INTRIGUES OF JEWS & MUNAFEQEEN


The Jews were divided into three major tribes according to their trades. These were tribes of goldsmiths, tillers and those involved in tanning. As soon as it came to the knowledge of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that the tribe of cultivators had intentions to attack the Muslims, he at once made advancement and laid siege around their settlements. He warned them against ignoring Mithaq-e-Madinah, which required them to live like peaceful citizens and be friendly towards Muslims.

The Jews replied that they could not live with the Muslims at one place. At this the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) ordered them to leave Madinah as their former tribe of goldsmiths had done. The agriculturist Jews took heed and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) due to his clemency did not punish them. He allowed them to take with them whatever they could. The Jews pulled apart even the doors and windows of their houses. Now only one Jewish tribe was left in Madinah.

Some members of the tribe of goldsmiths that had left Madinah a long time ago, had settled in Makkah. Few members of the tiller Jews also went to Makkah. They began to instigate the Quraysh against the Muslims. Both the Jewish tribes that had once promised to safeguard Muslim interests, had now promised to help the Quraysh against the Muslims. Although they were Jews, they appeared in the Holy Ka’bah and vowed to strictly observe this contract.

Due to Jewish instigation, the Quraysh proclaimed a heavy reward for anyone who captured and handed over a Muslim to them. The amount of this reward was large enough to tempt any Bedouin to be on the lookout for Muslims. Some Bedouin started making intrigues to abduct Muslims.

Meanwhile, a tribe living in the South of Madinah requested the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to send some Muslims to teach Islam to their tribe. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sent a party of thirty members led by the famous preacher, Umair bin Thabit, to that tribe to impart Holy Quranic teachings to them.

This group of Muslims set off for the tribe, but were soon surrounded by the Bedouin lurking in ambush for them. The abductors tried to capture them live, but faced stiff resistance. They could only capture three Muslims for the rest were martyred. The Bedouin ruffians took their captives to Makkah to claim their reward from the elders of Quraysh.

One of these three Muslims who knew that they would be tortured and put to death after reaching Makkah, somehow managed to escape. He was followed by the ruffians who tried to capture him again. When this brave person put up resistance, they cut up his body into pieces and scattered the pieces over the sand. The place where he was torn apart was called "Al-Raji".

The bandits tied up the other two Muslims and brought them to Makkah. On reaching there, they hesitated to hand them over to the Quraysh to get their rewards. They observed that all the rich of Makkah were impatient to get these two Muslims, to put them to death by torture. For this reason, the bandits decided to auction the two Muslims to claim maximum amount of reward.

Sufyan bin Umayyah was the highest bidder. He bought one of these two Muslims named Umair bin Thabit, who was the leader of the preaching party. Whereas the other Muslim was bought by another rich man of Makkah at a heavy price. When the Makkans saw that the two rich had bought these Muslims to have them murdered on their own, they raised an objection that they too had been hurt at the hands of Muslims and their relatives were killed in the Battle of Badr and Uhud; thus it was their right to share and enjoy the sight of these two Muslims being tortured and put to death. They wanted these Muslims to be tortured and killed in the greater plain of Makkah, so they could all vent their passionate anger.

Sufyan bin Umayyah approved the suggestion and asked a person "Nastas" to kill Umair bin Thabit in the grand plain of Makkah. He added that he had paid a huge amount in auction for this Muslim, thus he would offer his head for auction as well, so that any bidder may use his head as a bowl for drinking.

When Umair bin Thabit had been martyred at the hands of Nastas, his head was put to auction. The person who won the bid and paid the price stepped towards the corpse of Umair bin Thabit, unsheathed his sword to severe off the head, but when he reached near, he found Umair’s dead body teeming with golden-coloured wasps, and thousands others hovering over it.

This person was terrified and said to himself that he would cut off the head in the dark of night when these wasps would have moved away. As the Islamic historians have written; with the onset of evening and the spread of night, there came such a heavy rainfall that it caused flooding in the streets. The strong water currents washed away the dead body to an unknown place. The other Muslim was taken outside the city by the Makkans and was crucified at a place called "Taneem". First, the cross was laid on earth, then the Muslim was laid supine on it. His hands were pinned on the cross by long nails on both the arms of the cross. In spite of extreme pangs of pain, this follower of Faith kept reciting, "There is no god, but Allah".

After pinning both his arms, his feet were tied together and were nailed perpendicularly on the cross by a long nail. Then the cross was erected straight, after which, the women and children began stoning the cross. Those with spears began pricking his body with them. The Makkans had learnt this method of crucification from the Jews, and afterwards any Muslim who fell in their hands was un-hesitantly crucified and stoned in this way.

A party of forty Muslims from Madinah left for a desert tribe in the month of June 625 AD. which coincided with 3 AH. to preach Islam. At the well of "Maoonah" some Bedouins attacked them and as the Muslims knew that being caught meant a horrible and painful death, they resisted their arrest till death.

As mentioned before, at the end of the Battle of Uhud, Abu Sufyan had challenged the Muslims to fight with them the next year at the Fair of Badr. The Fair of Badr was held for a week once a year. The next year, in April of 626 AD, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) accompanied by one thousand five hundred Muslim soldiers, reached the Fair. This time their army included fifty horses.

The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) wanted to let Abu Sufyan know that the Muslims were not afraid of his power and military supremacy. Abu Sufyan, who had come there with two thousand warriors, did not dare to start a fight. He returned on the pretext that owing to drought, there was a dearth of fodder for the camels in Badr and its neighbourhood. Therefore war could not be started.

The avoidance of Abu Sufyan to engage in battle proved politically beneficial for the Muslims. Everyone came to know that in spite of military superiority Abu Sufyan was scared of facing the Muslims. This incident earned good repute for the Muslims. They also gained enough from trade in the Fair of Badr.

In spite of this, the Quraysh contrived to besiege Madinah politically. The Quraysh of Makkah who lived four hundred kilometres away in the south of Madinah, were successful in making a war-pact with the Jews of Khaybar. Khaybar was a city in the North of Madinah, located at a distance of two hundred kilometres, where Jews alone dwelt. The Quraysh not only joined the Jews of Khaybar but also began making efforts to have the tribes of Bani Fazarah and Ghatfan allied with them.

Both these tribes lived in the northern deserts of Madinah. The Jews of Khaybar communicated with them on behalf of the Quraysh. It was decided that all the date-produce would be given to these two clans and in return they would ally with the Quraysh and the Jews against the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Both these tribes accepted this offer.