Muhammad and The Jews — Page 13
INlRODUCTION the actual Maghazi, Ibn Isl:taq employs a fixed scheme; he sends a brief comprehensive statement of contents on in front, follows it tip with a collective account composed of the statements of his weightiest teachers and completes this principal account by individual reports gathered by him from other sources. 1 Horovitz' observations are mainly valid as far as Ibn Isl;iiq's general narrative is concerned. His account of the four Jewish maghiizi, however, is at variance with his general scheme. "'A~im b. "'Umar b. Qatiidah is the main informant of the important events in the affair of the B. Qaynuqii" and no Jewish reporter is involved. The deporta- tion of the B. al-Na~lir also follows the general pattern. The main story begins with Yazid b. Ruman reporting it direct to Ibn Isl;iiq. With the B. Quray?ah the pattern seems to break down. Most of the main events, as we shall see, are not preceded by isniids. Several reliable reporters like al-Zuhri and Qatiidah appear during the narrative, but a closer examination discloses that they are reporting minor details, not the major events. The account of the expedition to the Khaybar presents the same mixture of reports, some based on isniids, others without isniids. Again one comes across important names preceding some reports, but most of them pertain to either juristic matters or minor details. It might perhaps be safe to say that generally speaking Ibn lsl)iiq does not give isniids on crucial matters concerning the B. Quray?ah or the Jews of Khaybar. Writing on lbn Isl)iiq's use of the isniid Robson agrees with the observation of Horovitz quoted above and goes on to say : He commonly begins his treatment of some incident by a general statement of what happened without any authority being quoted but this is merely his method of introducing the subject, for he usually goes on to give isnads of various kinds for details of the incident, or to present different statements of what happened. 2 Robson further observes :. . . Ibn Isl,iaq is quite open about his methods. He does not claim that all the information he gives is full of authority, nor does he try to trace everything back to the Prophet. We may therefore be inclined to trust him when he does quote direct authorities and when he gives connected isnads. 3 When Ibn Jsl)iiq does not give an isniid he is either dealing with material 1 Horovitz, IC (1928), p. 176. 2 James Robson, "Ibn Ishaq's Use of the Isnad", Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 38, 1955-56, p. 451. 3 Ibid. , p. 457. 13