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The Battle of Khaybar was fought in the year 629 between Muhammad and his followers against the Jews living in Khaybar, an oasis located 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Medina in the area of Hejaz of the western part of the Arabian peninsula in what is nowadays Saudi Arabia. Contemporary scholars believe that Muhammad moved to attack Khaybar in order to raise his prestige among his followers, as well as to capture booty to sustain subsequent conquests. The battle ended with Muhammad's victory, which allowed him to gain sufficient money, weapons, and support from local tribes to capture Mecca just 18 months after Khaybar.

The defeated Jews were reduced to serfdom. They surrendered on condition of paying tribute to Muhammad and giving up all their land to Muslims. According to Stillman, this agreement did not cover the Banu Nadir tribe, which had sought refuge in Khaybar after their expulsion from Medina, and that the Muslims beheaded all the men of Banu Nadir, sparing only the lives of the Khaybarian Jews. Jews continued to live in the oasis for several more years until they were finally expelled by caliph Umar. The imposition of tribute upon the conquered Jews served as a precedent for provisions in the Islamic law requiring the exaction of tribute known as jizya from dhimmis, i.e. non-Muslims under Muslim rule, and confiscation of land belonging to non-Muslims into the collective property of the Muslim community.

Background

Khaybar in the 7th century

In the 7th century, Khaybar was inhabited by the Jews, who pioneered the cultivation of the oasis and made their living growing date palm trees, as well as through commerce and craftsmanship, accumulating considerable wealth. Some objects found by the Muslims in a redoubt at Khaybar — a siege-engine, 20 bales of Yemenite cloth, and 500 cloaks — point out to an intense trade carried out by the Jews. While in the past some scholars attempted to explain the presence of a siege-engine, suggesting that it was used for settling quarrels among the families of the community, nowadays the common opinion among academics is that it was stored in a depôt for future sale, in the same way that swords, lances, shields, and other weaponry had been sold by the Jews to Arabs. Equally, the cloth and the cloaks must have been intended for sale, as it is not conceivable that such a quantity of luxury goods was kept for the exclusive use of the Jews.

The oasis was divided into three regions: al-Natat, al-Shikk, and al-Katiba, probably separated by natural diversions, such as the desert, lava drifts, and swamps. Each of these regions contained several fortresses or redoubts containing homes, storehouses and stables. Each fortress was occupied by a separate family and surrounded by cultivated fields and palm-groves. In order to improve their defensive capabilities, the fortresses were raised up on hills or basalt rocks.

Muhammad and the Jews of Medina

In 625, after the defeat in the Battle of Uhud at the hands of the Meccan army, Muhammad besieged and expelled the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir from Medina. Many of the Banu Nadir found refuge in Khaybar. In 627, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of Banu Nadir, went with his son to join Quraysh and Ghatafan Bedouins besieging the Muslims at Medina during the Battle of the Trench. After the battle proved unsuccessful, Muhammad and his followers beseiged the Banu Qurayza, the only major Jewish tribe remaining in Medina at that time. Both Akhtab and his son defended Banu Qurayza. Upon surrender, the adult men of Banu Qurayza, as well as Akhtab and his son, were killed and the women and children of the tribe were enslaved.

Political situation

Modern historians agree that Muhammad’s reasoning behind his decision to attack Khaybar was the necessity to raise his authority among his followers, which had been under threat since the Treaty of Hudaybiyya. In addition, the Hudaybiyya agreement gave Muhammad the assurance of not being attacked by the Meccans during the expedition. Laura Veccia Vaglieri opines that Muhammad's attacks against the Jews, first in Medina and then in Khaybar, had economic roots similar to those which have brought about persecutions and pogroms in other countries in the course of history. The conquest of Khaybar would enable him to satisfy with ample booty his companions who hoped to capture Mecca and were discontented at the treaty with the Quraysh. Stillman argues that Muhammad also needed the victory to show the Bedouins, who were not strongly tied to the rest of the Muslim community, that the alliance with him would pay off. Montogmery Watt sees one of the motives for the attack in the alliance of the Jews of Khaybar with bedouins of the Ghatafan tribe, which posed a danger to Muhammad.

As war with Muhammad seemed imminent, the Jews of Khaybar entered into an alliance with the Jews of Fadak oasis, as well as with Bedouins of Ghatafan tribe. However, the lack of central authority at Khaybar prevented any further defensive preparations, and quarrels between different families left the Jews disorganized.

Course of the battle

Muhammad and his followers marched on Khaybar in May 629, 7 AH. According to different sources, the strength of his army varied from 1,400 to 1,800 men and between 100 and 200 horses. Thanks to the speed and secrecy of the march, the Muslims caught the Jews by surprise; the Jews realized they were under attack only when they went out to work in the fields. As a result, the Jews failed to mount centrally organized defense, and each family was left to defend its own fortified redoubt. In addition, Muhammad bribed the Bedouin allies of the Jews and prevented any further assistance from coming to Khaybar.

Knowing the fate of Banu Qurayza, the Jews of Khaybar put up fierce resistance, and Muslims were forced to take fortresses one by one. The Jews, after a rather bloody skirmish in front of one of the fortresses, avoided combat in the open country, and Muhammad had to resort to besieging and storming the fortresses, hoping that the capitulation of the defenders should become inevitable through lack of water and food. However, the besieged Jews managed to organize, under the cover of darkness, a transfer of people and treasures from one fortress to another as needed to make their resistance more effective.

The traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad report that in one of the fortresses, first Abu Bakr, then Umar, took up the standard in the hope of breaking down their resistance, by putting themselves at the head of the attacks, but both failed. According to this tradition, Muhammad then called to his standard-bearer Ali, who killed a Jewish chieftain with a sword-stroke, which split in two the helmet, the head and the body of the victim. Having lost his shield, Ali is said to have lifted both of the doors of the fortress from its hinges, climbed into the moat and held them up to make a bridge whereby the attackers gained access to the redoubt. The door was so heavy that forty men were required to put it back in place. This story is one basis for the Muslim view, especially in Shi'a Islam, of Ali as the prototype of heroes.

Although the Jews were unprepared for an extended siege, neither were the Muslims, who also suffered from a lack of provisions. On one occasion, Muslim soldier killed and cooked a score of donkeys, which escaped from a farm. The incident led Muhammad to forbid to Muslims the meat of horses, mules, and donkeys, unless consumption was forced by necessity. Muhammad ordered the felling of 400 palms around one fortress to force its defenders to capitulate. Finally, the Jews surrendered when after a month and a half of the siege, all but two fortresses were captured by the Muslims.

One single narration regarding temporary marriage (Arabic: Nikah Mut'ah) that most, but not all Sunnis regard as authentic claim that Nikah Mut'ah was forbiden by Muhammad at this moment. Shi'a view that narration as fabricated.

Aftermath

The Jews were able to negotiate an agreement under which they were to remain in the oasis, cultivating their land. However, from now on they were required to hand over one-half of the produce to the Muslims. The land itself became the collective property of Muslims, which effectively reduced the Jews of Khaybar to the status of serfs. In addition, Muslims had the right to evict the Jews at any time, although modern historians believe that the latter clause was an ex-post justification for the subsequent expulsion of Jews from Khaybar. The agreement with the Jews of Khaybar served as an important precedent for Islamic Law in determining the status of dhimmis, i.e. non-Muslims who fell under Muslim rule.

Among the Jewish women there was one who was chosen by Muhammad as wife. It was Safiyya bint Huyayy, daughter of the killed Banu Nadir chief Huyayy ibn Akhtab and widow of Kinana ibn al-Rabi, the treasurer of Banu Nadir. According to ibn Ishaq, Muhammad's followers tortured al-Rabi, demanding to reveal the location of the hidden treasures of his tribe, and then beheaded him.

Muslim biographers of Muhammad tell a story that a Jewish woman of Banu Nadir tribe attempted to poison Muhammad to avenge her slain relatives. She poisoned a piece of lamb that she cooked for Muhammad and his companion, putting especially much poison into the shoulder — Muhammad's favorite part of lamb. The attempt on Muhammad's life failed because he reportedly spit out the meat, feeling that it was poisoned, while his companion ate the meat and died. Muhammad's companions reported that, on his deathbed, Muhammad said that his illness was the result of that poisoning.

The victory in Khaybar greatly raised the status of Muhammad among his followers and, local Bedouin tribes, who, seeing his power, swore allegiance to Muhammad and converted to Islam. The captured booty and weapons strengthened his army, and he captured Mecca just 18 months after Khaybar.

See also

• Muhammad as a warrior
• Jihad
• Rules of war in Islam

Notes

1. ^ Veccia Vaglieri, L. "Khaybar", Encyclopaedia of Islam
2. Stillman 18
3. Stillman 19
4. Stillman 14, 18
5. Stillman 14–16-17
6. ^ Stillman 18
7. Watt 188–189
8. Lewis Arabs in History 43
9. Watt 189
10. Jafri_
11. Stillman 18–19
12. Lewis 10
13. Ibn Hisham. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Life of The Prophet). English translation in Stillman (1979), pp. 145–146
14. Ibn Hisham. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Life of The Prophet). English translation in Stillman (1979), pp. 148–149

References

• Encyclopaedia of Islam. Ed. P. Bearman et al., Leiden: Brill, 1960-2005.
• Guillaume, Alfred. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press, 1955. ISBN 0-1963-6033-1
• Jafri, S.H.M. The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam. Longman;1979 ISBN 0-582-78080-2
• Lewis, Bernard. The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-691-00807-8
• Lewis, Bernard. The Arabs in History. Oxford University Press, 1993 ed. (reissued 2002). ISBN 0-19-280310-7
• Stillman, Norman. The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
• Montgomery Watt, W.. Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press, 1964

• 629
• Battles of Muhammad
• Muhammad and the Jews