The steps to the massacreSince all the names and politics can be confusing, here is a quick summary of the facts found in the previous section.
1. After the Meccans and their allies depart, the Jews are left powerless and outnumbered, facing 3,000 Muslim jihadists.
2. While the Jews were negotiating the terms of surrender with Abu Lubaba, he gestures to his throat, which indicates slaughter. This means that the flow of the events headed in one direction.
3. Sad bin Muadh is the leader of the Aws tribe.
4. This tribe had old alliances, whatever they were, with the Qurayzah tribe of Jews.
5. However, the Aws fought alongside Muhammad.
6. The Jews sided with the coalition (though the Jews did not actually fight).
7. Thus, the old alliances between the Aws and Jews are weakening.
8. After Muhammad's attack on the Jews, some of the Aws plead with Muhammad to be lenient, such as expulsion.
9. Muhammad turns down this request for mercy—a key point, which supports no. 2. The outcome is never in doubt.
10. Instead, Muhammad appoints Sad bin Muadh to decide, and everyone agrees to abide by his decision.
11. Sad decrees slaughter and enslavement, wanting to firm up his allegiance to Islam before he dies. He dies shortly thereafter from his wound.
12. Muhammad says that Sad's verdict is the judgment of 'King Allah.' It is right and just. Sad makes him glad.
13. Even though everyone agrees to abide by the verdict, Muhammad still does not show mercy, as the men and boys are handcuffed behind their backs and beheaded, and the women and children are enslaved. Instead, he takes one of the beautiful, recently 'widowed' Jewish women for himself.
14. Muhammad gets twenty percent of the Jewish property (movable, immovable and human), and the jihadists get eighty percent, to be distributed as he sees fit.
In any steps leading up to an atrocity, something wrong is bound to be revealed, and this appears to be no. 9. As noted, Muhammad could have exiled the Jews, as he had done to the Jewish tribes of Qaynuqa and Nadir a few years earlier. Or he could have executed only the leaders, if he believed that they stirred up his enemies—assuming that they really did this, as the Islamic sources allege.
Something is also wrong with step no. 13. Even though everyone agreed to abide by the verdict, who could have complained—justly complained—if Muhammad had announced the following?
'We agreed to abide by the tribal chief's verdict, but as I watch the men and boys being handcuffed and observe all the tears from the women and children, I'm sure no one would object if we showed mercy and exiled them and executed only the few trouble—makers. After all, I often say that Allah is most merciful. I set the example for my community and the world!' But this is wishful thinking. He took one of the beauties (now a widow) for himself, instead of taking the path of mercy.
Why does he not show mercy? The answer is found in no. 14. Muhammad needs to reward his jihadists, since they collected no spoils from the departed coalition—Allah gives him permission to do this in Sura 33:27 (see the next section, 'the Quran'). And what makes this entire episode doubly heinous is that Muhammad and his jihadists could have had all of the wealth of the Jews after he banished them, but he still did not take this merciful option.
The Quran
Allah seems to celebrate this slaughter and enslavement in Sura 33:25—27:
25 Allah turned back the unbelievers [Meccans and their allies] in a state of rage, having not won any good, and Allah spared the believers battle [q—t—l]. Allah is, indeed, Strong and Mighty. 26 And He brought those of the People of the Book [Qurayza] who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts, some of them you slew [q—t—l] and some you took captive. 27 And he bequeathed to you their lands, their homes and their possessions, together with land you have never trodden. Allah has power over everything. (Majid Fakhry, An Interpretation of the Qur'an, NYUP, 2004; insertions are mine)
These verses reveal three unpleasant truths.
First, Allah helps the Muslims in warfare or battle (three—letter Arabic root is q—t—l in v. 25) against a much—larger foe, so Allah endorses Islam in battle. Also, verse 25 confirms that Muhammad had nothing substantial to fear from the Jews. 'Allah turned back the unbelievers . . . and Allah spared the believers battle.' In down—to—earth terms, Muhammad still had at his disposal a large, weather—beaten army. The Prophet had expelled two other tribes (Qaynuqa and Nadir), so he could have done the same to the Qurayza—as indeed they requested. But the Prophet for humanity declined this merciful and humane option.
Second, Allah permits the enslavement and beheading of Jews, so any Muslim familiar with the background of this verse knows that beheading as such has been assimilated into the Quran. The word q—t—l in verse 26 means slaughter. What is so troubling about the verse is that it seems to celebrate the 'terror' that Allah threw into the Jews' hearts. Indeed, when Abu Lubaba the mediator approached the Jews during negotiations, the women and children were crying. Allah gladly terrorized them.
Finally, Allah permits Muhammad to take the Jewish clan's property on the basis of conquest and his possession of all things. This is a dubious revelation and reasoning. Allah speaks, and this benefits Muhammad materially. This happens often in Muhammad's life.
If anyone is looking for a down—to—earth reason for Muhammad's attack on the Qurayza Jews (instead of 'Gabriel's leadership'), then he does not need to look any further than verse 27. The Prophet confiscated wealth. After all, the Meccans and their allies withdrew without allowing Muslims to take their wealth. So how was Muhammad going to reward his jihadists?
For more translations of these verses, the readers may go to three sites: this one has multiple translations; this one has three; and this translation is subsidized by the Saudi royal family.
Conclusion
Muslim polemical and outreach websites often assert that Islam promotes human rights. It is impossible to see how they can say this honestly and at the same time appeal to the origins of their religion.
This whitewash is deceitful at best and dangerous at worst, if or when Islam gets a foothold in a region on the pretence of 'peace and love.' Maybe sleepy Westerners and others will accept this benign version of Islam—in fact too many do, right now. But what happens later when hard—line Muslims (not to mention nonviolent and violent fanatics) cite the numerous brutal verses in the Quran and passages in the hadith to inflict barbarity on people, especially on Jews?
The evidence in this article alone demonstrates that violence is embedded in original Islam. Even a reliable hadith shows Allah reprimanding Muhammad for another of his cruelties (see this article). Sadly, though, Allah did not reprimand his favorite prophet for this clear atrocity against the Jews, but celebrates it (Sura 33:25—27).
It is time for Muslim leaders to renounce violence clearly and specifically, not vaguely: 'Yes, we denounce all forms of violence' They must go deeper than this. They must stop denying the dark past, found in the Quran itself and in the example of their Prophet. They must, instead, be clear. 'We denounce these specific verses and passages in the Quran and hadith that are violent. These specific acts and words happened in the seventh century (and later centuries), and we have moved beyond all of them. We now want peace.'
A peaceful presentation of Islam is not full disclosure. It is time to be honest. Only then can interfaith dialogue even begin.
James M. Arlandson can be reached at
jamesmarlandson@hotmail.com.
Endnotes:
[1] Sources: Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, Oxford UP, 1961, pp. 166—67; Muhammad at Medina, Oxfored UP, 1956; Sayyid Abul A'La Maududi, The Meaning of the Quran, vol. 3; Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad, trans. A. Guillaume, Oxford UP, 1955, pp. 363—64; 437—45. Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) valuable and reliable source by modern scholars, except for some chronology and the miraculous elements. Tabari, The Foundation of the Community, trans. M.V. McDonald and annotated by W. M. Watt (SUNYP, 1987), pp. 85—87; 156—61. Tabari (d. 923) is also considered a reliable source, except for some chronology and the miraculous elements.
[2] Sources: Ibn Ishaq; Tabari, The Victory of Islam, trans. M. Fishbein, vol. 8, (1997), pp. 6—7. Safi—ur—Rahman Mubarakpuri, The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet, Darrusalam, 1996, p. 201. This biography was awarded first prize by the Muslim World League, but it is an encomium more than an objective biography.
Supplemental Material
This article is the longer version. It has a section that replies to Muslim defenses of this indefensible atrocity. Another section shows in more detail why the Meccan coalition had to withdraw from its siege of Medina.
See this series of articles for more information on Muhammad's atrocity against the Qurayza Jews.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/02/muhammad_and_massacre_of_the_q.html
