Muhammad and The Jews — Page 82
and not adult. According to the first report he said : 'Slay their fighting men and take captive their families'. 1 In the second report, he said : 'Slay the fighting men and take captive their women and children'. 2 Sabfb Muslim has also given two reports using the same word, muqiitil, that al-Bukhari used. 3 Ibn Isl). aq's second report, that every adult should be killed, may be ruled out first. There is general consensus that the Apostle in the case of the B. Quranah did not give any orders. The first order to 'kill all men" is neither in keeping with the Traditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim nor with the second report of Ibn Sa"-d. Al-Waqidi's wording is more colourful but not exact. Since old men cannot be killed 4 the killing was limited to muqiitil, the fighting men. According to Ibn Isl). aq, 600 to 900 men of the B. Quray~ah were executed. It is not known what was the total strength of the B. Quray~ah. If each family is taken to consist of six persons-and this is a low average-3,600 to 5,400 men, women and children must have surrendered. They were all confined in the house of Bint al-I;Iiirith, a woman of the B. al-Najjar, and bound with ropes. Incarce- ration of four to five thousand persons can create problems even in a large town in the present age of crime, police and jails. If Ibn Isl). iiq is to be believed, Medina must have been a very well-organized town which could provide detention arrangements for such a large number of prisoners. How much rope was used and what was the area of Bint al-I:Iiirith's house? Were the prisoners fed? What sanitary arrangements were provided for such a large number of people in a town where there were no toilets and even women went out in the darkness for such necessities. 5 None of these prisoners tried to 1 Al-Bukhari, $al;il;, Chapter "Return of the Apostle from Al-A/. lziib and his expedition to the B. Quray:i:ah and their siege". Vol. V, p. 143. 2 Ibid. , p. 144. 3 $al;il; Muslim, l;ladith No. 245 and 246, Vol. II, pp 1112 and 1113. 4 "Do not kill old people, children, young ones and women", AbuDii 0 iid, "Kitiib al-Jihad", Vol. II, p. 342. 5 c. A 0 ishah reports: "We did not have those privies which foreigners have in their houses; we loathe and detest them; our practice was to get out into the open spaces of Medina". lbn Hishiim, p. 733. Al-Bukhari also gives a similar report from c. A 0 ishah, Chapter "l;Iadith al-Ifk," Book V, p. J 50.