Muhammad and The Jews — Page 90
al-W:i. qidi and Ibn Sac. d. The account as given by them is untrust- worthy both in detail and substance. Fortunately Ibn Isi):i. q has left some telltale references which help us to reconstruct the incident in conformity with the information which the Qur?:i. n gives on the subject. Since an author, writing with a bias is more likely to be unguarded and truthful in his casual reference, we could perhaps rely more on the evidence adduced in the following disquisition. Since "Arab culture was basically oral, and poetry was its documentary evidence and the best means of preserving traditions'',1 we shall look into some of the verses which Ibn Isi):i. q has preserved and Ibn Hish:i. m has not rejected as spurious. On the day of Quran:ah, by which Ibn Isl;i:i. q seems to mean the last day of their siege, the battle was probably heavy. Three Muslims lost their lives on that day. 2 It is not known how many men of the B. Quran:ah died in the battle. The fighting must have beeri fierce. Hassan b. Th:i. bit said: Quray:i:a met their misfortune And in humiliation found no helper, A calamity worse than that which fell B. al-Na9ir befell them With fresh horses bearing horsemen like hawks. We left them with the blood upon them like a pool They having accomplished nothing. They lay prostrate with vultures circling round them. 3 After their defeat they surrendered to the Apostle. A party (farfq ) 4 from among them who had fought but not taken a leading part was taken prisoner. 5 The leaders of the B. Quranah were, however, left to the judgment of Sa"'d b. Mu"':i. dh. There are indications that the sentencing of these leaders was done right on the spot. As al-Samhiid1 has. pointed out, Saed was brought to the Quranah mosque 1 A. A. Duri, "The Iraqi School of History to the Ninth Century-A Sketch", Historians of the Middle East, ed. by Bernard Lewis and P. M. Holt (London. 1962), p. 47. 2 Ibn Hishiim, pp. 69 9- 700. 3 Ibn Hisham, p. 712, Guillaume's translation. 4 Raghib, see under farq " a company of men ap a rt from others" :iiy<::JI •~~I. :,;_rT ,:r. Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1863) Book I, Part 6, p. 2385,fariq, "party more in number or larger than firqah, which means 'a party, portion, division sect or distinct body or class of men. ' Ibn Manzur, Vol. X, p. 300, "firqah is party of men and fariq is larger than firqah". 5 The Qur 0 an, Al-Al;ziib, 26, "You took a party captive". 9(J'