Battle of Khaybar: Difference between revisions

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'''Battle of Khaybar''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|غزوة خیبر}}) was a battle or [[ghazwa]] by the [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]] against Jews of [[Khaybar]] region that began in [[Muharram]] of [[7]]/628 and ended with the victory of Muslims in [[Safar]] of the same year. 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 according to a treaty between Jews and [[the Prophet (s)]] they were to leave the region with their families; in the second treaty the Prophet (s) agreed that they stay in the region and continue their agriculture but pay half of their benefit to Muslims instead.  

In [[4]]/625 after [[the Prophet (s)]] expelled the [[Banu Nadir]] Jews from Medina because of their betrayals, some of them took refuge to Khaybar. One year later they went to [[Mecca]] and incited the [[Quraysh]] against the Prophet (s). Thus Khaybar turned into a center of conspiracy against the nascent Islamic [[Umma]].

In [[Sha'ban]] of 6/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's (a) attack and Muslims seized the booties. In [[Ramadan]] of 6/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.

After this, Jews of Khaybar elected Usayr b. Zarim or Yusayr b. Rizam as their ruler, and he tried to incite Arabian tribes, such as [[Ghatafan]], to fight with the Prophet (s). He intended to attack Medina with their help. Thus in [[Shawwal]] of 6/February 628, once again the Prophet (s) sent 'Abd Allah b. Rawaha to Khaybar for an expedition in which Usayr and some Jews in his company were killed.

The Prophet (s) departed for the Battle of Khaybar in the early [[Muharram]] of [[7]]/May 628 and conquered the area in the [[Safar]]/June, and returned to Medina on [[Rabi' I 1]], 7/[[July 9]], 628.

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.

People of Khaybar, whose number was, on some apparently exaggerated accounts, 10,000 or 20,000, never thought that the Prophet (s) would go to war with them. Relying on their firm forts that were located on top of mountains and their weaponry and large population and permanent water, they thought that they could resist for years. Some Jews in Medina warned Muslims that they could not defeat people of Khaybar and their strong forts. They sent someone to [[Kinana b. Abi Haqiq]] in Khaybar to tell him that the number of Muslims was small and they did not have much weaponry at their disposal. Quraysh polytheists hoped that if a war occurred, People of Khaybar would defeat the Prophet (s) and his army, and they made bets on that.

===The War Strategy of Jews in Khaybar===

When the Jews in Khaybar learned that the Prophet (s) was heading towards them, [[Harith Abu Zaynab]], one of the Jews, suggested to them that they camp outside the forts and prepare themselves for the war, but relying on the fortification of their forts, they preferred to stay inside the forts.

The fort of Sa'b b. Ma'adh was also located in Natat in which food supplies, livestock, and commodities were stored and 500 warriors lived. Muslims sieged the fort of Natat for 10 days and fought with the enemy. After two days of intense fighting, the fort of Sa'b b. Ma'adh was conquered on the morning of the third day. The Jews residing in the forts of Na'im, Natat and Sa'b b. Ma'adh left their forts and fled to the fort of al-Zubayr which was tall and firm. This fort was also sieged for three days until a Jewish man went to the Prophet (s) and asked for a safety conduct and gave Muslims the required information to conquer this last fort.

Contrary to what was initially believed, the Jews of Khaybar were finally defeated by the Prophet (s) and his army. It was the second defeat of Jews after about one month of war and siege. Thus the 7th year after [[Hijrat]] (628) was called "Sanat al-Istighlab" (the year of victory).

==The Prophet (s) and some of his companions poisoned with meat given by a Jewish woman==

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 Muhammad (s)]] commissioned Farwa b. 'Amr al-Bayadi to protect the booties of the Battle of Khaybar, and told everyone to return every tiny thing they took from the booties of war. The booties were divided into 5 parts: one part, that was the [[Khums]], was taken by the Prophet (s), from which he gave shares to his wives, [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] ([['Ali b. Abi Talib (a)]] and [[Fatima al-Zahra (a)]]), the sons of [['Abd al-Muttalib b. Hashim b. 'Abd Manaf]] and sons of [[Muttalib b. 'Abd Manaf]], and some [[Sahaba]] and orphans and people in need. The other four parts were sold. Other parts of Khaybar (such as Watih and Sulalim) that were conquered without a war belonged to the Prophet (s) as [[fay']].

==Interpretation of some Quranic verses in terms of the Battle of Khaybar==

It is said that the verse of the [[Quran]], 48:18, in which God gave the good news of an "imminent conquest" or victory to Muslims, refers to the conquest of Khaybar, and the term, "many booties" (48:19), refers to the booties of the Battle of Khaybar. Some exegetes of the [[Quran]] interpreted verses 1 and 15 of [[Sura al-Fath]] (Quran: 18) to refer to the Battle of Khaybar too. Also the Quran, 33:27 ("and a land you have never trodden") is taken by exegetes to refer to the land of Khaybar.

*The material for this article is mainly taken from [http://fa.wikishia.net/view/غزوه_خیبر غزوه خیبر] in Farsi Wikishia.