043 - Events between Badr & Uhud

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We have spent seven lessons on the Battle of Badr. Today, we will discuss some of the incidents that happened between the Battle of Badr [2 AH] and the Battle of Uhud [3 AH].

Another Aftermath of the Battle of Badr:

Assassination Attempt on the Prophet PBUH

The first incident is one of the most interesting assassination attempts on the life of the Prophet PBUH. Ibn Hisham writes: Safwan ibn Umayyah, the son of Umayyah ibn Khalaf, whose father and brother had just died in Badr, he was sitting with his cousin Umayr ibn Wahab al-Jumahi (the scout of the Quraysh who said to Abu Jahal on the morning of the Battle of Badr, "I don't think you will be able to kill anyone amongst the Muslims until they kill at least one of you. And if 300 of you die, then what pleasure will you gain for winning?"). Umayr's son was in Madinah as a POW, and Umayr didn't have/didn't want to pay the ransom. And Safwan began ridiculing and criticizing and saying evil things about the Prophet PBUH and the 'problems' that 'this new religion' had caused. To which Umayr responded, "Wallahi, were it not for the fact that I owe so-and-so some money, and that I have a family to take care of, I would personally volunteer to go to Madinah and execute Muhammad myself; for they have destroyed my family, and my son is right now a prisoner with them!" He wants to assassinate the Prophet PBUH, but he is saying he has a family and a debt to take care of. So Safwan took this golden opportunity (his father was a rich man) and said, "What if I take care of your debt, and I promise to take care of your family to the extent that everything that I give my family, your family will get the same. Will you then agree [to assassinate Muhammad]?" Umayr said, "In that case, yes. But don't tell a single soul — keep this conversation between the two of us."

Immediately, Umayr went back home, sharpened his sword, and he saturated it with poison. And he left Makkah without telling anyone where he was going — he made his way alone to Madinah. When he reached Madinah, he disguised himself — he covered his face as normal travelers would. His sword was hanging from his neck, and he made his way straight to the masjid. When Umar ibn al-Khattab RA saw him, he recognized him from the eyes and said, "This dog, enemy of Allah! By Allah, he has come for some evil intent!" — Umar RA was speaking from a distance, and he then immediately went to the Prophet PBUH and informed him, "Umayr ibn Wahab is here in the city and he is looking for you." The Prophet PBUH said, "Bring him to me." So Umar RA immediately took his sword to meet Umayr, and he brought him to the masjid. The Prophet PBUH allowed Umayr to come in, and he instructed Umar RA, "Watch every move of his, because this filthy person cannot be trusted."


So Umar and Umayr both walk in, and Umar has his hand on his sword waiting to defend the Prophet PBUH if need be. When Umayr entered, he greeted the Prophet PBUH with their greeting: "In'am sabaha (انعم صباحا - good morning)." The Prophet PBUH responded, "Allah AWJ has given us a better greeting — it is the greeting of the people of Jannah, it is the salam" — even here the Prophet PBUH is giving dawah. Umayr said, "This is something new to me." The Prophet PBUH said, "Why have you come?" Umayr said, "In order to negotiate the ransom of my son, and that you send him back with me. [Until we negotiate,] be good with him." The Prophet PBUH said, "If that is the case, what is this sword around your neck?" Umayr said, "This sword here? What good did it do us at Badr?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Tell me the truth — why did you come, O Umayr?" But Umayr insisted, "I have told you: for my son."

Now, the Prophet PBUH reveals the truth (Jibril AS must have come to tell him) — he PBUH said: "Rather, you and Safwan were sitting alone in the Hijr (right outside of the Ka'bah) and you mentioned your losses at Badr, and you said, were it not for your debt and your family, you would personally go and kill Muhammad. So Safwan offered to take care of your debts and your family so that you may come to kill me. — But Allah has come between you and your plans." And it was at this moment that Umayr realized the Prophet PBUH was a true prophet — because there was no way the Prophet PBUH could have discovered this; Umayr did not tell anybody, not even his wife knew where he was going; he traveled the main, fastest road; had any traveler been faster, he would have known; there was no way the Prophet PBUH would have known unless Allah told him; so Umayr immediately blurted out, "I testify that you are the Messenger of Allah."

We mentioned this many times: Some of Islam's worst enemies were sincere in their animosity. Deep down, they didn't know Islam to be true. Some did, e.g., Abu Jahal — but many did not — and they opposed Islam genuinely believing it to be false. Sometimes, it took a blatant miracle as in the case of Umayr to shake them out of their disbelief. And this reminds us as well of the conversion of the magicians of Pharaoh: It took them a miracle to believe in Musa AS [see Quran, 7:104-122]. If this is the case with the people who interacted directly with the prophets of Allah, what about the people around us? Modern non-Muslims genuinely believe that what they are saying is true — they have been brainwashed. Therefore, this causes us to pause as well in how we deal with them. And in general, gentleness wins over harshness. Here is Umayr literally waiting to come within stabbing distance — and then within 5 seconds, he testifies the kalimah. Subhan'Allah.

Then he said to the Prophet PBUH, "We used to reject you when you told us that wahy would come from the skies. But this issue — no one knew of it except me and Safwan. And there is no way you could have been informed of it except from Allah SWT. So I thank Allah who has caused me to see the Truth and guided me to Islam."

So the Prophet PBUH said to Umar, "Teach your brother about the religion, help him to memorize the Quran, and free his captive." Subhan'Allah, one second he was willing to kill the Prophet PBUH, the next second he gets every blessing imaginable, including his son, for free. We also see the importance of the Quran; the first advice he is given is to learn the Quran. And it was the sunnah of the Prophet PBUH to assign a teacher to any new convert. The first thing we must do when somebody converts to our faith is pair them with an established knowledgeable Muslim. (It's easy to do, and insha'Allah we can do it in the future.)

So Umayr remained in Madinah for some time learning Islam until he decided to go back. Before he leaves, he tells the Prophet PBUH, "Ya Rasulullah! I used to strive to extinguish the flame of Allah and torture those who embrace Islam, so now I ask your permission to call people to Islam as I tried to push them away. And I used to irritate you and your Companions, now let me go back and defend you!"

So now he wants to make up for what he has done. And of course, he is a big name of the Quraysh —pure-blooded Qureshi— so there is no danger to his personal life. Meanwhile in Makkah, Safwan, after two weeks, began to spread the news that, "A big surprise and good news will come to you!" — he built up the hype. But then, upon Umayr's return, he finds out that Umayr has in fact accepted Islam. As soon as he finds out and confirms it, he makes a vow to Allah that he will never have anything to do with Umayr again (e.g., will never look at him, speak to him, be under the same roof as him).

And Ibn Ishaq writes that many people converted to Islam at the hands of Umayr. Now, why didn't these people convert when the Prophet PBUH was preaching to them in Makkah for 13 years? This, again, shows us that: There is always a personal or family factor. When Umayr converts, maybe another cousin of his, maybe another nephew of his, converts — there is always something that comes closer to home. Not that Umayr is preaching to new people — it's the same people. But again, this is the way; Islam takes a while. And this is one of the most naive assumptions that many of us have, that, "I just talk 5 minutes and they are all going to convert!" — no, it doesn't work that way. A person has been raised in a certain philosophy, a certain way of life; sometimes it takes decades for them to really think things through. Here we have an example of this.

Umayr eventually makes Hijrah to Madinah —perhaps even before Uhud (we're not sure exactly when)— and then comes back to Makkah in the 8th year of the Hijrah during the Conquest of Makkah. As we will see in episode 80, at the time of the Conquest, his cousin Safwan was still a pagan. And Safwan assumed the Prophet PBUH would never forgive him, so he fled Makkah. Umayr and Safwan hadn't spoken since Umayr had converted — so once the Muslims completed the Conquest, Umayr searched, "Where is Safwan?" He found out Safwan had fled. So Umayr asked, "Ya Rasulullah! Please, can I ask you to offer a special protection for Safwan?" And the Prophet PBUH would never refuse a request, so the Prophet PBUH said, "You have my aman (أمان - protection)." Umayr went and found where Safwan was hiding, and he convinced him to come back until finally he agreed. They came back and Safwan said the shahada in front of the Prophet PBUH. Look at the amazing qadr of Allah — these two cousins first planned to assassinate the Prophet PBUH, and here they are now Muslims at the hands of the Prophet PBUH.

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Criticisms of the Non-Muslims in Our Time

There is another story indirectly linked to Badr, and that is the story of the Banu Qaynuqa. But before we begin this, we need to pause for a little bit of background and a disclaimer.

With regards to the seerah, those who wish to criticize Islam, they try to criticize it based on a number of grounds:

1. The personal morality of the Prophet PBUH, e.g., with regards to marriage to Aisha RA, the story of Zaynab, caravan raiding, the incident of the 'satanic verses,' etc.

2. The other angle is the political dealings of the Prophet PBUH. And when it comes to politics, the number one controversial matter is with regards to how he PBUH treated the Jewish tribes. It's the most sensitive and politically charged issue. (And there are others as well, which we will come to one by one, e.g., the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, etc.)

Therefore, this is a topic that requires thorough attention and sensitive understanding —if you like— of why this is problematic. And of course, one of the main reasons it's problematic is because the Prophet PBUH is accused of antisemitism; he is accused of a mini-holocaust. In our times, every single instance of harming Jews, sometimes even if it is politically motivated, is automatically linked to the Holocaust.

And we need to defend the Prophet PBUH fairly and squarely, i.e., we are not allowed to sugarcoat or invent false ways to defend him. We need to let the sources speak for themselves. We are not apologetics — we firmly believe that the truth is always the best  — honesty is the best policy. Our job is to tell it like it is. We have to point out that it's a sensitive topic. We need to be aware that this is politically charged in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And we also have to point out that, look, anybody who has an agenda or a disease in the heart will always be able to find something negative. In fact, you don't even have to have a disease in the heart — sometimes it's just possible to see the glass half empty when it's clearly half full. You just want to emphasize it is half empty and you are not telling a lie. The classic case is the woman who complained about her husband:

Hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud^[1]: Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports that a woman came to the Prophet PBUH while we were sitting with him. She said, "My husband Safwan ibn Muattal (صفوان بن المعطل) beats me when I am praying and orders me to break my fast when I am fasting. And he does not say his Fajr prayer until the sun rises." Abu Sa'id goes on to add, "Safwan was among those present there and the Prophet PBUH asked him to explain his conduct in the context of her complaint." He explained thus, "O Messenger of Allah! As for her complaint about being beaten for praying, she recites not one but two (long) surahs (in every rak'at or unit) and I restrain her from so doing." The Prophet PBUH said, "One surah is enough." Safwan further explained, "As for being compelled to break her fast, the truth of it is that she goes on fasting (non-stop, supererogatory fasts), and young as I am, I cannot restrain myself (long enough without intercourse)." The Prophet PBUH said, "No woman can fast (supererogatorily) without her husband's permission." After that, he accounted for Fajr prayer after sunrise, saying, "We come from a family notorious for late rising (only after sunrise)." To this, the Prophet PBUH said, "O Safwan! Pray when you wake up from sleep."

(Transcriber's tangent: This hadith brings out certain important facts worthy of careful note by one and all:

1. The husbands have no right to stop their wives from saying obligatory prayers. However, it is incumbent on a woman to have due regard for the needs of her husband and should not make her daily obligatory prayers too long to interfere with her normal household duties. As for the supererogatory prayers, she should not say them without permission of the husband, nor fast supererogatorily without his express leave. Promptly attending to his needs is more important for her.

2. Safwan ibn Muattal was a wage earner watering the fields of farmers during the greater part of the night. Spending the nights in such hard toil and going to bed in the early hours of the morning made waking up in time for Fajr prayers [before sunrise] a difficult job. [Late-rising which he attributes to the family trait appears to be due to the family occupation — hard work in sleepless nights].

Safwan ibn Muattal is a high-ranking Companion and it is unthinkable that he was careless about his Fajr prayers. It is most likely that occasionally when he went to bed very late and nobody awakened him for Fajr prayer, he could wake up only after sunrise, not saying his prayers in time. It was for this reason that the Prophet PBUH asked him to say his Fajr prayer whenever he woke up. Had he been careless about prayer and a regular defaulter in the knowledge of the Prophet PBUH, he would have been wroth with him and admonished him severely.)

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As Muslims, Are We Required to Discriminate Against Jews?

Now, before we begin, in regards to the claim that the Prophet PBUH discriminated against the Jews — this claim is so shallow, and no serious person can say this. All you need to do is look at Islamic history: There were large pockets of Jews living very peacefully in Muslim lands all the way up until the creation of Israel in 1947. The Jews lived in Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, etc. Every time the Jews were expelled and persecuted in Christian lands, they always found safe refuge in Muslim lands. This is historically absolutely true. From the time of the Umayyads, the Abbasids, up until the expulsion from Spain. How did Jews end up in Morocco when they were expelled from Spain? They went to Morocco by the tens of thousands; the sultan literally sent his ships to the Jews and said, "Come to our lands." There was no sense of animosity and hatred. And it is so true to say that almost all of the animosity and hatred that we see now comes from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In pre-Israel, the Jews lived in full harmony with their Muslim neighbors. And indeed, Muslims and Jews have much more in common than Muslims and Christians, and than Jews and Christians. Jewish halakha (Jewish laws) overlaps with Islamic shariah in 70% of its laws.

All you need to look at, historically, is the most important Jewish figures. Throughout Islamic centuries, there were always Jews living in Islamic lands:

1. Saadia Gaon (man) was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers who lived in Baghdad in the 7th century.

2. The single greatest mind of Judaism was Musa ibn Maymun (موسى بن ميمون - Moses Maimonides). To him they owe their creed, their most basic law books, their most important commentaries, etc. — it's like their Ibn Taymiyyah. Recently, there was a book that came out that said Musa ibn Maymun was actually a practicing Muslim, i.e., he embraced Islam as a way of life. Why? Because in his youth —and this is true— he actually studied in the madrasahs, and he studied as a Muslim, i.e., he dressed like a Muslim, prayed with them, and studied at the universities among Muslims. He was a Jew, but he grew up in Andalusia and he entered the culture of Islam. This is why his greatest books are in Arabic, and they had to be translated into Hebrew. And he later moved to Egypt and became the personal doctor to Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (صلاح الدين الأيوبي - Saladin) and so his fame increased even more. And he became the grand rabbi in Egypt. Whether he was actually a Muslim or not is beside the point — he for sure lived as a Muslim for a period of time.

3. One of the most interesting figures of Judaism, who also had a lot to do with Islam, was Sabbatai Zevi. A large group of Jews thought *he* was the chosen messiah. The movement was the largest messianic movement in the history of Judaism. But then what happened? He converted to Islam towards the end of his life. And the sultan of the Ottomans was much pleased with his conversion, he rewarded him by conferring on him the title [Mahmed] Effendi and appointing him as his doorkeeper with a generous salary. His wife Sarah and around 300 families among Sabbatai's followers also converted to Islam. These new Muslims thereafter were known as Dönmeh (Converts). And to this day, there is a group of Turkish Muslims called Dönmeh which goes back to these Jewish people who followed Sabbatai Zevi and converted to Islam. (Side note: Their beliefs aren't Sunni Islam.)

So the point being: Who can argue that Islam discriminated against Jews?

And how can Islam be anti-Semite when the Arabs are Semite themselves? (The descendants of Ibrahim AS are all Semites.)

The main central point is that the reason the Prophet PBUH treated the Jews of Madinah in a negative manner was *not because they were Jews* — rather, he did so *because of what they did* — *not because of who they were* — and there is a big difference between these points. They were punished because of their crimes and their violation of the treaties. It's very clear-cut.

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The Expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa

The Banu Qaynuqa, according to al-Waqidi, they were expelled on the 15th of Shawwal in the 2nd year of the Hijrah. Thus 3½ weeks after the Battle of Badr.

What happened?

Here is one of our problems. We don't have that many details about any of the three Jewish tribes living in Madinah. Why is this the case? Because generally speaking, when you record history, you only mention the good points in great detail, and when it comes to the downs, you mention them generically in passing. Not because you want to hide something; but because it's human nature to focus more on the positives. As for the the negatives, there was no need for the early Muslims to preserve the sordid details; so they just glossed over it. Ibn Ishaq has less than a page about the Expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa. He has a generic line that says, "The Banu Qaynuqa increased in their hostility against Islam." What did they do? We really don't have that much detail. What we do have are two specific things that indicate what was inside, that indicate that it was much worse. Ibn Ishaq mentions that after the Battle of Badr, the Banu Qaynuqa were saddened at the loss of the Quraysh and at the victory of the Muslims.

So the Prophet PBUH went to the souq (سوق - marketplace) of the Banu Qaynuqa (they had the largest souq; and they were known for being goldsmiths), and he gathered all of the Banu Qaynuqa together, admonished them about their attitude, and reminded them of the clause of the Constitution of Madinah: "You protect us, we protect you; we are all going to be together against external enemies." At this, one of their leaders stood up and said, "O Muhammad, don't be fooled by your recent victory. You fought a bunch of nobodies. Had you really been fighting men —men like us— you would have seen what the result would have been." (And the Banu Qaynuqa had around 700 fighting men, the biggest Jewish tribe in Madinah.) This is one of their leaders standing up straight to the Prophet's PBUH face. It's quite clear this is not a happy situation to be in.

So the tension is increasing.

Then one incident occurred that lit the fuse completely. It was rather crude and vulgar. One of the ladies of the Ansar went to buy and sell some of her merchandise in the souq; she sold the merchandise and had a lot of money and she wanted to buy some gold. So she sat in front of a goldsmith, and the goldsmith began flirting with her, asking her to expose some of her awrah. And of course, she refused. So he made a motion to someone behind, and that man came and did something (perhaps put a peg into her burqa or something, or perhaps tied it up) such that when she stood up, her entire garments came down. And she was left there with nothing on. So she began screaming as the Jews around her began laughing and making fun of her. And she called out for help. So one of the Muslims who was there went up with his sword, and he chopped off the head of the one who did it in anger. Immediately —and remember this is their territory; ~20 minutes outside Madinah— the Banu Qaynuqa surrounded the Muslim man and killed him. When the news reached the Prophet PBUH, he sent them a message that the treaty had been broken. Why? Because the Prophet PBUH never surprised-breaking a treaty. Breaking a treaty in secret is not allowed in Islam [see episode 42]. You are not allowed to go against a treaty without telling the other party that the treaty is annulled. And Allah says this in the Quran, Surah al-Anfal [8] verse 58, "If you [have reason to] fear from a people betrayal, throw [their treaty] back to them, [putting you] on equal terms. Indeed, Allah does not like traitors" [8:58]. So you have to tell them the treaty is annulled.

Now, the Banu Qaynuqa did not expect the Prophet PBUH to do anything — perhaps out of confidence in their numbers and their fortresses. (Note the Jews had a different way of living; they lived in big fortresses. They learned the art of building thick walls and layering them. The Jews in Khaybar had this, and the Banu Qaynuqa had this as well. Every subtribe had their own fortress.) Yet the Prophet PBUH immediately marched against them. And when they heard he was coming, they ran into their fortresses and locked themselves up. Note the Muslims did not have the mechanisms right now to break a fortress. So what did they do? They laid siege and cut off the supplies. And for half a month the Prophet PBUH and the Muslims surrounded them until finally, the Banu Qaynuqa surrendered. The Prophet PBUH ordered that all of the men be gathered together and tied up — and then decide what is to be done with them.

In the days of Jahiliyyah, the Banu Qaynuqa had two main representatives/allies from Yathrib (old Madinah): (i) Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, the leader of the hypocrites; and (ii) a sahabi, Ubadah ibn al-Samit (عبادة بن الصامت). So they reached out for help to these two people. They said, "You were our allies! Help us out now!" (Recall the Banu Qaynuqa had an alliance with the Khazraj. And Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul and Ubadah were both from the Khazraj.) As soon as they reached out, Ubadah ibn al-Samit went to the Prophet PBUH and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I want to tell you that I am no longer their halif (حليف - ally). My wali is Allah and His Messenger; and I have cut off my ties from the Banu Qaynuqa." He is saying he is no longer on their side.

As for Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, he marches straight to the camp where the Banu Qaynuqa are now prisoners, and he demands the Muslims to release them. He demands, "Do it or I will," and the sahabi in charge of guarding them, al-Mundhir ibn Qudama (المنذر بن قدامة) said, "If you dare do it, I will kill you." Abdullah ibn Ubayy doesn't want to lose his life, so he finds the Prophet PBUH (and this is all happening in the Banu Qaynuqa area) and says, "Ya Muhammad!" [Pause here.] (Note 1: Abdullah ibn Ubayy rarely called the Prophet PBUH "Rasulullah," even though Allah AWJ clearly said in the Quran, "Do not call the Messenger like you call one another" [see Quran, 24:63].) (Note 2: It's still early in the game, and as of now, from the perspective of the Muslims, there was still hope for people like Abdullah ibn Ubayy, for them to become genuine/real Muslims. At this point, Abdullah ibn Ubayy is still not too blatantly "the leader of the munafiqun." Uhud is going to be the turning point.) [Resuming.] Abdullah ibn Ubayy says, "Ya Muhammad! Be generous with my hulafa (حلفاء - allies)!" and the Prophet PBUH was silent. So he repeated, "Ya Muhammad! Be generous with my hulafa!" and the Prophet PBUH was silent again, and turned away. At this, unbelievably, Abdullah ibn Ubayy took the Prophet's PBUH armor by his hand, shoved his hand into his armor, held onto him, and said, "Be generous with my hulafa!" The Prophet PBUH said, "Let go of me." And Ibn Ishaq mentions it was clear the anger was visible on the Prophet's PBUH face. — But Abdullah ibn Ubayy held on tighter and said, "No, I'm not going to let go." So the Prophet PBUH says for the third time, "Woe to you, let go of me." And Abdullah ibn Ubayy swears by Allah, "I swear by Allah, I will not let go until you promise you will treat my hulafa in a generous manner! These 700 men (300 were armed, 400 were not armed), they protected me from the white and the black (i.e., mankind), and now you think you will get rid of them in one day?" He is saying they helped him so now he needs to help them. And he also says, "By Allah, I am scared of al-dawa'ir (الدوائر - bad luck) happening to me if they are mistreated." So when he was holding on so long, the Prophet PBUH said, "I give them to you," i.e., "I promise to spare their lives." By the way, Abdullah ibn Ubayy was insisting they be spared, but the Prophet PBUH never said he would kill them.

In the end, the Prophet PBUH promised Abdullah ibn Ubayy to spare their lives. The final verdict came that the Prophet PBUH gave them three days to pack their bags and leave their homes. They begged and pleaded for more than three, but they were not given this. They went to Ubadah ibn al-Samit to try one more time, but he said, "Don't come to me. I wouldn't even have given you three days." And in those three days, Abdullah ibn Ubayy tried to remove the ban, but the Prophet PBUH did not give him that. Ubadah ibn al-Samit was the one who took charge of making sure that after three days they had actually left. Now obviously, when they left, they left a lot of property. They took the gold obviously, but they couldn't take everything. They had to choose what they were going to take. So they took what they considered the most essential, and they left a lot of wealth. And of course, this wealth came to the Muslims.

So you understand that for those whose hearts is a disease, you can easily interpret this in its own way; and for those who see things as they are, you can clearly see that these Jews, they themselves messed up and they were indeed a threat to the Muslims — so the Prophet PBUH had to act. And at this, Allah revealed Surah al-Ma'idah [5] verses 51-56:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَتَّخِذُوا۟ ٱلْيَهُودَ وَٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ ۘ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءُ بَعْضٍۢ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُۥ مِنْهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

51. O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as awliya — they are awliya of each other. Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.

— This is an ayah that the Islamophobes love to misquote. But once you understand the context, everything that's 'dangerous' about it drops away instantly. Allah is saying, in such circumstances, don't take the Jews and the Christians as awliya (أولياء - protectors/guardians).

فَتَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌۭ يُسَـٰرِعُونَ فِيهِمْ يَقُولُونَ نَخْشَىٰٓ أَن تُصِيبَنَا دَآئِرَةٌۭ ۚ فَعَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَأْتِىَ بِٱلْفَتْحِ أَوْ أَمْرٍۢ مِّنْ عِندِهِۦ فَيُصْبِحُوا۟ عَلَىٰ مَآ أَسَرُّوا۟ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ نَـٰدِمِينَ

52. You see those with sickness in their hearts racing for their guardianship, saying [in justification], "We fear a turn of fortune will strike us." But perhaps Allah will bring about [your] victory or another favor by His command, and they will regret what they have hidden in their hearts.

— Allah quotes Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul here: He said, "We are worried about bad luck." So this ayah is a quotation directly from him.

In the next verses Allah praises Ubadah ibn al-Samit:

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَهُمْ رَٰكِعُونَ

وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ ٱللَّهِ هُمُ ٱلْغَـٰلِبُونَ

55-56. Your only guardians are Allah, His Messenger, and fellow believers — who establish prayer and pay zakat with humility. Whoever allies themselves with Allah, His Messenger, and fellow believers, then it is certainly Allah's party that will prevail.

— And indeed, Ubadah ibn al-Samit said, "I choose Allah and His Messenger and the believers."

So this series of verses deals with the Expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa.

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Wisdoms From the Incident

Some wisdoms we can glean from the incident:

1. The Banu Qaynuqa were the first Jewish tribe to be punished and it was the least harsh of the three. The punishment for the Banu Nadir after the Battle of Uhud is going to be even harsher; and then the punishment for the Banu Qurayza after the Battle of Ahzab is going to be the harshest, i.e., an execution. It makes sense to go gradual, that, "Look, O second tribe! You have already seen what happened to the first one!" And similarly for the third tribe, "You have seen what happened to tribe 1 and 2!"

2. Another benefit that we gain is the proper understanding of verse 51 of Surah al-Ma'idah. Islamophobes in our time like to take an English translation and say, "Look! The Quran says, 'Do not take the Jews and Christians as friends'!" — whereas the Arabic word 'awliya (أولياء)' does not mean 'friends.' And one needs to look at the context of revelation as well. These (the Banu Qaynuqa) are people who have mocked Allah and His Messenger; so Allah is saying, 'Don't take these types of people as your awliya.' In this type of situation, you have to choose sides — when the Prophet PBUH is on one side and the group who hates Allah's Messenger is on the other side, obviously you choose the side of the Prophet PBUH.

3. Aisha RA used to say, "Wallahi, the Prophet PBUH never took revenge for something personal" — and this is truly evident when Abdullah ibn Ubayy was personally rude to the Prophet PBUH and yet the Prophet PBUH didn't lay a finger on him; in fact, he gave him what he requested.

4. [Now, did the Prophet PBUH change his mind for Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul? Or was the verdict of expulsion in the Prophet's PBUH intention anyway and eventually he just said it to appease Abdullah ibn Ubayy? No one knows. But—] whichever the case might be, there was clear wisdom in publicly granting Abdullah ibn Ubayy what he wanted. Why? Because still there was hope for Abdullah ibn Ubayy [to become a genuine Muslim]. This is still 2 AH — barely a year and three months since the Prophet PBUH came. Abdullah ibn Ubayy was one of the most respected figures before Islam, and there are still many Ansar who look up to him. Thus there is wisdom in conceding some things to him, and that is to minimize the damage/harm.

5. The true colors of the munafiqun are showing now. Slowly, we see who these people are. (Still, they are not called munafiqun, by the way. Yes, nifaq began after Badr [2 AH], but it was manifested at Uhud [3 AH] when they turned around and did not fight — as we will see.)

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Q&A

1. Note the books of seerah do not mention where Umar RA and the other sahaba were when Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul was crude to the Prophet PBUH. One hypothesis is even the sahaba were confused when someone as senior as Abdullah ibn Ubayy was having a word of war with the Prophet PBUH. And, he was not being physical, he was just being rude — so perhaps the sahaba themselves did not know what was to be done — because maybe by them intervening, it would have made the situation worse. And of course, if the Prophet PBUH had said, "Do something," they would have instantly done it.

2. Hadith in Bukhari: Once, one of the evil tribal leaders of the Bedouins came to the Prophet PBUH, and the Prophet PBUH talked to him like normal — but after he left, the Prophet PBUH said, "What an evil man he is." Aisha RA said, "Ya Rasulullah, you were just smiling and laughing with him! [i.e., How can he be evil?]" The Prophet PBUH said, "O Aisha, have you ever known me to be crude? [i.e., What did you want me to do?] Verily, the worst people in the Eyes of Allah are those whom the people are forced to smile at even as their hearts curse."

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, May 2024]