Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

When the Prophet (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him) migrated from Makkah to Madinah, there were

three Jewish tribes in Madinah: Banu Qaynuqaa‘, Banu an-Nadeer and Banu

Qurayzah. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) invited

them to Islam, but most of them insisted on disbelieving. He drew up a

covenant with them (i.e., a binding contract) then they waged war against

him. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

All three (Jewish tribes) waged

war against him. He let off Banu Qaynuqaa‘, expelled Banu an-Nadeer, and

killed Banu Qurazah and took their women and children captive. Soorat al-Hashr

was revealed concerning Banu an-Nadeer, and Soorat al-Ahzaab was revealed

concerning Banu Qurayzah.

Zaad al-Ma‘aad

(3/59)

Secondly:

To sum up what the scholars of

seerah and maghaazi (Prophet’s biography and military campaigns) said about

Banu Qurayzah:

When the Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) finished digging the trench,

Quraysh came with ten thousand of their ahaabeesh (a group of people

who did not belong to any one tribe) and those who followed them of Banu

Kinaanah and the people of Tihaamah, and Ghatafaan came with those who

followed them of the people of Najd. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him) and the Muslims came out until they put their

backs towards Sal‘ – a mountain in Madinah – with three thousand Muslims. He

set up his camp there, and the trench was between him and the enemy. He

issued orders that the children and women be taken up into the forts, and he

appointed Ibn Umm Maktoom in charge of Madinah.

Huyayy ibn Akhtab al-Nadari set

out and went to Ka‘b ibn Asad al-Qurazi, who was the one who had made a

treaty and covenant (with the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon

him)) on behalf of Banu Qurayzah. When Ka‘b heard about that, he shut the

door of his fort in Huyayy’s face. He asked permission to enter, but he

refused to open the door to him, so he called out to him: Woe to you, O Ka‘b!

Open the door! Ka‘b said: Woe to you, O Huyayy! You are a man of ill omen

and I have made a treaty with Muhammad; I will not break the treaty between

me and him, for I have not seen anything from him but faithfulness and

truthfulness. Huyayy said: Woe to you! Open the door so that I may speak to

you. And he kept on him until he opened the door, then he kept pleading with

him until he agreed to break his treaty with the Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), on condition that Huyayy give

him a solemn pledge by Allah that if Quraysh and Ghatafaan went back without

having killed Muhammad, he would enter his fort with him and share his fate.

Thus Ka‘b ibn Asad broke his treaty and freed himself from the covenant that

had been between him and the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of

Allah be upon him).

When the news reached the

Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and the

Muslims, he sent Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aadh, who was the chief of al-Aws at that time,

and Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubaadah, who was the chief of al-Khazraj, along with ‘Abdullah

ibn Rawaahah and Khawwaat ibn Jubayr, who went to them, to call them to make

peace and renew the alliance. They said: Now after you have weakened us and

has expelled them, meaning Banu an-Nadeer?! And they spoke disparagingly of

the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. Sa‘d ibn

‘Ubaadah began to trade insults with them, then Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aadh called out

to them: You know what there is between us and you, O Banu Qurayzah, and I

fear for you a fate like that of Banu an-Nadeer or even worse. But they

reviled him and spoke disparagingly of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him). They said: Who is the Messenger of Allah? There

is no covenant or agreement between us and Muhammad. So Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aadh

traded insults with them, and he was a hot tempered man.

They went back to the Messenger

of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and told him what had

happened, and the situation became serious and fear was everywhere. Their

enemy came at them from above and below until the believers thought all

sorts of things and hypocrisy rose to the surface.

The Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stood on guard, and the

mushrikeen continued to besiege him for twenty-odd days, nearly a month, but

there was no fighting between them apart from some shooting with arrows.

The Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and his Companions remained as

Allah described it, in a state of hardship and fear, because their enemy

gathered together against them and came at them from above and below.

Then Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ood came to

the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and said:

O Messenger of Allah, I have become Muslim and my people do not know that I

have become Muslim; instruct me as you wish. The Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “You are just one man among

us; try to stir up division among them so as to weaken their resolve if you

can, for war is deceit.” Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ood went out and came to Banu

Qurayzah, as he had been a friend of theirs during the Jaahiliyyah. He said

to them: Quraysh and Ghatafaan have come to fight Muhammad and his

Companions, and you have supported them against him, and their land, their

women and their wealth are elsewhere, so they are not like you. If they see

an opportunity, they will take it, otherwise they will go back to their own

country and leave you alone with the man in your country, and you will not

be able to stand up to him if you are left alone. So do not fight with these

people until you take hostages from among their leaders, who will be in your

hands as a guarantee so that you will fight Muhammad with them until you

defeat him. And they said: You have given good advice.

Then he went to Quraysh and said

to Abu Sufyaan ibn Harb and the men of Quraysh who were with him: You should

know that the Jews regret what has happened between them and Muhammad, and

they have sent word telling him: We regret what we did; will it please you

if we capture some of the leaders of the two tribes, Quraysh and Ghatafaan,

and give them to you so that you may strike their necks, then we will be

with you against whoever among them is left until we eradicate them? And he

has sent word to them agreeing to that. So if the Jews send anyone to you,

asking you for hostages from among your men, do not give them even one man.

Then he went out and came to

Ghatafaan and said something similar to them as he had said to Quraysh, and

issued a similar warning to them.

Then Allah created dissent among

them. And Allah sent a wind on an intensely cold winter’s night, which

overturned their cooking pots and tents.

And Allah, may He be exalted,

revealed the words (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Remember

Allah's Favour to you, when there came against you hosts, and We sent

against them a wind and forces that you saw not [i.e. troops of angels

during the battle of AlAhzab (the Confederates)]. And Allah is Ever All-Seer

of what you do… .

And Allah drove back those who

disbelieved in their rage, they gained no advantage (booty, etc.). Allah

sufficed for the believers in the fighting (by sending against the

disbelievers a severe wind and troops of angels). And Allah is Ever

All-Strong, All-Mighty.

And those of the people of the

Scripture who backed them (the disbelievers) Allah brought them down from

their forts and cast terror into their hearts, (so that) a group (of them)

you killed, and a group (of them) you made captives.

And He caused you to inherit

their lands, and their houses, and their riches, and a land which you had

not trodden (before). And Allah is Able to do all things.”

[al-Ahzaab 33:9-27].

That is, Allah diverted their

enemy from them by means of the wind that He sent against them and the

troops of angels and others whom Allah sent to them. “Allah sufficed for

the believers in the fighting” means: they did not need to engage in

fighting with them; rather the Most Strong, the Almighty, diverted them by

His might and power.

Al-Bukhaari (4114) and Muslim

(2724) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There is no god but Allah alone, He

granted victory to His troops, supported His slave and defeated the

confederates alone, and there is nothing after Him.”

When the Prophet (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him) returned from the battle of the Trench, and laid

down his weapon and did ghusl – as narrated by al-Bukhaari (4117) – Jibreel

(peace be upon him) came to him and said: Have you laid down your arms? For

by Allah, we (angels) have not laid down ours; go out to them. He said:

“Where to?” He said: Over there – and he pointed in the direction of Banu

Qurayzah. So the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) went out

to them, and besieged them with detachments of Muslims for umpteen days.

Allah cast fear into their hearts and the siege became intense, until they

agreed to accept the ruling of Sa‘d ibn Mu‘aadh, as they had been his

allies. His verdict concerning them was in accordance with the ruling of

Allah: their fighters were to be killed and their women and children taken

captive.

The Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) detained them in Madinah, then he

went out to the marketplace of Madinah and dug trenches in it, then he sent

for them and struck their necks in those trenches as they were brought out

to him in batches. They said to Ka‘b ibn Asad as they were being taken to

the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in

batches: O Ka‘b, what do you think will be done to us? He said: Will you

never understand? Don’t you see that the caller does not stop and that

whoever among you is taken away does not return? By Allah it is death. And

this went on until they were finished with.

The Messenger of Allah

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) issued instructions to execute

every one of them who had grown pubic hair, and whoever had not grown pubic

hair was left alone. Abu Dawood (4404) narrated with a saheeh isnaad from

‘Atiyyah al-Qurazi (may Allah be pleased with him) he said: I was among the

captives of Banu Qurayzah, and they examined (us). Those whose pubes had

started to grow were executed and those whose pubes had not started to grow

were not executed. I was among those whose pubes had not started to grow.

According to another report:

They uncovered my private part and saw that my pubes had not yet started to

grow, so they put me with the captive women and children.

See: al-Bidaayah

wa’n-Nihaayah (6/34-94); Siyar A‘laam an-Nubala’ (1/470-480);

Tareekh al-Islam (2/307-318); ar-Rawd al-Unuf (6/262-294)

Thus the Prophet (blessings and

peace of Allah be upon him) put an end to the Jews of Banu Qurayzah who

broke the treaty and formed an alliance with the mushrikeen to eradicate

Islam and its people. So their plot backfired and they themselves were

eradicated to the last man. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

For more information, please see

the answers to questions no. 84308 and

178689

And Allah knows best.