Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 273
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 273 elsewhere. He was to allow them ten days for their withdrawal from Medina. When Muhammad bin Maslamah went and spoke to the leaders of Banu Nadhir, they told him arrogantly to tell his master that they were not prepared to leave Medina and that he was free to do whatever he wished. When their reply was communicated to the Holy Prophet he observed involuntarily, ‘God is Great; the Jews appear to be bent on fighting. ’ He thereupon asked the Muslims to get ready, and with a company of his followers he marched against Banu Nadhir. An alternative version narrated by some of the historians is that, sometime after the battle of Badr, though it is not specifically stated how long after the battle, the chiefs of Quraish had sent a letter to Banu Nadhir that they should expel Muhammad and his followers from Medina, by force if necessary, else Quraish would take the field against Banu Nadhir. Upon receipt of this letter Banu Nadhir held a consultation and decided that the best way out of the situation would be to kill Muhammad through some device, whereby he could be persuaded to visit them and they could take advantage of the opportunity to kill him. In pursuance of their device, they sent a message to the Holy Prophet that they desired to arrange an exchange of views between him and their divines and that if in consequence of the exchange, his truth was established, they would believe in him. They suggested that he should go to them accompanied by thirty followers and that there would be thirty divines on their side to take part in the exch ange of views. In the meantime they arranged that when the Holy Prophet should arrive the pseudo - divines, who would have daggers hidden under their clothes, should find