Chief of the Prophets — Page 194
Chapter Eight 194 did not like that the goats entrusted to a new Muslim should not be returned to the enemy at war. The Kindness of Muḥammad sa and the Mischief of the Jews The defeated Jews made a request to Muḥammad sa that they not be expelled and in return they would always provide half of their produce to the Muslims. Muḥammad sa accepted their request. But in spite of Muḥammad’s magnanimity, the Jews did not abstain from mischief. There is an event recorded in history that a Jewish woman asked the Companions which part of meat was liked by Muḥammad sa. The Companions told her that he liked the shoulder part of the meat. She slaughtered a goat and made kebabs on stones and poisoned the meat, particularly the shoulder part that Muḥammad sa liked. She sat outside the tent of Muḥammad sa with this meat. When Muḥammad sa returned to his tent after the evening ( Maghrib) prayers, he said to the woman, “O Lady, what brings you here?” She said, “O Abul-Qāsim, I brought some meat as a gift for you. ” Muḥammad sa asked one of his companions to take the meat. When Muḥammad sa sat for dinner, he had only taken one bite of the meat from the shoulder when he sensed the poison and immediately stopped the Companions. By then, Bishr bin Barā’ had already taken a bite, he said, “O Messenger of Allah, by God who has given you honour, I also felt the poison in the bite I ate. I wanted to spit it out, but as you had already swallowed the bite, I thought it inappropriate to spit it out, so I swallowed it following you (we find from a tradition that Bishr fell sick after a little while and died at Khaibar). Muḥammad sa sent for the woman and asked, “Did you poison the meat?” She asked, “Who told you?” Muḥammad sa was holding the shoulder piece of the meat in his hand at that time and said, “This hand told me. ” The woman realized that her secret was out, so she confessed poisoning the meat. Muḥammad sa asked her, “What made you do this misdeed?” She said, “You fought with my nation. I thought that I would poison you, and that if you were really a