Muhammad and The Jews — Page 88
a group of fourteen companions, who were later joined by four more men. 1 One finds the same tendency to exaggerate when dealing with the Jewish persecution of the Christians of Najran, who were probably punished for the so-called treason during the first Abyssinan invasion of the Jewish kingdom of Yemen. 2 The number of Christian martyrs according to Simeon of Beth Arsham, who received the information from "those who came from Najran" was two thousand. a Bell considers that a "moderate number" of 200 seems to be more correct. 4 Baron considers "that some probably minor local persecution was exaggerated". 5 "The entire account is so completely legendary" says Graetz "that it is impossible to discover any historical fact". 6 "The simplest answer", Nabia Abbott suggests, "would be to dismiss it as one more example of a well-known and widespread phenomenon, namely that relayed numbers tend to grow and multiply with time. " 7 It is significant that neither al-Bukhari nor Muslim reported any Tradition on the actual execution of Saed's judgment. Since they did not report how Saed's judgment was carried out they also did not report on the number of people killed or taken prisoner. The story that the captive women and children of the B. Quray:?ah were sent to the Najd to be sold for horses and weapons does not agree with the practice. 8 The Jews always bought their captives from Arabs after evary skirmish. 9 The Jews of Khaybar, including the B. al-Na<;lir, Wadi al-Qura, Tayma"", and even Medina itself were capable of buying these captives and, as al-Waqidi says, they bought them. 10 The Muslims, if interested in the money at all, were interested in it to buy weapons and horses. It made no difference to them if the captives were sold in the Najd or Khaybar. In fact it seemed to be far l M. J. Kister, "The Expedition of Bi'r Ma~unah", Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honour of Hamilton A. R. Gibb, ed. George Makdisi (Leiden, 1965), pp. 337-57. 2 The date of the massacre is controversial; See Irfan Shahid, The Martyrs of Najriin, pp. 235-42. 3 Ibid. , p. 64. 4 Richard Bell, The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment (London, 1926), p. 38. 5 Baron, Vol. Ill, p. 67. 6 Graetz, Vol. III, p. 65. 1 Abbott, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, I, p. 77. s Ibn Hisham, p. 693. 9 Ibid. , p. 253. 10 AI-Wilqidi, Vol. II, pp. 522-24. 88