The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 488
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 488 could attempt to ascertain what the Holy Prophet sa had in mind concerning them. Hence, they sent an emissary to the Holy Prophet sa requesting that Abū Lubābah bin Mundhir Ansārī ra be dispatched to their stronghold so that they could consult him. The Holy Prophet sa permitted Abū Lubābah ra and he went to their fortress. The chieftains of the Banū Quraiẓah had planned that as soon as Abū Lubābah ra entered the fortress, in an attempt to fully impress the pains of their affliction and hardship upon his heart, all the Jewish women and children would surround him and begin weeping and wailing. As such, Abū Lubābah ra fell into this trap, and as soon as he entered their fortress, he began to feel pity for their so-called ‘ affliction. ’ When the Banū Quraiẓah inquired, “O Abū Lubābah, our state is before you, shall we step out of our fortresses leaving our fate to be decided by Muḥammad [sa] ?” Abū Lubābah ra spontaneously responded in the affirmative, but at the same time passed his hand across his throat indicating that they would be sentenced to death. This was absolutely false and the Holy Prophet sa had not even slightly insinuated any such intention. However, being influenced by their demonstration of misery, the thoughts of Abū Lubābah ra began to flow so emotionally in the direction of pain and suffering that his ideas did not fall short of death. This false sympathy of Abū Lubābah ra (due to which he felt remorse himself afterwards as well and in this regret, tied himself to a pillar in the mosque, until the Holy Prophet sa forgave him and untied him with his own hand), became the source of the Banū Quraiẓah’s ruin. They stubbornly insisted that they would not leave their fortresses and hand themselves over to be judged by the Holy Prophet sa. 1 As a result, war ensued and after a siege of more or less twenty days, these ill-fated Jews agreed to descend from their fortresses to be judged by the verdict of such a man, who despite being their confederate, found no mercy in his heart due to their evil schemes; and despite being an epitome of justice and equity, he did not possess the same compassion and tenderness at heart as was present in the man who was a ‘Mercy for All Mankind. ’ The details are that the Aus tribe were old allies of the Banū Quraiẓah, and at the time, Sa‘d bin Mu‘ādh ra was the chieftain of this tribe. He had been wounded in the Ghazwah of the Ditch and was now under medical treatment in the veranda of the 1 * Tārīkhur-Rusuli Wal-Mulūk (Tārīkhuṭ-Ṭabarī), By Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Jarīr Aṭ-Ṭabarī, Volume 3, p. 107, Thumma Kānatis-Sanatul-Khāmisatu Minal-Hijrati / Ghazwatu Banī Quraiẓah, Dārul-Fikr, Beirut, Lebanon, Second Edition (2002) * Tārīkhul-Khamīs Fī Aḥwāli Anfasi Nafīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan, Volume 1, p. 495, Irtibāṭu Abī Lubābata Ilā ‘Amūdin Min ‘Umudil-Masjad, Mu’assasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut