Muhammad and The Jews — Page 40
the individual agreements. There are, however, certain clear indica- tions as to the possible dates, which are significant in determining the character of the ummah. Ibn Isl). aq assigns it to the first year of the Hijrah. But textual comparison of the chronological material in the Sirah shows that the various biographers differ even on the dating of important events. 1 The $abifah itself, however, provides indications of its approximate date, which, even though obvious, have been ignored by historians. Firstly, there is no mention of the B. Qaynuqii", the B. al-Na9ir and the B. Quray~ah in the $abifah. While most of the Muslim historians have not paid any attention to the omission of these three important Jewish clans from the $abifah, some orientalists have tried to explain it away by remarking that the Apostle "grouped the Jews according to the Arab clans in whose districts they lived''. 2 This explanation is obviously not convincing. The Jews of the Banu "Awf, the Banu al-Najjar, the Banu al-J:liirith, the Banu Sa"idah, the Banu Jusham, the Banu Tha"labah and even a subdivision of the Banu Tha"labah, Jafnah, were all confederates of the Khazraj and have been mentioned as such. If this formula was sufficient to cover the Banu Qaynuqa" who were the allies of the Khazraj, then the name of their patrons Ba"l-I;Iublii or B. Salim should have been mentioned. As Wellhausen observes, unless the Jews of the Banu al-Aws and Tha"labah are the B. al-Na9ir and the B. Quray~ah, these two tribes did not enter into any agreement with Muhammad at the beginning, A. H. 2. 3 But the B. al-Na9ir and the B. Quray~h were not the mawiili of al-Aws. Their relationship was that of alliance and not of patronage 4. The simple explanation is that the document was signed after the expulsion of the B. Quray~ah. Montgomery Watt finds difficulty in this explanation because the $a/:tifah pays that much attention "to Jewish affairs at a time when there were few Jews in Medina". 5 The assumption, however, is not supported by facts. After the two Jewish clans, the B. al-Na9ir and the B. Quray~ah, were expelled from Medina the following Jewish tribes still remained there : 1 Caetani, Annali dell' Islam, Vol. I, p. 466; J. M. B. Jones, 'The Chronology of the Maghazl-a Textual Survey', The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. XIX (1957), pp. 245-280. 2 Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p. 226. 3 J. Wellhausen, Skizzen u. Vorarbeiten (Berlin, 1889) 4. Heft, p. 75. 4 Supra, Chapter I, p. 60. 0 Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p. 227. 40·