from which
they had been suffering throughout the history.
8.
Comparing
kinds of treatment of the vanquished:
In
modern terms, the winners of the war trophies, never pardoned the defeated
nations as did Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the sixth century. For instance,
after the termination of World War 1, the indemnity imposed on
Conclusion:
For the Holy Prophet the punishment of
the Jews was not a question of religion; it was readily a question of state, a
question of preserving the peach and order of Madina, surrounded as it was by
the powerful enemies, the Quraysh of Makka, the tribes of the deserts of
“The
Jews or the Christians will never be satisfied with you, O Muhammad, unless you
follow their way. Tell them plainly, the way is shown by Allah, and if after
all this knowledge you have received, you were to yield to their desire, you
shall find neither friends nor helper to protect you from Allah’s wrath.”[42]
The Jews were
NOT innocent at all. The punishment they got was an inevitable outcome of their
horrendous and heinous crime. The crime was not ‘rejecting Islam’, but
something more fatal, homicidal, and severely atrocious. It’s very absurd to
claim that the prophet (peace be upon him) maltreated them; rather, the prophet
(peace be upon him) was maltreated by the Jews in every step of his life in
[1]Abul Faraj al-Isfahani, Kitab al-Aghani, Bulaq, 1285/1864-9, vol. Xix. P. 94.
[2] Matiur Rahman
Khan, The Meaning of al-Qur’anul Majid,
[3] Mazhar ul Haq, A Short History
of Islam,
[4] Ibid., p. 82.
[5] See, Ibn Hashim, vol. ii, pp. 147-150.
[6] Mazhar ul Haq, op.cit. p.51.
[7] Ibid., pp. 82-83.
[8] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, The Arab Glory, the Arab Grief,
[9] Ibid., 164.
[10] Matiur Rahman Khan, op.cit., p.9.
[11] R.B. Serjeant, Studies in Arabian History and Civilisation,
[12] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op.cit., p. 164.
[13] Mazhar ul Haq, op.cit. p. 83.
[14] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit. p. 166.
[15] Mazhar ul Haq, op. cit., p. 84.
[16] Ibid., p. 85.
[17] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit., p. 167.
[18] Ibid., p. 167.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Al-Qur’an, 59:2
[21] Ibid., 59: 4
[22] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit., p. 164.
[23] Ibid., pp. 168-169.
[24] Mazhar ul Haq, op. cit., p. 86.
[25] Ibid., p. 87.
[26] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit. p. 169
[27] The Old Testament, Deut., 20: 10-14.
[28] Mazhar ul Haq, op. cit., p. 87
[29] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit., p. 170
[30] Mazhar ul haq, op. cit., p. 170.
[31] Al-Qur’an, 17:8
[32] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit., p.
173.
[33] In Bible there are numerous examples of their atrocious acts. See, 2 chronicles, 16:1-10; 24:20-21; 1 Kings, 19:1-10; 22:26-27; Mark, 6:27-29, Matt Hew, 23:37; Jeremiah, 15:10, 10:20-23; 20:1-18; and chapter 36 to 40.
[34] Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, op. cit., p. 174.