Muhammad and The Jews — Page 100
says is that lbn al-Akwa"" was asked to dismount and chant one of his camel songs. ""Abd Allah b. ""Amr b. l;>amrah al-Fazari told Ibn IsJ:iaq that the Apostle prohibited the flesh of domestic donkeys and Sallam b. Kirkirah added that when the Apostle forbade the flesh of donkeys he allowed them to eat horseflesh. Yazid b. Abi. i J:Iabib told Ibn IsJ:iaq from Abi. i Marzi. iq client of Tujib from J:Ianash al-$an""ani that he learnt it from a preacher that the Apostle said, "It is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the last day to mingle his seed with another man's. " All these reports and many more are very important from the point of view of Muslim law, and would not have the force of law if they were not given with proper isnad. As far as the account of the battle is concerned practically all reports are without any authority. It is the same pattern that we found in the account of the B. Quray:i:;ah. Had Ibn IsJ:iaq come across any authorities he would have quoted them, but there were none. In more than twenty-three pages of Wiistenfeld's edition there is little that can give us a reasonable account of how these forts on such heights and protected by people who had catapults were conquered by a small army who had no siege-machine. According to Ibn Isl)aq 1 the first to fall was the castle of Na ""im, where Mal;lmi. id b. Maslamah was killed while resting, crushed by a millstone which was thrown on him by Kinanah b. al-Rabi"" b. Abi. i al-J:Iuqayq. The fort of al~Qami. is was difficult to conquer. Several commanders failed to subdue it. The casualties of both sides exceeded those of Badr (2/624), but not UJ:iud where 72 Muslims and 22 Meccans were killed. At Khaybar, 19 Muslims were ki1Ied2 and 50 were wounded. The enemy casualties at Badr were 70 killed and none wounded; at Khaybar 93 were killed. Both sides knew that for the vanquished it was, probably, the last battle; a dominant elite, if defeated, would never get a chance to recover. A new group trying to establish its ascendancy, had been only very recently shown its weakness by the Quraysh of Mecca at I;Iudaybiyah. 3 The Jews at Medina and all the Arab tribes were waiting for the defeat of this new group which threatened the whole pattern of Arab life. This was one of the most important battles 1 Ibn Hishiim, p. 758. 2 Ibn Hishiim and Ibn Sa""d have given the names of companions killed (lbn Hishiim, p. 769; Ibn Sa~d, Vol. II, p. 107). 3 See Chapter VI, pp 285-87. 100 '