Battle of Khaybar: Difference between revisions

'''Battle of Khaybar''' (Arabic: غزوة خیبر) was a battle or [[ghazwa]] by [[the Prophet Muhammad (s)]] that occurred in 7 AH (628). The battle started because Jews in [[Khaybar]] had given refuge to Jews who were expelled from [[Medina]] and incited some Arabian tribes against Muslims. Muslims won the battle and Jews were expelled from the area. One remarkable feature of the battle is [[Imam 'Ali (a)]]’s gallantry in conquering some forts of Khaybar.

In [[Sha'ban]] of 6 AH (December 627), when the Prophet (s) learned that the [[Banu Sa'd b. Bakr]] tribe—an Arabian neighbor of Khaybar—gathered to help the Jews of Khaybar, he sent [['Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]] and a group of Muslims to them. The enemy escaped after 'Ali (a)’s attack and Muslims seized the booties. In [[Ramadan]] of 6 AH (January 628), [[Salam b. Abi l-Haqiq]] was killed because of inciting groups of Quraysh against the Prophet (s) and Muslims in a [[Sariyya]] (or expedition) under the commandership of [['Abd Allah b. 'Atik]]. At the same time, [['Abd Allah b. Rawaha]] was commissioned by the Prophet (s) to investigate the conditions of the Jews in Khaybar.

==The Prophet (s)’s Successor in Medina==

On some account, the number of Muslims in the Battle of Khaybar was 1400 people, and on others, it was equal to the number of soldiers in the [[Battle of Hudaybiyya]], that is 1500 or 1540. In the Battle of Khaybar 20 women accompanied the army of the Prophet, (s) including [[Umm Salama]], the Prophet (s)’s wife. Some women from [[Banu Ghifar]] attended the battle with the permission of the Prophet (s) in order to take care of injured soldiers and help Muslims. Tens of Jews in Medina as well as some slaves also attended the battle.

After crossing the forts of Shiqq and Natat, the Prophet (s) arrived near Khaybar at night and spent the night there. The next day they moved on until they arrived in Manzila. In Manzila, the Prophet (s) selected a place as a mosque and said [[prayers]] there. The place later turned into the Mosque of Khaybar. In the morning, Jews of Khaybar were surprised by the Prophet (s)’s arrival in the area and escaped to their forts. The Prophet (s) prohibited his people from killing women and children. That day, they fought the residents of the Natat Fort until night. The Prophet (s) then moved the military camp from its wet location that was in the range of arrows to an area called Raji'. He then ordered that some dates of Khaybar be cut.

On the first day of the battle, 50 Muslims were injured. The Prophet (a) and his companions camped in Raji' for 7 days and nights. He fought the Jews together with Muslims each group of whom had their own flag. On the sixth night, a Jewish man from Natat, called Sammak, went to the Prophet (s) and asked for a safety conduct to guide them to the fort. He informed the Muslims that Natat, in which the Jews’ supply of food and various weaponries were stored, was in turmoil, and its residents were leaving it. The next day, the Muslims conquered Natat. That Jewish man later became a Muslim.

It is said that the first fort of Khaybar conquered by the Prophet (s) was Na'im. The fort consisted of several forts. On that day, the Prophet (s) gave his white flag to two people from [[Muhajirun]] (on Ibn Ishaq’s account, [[Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa]] and [['Umar b. Khattab]]) and then to a man from [[Ansar]]. But they returned without gaining any victory. The Prophet (s) said: “Tomorrow I will give the flag to someone who is loved by God and His prophet, and God will give victory to Muslims on his hands, and he never runs away”. The next morning, the Prophet (s) miraculously healed [[Imam 'Ali (a)]]’s eyes that were in pain, and then gave the flag to him.

On Abu Rafi'’s account, near the gate of the fort a man stroke Imam 'Ali (a) and the shield fell from the Imam (a)’s hand, so he had to use a door near the fort as his shield. He went on fighting with that door in his hand until he conquered the fort and gave the good news to the Prophet (s). On one account, that Jewish man was Marhab himself. It is said that the door was so heavy that only 40 or 70 people could lift it. The crucial conquest of Khaybar by Imam 'Ali (a) is one of his virtues agreed on by all narrators. When these brave Jewish men in the Fort of Na'im were killed, the way to the complete conquest of Khaybar was paved.

It is said that after the conquest of Khaybar by the Prophet (s), [[Zaynab bt. Harith]] (the wife of [[Sallam b. Mishkam]], a head of the Jews) gave a poisoned piece of meat to the Prophet (s) as a gift in order avenge the deaths of her father, uncle and husband. The Prophet (s) and some of his companions, including [[Bushr b. al-Bara']], ate some of the meat, and then they stopped eating it at the command of the Prophet (s). Bushr died of the poison immediately (or, on other accounts, after one year of sickness). Some people take the Prophet (s)’s death to be caused by this poisoned meat.

==The Prophet (s)’s Marriage with Safiyya==