What the Companions Took From It

Now a few comments on these events: first, lessons from Banū Qaynuqāʿ, and then comments on the assassination of Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf. Number one: the Messenger of Allah waged war against Banū Qaynuqāʿ for the sake of one Muslim woman, to defend her. This shows how important it is to protect the rights of Muslim women. And now, when the calls of Muslim women are heard from all over the Muslim world and nobody responds, that shows that there are no men left, because a Muslim man would jump to the defence of his sister. This is what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did, and this was the sunnah followed by the caliphs after him — like al-Muʿtaṣim, the ʿAbbāsid caliph: when one woman said wā Muʿtaṣimāh, he responded by sending an army to fight the superpower of his time, the Roman Empire. And part of the reason why Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf was assassinated was that he was speaking about Muslim women.

Lessons from the assassination of Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf: the Companions took their word seriously. When Muḥammad ibn Maslamah volunteered to kill Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf, for three days after that he lost his appetite and was barely eating what would keep him alive. That news was delivered to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), so the Messenger of Allah called him and said, "Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, what happened?" Muḥammad said, "O Messenger of Allah, I have given my word, and I am worried that I will not be able to fulfil it." Since he had pledged to fulfil this mission, Muḥammad ibn Maslamah was worried that he might fail. He was worried whether he would succeed or not; he was worried whether his plan was good enough or not. And he could not eat for three days — not because he was afraid of dying, but because he wanted to make sure that he fulfilled his pledge to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). This shows how seriously the Companions took their word: if they gave their word, they had to fulfil it. Now we throw our words right and left, and we do not worry whether we … It is not only that we do not worry about them; we even forget about them. Making promises is taken so lightly now: we throw promises right and left without caring whether we will fulfil them or not. Muḥammad ibn Maslamah said, "I will do it," and he took that very seriously, and he could not eat or drink or sleep.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him, innamā ʿalayka al-jahd — you do your best. That is what Allah (swt) will hold one accountable for: whether one did one's best or not. And then, whether the mission succeeds or not, as long as one has done one's best, Allah (swt) will accept that. One is not responsible for the outcome of the mission; one is responsible for doing one's best. And this is a lesson for us: we should do our best, and we should try to achieve perfection in anything that we do. This is very important for Muslims today because, as has been said, we take our words lightly, and it is a sign of a munāfiq to make a promise that he does not fulfil.

Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, after that, said, "Then allow me to speak about you." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Go ahead." Muḥammad ibn Maslamah felt that, in order for his mission to succeed, he would have to speak against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and that was sanctioned by the Messenger of Allah (al-Bukhārī 4037). So this tells us that if Muḥammad ibn Maslamah was allowed to say things that are kufr in order for his mission to succeed, then a Muslim is allowed to do things that are less than kufr. For example, if a Muslim spy is among the enemy's army, how would he pray? Such a person, as the scholars have said, if he cannot pray standing, can pray sitting; if he cannot pray sitting, he can pray moving his finger; and if he cannot even do that, he can pray by moving his eyes, if he is afraid that his mission might be compromised. So Muḥammad ibn Maslamah spoke words that are kufr: he went to Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf and said, "This man has been a disaster on us," and that was allowed. So this shows that there are some special rulings for military operations: if the mission depends on a person hiding his Islamic identity, then that is allowed.

The next lesson: Kaʿb was a Jew, but ethnically he was an Arab. So that shows that our negative attitude toward the Jews is not based on racism; it is not because of their ethnicity. So we say the truth: we are not anti-Semitic. Our problem is not with the ethnicity; our problem is with the mindset. This has to be clear: Muslims do not have anything against the Jews because of their genetic make-up — that is not the case — or because they belong to a certain culture or a certain race; that is not the issue. It is unlike, for example, Hitler or the Nazis, whose problem was racism: they considered that their race was superior to the race of the Yahūd. And when some Muslims are accused of being racist or similar to the Nazis, that is furthest from the truth. The issue with the Muslims is not a problem with the ethnicity of the Yahūd; it is with the mindset that leads such a people to become blasphemous against Allah (swt), to speak against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), to reject his message, to plot against the Muslims, to cause disunity. It is against the evil actions themselves.

Finally, not all battles are played out on the battlefield, and this was the case with Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf.