Banū Qainuqāʿ
The Banū Qainuqāʿ ( Arabic بنو قينقاع) were one of the three most important Jewish tribes in Yathrib , the pre-Islamic Medina , alongside the Banu Nadir and Banu Quraiza . As to their parentage, there is some doubt as to whether they are of Idumaean or Judean origin. While the other two Jewish tribes were engaged in agriculture, the Banū Qainuqāʿ owned no land and worked mainly as goldsmiths and armourers . They lived in the center of Yathrib, where the town's market was located, and were clients of the Khazradsch Arab tribe , in contrast to the Banu Nadir and Banu Quraiza, who had allied themselves with the Aus .
The Banū Qaynuqāʿ were the first tribe with whom Mohammed led armed conflicts. The reason given in the tradition is that after the Battle of Badr in 624 an Arab woman was insulted by a group of Jews in the market of Banū Qaynuqāʿ. A Muslim who witnessed the incident killed one of the Jews and was then killed himself. The Banū Qaynuqāʿ were then besieged for 15 days and finally driven out.
The Banū Qaynuqāʿ numbered several hundred members, but received no support from their Arab allies. They were given three days to collect their debts and take away some belongings, except for their professional tools. The Banū Qaynuqāʿ migrated northeast through the desert of the Arabian Peninsula towards the Persian Gulf . Some of them became prominent converts to Islam, such as Abdallah ibn Salām , one of the Jewish followers of Muhammad.
The contemporary Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi , who is close to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, sees the expulsion of the Banū Qaynuqāʿ as an act that primarily documents the Prophet's interest in economic issues. While the market in Medina was previously under the control of the Jewish Banū Qainuqāʿ, their expulsion enabled the creation of a “purely Islamic market” (sūq Islāmīya ṣirfa) in Medina, the rules of which the Prophet himself laid down.
literature
- R. Leszynsky: The Jews in Arabia. Berlin 1910, pp. 60-63.
- O'Leary, De Lacy: Arabia Before Muhammad , Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd .: London 1927, pp. 173-174.
- Marco Schöller: Exegetical thinking and biography of the prophets. A source-critical analysis of the Sīra tradition on Muḥammad's conflict with the Jews. Wiesbaden 1998, pp. 230-260.
- W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad. Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press, 1961, pp. 127-132.
- Arent Jan Wensinck : Mohammed en de Joden te Medina. Leiden 1908, pp. 146-151.
- AJ Wensinck, R. Paret: Art. Qainuqāʿ, Banū. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. IV, p. 824.