Muhammad and The Jews — Page 115
THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE CONFLICT not given with the account of Khaybar, but in the chapter dealing with references to the Muniifiqiin and the Jews in the second surah of the Qur""iin Al-Baqarah. No later falsifier could have adopted a style which in its attempt to conciliate sounds like an appeal. lbn Isl;tiiq has not given the date of this letter. But it can be easily discovered. The letter quotes the last verse of the surat al-Fat{1. There is consensus among Muslim scholars that the surah was revealed when, after signing the Treaty of I;Iudaybiyah, the Apostle was on his way back to Medina (March 628/Dhu al-Qae dah 6 A. H. ) 1. In the same year in the month of Dhu al-/f ijjah he sent letters to kings. Since the Battle of Khaybar took place early in the seventh year of the Hijrah (May-June/628) the letter must have been sent along with these letters. This letter had no response from the Jews of Khaybar or, if it had, Muslim historians have not recorded it. The chain of events, the nonaggression pact at I;Iudaybiyah, the letter to the Jews of Khaybar, the invitation to Ziirim to come to Medina, leads us to conclude that the Apostle needed peace at any cost. Looking at the terms of l;Iudaybiyah one might even think that peace with honour had almost changed into peace at any cost. The conciliatory tone of the letter to Khaybar is indeed remarkable when one takes into consideration the bitter opposition the Apostle had received from the Jews of Medina. He called himself "friend and brother of Moses" and claimed to "confirm what Moses brought", he adjured them "by God, and by what He has sent down to you, by the manna and quails He gave as food to your tribes before you". Having entreated them to accept him as the Apostle of God he added "If you do not find that in your scripture then there is no compulsion upon you". The aging Apostle needed peace and was appealing for it. The Khaybar Jews however, had by now lost control of their affairs. Their leadership had passed into the hands of the exiled Nac;lirite leaders. 2 They had failed their own tribe earlier and were now playing with the destiny of those who had everything to gain by reaching a compromise with the rising power of Isla m. The 1 Ibo Hisbam, p. 749. AI -Bukhari, Kitiib al-Tafsir, Vol. VI, p. 169. Zamakhsharl, Vol. III, pp. 540-541. AI-BayQawl, Vol. II, p. 266. 2 Among the chiefs of B. al-NaQir "who went to Khaybar were Sallam b. Abu al-I;luqayq, Kinanah b. al-Rabi "°b. Abii al-J;luqayq, and J;luyayy b. Akhtab. When they got there the inhabitants became subject to them". Ibo Hisham, p. 653. 115