Quraiza Massacre
Muhammad calls the Infidels "Brothers of Monkeys and Pigs" and orders their slaughter.
Narrated by ''A'isha: when the messenger of Allah became free from the allied forces, entered to his house wash himself for the prayer, Gabriel came to him, whom I have seen with his head covered by dust. He said to the prophet; oh Muhammad, have you laid down your weapons? The prophet said to him; we put down our weapons. Gabriel said to him; we have not yet laid down our weapons. Arise and march to Banu Qirizah.
The messenger of Allah commanded a muzzein to call on people, that any one hear and obey must not perform the 'Asir prayer except in Bani Qirizah (Al-Qimni 2004: 390-391, quoting from Ibn Kathir p. 119). Muhammad accused them that they broke their treaty with him and that by planning to open their garrison for the allied Makkan tribes to attack the Muslims at the Battle of the Ditch. However, as al-Qimni proved that the Jews were innocent from such an accusation. As a matter of fact, Muhammad is the one to be blamed for breaking the treaty. The Prophet said "if anyone hears and obeys should not perform his Asr prayer except in Bani Qurizah'" (Ibid: 391, quoting from al-Tabari al-Tarikh p. 591), Al-Bihaqi narrates that "the Prophet went out and passed by some people of Bani Qurizah and asked them, is there any one passed by you? They said, Dahia al-Kalib passed this way riding on a beautiful horse. The Prophet replied "that is not Dahia but the angel Gabriel, peace be upon him, sent to Bani Qurizah to shake them and put fear in their hearts" (Ibid, quoting from al-Bihaqi, al-Dalail p. 9). Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari, and al-Bihaqi, narrated the dialogue between the prophet and the frightened Jews of Bani Qurizah jointly as follows:
Muhammad: Oh brothers of monkeys and pigs.
The trembling Jews replied: Oh Abu al-Qasim, you have not been a bad man!! (Ibid; 392, quoting from Ibn Kathir, al-Bedayia p. 120).
The prophet called out to them: Oh brothers of monkeys. Does Allah disappointed you and send on you his curse?
The Qurizah understood the message and replied in fear: Oh Abi al-Qasim, you have not been an ignorant man (Ibid, quoting from al-Bihaqi, al-Tarikh p. 582).
The Jews of Qurizah continued to plead with Muhammad 'and beg him to send to them one of their allies, a man by the name of Abi Libabah bin Abd al-Nuziar al-Awasi.
When Abi Libabah entered their garrison, the men rose, the women wept, and the children cried to him. When he saw them he had pity on them.
They said to him: oh Abi Libabah, do you think we should go out for the judgment of Muhammad?
He said, yes, and then he passed his finger across his neck, which means, the slaughter.
Then their leader, Ka'ab bin Asaad said to his people: Let us follow Muhammad and believe in him.
They replied: We will not leave the judgment of the Torah forever.
He said to them: Then let us kill our children and women and go out to Muhammad.
They said: Shall we kill these harmless children and women? What is the good of life after them? (Al-Qimni 2004: 393-394, quoting from al-Tabari p. 583).
Finally the men of Bani Qurizah decided to go out and meet Muhammad hoping that the other Medinian tribes would intercede with the Prophet and request him to send them with their women and children out of Yathrib as he did before with the other two Jewish tribes. As soon as the Jewish men emerged out of their garrison, the prophet ordered his men to bind them with ropes and march them in a long queue (Ibid: 394, quoting from al-Tabari, al-Tarikh p. 583). Then the prophet asked his men to dig many ditches inside the city (Ibid). After so many pleadings from the leaders of the Medinian tribes of al-Khaziriq and al-Awas, Muhammad agreed that Sa'ad bin Mu'aaz should decide the fate of the Jews (Ibid, quoting from al-Tabari p. 586).
Al-Tabari narrated that Sa'ad bin Mu'aaz was dying. During the siege of the city, an arrow hit his hand and caused a cut on one of his nerves. The prophet tried to heal him by heating a nail and burning the nerve. In doing that Muhammad thought the bleeding would stop. However, the burning nail worsened the cut and caused the nerve to swell. When the Prophet repeated the same treatment the nerve exploded (Ibid: 395). In his dying state Sa'ad was carried to the Prophet. When Muhammad saw him he ordered the Jews to stand to their Master. "When Sa'ad was put down by his carriers the prophet asked him to judge on them. He said, I judge on them that the men should be put to death, their wealth divided, and their women distributed as jawari among the Muslims. The prophet said to him, you have judged on them with the judgment of Allah that has been given to you from seven heavens" (Ibid: 395, quoting al-Tabari, al-Tarikh p. 586).
The horrifying slaughter was described by al-Tabari as follows:
They brought first the enemy of Allah, Huaya bin Akhatab, while his hands were bound to his neck by a rope. (Huaya was the father of Safiya bint Huaya whom the Prophet killed her husband and brother and took her as his wife). When Huaya saw the Messenger of Allah, he said to him, I swear by God, I have never blamed myself for your enmity. Then, Huaya turned to the people and said, oh people there is no fear from the judgment and the Book of God, it is an honor written by God to the children of Israel to die as martyrs. Then, he sat down and his neck was beheaded... Ali bin Talib and al-Zibiar continued to strike their necks... It is assumed that their blood reached the oilstones that are at the market (Ibid: 396, quoting from al-Tabari, al-Tarikh pp. 588-589).
The narrators of the sira differed in the number of the Jewish men who were killed on that fateful day. Some said six hundred, some seven hundred, some eight hundred, and some nine hundred (Ibid: 396). Al-Qimni states, "And we learn from our heritage a new thing happened in that slaughter. The slaughter was not restricted to men only, but included underage Jewish boys" (Ibid: 398 referring to al-Tabari p. 591). Then the victims were buried in those big holes or ditches that the Muslims dug.
According to narrators of the sira, Allah rewarded Sa'ad bin Mu'aaz for his decision and that by dying immediately after the slaughter. The angel Gabriel came to the Prophet in the middle of the night and told him that Sa'ad bin Mu'aaz died and the throne of Allah was shaken in his honor. Moreover, his funeral was attended by seventy thousand angels (Ibid: 397, quoting from al-Bihaqi pp. 28-29).
The number of the booty was counted by Ibn Sa'ad as one thousand five hundred swords, three hundred armors, one thousand spears, one thousand and five hundred shields, and many camels and cows. Regarding the women, their number was more than the number of the Muslim men. Therefore, when every Muslim man got his share from the Jewish women, the remaining were sold as slaves to the men of Nagid. Muhammad took Rayhana bint Umaro. Ibn Kathir narrates that, "The prophet told Rayhana that he would release her from slavery and marry her. However, Rayhana chose to remain in slavery, which she believed more bearable to her... She refused to accept Islam and decided to remain a Jew and slave all her life" (Ibid: 401, quoting Ibn Kathir, al-Bedaya, p. 128 and al-Tabari, al-Tarikh, p. 592).
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