The Life of The Prophet Muhammad: The Treaty of Hudaybiyah and Calling the Great States of the World to Islam
The Conquest of Khaybar: Part 1
(7th year of the Migration, toward the end of the month of Muharram / AD 628)
Khaybar was a city located on a volcanic area and having seven strong castles. It was on the way of Damascus and in the north west of Madinah; it was about 100 miles (161km) away from Madinah.
Most of the Jews that were expelled from Madinah because they violated their treaty with the Messenger of God had settled there and they virtually transformed Khaybar to a center for Jews.
As we have mentioned before, the Jews living there caused the Battle of Khandaq to take place by organizing all of the Arab tribes around and leading them to Madinah. After the Battle of Khandaq, they did not behave well and they slandered and talked against Muslims everywhere.
On the other hand, they made a new treaty with Makkan polytheists. According to this treaty, the people of Khaybar would attack Madinah if the Prophet walked against Makkah; if the Prophet walked against Khaybar, the Qurayshi polytheists would attack Madinah. However, their plan failed due to the Treaty of Hudaybiyah.
The Messenger of God protected Madinah from the polytheists by signing the treaty with them. However, the north side (where Khaybar Jews lived) was still deprived of security. It was necessary for the acceleration of the Islamic development to make the north secure.
Besides, the greatest trade destination for Arabs was Damascus. The Jews were on this way and started to develop as a strong element. It was a danger in terms of Islamic development.
All of those reasons made it necessary for Muslims to settle the issue of Khaybar.
Moreover, God Almighty had promised Muslims the conquest of Khaybar in the chapter of al-Fath while returning from the Expedition of Hudaybiyah.
The Messenger of God decided to go Khaybar and told his Companions to get ready for the expedition.
Many people who had avoided joining the Expedition of Hudaybiyah due to their fear wanted to join the Expedition of Khaybar due to the booty to be obtained from this productive and fertile city. They said, “We want to go to Khaybar with you.”
Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Those who will fight in the way of exalting the name of God as it is necessary should get ready. Nobody else can come with us. They will not be given anything out of the booty.”He declared it openly to the people of Madinah.
This order of the Messenger of God clearly teaches us that jihad in the way of God needs to be made for the sake of God and without expecting or even thinking of any material returns.
Besides, the lofty and luminous aim of war in Islam is exalting the name of God.
Upon the order of the Messenger of God, Muslims gathered at once. There were 1600 people, two hundred of whom were cavalrymen.They were the Muslims that would set off from Madinah together with the Prophet. Afterwards, when the Prophet was in Khaybar, four hundred Muslims from the tribe of Daws, among whom was Abu Hurayra, and Muslim migrants who returned from Abyssinia would join the Islamic army.
Moreover, there were twenty women together with Umm Salama, one of the wives of the Prophet, in the Islamic army that set off from Madinah. They were going to treat the wounded mujahids, cook and meet the needs of the mujahids during the battle.
The Prophet appointed Siba’ b. Urfuta from Ghifar as his deputy in Madinah and set off toward Khaybar with his army toward the end of the month of Muharram.
The mujahids who had been painted by the spiritual paint of the prophethood proceeded with enthusiasm. Amir b. Aqwa, the poet, expressed his excitement and loyalty with the following poem: “O God! If you had not guided us, we would not have found the right path; we would not pay zakah nor perform prayers. When a nation walks against us and tries to make us exit from our religion, send tranquility to our hearts and make our feet strong when we fight.”
The Prophet asked who recited the poem. When he was told that Amir b. Aqwa recited it, he said, “May God show mercy on him!”
The mujahids hesitated for a second because this prayer meant that Amir was going to be martyred.
“He is neither deaf nor absent…”
The mujahids proceeded uttering takbirs. The earth and the sky resounded with the sound of takbirs. Once, they uttered takbir very loudly: “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! La ilaha illallahu Allahu Akbar!”
Upon this act of the Companions, the Messenger of God said, “Show mercy to your souls; do not shout so loudly. You are not addressing a dead being or a being that is absent. You are praying God, who knows and hears everything and who is near to everything from anything else.”
Yes, God, to whom we pray, is neither deaf nor absent. He is nearer to us from our jugular veins with His knowledge, will and power: “It was We who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.”
Only He knows the most secret things in our hearts; therefore, He answers our requests and meets our needs.
The Messenger of God prayed his lofty Lord as follows wherever he stopped for a break:
“O God! I take refuge in you from the worries about the future, sorrows of the past, weaklessness, laziness, stinginess, cowardice, heavy debts, and the inflictions of oppressors and unjust people.”
The Islamic Army is in Raji’
The Prophet reached a place called Raji’ with his army and stopped there. It was a place between Kahybar and the land of Ghatafans. There was a reason why they stopped there. Khaybar Jews had asked helped from Ghatafans and they had accepted; they said Jews could come to their castles and fight against the Islamic army together. The Messenger of God was informed about it. In order to prevent this help, he made this offer to Ghatafans: “If you do not help Jews, we will give you the crop of the dates of Khaybar to be conquered for one year.” However, they did not accept the offer.
Thus, the Prophet aimed to prevent any help that could come from Ghatafans to Jews by settling there. As a matter of fact, Ghatafans could not help Khaybar Jews and had to stay in their land when the Messenger of God settled in Raji’.
The Islamic Army is in front of Khaybar
Later, the Prophet left Raji’ with his army and proceeded to Khaybar. They reached Khaybar at night. The Prophet did not use to attack at night; so he waited for the morning.
The Prayer of the Prophet
When the Messenger of God reached in front of Khaybar, he prayed as follows: “O God, who is the Lord of the skies and what they shade! O God, who is the Lord the earth and those on the earth! O God, who is the Lord the devil and those that the devil misguides! O God, who is the Lord of the winds and what they blow! We wish from you the goodness of this city, the wellbeing of its people and the goodness of everything in the city. We take refuge in you from the evil of this city, of this people and of everything in it!”
The Prophet prayed like that whenever he entered a city.
When the people of Khaybar woke up in the morning, took their tools to go to their fields and left the castle, they saw the Islamic army in front of them. They were astonished; they shouted, “There is Muhammad and his army” and ran back to their castle.
They faced something unexpected. Many of them did not think it to be possible for the Prophet to leave Madinah and to come there to fight them. Their castle was strong; they had many men; they had plenty of weapons; therefore, they thought the Messenger of God could not face the risk of fighting them. That was what they had thought. However, it did not turn out to be like that; so, they were astonished.
When the Messenger of God saw their astonishment and that they ran back to their castle in panic, he said,“Allahu Akbar, Allaha Akbar! Kharibat Khaybar [Khaybar was destroyed]! How bad is the state of a frightened tribe when we enter their land unexpectedly!”He repeated that sentence, which indicated the conquest of Khaybar, three times.
Khaybar Jews negotiated the situation and decided to remain in the castle and defend their castle.
The Jews that would fight gathered in the Castle of Natat, their strongest castle. They put their wives and children into other castles.
Fighting started when Jews started to shoot arrows at the mujahids from the Castle of Natat, where they had gathered. The Islamic army had encamped in front of the Castle of Natat.
The first day passed like that. About fifty mujahids were wounded by the arrows shot from the castles.
On the second day, upon the order of the Messenger of God, the Islamic army moved their headquarters to Raji’. Thus, the mujahids were protected from the attacks that could come from the houses around and they would be away from the swamp where they had encamped.
The Prophet and the mujahids took their weapons every morning and went to the upper part of the Castle of Natat, fought the Jews until the evening and then returned to Raji’.
Meanwhile, the Prophet had a headache. He could not go out near the mujahids. He appointed Hazrat Abu Bakr as the leader of the army to fight the Jews. Despite severe clashes, Khaybar was not conquered. Next time, the Prophet gave his white flag to Hazrat Umar and sent him to fight together with the mujahids. Severe clashes took place again but Khaybar was not conquered.
It went on like that for seven days.
Meanwhile, one person from the Islamic army was martyred: Mahmud b. Maslama… While he was resting in the shade of the Castle of Natat in a very tired state due to the hot weather and severe clashes, he was wounded in the head by a stone thrown by the Jews from the castle and was martyred three days later.
Meanwhile, Amir b. Aqwa and Marhab, one of the famous heroes of the people of Khaybar encountered. They started to swing their swords against each other. When Amir hit Marhab’s leg severely with his sword, the blade of his own sword moved toward his leg and cut the vein in the middle. He was taken to the headquarters of the Islamic army in a wounded state. He died there due to the wound.The Prophet had pointed out before reaching Khaybar that he would be martyred.
The People of Daws Join the Islamic Army
Tufayl b. Amr, the poet, the leader of the Daws tribe had talked to the Prophet when he was in Makkah and become a Muslim. Since then, he had invited his tribe to Islam.
Tufayl b. Amr went to Madinah with about four hundred Muslims from his tribe in the 7th year of the Migration. When they heard that the Prophet went to Khaybar to fight, they came to Khaybar and joined the Islamic army and fought against the Jews.
Abu Hurayra, who was going to be famous later, was among the four hundred people.Abu Hurayra, who met the Messenger of God in Khaybar, joined the people of Suffa and never left the Prophet after that. Since God Almighty granted him a strong memory, he narrated many hadiths. He said, “Abdullah Ibn Umar knows more hadiths than me; he wrote what he heard but I did not write.”
