The Second Part Of Of Khaibar Conqured, Negotiations, Distribution Of Spoils

As Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

The Second Part Of Of Khaibar Conqured:

When the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam), along with his army, moved to this part of Khaibar, Al-Katiba (Radhi Allahu Anhu), he laid a heavy siege to it for fourteen days with the Jews barricading themselves inside their forts. When he was about to use the rams, the Jews realized that they would perish, therefore, they asked for a negotiable peace treaty.

There is one controversial point in this context. Was this part of Khaibar (with its three forts) conquered by force? Ibn Ishaq clearly stated that Al-Qamus fort was conquered by force. Al-Waqidi, on the other hand, maintained that the three forts were taken through peace negotiations, and force, if any, was resorted to only to hand the fort over to the Muslims; the two other forts surrendered without fighting.


Negotiations:

Ibn Abi Al-Huqaiq was despatched to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) to negotiate the surrender treaty. The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) agreed to spare their lives on condition they evacuate Khaibar and the adjacent land, leaving whatever gold and silver they had in their possession. However, he stipulated that he would disavow any commitment if they concealed anything. Shortly afterwards, the forts were handed over to the Muslims and all Khaibar was reduced and brought under the sway of Islam.

This treaty notwithstanding, Abi Al-Huqaiq’s two sons concealed a leather bag full of jewels, and money belonging to Huyai bin Al-Akhtab, who carried it with him when Banu Nadir had been banished. Kinanah bin Ar-Rabi‘, who had hidden the musk somewhere, was obdurate in his denial and so he was killed when the musk was discovered and his dishonesty was proven. Abi Al-Huqaiq’s two sons were killed in recompense for breaching the covenant, and Safiyah, Huyai’s daughter was taken as a captive.


Distribution Of Spoils:

In accordance with the agreement already concluded, the Jews would be obliged to evacuate Khaibar, but they were anxious to keep on cultivating the rich soil and fine orchard for which Khaibar was famous. They, therefore, approached the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) with the request that they be allowed to cultivate their lands and they would give half of the produce to the Muslims.

Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) was kind enough to accede to their request. The Messenger (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) divided the land of Khaibar into two: one half to provide the food to be stored in case of any accidental calamity that might befall the Muslims, and for entertaining the foreign delegates who started to frequent Madinah a lot; the other half would go to the Muslims who had witnessed Al-Hudaibiyah event whether present or absent. The total number of shares came to 36, of which 18 were given to the people above-mentioned. The army consisted of 1400 men of whom were 200 horsemen. The horseman was allotted 3 shares and the footman one.

The spoils taken at Khaibar were so great that Ibn ‘Umar (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) said: “We never ate our fill until we had conquered Khaibar.” ‘Aishah (Radhi Allahu Anha) is narrated to have said: “Now we can eat our fill of dates.” (Al-Bukhari 2/609)

On their return to Madinah, the Emigrants were able to return to the Helpers of Madinah all the gifts they had received. All of this affluence came after the conquest of Khaibar and the great economic benefits that the Muslims began to reap. (Muslim 2/96)

The conquest of Khaibar coincided with the arrival of the Prophet’s cousin Ja‘far bin Abi Talib and his companions along with Abi Musa Al-Ash‘ari (Radhi Allahu Anhum) and some Muslims from Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari (Radhi Allahu Anhu) narrated that he and over fifty companions, while in Yemen, took a ship which landed them in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and they happened to meet there Ja‘far and his companions. He said, “We stayed together until the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) sent an envoy asking us to come back. When we returned, we found out that he had already conquered Khaibar, yet he gave us our due shares of the spoils.” The advent of those men came at the request made by the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) to Negus, king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), through a Prophetic deputy, ‘Amr
bin Omaiya Ad-Damari (Radhi Allahu Anhu). Negus sent them back, 16 men altogether with their wives and children on two boats. The rest of emigrants had arrived in Madinah earlier.

In the same context, Safiyah, whose husband Kinanah bin Abi Al-Huqaiq was killed for treachery, was taken as a captive and brought along with other prisoners of war. After the permission of the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) was sought, Dihyah Al-Kalbi chose one of them and she happened to be Safiyah. The other Muslims, however, advised that Safiyah, being the daughter of the chief of Bani Quraiza and Bani Nadir, should be married to the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam), who agreed to their opinion, invited her to Islam, freed and took her as wife on her embracing Islam. The wedding feast consisted of dates and fat, and was held on his way back to Madinah at a spot called Sadd As-Sahba’.

After the conquest of Khaibar, a Jewish woman called Zainab bint Al-Harith offered the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) a roasted sheep she had poisoned. He took a mouthful, but it was not to his liking so he spat it out. After investigation, the woman confessed that she had stuffed the food with poison alleging that if the eater were a king, she would then rid herself of him, but should he be a Prophet, then he would be bound to learn about it. The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam), however, connived at her treacherous attempt, but ordered that she be killed when Bishr bin Al-Bara’ (Radhi Allahu Anhu) died of that poison.

The number of Muslims who were martyred was controversial, but it ranged between 16 and 18, while the number of Jews killed came to 93.

The rest of Khaibar also fell to the Muslims. Allah cast fear into the hearts of the people of Fadak, a village standing to the north of Khaibar, and they hastened to ask for peace, and be allowed to leave in safety, and give up their wealth in return for that. The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) entered intoan agreement with them similar to the previous one with the people of Khaib. Fadak was exclusively the Prophet’s because neither Muslim cavalry nor camelry were involved in fight thereby.

No sooner had the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) discharged the affair of Khaibar than he started a fresh move towards Wadi Al-Qura, another Jewish colony in Arabia. He mobilized his forces and divided them into three regiments with four banners entrusted to Sa‘d bin ‘Ubada, Al-Hubab bin Mundhir, ‘Abbad bin Bishr and Sahl bin Haneef (Radhi Allahu Anhum).

Prior to fighting, he invited the Jews to embrace Islam but all his words and exhortations fell on deaf ears. Eleven of the Jews were killed one after another and with each one newly killed, a fresh call was extended inviting those people to profess the new faith. Fighting went on ceaselessly for approximately two days and resulted in full surrender of the Jews. Their land was conquered, and a lot of booty fell in the hands of the Muslims.

The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) stayed in Wadi Al-Qura for four days, distributed the booty among the Muslim fighters and reached an agreement with the Jews similar to that of Khaibar.

The Jews of Taima’, hearing beforehand about the successive victories of the Muslim army and the defeats that their brethren, the Jews, had sustained, showed no resistance when the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) reached their habitation. On the contrary, they took the initiative and offered to sign a reconciliation treaty to the effect that they receive protection but pay tribute in return. Having achieved his objective and subdued the Jews completely, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) made his way back home and arrived in Madinah in late Safar or early Rabi‘ Al-Awwal 7 A.H.

It is noteworthy that the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam), being the best amongst war experts, realized quite readily that evacuating Madinah after the lapse of the prohibited months (Muharram, Dhul Qa‘da and Dhul Hijja) would not be wise at all with the presence of the desert Bedouins roaming in its vicinity. Such a careless attitude, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) believed, would tempt the undisciplined mob to practise their favourite hobby of plundering, looting and all acts of piracy. This premonition always in mind, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) despatched Aban bin Sa‘id (Radhi Allahu Anhu) at the head of a platoon to deter those bedouins and forestall any attempt at raiding the headquarters of the nascent Islamic state during his absence in Khaibar. Aban achieved his task successfully and joined the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) in Khaibar after it had been conquered.