Muhammad and The Jews — Page 117
THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE CONFLICT combat efficiency. The fortifications were lightly held. There seemed to be neither coordination nor proper liaison between the different garrisons of the Jews. The Apostle on the other hand took the Khaybarites by surprise, which was the master key to his success in all major battles; it was surprise both in tactics and techniques combined with a toughness to which both the Jews of the J;Iijiiz and the Quraysh were unaccustomed. The Jews, though they did not lose, nonetheless were compelled to negotiate because they had not taken a serious view of their adversary. The frequent references to the Jews in the Qur. ,iin, as interpreted by the classical interpreters of the Qur?iin, the unfolding of the Muslim practice, the development of the Shari"" ah and the garbled accounts of the controversy with the Jews of Yathrib have created a picture of religious controversy which is both distorted and distorting. Almost all the modern historians have taken the view that when the Apostle left Mecca he looked forward to his acceptance by the Jews of Yathrib. On arrival he tried to win them over by adopting the fast of"" Ashiirii. ,, by turning towards Jerusalem for prayers etc. The Apostle was, however, soon disappointed by the Jewish rejection, so he broke with them and crushed them. This picture represents a contorted reflection of events. There is no evidence for Gabrieli's assumption that the Apostle at one time had considered the Jews of Medina as "converts to Islam". 1 Two early Meccan silrahs, the Bani JsriPU and the Yilnus, show that the Apostle from the very beginning had an idea of the Jewish reaction to his claim. The seventeenth chapter of the Qur?iin, the Bani Jsrii. ,il, has the following eight verses warning the Jews of their future : 4. And we revealed to the children of Israel in the Book, (saying), you will surely do mischief in the land twice, and you will surely become excessively overbearing. 5. So when the time for the first of the two warnings came, we sent against you (some) servants of Ours possessed of great might in war, and they penetrated (the innermost parts of your) houses and it was a warning that was bound to be carried out. 6. Then We gave you back the power against them, and aided you with wealth and children, and made you larger in numbers. 7. Now if you do well, you will do well for your own souls; and if you do evil, it will (only )be against them. So when the time for the latter warning came, (We raised a people against you) to cover your faces 1 Gabrieli, Muhammad and the Conquests of Islam, p. 67. 117