Muhammad and The Jews — Page 63
THE JEWISH SUPPORT TO MEDINAN OPPOSITION forty to seventy Muslims were killed; only one Muslim, ~Amr b. Umay- yah al-Qamri, escaped the massacre. On ms way home he came across two men from the B. e Amir lying asleep. Not knowing that the B. c Amir had taken no direct part in the massacre, he killed both of them to avenge his companions. Since the Apostle and the Jewish clan of the B. al-Nac;lir were obliged by virtue of a pact with the B. c. Amir to pay the blood money, the Apostle accompanied by a number of important men of his community appeared at the Council of the B. al-Nac;lir for contributions to the blood money. The Council, having agreed to contribute to the blood money, asked the Apostle and his companions to wait outside the wall. While the Apostle waited there he noticed movements which made mm suspicious. He had never been so close to the Jews: he was in their quarters and the assas- sination of cA~ma. , bint Marwan, Abu cAfak and Kacb b. al-Ashraf by the Muslims in similar circumstances was still fresh in everyone's mind. The Apostle quietly left and after sometime his companions also left. Later intelligence confirmed the Apostle's worst fears. There was a conspiracy to kill mm. 1 The Apostle had already been informed of their contacts with the Quraysh of Mecca. Nabia Abbott in her Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri 2 has edited a passage wmch contains the account of the causes which led to the Apostle's campaign against the B. al-Nac;lir. Kister has carefully re-examined the passage and after an elaborate discussion proved that its author was Ibn Lahieah, who lived in Egypt and was the Qac;li from 155/771 to 164/780. The passage reads: and they sent secretly to the Quraish when they encamped at Ul)ud in order to fight the Prophet and they incited them to fight 'and showed them the weak spots. 3 This account, which comes from a source almost contemporaneous to lbn Isl)aq throws additional light on the role of the B. al-Nac;lir. 4 1 Al-Bukhari, $a/;ib al-Bukhari, (9 volumes, Cairo: al-Sha cab, n. d. ), Vol. V, p. 112. Ibn Hishilm, pp. 652-53; Al-Tabari, Vol. II, p. 551. 2 (Chicago, 1957) Document 5, "Campaigns of Muhammad " , p. 67. 3 M. J. Kister, "Notes on the Papyrus Text About Muhammad's Campaign Against the B. al-NaQir", Archiv Orienta/ni, 32, 1964, p. 234. 4 Ibn Hisham, p. 543. Al-Zurqani gives a similar report on the authority of Miisa b. cuqbah in Sharl; al-Mawiihib al-Laduniyah (Cairo, 1325 A. H. ), Vol. II, p, 81; the passage in the Papyrus, however, corresponds to the Tradition reported on the authority of curwah b. al- Zubayr in Abii Nu. . aym al-I~fahani's Dalii'il a/-Nubuwwah (Hyde ra bad, 1320 A. H. ), p. 176. 63