Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 318
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 318 The attitude of the Jews towards the Holy Prophet and the Muslims had, from the beginning, been at the best suspicious and at the worst treacherous. Concerning the situation at the time of the investment of Medina by Quraish and their allies, E. Dermenghem has observed ( The Life of Mahomet, p. 326): Quraish had allied themselves to the Bedouins and the Jews, and their formidable coalition was preparing to deal a decisive blow to Islam. The Banu Nadhir who had taken refuge at Khaibar incited their hosts against the new power that had risen threatening all anarchistic Arabia; they represented Muhammad as a tyrant waiting to put all the tribes into chains. The Bedouins of Tihama and Nejd joined Quraish in a body and the confederation had spies in the very heart of Medina amongst the Jews of Banu Quraidhah who desired, almost openly, the ruin of their burdensome ally …. The situation, if prolonged, might have become serious, the more so because Banu Quraidhah had allied themselves with the enemy. Stanley Lane - Poole has observed ( Studies in a Mosque, p. 68): Of the sentences on the three clans, that of exile, passed upon two of them, was clement enough. They were a turbulent set, always setting the people of Medina by the ears; and finally, a brawl followed by an insurrection resulted in the expulsion of one t ribe; and