Muhammad and The Jews — Page 110
MUliAMMAD AND THE jEWS and other disaffected people whom the Qur?an described as munO. . fiqfm to foment trouble and join the battle at an appropriate time. They had sent to them a message saying, "stand finn and protect yourselves. . . if you are attacked we will fight with you". 1 But there was no occasion to attack; all that the Apostle did was to burn a few palms and sit with his companions. The Jews lost nerve and surrendered without fighting. The Qur?an has explicitly referred to the lack of military action: "You urged neither horse nor camel for it; but Allah grants power to His Messenger over whomsoever He pleases". 2 While the B. Qaynuqa"- and the B. al-Nac;lir merely shut themselves inside their 0. {0. m the B. Quray+ah according to al-Waqidi and Ibn Sa"-d offered. resistance; arrow shots were exchanged and stones were hurled,3 and there were some casualties on both sides. According to al-Waqidi and Ibn Sa"d the siege lasted only fifteen days, but Ibn Is{laq says it continued for twenty-five days. The B. Quray+ah were taken by surprise. It was blitzkrieg-the lightning war. For almost a month the Muslims tliemselves had withstood a siege. The B. Quray+ah did not expect that they would directly return from the front and invest them. This time the Muslim army outnumbered ilie Jews; there were three thousand Muslims as against six hundred to nine hundred Jews. But it was winter and the Muslims were in the open; the Jews were in their strongholds well protected and provi- ded. Above all they were fresh and the Muslims were hungry and tired. Had the Jews decided to give battle in the open they had the advantage of being on the home ground. They could retreat and sally forth in a war of attrition, which was not to the Muslim advantage. The Quraysh, the Ghatafan, the Jews of Khaybar, in fact none of the Arab tribes had been so far subdued by the Muslims and would, probably, have taken advantage at the slightest sign of Muslim weaken- ing. Though l;Iuyayy b. Akhtab was with the B. Quray+ah, other leaders of B. al-Nac;lir were free to organize help and rally support. In fact the munO. fiqun of Medina seemed to be still hoping that the Confederates would return to attack Medina. There is a pointed reference to this hope in the Qur?an. They think the Confederates have not departed; and if the Confederates should come again, they would wish to be with the (nomad) Arabs in the desert asking for news of you. 4 1 Ibn Hisham, p. 653; al-Waqidi, Vol. I, p. 368; Ibn Sa"'d, Vol. II, p. 57. 2 The Qur 0 an, Al-lfashr, 6. 3 Al-Waqidi, Vol. II, p. 501; Ibn Sa"'d, Vol. II, p. 74. 4 The Qur 0 an, Al-Abziib, 20. no