Muhammad and The Jews — Page 113
THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE CONFLIC'r CUmar) went on 'Then why should we agree to what is demeaning to our religion?'. . . . Then he went to the Apostle and put the same questions. . . " 1 The Apostle had bought peace, which he needed most, at the cost of a great many concessions. Having negotiated the nonaggression pact with the Quraysh of Mecca the Apostle seemed to be anxious to reach some settlement with the second most important power in the l;Iijaz, the Jews of Khaybar. It was one of the most hazardous of expeditions under- taken so far. The Apostle Jed a force of 1,600 men against approximately 10,000 Jews within their fortifications and 4,000 men of Ghatafan waiting outside in the open. It did not seem to be a normal expeditionary force. The odds were heavily against the Muslims. Most of the Arabian tribes were still pagan and had witnessed the retreat of the Muslims from I;Iudaybiyah. Our primary sources are silent on the subject; for them history and hagiography are so fused with each other that it is difficult to reconstruct the events from their narrative. Having suffered a setback at the hands of the Quraysh why did the Apostle undertake an expedition which seemed to have little chance of success? After the unfortunate incident at al-Qarqarah where al-Yusayr b. Zarim was killed, the Apostle appears to have decided to go himself to negotiate peace with the Jews of Khaybar. He took a large party of dependable and devoted people. These were the people who had taken "their pledge unto death" under a tree at 1-Judaybiyah, known as the pledge of al-Ric;lwan. 2 This seems to be a reasonably precautionary action. He did not wish war. He made it clear that those who wished to go for booty need not accompany him on this expedition. 3 He was going into the heart of enemy's stronghold to negotiate peace and sign a treaty with the enemy which would guarantee peace. If he succeeded, it appears, he would bring a nonaggression pact; if not, it might turn out to be a rout like the battle of Ul). ud. 4 There was no booty in either case and he did not want to take with him on this occasion anyone who would tend to lower the morale of this small force. 1 Ibn Hishli. m, pp. 747. 2 Ibid. , p. 746. 3 Al-Wli. qidi, Vol. II, p. 634; lbn Sacd, Vol. II, p. 106. 4 The battle of UJ:rnd was fought in March 625 (X/3). The Apostle went out of Medina to fight against the advice of c. Abd Allah b. Ubayy who said, "We have never gone out to fight an enemy but we have met disaster and none has come in against us without being defeated". (Ibn Hishli. m, p. 558). Muslim losses were 70 killed and 40 wounded as against three Meccans killed. ll3