Seerah #45 - The Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqaa

(guns firing) The last couple of weeks, we have been speaking about the Battle of Bedar and what happened after the Battle of Bedar. And today in Shia Allah, we will talk about some of the events that occurred shortly after the Prophet (pbuh) and the Muslims returned back to Al-Madina after their victory at Bedar. So after the Battle of Bedar, when the Prophet (pbuh) returned to Madina, the Jews were very disturbed because even though the Jews of Madina had a treaty and they had agreements with the Prophet (pbuh) that they would not participate in any activity against the Muslims, even so, they were hoping that the Muslims would be annihilated in Bedar. They didn't like the fact that the Muslims were in control of Madina and they were hoping that the Quraysh would take care of that for them. So when the Muslims came back, it's not only a victory, but an amazing and huge victory, the Jews were very upset about this and they became very disturbed. And as we mentioned before, if you remember that the population of Madina, it consisted of three populations. There was the tribe of Aus, which was a tribe of Arabs, and then there was the tribe of Khazraj, which was also a tribe of Arabs, and then there were the Jews. So these were the three populations of Madina, the Aus tribe, the Khazraj tribe, and the Jews. And each one of them had about an equal number in their populations. So most of the Aus and the Khazraj, these two Arab tribes, most of them had accepted Islam, Alhamdulillah. So now the majority of Madina is Muslim. As for the Jews, only a few of them accepted Islam. So now the Jews are only one third of the population, approximately one third of the population, and the Muslims are approximately two thirds of the population. So the Muslims, of course, have the upper hand, and the leader of the city is the Prophet Muhammad Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself. So this was something that bothered the Jews. And they entered these treaties with the Prophet Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam, because they knew that they had no other choice, that they were the minority now, and they could not fight against the Prophet Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when he was the majority. So they had to agree to these treaties, even though in their heart they were not happy with it. As for the Jews of Madina, they were not originally Arabs. They were not originally Arabs. They had come many generations before from Syria. So they had migrated to the Arabian Peninsula from Syria. And they were not original Arabs. But they had lived in Al Madina for so long, for so many years, so many generations, that they had assimilated within the Arab culture. They had completely assimilated within the Arab culture, meaning, that they wore the clothes of the Arabs. They spoke the Arabic language. They had Arabic names. So they had assimilated into the culture of the Arabs. But they kept their religion, which was Judaism. And they also kept the knowledge of their own language. So even though they spoke Arabic, just like the Arabs spoke Arabic, they also kept their language as well, which was Hebrew. So they were bilingual. The Jews of Madina were bilingual. They spoke Arab. They spoke Arabic. And they also spoke Hebrew. So that if the Jews ever wanted to have a conversation amongst themselves and there were Arabs around, and they didn't want the Arabs to know what they were saying, they would talk to each other in Hebrew instead of Arabic. And I think some of our people know how that feels, especially the children. Maybe you're born and brought up here, and you only know English. But your parents, they speak Urdu or whatever language from the country they came from. So when your parents want to say something, they don't want you to understand. They'll speak to each other in their own language, instead of speaking in English, so that you won't understand. So basically this is what the Jews of Madina used to do. When they wanted to speak amongst each other, and they didn't want others to understand, they didn't want the Arabs to understand what they were saying, they would speak in Hebrew instead of Arabic. So they were known to do this. Now as we mentioned, the Jews were about one-third of the population of Madina. And amongst the Jews themselves, they were subdivided into three tribes as well. So the Jews of Madina, in total, they were about one-third the population of Madina. And within that one-third of the population, they were subdivided into three different tribes. And the names of those tribes were Banu Keenu Ka'a and Banu Nalbir and Banu Kureida. Banu Keenu Ka'a, Banu Nalbir and Banu Kureida, and they each inhabited a different part of Al Madina. So they each had their own section of land in the city, and they had their farms and they had their shops and they had fortresses and that type of thing in their areas. So as we mentioned, all of these tribes, all three of these tribes, Banu Keenu Ka'a and Banu Nalbir and Banu Kureida, they had all signed treaties with the Prophet (pbuh) that they would not help, they would not assist, they would not participate in any type of activity against the Muslims. So after the Battle of Badr and this great victory for the Muslims, the Prophet (pbuh) he returned back to Al Madina and he ordered for the Jews of Banu Keenu Ka'a to be assembled, to be gathered and he addressed them and he said to them, "Beware, beware that the same punishment of Allah that befell the Kureish, what you know happened at Badr to the Kureish, beware that it may also come to you if you do not fear Allah." "Wallahi," the Prophet (pbuh) said to the Jews, "Wallahi, you know that I am the messenger that is mentioned in your books, your books that you read, they prophesize that a messenger is to come and you know, you know that that is me." The Prophet (pbuh) addressed them in this way. So he said to them, "Fear Allah and never even think about betraying these treaties that you have made with the Muslims and never think of participating in any type of activity against the Muslims." And even better than that, except Islam. You know in your hearts that this is the truth, just except Islam. Become our brothers. So the Prophet (pbuh) addressed them in this way. Now, when they were a pretty big tribe and amongst them they had 700 fighters. They had 700 men who were trained in military fighting. So they became arrogant when the Prophet (pbuh) addressed them. These Jews became arrogant and they said to the Prophet (pbuh) "You're talking about your victory at better against the Quraysh." Do you think we are like the Quraysh? The Quraysh are a people who don't know how to fight. So you took advantage of that and you were able to defeat them. But if we ever fight you, then you will see who we really are. So they basically challenged the Prophet (pbuh) They said to him, "The only reason why you won in better because the people you are fighting against they don't even know how to fight. But as for us, we are trained and we know how to fight. So if there is ever a fight between you and us, then you will see who we really are." So they addressed the Prophet (pbuh) in such an arrogant way. Allah (pbuh) revealed regarding (pbuh) (pbuh) (pbuh) So Allah (pbuh) is telling the Prophet (pbuh) to say to these disbelievers from amongst the Jews of Banuqainuqa'a. (pbuh) (pbuh) (pbuh) (pbuh) (pbuh) There is an ayah, there is a sign for you to reflect upon in the two groups that met and fought with each other. You should think and reflect upon the battle of better where the Muslims and the Qufar of the Quraysh met and fought against one another. (pbuh) There was one group who fought in the path of Allah and those were the Muslims. (pbuh) (pbuh) And the Muslims saw the disbelievers as double, as double the number of the Muslims. But in fact it was more than double, but as we mentioned before, Allah (pbuh) made them appear less than the number that they really were. So the Muslims assumed that the number of the Qufar in the battle of better was double the number of the Muslims. And there were a bit more than 300 Muslims in the battle of better. So the Muslims assumed from what they saw that there were a bit more than 600 Qufar. When in actuality it was about 1000. But still they knew that the number of Qufar was much more than them and they knew that they were outnumbered. But still they were able to defeat the Qufar with a very, very crushing victory against them. So this is something that Banuqainu Ka'a should reflect upon. Allah (pbuh) is telling them. Okay, they may have 700 fighters amongst them. These Jews described, they have 700 fighting men amongst them. And the Muslim army may be smaller than that. But that didn't matter at better. The Muslims were still able to have a great victory. So Banuqainu Ka'a should take heed of this lesson and they should not make the same mistakes that the Qufar of the Qureshmei. Don't be impressed with your big numbers. Oh yeah, you have 700 fighters amongst you. It doesn't matter. If Allah is not on your side, you're not going to win. No matter how many people you have. So Allah (pbuh) revealed these ayat of the Quraían regarding Banuqainu Ka'a and their arrogance. So this was the situation between the Muslims and the Jews. Shortly after the Prophet (pbuh) returned to Al-Madina. So the tensions were getting very high between the Muslims and the Jews. The Jews' arrogance had reached a very high level to the extent that they thought that they were invincible, that they were untouchable, and nobody could do anything to them. Then an incident occurred. An incident occurred that finally caused the tensions between the Muslims and the Jews of Banuqainu Ka'a to reach the boiling point. And this is very shortly after the battle of Bather, less than a month after the Battle of Bather. So the Jews of Al-Madina, they owned most of the gold shops of Al-Madina. They were known to be businessmen and they dealt in gold. So most of the shops where gold was sold in Al-Madina, they were owned by the Jews. So one day a Muslim woman from the Ansar, she wanted to buy some gold. So she went into the gold shops that were owned by Banuqainu Ka'a. So she entered that store with the intention of buying some gold. And the goldsmith, he saw her and he started to harass her. He said, "Why don't you take the veil off of your face? Let's see your face." And she said, "No, she was very angry." That how dare he even ask such a question. Then the other Jews around they saw what was happening and they joined in as well. And they all started bothering her and they all started harassing her and talking to her in a very immoral way. So while that was going on, the goldsmith, he took a piece of her dress of the woman's dress. And she didn't realize it. She was sitting and he took a piece of her garment without her realizing. And he tied it to an object without her knowing. So when they started bothering her and they started harassing her and stuff, she wanted to get up and leave. So she got up and she started to leave but she didn't realize that her garment was tied. So she became exposed. When she got up and started to walk, she became exposed and her legs were seen. And she screamed that this was something that was very inappropriate. How dare they do such a thing. She screamed loudly and the Jews started laughing at her. So there was a Muslim man who heard that scream of that woman and he came to see what was going on and he saw what had happened. And he became very angry that how dare this Jewish goldsmith think that he can infringe upon the honor of a Muslim woman and he attacked that goldsmith and he killed him. And then the Jews, they came to the aid of their brother and they attacked that Muslim man and they killed him. So this is the extent that it reached. When this news came back to the Prophet (pbuh) and he addressed Bannukhainu Ka' and he said to them, "Surrender the people who are responsible for the murder of our Muslim brother." Surrender them so that we can punish them. And Bannukhainu Ka' out of their arrogance, they said, "When I go to Surrender anyone to you." And the Prophet (pbuh) he ordered the Muslim army to prepare for battle. If they're not going to release the murderers, if they're not going to surrender them, then we will prepare and we will fight them. So the Prophet (pbuh) ordered for the Muslim army to prepare themselves. And the Jews, they also prepared their army and they closed themselves in their fortress. So the Prophet (pbuh) he addressed them again and he gave them three options. Before starting the fight, he gave them three options. He said, "You have three choices. Either accept Islam, become Muslims." Or surrender the killers, surrender those people who murdered our brother. Or if you don't agree to this, then we will fight. We will have a war. So again, out of their arrogance, they said to the Prophet (pbuh) you think you can defeat us like you defeated the Quraysh? We are not like the Quraysh. We know how to fight. So bring it on. Let's see what you're going to do. So the Prophet (pbuh) ordered for the Muslim army to surround the fortress of Bannukhainu Ka' to surround them. Fighting didn't even start, but the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Okay, surround them and make a barakaat around them." This happened on the 15th of Shawwal in the year two after Hijara. And remember when was the Battle of Bether? It was the 17th of Ramadan in the year two after Hijara. So this incident happened less than a month after the Battle of Bether. So the Prophet (pbuh) ordered for a blockade to be made around the fortress of the Jews, and he ordered for them to be surrounded. So the Jews who had all this big talk that, you know, if you try to fight us, you will see who we are, who are talking all big like this, they couldn't even come out to fight. They were so scared, they were so terrified. It was just a blockade. They were just surrounded. No fighting even started. But they were so terrified that they didn't even come out, and they stayed inside their fortresses within that blockade. They stayed there for 15 days. And finally, they agreed to surrender. Without even fighting, they were so scared, so cowardly, that they agreed to surrender without even fighting. And it reminds you of the Jews of the past during the time of Musa Aliah, right? When Musa Aliah salam told them to enter the holy land, the city of the Quds of Jerusalem. They said to Musa Aliah salam, "Kalu, innah fiha, qaman jabbarin, wa innah lannah dhukhulaha, hatta yachhruju minha, fae'iyya khruju minha fae'in maa dhakhilu." When Musa Aliah salam ordered them to go and enter that land, the holy land, they said, "Ya Musa, there are some strong people in that land right now, and we will not enter it until they leave." If they leave, then we will enter it. And in the end, they said to Musa Aliah salam, "Kalu, innah lannah dhukhulaha, abada." They said, "We will never enter it. Maa dhah mufihah, as long as they are still there." Feth hab-antawarabbuqafakatila innahahuna qaidu. They said to Musa Aliah salam, "You and your Lord, you go and fight those people, we are sitting here." So this was the cowardly nature of the Jews from that time. And the Jews of Al-Madina proved to be the same. So they had all this big talk that, "Ya, you will see if you fight us, what's going to happen?" But in the end, they couldn't even come out of their fortress when they saw that they were surrounded. And when they saw that blockade that the Muslim army had made around them. So they agreed to surrender after 15 days. But they asked for some certain conditions. They said to the Prophet (ﷺ) "We will leave Medina, but we want to take all of our belongings and everything with us too. We will leave the city. We will exile from Medina. But we don't want you to take over all of our possessions. We want to be able to take that with us as well." And we will leave. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "No." The Prophet (ﷺ) wanted to make an example out of these people who spoke so arrogantly and who thought that they could get away with such an evil crime. So the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered for all of their fighters, those 700 men. He ordered for all of them to be tied up. And his plan was to execute all of them, to make them an example. So nobody would dare try to mess with a Muslim again. All of this was caused by the reason for all of this was that one Muslim woman was harassed. And the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered for a whole army to fight against these people. So it shows the honor of a single Muslim and it shows the honor of a Muslim woman as well, that Hamdulillah. So the Prophet (ﷺ) wanted to make an example out of these people. So he ordered for these 700 men to be tied up and his plan was to execute them. And two of the members of the tribe of Khazraj, Ubadah Ibn Samith, Radya Allahu 'an, and Abdullah Ibn Ubei, Ibn Salul, who was the head of the monarchy. These two members of the tribe of Khazraj, they had an alliance with Banu Qainuqar. They had an alliance with Banu Qainuqar, meaning that there were some members of some of the tribes that would go to different tribes and they would have this alliance. Like, I will help you if you ever need help and you help me if I ever need help. So they had these type of alliances. Ubadah Ibn Samith, Radya Allahu 'an, he had accepted Islam, or Hamdulillah. So even though he had an alliance with these people, he told the Prophet (ﷺ) "Ya Rasul Allah, I abandon my alliance with these people for you." But as for Abdullah Ibn Ubei, Ibn Salul, who was the head of the monarchy, who was just pretending to be a Muslim but he really wasn't, he said to the Prophet (ﷺ) "Ya Rasul Allah, aah sin ila mawali." So messenger of Allah, show kindness and show favor upon these people that I have an alliance with. Don't kill them, forgive them. And the Prophet (ﷺ) turned away from him. And Abdullah Ibn Ubei repeated it again. "Akh sin ila mawali." Forgive my people. And show favor upon these people who I have an alliance with. And the Prophet (ﷺ) turned away. He didn't want to listen to this. So Abdullah Ibn Ubei, he held on to the garment of the Prophet (ﷺ) And he said, "Akh sin ila mawali." Show favor upon these people who I have an alliance with. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Let me go." And Abdullah said, "No, I will not let you go." "Akh sin ila mawali." Show kindness, show favor too. These people who I have an alliance with. So after insisting so many times, after Abdullah Ibn Ubei insisted to the Prophet (ﷺ) and let them go and to free them, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Okay, therefor you, you take them." And may the curse of Allah be upon them and anyone who allies with them. May Allah (ﷺ) curse them and anyone who allies with them. So they were released. The Prophet (ﷺ) allowed them to be released. But he said they were not allowed to take any of their weaponry with them. And they were exiled from Al-Madeena. They had to leave Al-Madeena. So they left Al-Madeena and they went back to where they originally came from. To Syria, to Assalam. So this was basically the beginning of a number of incidents that would happen between the Muslims of Al-Madeena and the Jews of Al-Madeena. And there are so many incidents that happened later on in Medina between the Muslims and the Jews. And inshaAllah we will talk about those later. So Allah, O Allah, may the Prophet (ﷺ) bless him and his family and his family.