EXPULSION OF JEWS FROM MADINAH
|
The Makkans were preparing themselves against the Muslims for a greater
battle. The adversaries of Islam in Madinah set out to malign the Muslims at the same time
through satire carried out by poets. The Arabs satiric poetry was worse to bear than a
sword cut or spear wound. One such Medinite poet was Kab bin Al Ashraf, who went to
Makkah, stayed there four months and after instigating the Makkans against the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) returned to
Madinah. On his return he used to recite his venomous poetry at public places of Madinah.
He also incited other people to recite aloud his verses after him. A woman Asma Bint Marwan was also among such poets. Her satiric verses
were against the Muslims, the Prophet (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace), the Holy Quran, Jibril and Allah. Those verses
greatly irritated Muslims. The Prophet (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) was also quite discomforted by her poetry. He was an
extremely tolerant and a patient person, therefore he did not take action against her. In
Surah Al-Asr is mentioned: 1. 2. 3. In the Holy Quran, patience and fortitude have been mentioned
several times and each time Allah has instructed people not to let fortitude and patience
be lost. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) himself was a glorious example of patience. However, the ordinary
Muslims could not hear such poetry directed against their Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and their religion. They
were greatly hurt since they were witnessing these poets openly blaspheming and airing
lampoonery against their Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) and Allah. The Muslims could have tolerated such attacks
against themselves but it was too trying to bear such insulting remarks against the
Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
and Allah. One day, a blind Muslim (Umain bin Awf) entered the house of Asma Bint Marwan
and stabbed her to death. The next day the people were greatly surprised to know that she has
been stabbed by Umair bin Awf as the task appeared impossible for a blind man. He was
among her near relations and had lived there for years. He was well familiar with every
nook and corner of her house, her habits and the place where she slept. The news quickly spread in Madinah. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) heard the news in the
Mosque. When that blind man came to the Mosque, the Prophet
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) inquired, "Is it you who has
killed her?" He replied, "Yes! O Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) of Allah! I have killed her last night and
I am not least ashamed of it". The Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) was saddened as he hated bloodshed. He was also pained to know
that anti-Islamic elements were taking undue advantage of the patience of the Muslims.
They were instigating them to take measures against their will. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was
helpless to interfere in matters regarding Asmas murder: as according to the pact of
Madinah, each tribe was autonomous in its internal affairs. When the murderer and the
murdered belonged to the same tribe, intrusion by another person was undesirable. The
punishment could only be imposed by their tribe. Kab bin Ashraf was killed by a Muslim named Abu Naila and again
the murdered and the murderer belonged to the same tribe. Another such poet Abu Afk
was also killed by a Muslim (Salim bin Umair) of his tribe. In some historic books, these men have been mentioned as: Umair bin
Auf who killed Asma Bint Marwan, Salim bin Umair, who killed Abu Afk and
Abu Naila, who killed Kab bin Ashraf. In spite of these killings, satiric poetry continued. However, this
time, the Jews also joined hands with these poets. |
The Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) advised the Jews to abstain from vexation and reminded them of
their bondage by Madinah pact, which required them not to ally with the enemies of the
Muslims. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) held a meeting with the chieftain of "Zargar" tribe to improve
the ties between the Muslims and the Jews. The Jews were separated by three occupations. One took to agriculture,
the other to goldsmithry and the third lived by tanning of hides. In Islamic history, they have also been named as: Banu Qareedah, Banu
Nazir and Banu Qaneqah. Banu Qareedah was the most powerful and the richest. Most of its
people earned through goldsmithry. It was in the knowledge of the chieftain of Jews that
an army of many thousand was going to ravage the Muslims. He met the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with
indifference. He was among those who had contrived against the Muslims in case of their
invasion by the Makkans. The Prophet (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) reminded him about the pact and said that observance of
law was the same for everyone. He also pointed out that the Muslims had not violated the
pact, yet the Jews had been very active against them through their sarcastic poetry. The
Muslim tolerance was being taken for cowardice; although that was not the case. The
Muslims had proved in the battle of Badr that they were not afraid of anyone. They did not
want to strain the relations between the Muslims and the Jews by any vengeful measures. It
was desirable that the Jews stopped teasing the Muslims and abide by the terms of
"Methaq-e-Madinah". The chieftain rudely replied, "O Abul Qasim! Battle of Badr had
made you and your people arrogant and they have started believing you will be victorious
in every battle! You are unaware that you fought with your kind and have not fought with
the Jews. You do not know how valiant the Jews are". The Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) replied with great forbearance, "We do not want to fight
with you, rather we want to maintain good ties with you. I know about the approaching
army, therefore you do not want to side with us but the least you can do is to stay
neutral". The Jews had so many expectations from the Kufar of Makkah that their
chieftain did not even promise to stay neutral. He said that it depended upon the conduct
of the Muslims. If their attitude was satisfactory, they would remain neutral. While the Muslims were observing an amiable and tolerant attitude, an
ugly incident occurred. One day when a Muslim girl was passing through the market of
goldsmiths, some Jewish boys encircled and started to tease her. They later tried to
dis-honour her. A Jew stepped out of a nearby shop and tied the edge of her dress to a
post. When she tried to run away, the edge of her dress was torn and some part of her body
became exposed. A Muslim was passing by. He saw this happening. He was quite infuriated
by this insult. He hit the Jew on the head. The other Jews pounced upon him and killed
him. The Muslims demanded blood-money from the Qaneqah tribe, but they refused. Such
refusal meant declaration of battle. All the Jewish tribesmen including seven hundred
warriors entrenched themselves in their fortress like houses. They were not afraid of the
Muslims as they were comforted by the approaching army led by Abu Sufyan. The Muslims surrounded the colony of the goldsmiths for two weeks.
Meanwhile no-one from the Muslims or the Jews was injured. After two weeks, the Jews
received the news that the Makkan army had not even moved out of Makkah, let alone reach
Madinah. Hence they had to surrender. The Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) always showed clemency towards the
subdued, therefore he took nothing except weapons from them and left it to their will
either to come into Faith or to leave Madinah forever. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) also allowed them to take with them whatever they liked. The
Jews took everything with them, sparing not even doors and windows of their houses. On
leaving Madinah, they were divided in two groups. One left southwards to join the army of
the Kufar to annihilate the Muslims. The other group set off towards one of the Jewish
cities of Arabia. Although the expulsion of Jews from Madinah had lessened the number of
anti-Islamic elements still the remaining number of the Jews was quite great. The Quraysh
of Makkah also suffered loss by this Jewish exile, as they were deprived of those seven
hundred Jewish warriors who could have joined them for the attack on Madinah. |