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1,001 Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet

Jews

Just like in the Koran, Jews figure prominently in the hadiths, but seldom in a good way. The hatred of Jews the Koran and the hadiths is largely explicit, virulent and pervasive. It is an invitation for a repeat of the Holocaust on a more expansive, horrific scale in which every Muslim will be expected to kill Jews wherever they find them. Unlike the Nazi attempt at genocide, there will be no place to hide.

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar:

Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.'"

Bukhari 52.176

It is only a matter of time, Allah does not break a promise.

Narrated Abdullah bin Umar:

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' "

Bukhari 56.791

The Jews did not start this war that, in the absence of a miracle, may see them exterminated. From the beginning, Muhammad and his followers were the aggressors, but you would not be aware of that from reading either the hadiths or the Koran. If it had not been for the Jews of Medina (in concert with the two Arab tribes of Medina, the Aws and the Khazraj) who welcomed and sheltered the budding Prophet whose Meccan kin wanted to kill him for promoting what they considered a hateful intolerant religion, Islam would have been stillborn.

For a time, Muhammad and the Jews got along like a house on fire. Relations between the Muslims and the Jews of Medina cooled considerably after the Jews refused to accept Muhammad as a legitimate intervener with the Almighty; that role was reserved for the Chosen People. The disagreement first led to a trading of insults.

Narrated Aisha:

Once the Jews came to the Prophet and said, "Death be upon you." So I cursed them.

The Prophet said, "What is the matter?"

I said, "Have you not heard what they said?"

The Prophet said, "Have you not heard what I replied (to them)? (I said), ('The same is upon you.')"

Bukhari 42.186

It did not help that the Jews began asking questions of Muhammad to which the answers were not readily forthcoming; that is, until Allah came up with a blanket solution to the problem.

Narrated Abdullah:

While I was going with the Prophet through the ruins of Medina and he was reclining on a date-palm leaf stalk, some Jews passed by. Some of them said to the others: Ask him (the Prophet) about the spirit. Some of them said that they should not ask him that question as he might give a reply which would displease them. But some of them insisted on asking, and so one of them stood up and asked, "O Aba-l-Qasim ! What is the spirit?"

The Prophet remained quiet. I thought he was being inspired Divinely. So I stayed till that state of the Prophet (while being inspired) was over.

The Prophet then said, "And they ask you (O Muhammad) concerning the spirit -- Say: The spirit -- its knowledge is with my Lord. And of knowledge you (mankind) have been given only a little)." (17:85)

Bukhari 3:127

As the dispute escalated, the Arabs went from emulating the Jews to doing the exact opposite of what they did, including what they did with their hair, or did not do.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "Jews and Christians do not dye their hair so you should do the opposite of what they do.

Bukhari 56.668

It was a bit more complicated where Jewish scripture was concerned. The Koran was being revealed piecemeal, and what it said was not unlike what was written in the Torah, except in brevity. The Torah was very much a guide to Allah's laws for mankind for the early Muslim, e.g., Talion law, one god, etc. With an incomplete Koran, should they continue to follow what was revealed to the Jews?

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The people of the Scripture (Jews) used to recite the Torah in Hebrew and they used to explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. On that Allah's Apostle said, "Do not believe the people of the Scripture or disbelieve them, but say: 'We believe in Allah and what is revealed to us.'" (2:136)

Bukhari 60.12

The dispute started to turn ugly, with Muhammad explicitly invoking Allah's curse on the Jews.

Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah:

I heard Allah's Apostle, in the year of the Conquest of Mecca, saying, "Allah and His Apostle made illegal the trade of alcohol, dead animals, pigs and idols."

The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What about the fat of dead animals, for it was used for greasing the boats and the hides; and people use it for lights?"

He said, "No, it is illegal."

Allah's Apostle further said, "May Allah curse the Jews, for Allah made the fat (of animals) illegal for them, yet they melted the fat and sold it and ate its price."

Bukhari 34.438

From being a people to emulate, the Jews became a people to despise: a tribe of liars and cheaters who distorted Allah’s instructions to the point of ridicule.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "It was said to Bani Israel, enter the gate (of the town) with humility (prostrating yourselves) and saying: 'Repentance', but they changed the word and entered the town crawling on their buttocks and saying: 'A wheat grain in the hair (one meaning: ‘A wheat grain in the hair means greedy and wasting’).'"

Bukhari 55.615

From there, it was a short interval to exile and mass murder.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

While we were in the mosque, Allah's Apostle came out to us and said, "Let us proceed to the Jews."

So we went along with him till we reached Bait-al-Midras (a place where the Torah used to be recited and all the Jews of the town used to gather).

The Prophet stood up and addressed them, "O Assembly of Jews! Embrace Islam and you will be safe!"

The Jews replied, "O Aba-l-Qasim! You have conveyed Allah's message to us."

The Prophet said, "That is what I want (from you)."

He repeated his first statement for the second time, and they said, "You have conveyed Allah's message, O Aba-l-Qasim."

Then he said it for the third time and added, "You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to exile you from this land, so whoever among you owns some property, can sell it, otherwise you should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle."

Bukhari 85.77

One of the Jewish tribes of Medina chose to ignore Muhammad's invitation to get out of town, and instead sought an alliance with the Meccans marching on Medina. The Bani Quraiza (also spelled Qurayzah) could not bring themselves to attack the Muslims who would probably have been easily defeated, unable to defend themselves on two fronts. For their reluctance to engage the Muslims while they were most vulnerable, they expected mercy from Muhammad. It was not to be.

The Meccans were forced to abandon their siege Medina after a vicious sandstorm wreaked havoc on their exposed encampment. With Medina secure for the time being, God’s spokesman received an order from the angel Gabriel to attack the last remaining Jewish tribe of Medina.

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Bani An-Nadir and Bani Quraiza fought (against the Prophet violating their peace treaty), so the Prophet exiled Bani An-Nadir and allowed Bani Quraiza to remain at their places (in Medina) taking nothing from them till they fought against the Prophet again). He then killed their men and distributed their women, children and property among the Muslims, but some of them came to the Prophet and he granted them safety, and they embraced Islam. He exiled all the Jews from Medina. They were the Jews of Bani Qainuqa, the tribe of Abdullah bin Salam and the Jews of Bani Haritha and all the other Jews of Medina.

Bukhari 59.362

He marched on their fortress just outside Medina with three thousand jihadists. When he neared the fortress he called out to its defenders: “O brothers of monkeys and pigs! Fear me, fear me.” The simian reference would make its way into the Koran as a persistent reminder of the perfidy of the Jews and an incitement for future generations of the righteous.

2:65 And you surely know those of you who violated the Sabbath; We said to them: “Be [like] dejected apes.”

2:66 Thus We made that an example to their contemporaries and to those after them, and an admonition to the righteous.

The downfall of the Jews of Medina was largely due to their reluctance to do what the Muslims did, and fight for their lives. After a twenty-five day siege, the Banu Qurayzah asked, via a mediator, to be allowed into exile. Muhammad was non-committal. Nonetheless, they surrendered en-masse hoping for mercy, even after being given a sign that this was unlikely, and agreed to a proposal that a mortally wounded believer by the name of Sad bin Mu’adh decide their fate.

When they saw him (Lubabah), the men rose to meet him, and the women and children rushed to grab hold of him, weeping before him, so that he felt pity for them.

They said to him, “Abu Lubabah, do you think that we should submit to Muhammad’s judgment?”

“Yes”, he said, but he pointed with his hand to his throat, that it would be slaughter.

Tabari

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Some people (the Banu Qurayzah) agreed to accept the verdict of Sad bin Mu’adh so the Prophet sent for him. He came riding a donkey, and when he approached the Mosque, the Prophet said, "Get up for the best amongst you." or said, "Get up for your chief."

Then the Prophet said, "O Sad! These people have agreed to accept your verdict."

Sad said, "I judge that their warriors should be killed and their children and women should be taken as captives."

The Prophet said, "You have given a judgment similar to Allah's Judgment."

Bukhari 58.148

A trench was dug in Medina’s marketplace and the estimated seven hundred men and teenaged boys of the Banu Qurayzah were beheaded with Muhammad looking on.

The messenger of God went out into the marketplace of Medina and had trenches dug in it; then he sent for them and had them beheaded in those trenches. They were brought out to him in groups … They numbered 600 or 700—the largest estimate says they were between 800 and 900 … the affair continued until the Messenger of God had finished with them.

Tabari

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Bani An-Nadir and Bani Quraiza fought (against the Prophet violating their peace treaty), so the Prophet exiled Bani An-Nadir and allowed Bani Quraiza to remain at their places (in Medina) taking nothing from them till they fought against the Prophet again). He then killed their men and distributed their women, children and property among the Muslims, but some of them came to the Prophet and he granted them safety, and they embraced Islam. He exiled all the Jews from Medina. They were the Jews of Bani Qainuqa', the tribe of 'Abdullah bin Salam and the Jews of Bani Haritha and all the other Jews of Medina.

Bukhari 59.362

The preceding hadith may be disingenuous in asserting that some of the seven hundred or so men and boys of the Bani Quraiza were not killed because they accepted to become Muslims; the only males of the Bani Quraiza who were not beheaded were those who had yet to show growth of pubic hair.

Narrated Atiyyah al-Qurazi:

I was among the captives of Banu qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.

Abu Dawud 38.4390

One woman was beheaded that day along with the men. During the siege of the fortress of the Banu Qurayzah, the woman had killed a holy warrior by dropping a millstone on his head.

Narrated Aisha:

No woman of Banu Qurayzah was killed except one. She was with me, talking and laughing on her back and belly (extremely), while the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) was killing her people with the swords.

I asked: What is the matter with you?

Suddenly a man called her name: Where is so-and-so?

She said: I did a new act.

The man took her and beheaded her.

I will not forget that she was laughing extremely although she knew that she would be killed.

Abu Dawud 14.2665

Abu Lubabah would not be witness to the result of his negotiations with the Jews. It was probably just as well.

Abu Lubabah felt guilty that he had broken his promise of secrecy with Muhammad. To atone for his ‘misdeed’ he went straight to the mosque and bound himself with ropes to one of the pillars. This pillar is known as the ‘pillar of repentance’ or the ‘pillars of Abu Lubabah’.

Abul Kasem