Abū Rāfiʿ

Abū Rāfiʿ ( Arabic أبو رافع; † 627 in Chaibar ) was a Jewish adversary of the Prophet Mohammed . He was murdered with Muhammad's approval. His full name was Sallam ibn Abi l-Huqaiq  /سلام بن أبي الحقيق / Sallām b. Abī l-Ḥuqaiq .

position

Abu Rafiʿ was a member of the Banu Nadir tribe and lived in Chaibar , an oasis 150 km north of Medina , after his tribe was expelled from Medina. He was one of the leaders of the anti-Medina coalition (al-ahzāb) , which took action in the battle of the trenches against the Muslims of Medina. This coalition consisted of Meccans, displaced Jews, and pagan Arabs from the desert areas such as the Ghatafan .

The lore

Reliable biographical data of Abu Rafi are not known. Overall, however, there are numerous Islamic traditions of his murder, which, however, differ in many details. The earliest traditions are found in Al-Wāqidīs Maghazi , Māliks al-Muwatta , Abd ar-Razzaqs Musannaf , Ibn Hishāms Sira and in Saheeh al-Buchārī . These traditions go back to various sources. The historical core of the event can be described on the basis of analyzes of all traditions as follows: The Prophet sent some men under the leadership of Abdallah bin 'Atik to murder Abu Rafi', who lived in Khaibar. They gained access to his home and carried out the deed. One of the murderers injured his foot while descending from the victim's dwelling. And before returning to Medina, they made sure that their victim was indeed dead.

planning

After the battle of Uhud and the battle of the trenches, the Ansar of the Medin tribes of the Khazradsch and Aus vied "like stallions" about how to proceed. The Aus men had already murdered Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf a few years earlier at Muhammad's behest . Now the helpers of the Banu Khazradsch were of the opinion that it was up to them to murder an equally dangerous Jew in order to catch up with the prisoners. After careful consideration, the choice fell on Abu Rafiʿ, who had offended the Messenger of God. Before doing this, they got permission from the Prophet Mohammed. However, this prohibited them from killing women and children. He commissioned five men of the Khazradsch: Abdallah bin 'Atik, Mas'ud bin Sinan, Abdallah bin Unais, Abu Qatada al-Harith bin Rib'i and Chaza'i bin Aswad. Mohammed determined Abdallah b. 'Atik to their leader.

Sequence of events

The men traveled to Khaibar. Your leader, Abdallah b. 'Atik, was well acquainted with the Nadir clan and spoke their language, a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic, fluently. His wet nurse, a Jew, lived there. This provided the conspirators with food and provided them with information about the fortress. Abdallah b. 'Atik deceived the doorkeeper of the fortress, who thought he was a slave, as darkness fell. The beginning of the search for a missing donkey made the ruse easier for him. He hid in the fortress until nightfall and then gave access to his co-conspirators. The victim's wife opened the door to Abu Rafi's dwelling. The murderers entered with the excuse that they were Bedouins looking for grain. When the woman saw that the men were armed, she screamed, but was spared, being aware of the prohibition on killing women. Abu Rafi 'was stabbed to death in the dark. After the crime, the men fled and hid in an irrigation ditch. One of them turned back and mingled with the crowd, making sure that Abu Rafi 'had succumbed to his injuries. Back in Medina, the conspirators hurried to see Mohammed. Because of the darkness at the time of the crime, according to Ibn Ishaq's biography of the prophet, a dispute broke out over who should have the honor of having carried out the fatal blow. Mohammed asked to see their swords. After looking at the sword Abdallah b. Unais' he decided:

This killed him. I can still see bits of food on it.

In a variant of the tradition in Bukharis al-jami 'as-sahih , Abdallah b. 'Atik named as a murderer. During the subsequent escape, he fell, broke his lower leg or twisted his foot, depending on the variant. The injury was later healed in Medina by the laying on of hands of the Prophet. According to al-Wāqidī, however, Abu Qatada injured his foot. Forgetting his bow, he turned back and then sustained the injury.

The court poet Hassan ibn Thabit then wrote a song about the act. In it he referred to the murderers of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf and Abu Rafi 'as lions "who strive for the victory of the Prophet".

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Muir: The life of Mahomet. Oxford 1861, p. 14
2. ↑ See Harald Motzki: The Murder of Ibn Abi l-Huqayq: On the Origin and Reliability of some Maghazi Reports. In: Harald Motzki (Ed.): The Biography of Muhammad. The Issue of the Sources. Brill 2000, p. 232
3. ↑ Abd ar-Razzaq: Musannaf V, 407-10 (9747)
4. ↑ Tradition according to Buchārī ( Memento from February 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ The Translation of the Meanings of Summarized Sahih Muslim. By Ali Hafiz Zakiuddin Abdul-Azim al-Mundhiri, vol. 1, Riyadh, p. 108 (bilingual edition)
6. ^ Alfred Guillaume: The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Ishaq's 'Sirat Rasul Allah'. Oxford University Press, London 1955, pp. 364-369
7. ↑ Hans Jansen: Mohammed. A biography. Munich 2008, p. 335
8. ^ The History of al-Tabari. Vol. VII: The Foundation of the Community, translated by Michael V. McDonald and annotated by William Montgomery Watt, New York 1987 p. 99
9. ↑ Text from Ibn Ishaq's biography of the prophets in Arabic ( Memento from July 13, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
10. ↑ Various references in: Harald Motzki: The Murder of Ibn Abi l-Huqayq: On the Origin and Reliability of some Maghazi-Reports. In: Harald Motzki (Ed.): The Biography of Muhammad. The Issue of the Sources. Brill 2000, p. 197
11. ↑ The name of the latter is passed down in different variants.
12. ↑ Summarized Sahih al-Bukhārī: Arabic-English, translated by Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Riyad 1997, p. 764
13. ^ William Muir: The life of Mahomet. Oxford 1861, p. 14f.
14. ↑ According to the Maghazi of al-Wāqidī, cf. Harald Motzki: The Murder of Ibn Abi l-Huqayq: On the Origin and Reliability of some Maghazi-Reports. In: Harald Motzki (Ed.) The Biography of Muhammad. The Issue of the Sources. Brill 2000, p. 209
15. ↑ Summarized Sahih al-Bukhārī: Arabic-English, translated by Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Riyad 1997, pp. 764f.
16. ^ The History of al-Tabari. Vol. VII: The Foundation of the Community, translated by Michael V. McDonald and annotated by William Montgomery Watt, New York 1987, p. 102
17. ↑ According to al-Wāqidī, they pretended to bring a gift.
18. ↑ Cf. also the sequence of events according to Buchārī No. 370–372 ( Memento of February 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) and No. 264 u. 265
19. ↑ هذا قتله أرى فيه أثر الطعام
20. ^ Alfred Guillaume: The Life of Muhammad. A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford 1955, p. 484

literature

• Alfred Guillaume: The Life of Muhammad. A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford 1955
• Harald Motzki: The Murder of Ibn Abi l-Huqayq: On the Origin and Reliability of some Maghazi-Reports. In: Harald Motzki (Ed.) The Biography of Muhammad. The Issue of the Sources. Brill 2000, pp. 170-239