Muhammad and The Jews — Page 91
THE FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERACY and not to the mosque of Medina. 1 The Jfadith in both al-Bukhari and Muslim suggests that Sac. d, who was mortally wounded in the battle, went to a mosque. His tent was so close to the Apostle's mosque in Medina that in his grave condition it was not necessary to bring him there. Sac. d decreed that the combatants from among the leaders should be executed. Probably the main leaders included old men and ordained priests, who were not combatants, hence the word 'combatants'. This party (fariq) was not brought to Medina, but was beheaded 2 at the spot. The leaders, I:Iuyayy b. Akh!ab, Ka"'b b. Asad3, Nabbash b. Qays and Ghazzal b. Samaw"al4 were executed by "'AH and Zubayr. 5 In conformity with the policy adopted by the Apostle that executions should be carried out by a member of the tribe who is in alliance with the tribe of the guilty party minor leaders were handed over to the Aws. Two of the condemned were given to each of the clans or sub- clans of the Aws; (i) "'Abd al-Ashhal; (ii) Ijarithah; (iii) Zafar; (iv) Mu"'awiyah; (v) "'Amar b. "'Awf; and (vi) Umayyah b. Zayd, so that all the clans were involved in· the blood of the B. QuraY?. ah. 6 The culpable leadership of a tribe of 600 to 900 men; especially when some of them have already been killed in the battle and one group has been taken captive would not normally exceed sixteen, or seventeen accounted for in the above analysis. The decision to help the Al;ziib must have been taken by the leaders and the elders ' of the B. Quray:(:ah. The whole tribe could not be given the same punishment that was in store for their leaders. The Apostle himself was bound by the Qur"anic maxim of just retribution; "an eye for an eye and a life for a life. "7 This principle, as we have shown earliers, had been agreed upon both by the Muslims and the Jews, for we find it formalized in the $abifah: "a person acquires guilt against himself. " 9 1 Al-Samhiidi, Vol. III, p. 824. The place where the Apostle prayed during the siege was converted into a mosque. 2 The Qur•an, Al-Abziib, 26, "You slew a party". 3 Ibn Hishiim, p. 690. 4 Al-Wiiqidi, Vol. II, p. 516. 5 Al-Wiiqidi, p. 513. 6 Ibn Hishiim, p. 554. AJ-Wiiqidi, pp. 515-16. 7 The Qur•an, A/-Baqarah, 178. 8 Supra, Chapter II. D Ibn Hishiim, p. 344. 91