The Burning of the Palm Groves

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) laid siege to the fortresses of Banū al-Naḍīr. Banū al-Naḍīr were rich, and they had these fortresses, and outside them they had acres and acres of agricultural land, palm groves, which they depended on for their livelihood. So their plan was to remain in their fortresses until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and the Muslims grew tired and left them — they had water, they had food, they had money, so they could survive a long siege, and their livelihood rested at least in part on those palm groves. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used a strategy that completely baffled the Jews, and was probably the cause of their surrender: he began burning down their palm trees. This drove them to distraction: what were they to do, remaining in Madīnah, if they lost all their farmland? Why carry on the fight? Their existence in Madīnah depended at least in part on these farms, and these were trees that take years to bear fruit — if the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) burned them down, how long would it take to plant them again, and how would they live until then? This completely took them by surprise, and they sent word to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): "O Muḥammad, you used to forbid causing destruction" — and used to criticise those who did so — "why are you cutting down and burning our date-palms?" The reason it took them so much by surprise is that they had not expected this of him: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to prevent people from causing needless destruction of property, and in Islam there are commands not to cut down trees. Yet now the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was doing this himself. So the Jews were surprised, and put it to him: "You used to tell people not to spread corruption in the land, and now you are doing it yourself."

So Banū al-Naḍīr made an offer: they asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to allow them to evacuate with their lives spared, and to take their wealth with them. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) agreed, with the following conditions: they would take no weapons with them — their arms were to be left behind — and each group was only allowed to carry one camel-load; whatever property exceeded that had to be left behind. They agreed. The one responsible for overseeing this evacuation was Muḥammad ibn Maslamah (may Allah be pleased with him). Every three men were given one camel for their own transport and one camel for their property.