The Madinan Period, Part 18: Banū Qurayẓah and the Judgement of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh
Section 20 of 20 · The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: The Madinan Period
Now We Go Out to Them
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), after the Battle of the Trench, said, Al-āna naghzūhum wa lā yaghzūnanā: "From now on we will attack them, and they won't attack us" (al-Bukhārī 4110). So the Battle of the Trench was a turning point in the life of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): it represented the move from the stage of defensive jihād to the stage of offensive jihād. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: from now on they will not attack us; we will be the ones to attack them. So we are done with the first stage of Madīnah, and that is the stage of jihād al-dafʿ, the defensive fighting fī sabīlillāh; and the following stage is the stage of offensive jihād fī sabīlillāh.
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
“Yet there is another among them who says: “Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the punishment of Fire.”” (2:201)
We ask Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to accept from us our deeds. We ask Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to make us of those who understand the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and follow it. We ask Allah to make us of those who will give support, nuṣrah, to His religion. Here the first part of the Madinan period comes to its close. Rabbanā ātinā fī al-dunyā ḥasanatan wa fī al-ākhirati ḥasanatan wa qinā ʿadhāb al-nār. And may Allah send His blessings upon our master Muḥammad and upon his family. We ask Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to reward us with Jannah and to save us from Hellfire.
***
* Kept as given. It is Ḥuyayy who knocks and Kaʿb who answers from inside, as the exchange that follows shows and as Ibn Isḥāq reports it.
** Kept as given. The authority had been given to al-Khazraj, through ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, over their allies Banū Qaynuqāʿ; al-Aws asked for the same over their own allies, Banū Qurayẓah. Ibn Isḥāq's report, in Ibn Kathīr's al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, has them say, "They were our clients, not those of al-Khazraj."
*** Kept as given. In Ibn Isḥāq's report, as Ibn Kathīr carries it in al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, the wording is min fawqi sabʿati arqiʿah, which has the same meaning. In al-Bukhārī (3043, 4121) and Muslim (1768) the words are "You have judged concerning them with the judgement of Allah" (or "of the King").
**** Kept as given; this is the name as it stands in Ibn Kathīr's al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah. Al-Ṭabarī's Tārīkh, carrying the same report of Ibn Isḥāq, has Saʿd ibn Zayd al-Anṣārī, of Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal.
***** Kept as given. In al-Bukhārī (3802) and Muslim (2468) the gift is a garment of silk, ḥullat ḥarīr.
****** Kept as given. Saʿd died towards the end of the fifth year after the hijrah, so at thirty-seven he would have been about thirty-two when it took place.