Chaibar (campaign)
The train to Khaybar was a campaign of Mohammed against Khaybar , a then populated by Jews oasis in the area of present-day Saudi Arabia about 150 kilometers north of Medina , in the spring of 628. Reports on the train to Khaybar are exclusively in the Islamic history , before handed down mainly in the maghazi and sira literature.
Framework
The fight against the Quraish
In the year 622 Mohammed emigrated to Yathrib with some of his followers, the emigrants from Mecca . This relocation went down in history as the Hijra and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. When they arrived in Yathrib, the emigrants were largely destitute as refugees and thus became a burden to their Medinan fellow believers (the so-called helpers ). Aware of the fact that this could not be permanent, they made use of an old Arabic custom: They began to rob the caravans of the Quraish , which after the Hijra were now considered a non-tribal unit. The Koran provided a legitimation for this, the first permission to fight:
“Those who fight (against the unbelievers) (according to a different reading; in the text: who are fought) have been given permission (to fight) because they have been wronged (beforehand). - God has the power to help them. (You) who have been unjustifiably evicted from their homes just because they say: Our Lord is God ... "
The hitherto best known incident took place in January 624 at Nachla, in which a group of six to ten emigrants led by Abdullah ibn Jahsch had successfully captured a caravan accompanied by four Meccans. It was the first time that a Meccan was killed at the hand of a Muslim; two more were captured and the fourth managed to escape.
These raids eventually led to the Muslims' victorious battle of Badr in 624 and the subsequent expulsion of the Banu Qainuqa . A year later, the Battle of Uhud took place, in which many Muslims were killed, but it was not a victory for the Meccans, as they had not achieved their goal - the destruction of the Islamic community. The Battle of Uhud was followed by the expulsion of the Jewish Banu Nadir . Some members of this tribe fled to Syria, others settled in Khaibar, from where they supported the Quraish in the battle of the trenches in AD 627. The execution of the Banu Quraiza followed immediately afterwards.
In March 628, Mohammed wanted to undertake the umra , the small pilgrimage to Mecca, for the first time with around 1400 followers . He was prevented from entering the city by the Quraish, but negotiated a treaty with them (the so-called Treaty of al-Hudaibiyya ), according to which the Quraish would vacate the city for three days the following year so that the Muslims can make the pilgrimage could. With this contract you have now recognized Mohammed as a full negotiating partner. While many of his followers saw the treaty as a disappointment, the Quran describes it as an obvious success :
“We have given you an obvious success. God wanted (or: would like) to forgive you (in this way?) Your earlier and your later guilt, complete his grace in you and lead you a straight path. And God wanted (or: would like to) help you (with it?) To a mighty victory (or: give mighty help). "
The contract also included a non-aggression agreement so that Mohammed could attack Khaibar that same year without fear of Quraysh intervention.
Reasons for the train to Chaibar
The Jews living in Khaibar tried to get the tribes around them to join their fight against Mohammed and were responsible for the battle of the trenches in 627; thus - according to Watt - Mohammed had a clear reason for an attack on Chaibar. Furthermore, he was aware that by conquering Khaibar he could counter the disappointment of some of his followers about the recently concluded treaty with the Quraish.
Course of the campaign
Mohammed pulled in May / June 628 with 1600 to 1800 men and 100 horses against Chaibar. The Muslim march was kept secret and was fast, which is why they were noticed late. The residents of Khaibar fled to their homes and then holed up in fortresses. It had been known for a long time that Mohammed would attack Khaibar, but had not made any preparations. In Khaibar there was no political authority to plan a common defense; the support of the neighboring tribes was relied on, and indeed the Ghatafan rushed to their aid but turned back before a fight could break out. They later adopted Islam.
After a bloody argument in front of one of the fortresses, the Jews avoided fighting in the open field. Therefore, Mohammed was forced to besiege each fortress individually and wait for the respective defenders to surrender, since only the most primitive means were available to attack such fortresses. In the meantime, the besieged managed to bring women, children and treasures from one fortress to another, as the situation required, under cover of darkness; sometimes soldiers even went from one region to another to make their defenses more effective.
During the siege there were some clashes that were preceded by duels; among the Jews there were spies and traitors who, in order to save their own skin, gave the Muslims useful information, particularly about the use of certain war implements that the Muslims learned to use at the time.
A prisoner from one of the fortresses, Safiyya , the wife of one of the Jewish leaders of Chaibar, was married by Mohammed as part of the booty. Mohammed seems to have tried to appease the Jews of Chaibar by establishing a political bond with them through this marriage. Her husband was killed because he refused to reveal the location of the Banu Nadir treasure.
When the defenders stubbornly resisted in one of the fortresses, Abu Bakr first and then Umar took the lead in the attacks, hoping to break through their defenses . When these failed, however, Mohammed chose Ali as the leader of one of these attacks, which (according to tradition, with superhuman strength) managed to take the fortress.
After about six weeks of fighting, a contract was signed between them and Mohammed at the request of the Jews of Chaibar. After agreeing to the requirements set out in it, they capitulated. It was stipulated that as long as they gave half of their proceeds to the Muslims who took part in the battle, they could continue to cultivate their original settlement area. This treaty set the precedent in subsequent legal discussions about the treatment of the subject populations. (see also: Dhimma ) Chaibar was the first area conquered by the Islamic community and brought under their rule.
consequences
The conquest of the oasis expanded Muhammad's political influence, as several tribes previously hostile to him converted to Islam and recognized the supremacy of Medina. Another consequence of the conquest of Chaibar were the economic advantages for the Muslims: On the one hand, Mohammed could now rely on secure income, on the other hand, the Muslims could look forward to the improvement in their precarious financial situation.
Current relevance
The events of the campaign are in the present in Islamist circles frequently updated as a slogan: So the called Hezbollah an Iranian importing rocket with which they repeatedly attacked Israel, Khaibar-1 , and one of the bombers of Bali , Amrozi bin Nurhasyim , entered the courtroom the call:
Chaibar, Chaibar, ya yahud, dschaisch Mohammed saya'ud /خيبر خيبر يا يهود جيش محمد سيعود / Ḫaibar Ḫaibar yā yahūd ǧaiš Muḥammad sa-yaʿūd
In German: “Chaibar, Chaibar, oh you Jews! Mohammed's army will be back soon! ”
The same slogan could be heard at demonstrations against the Israeli crackdown in Gaza in the summer of 2014 and after the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the fall of 2017 in Germany.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rudi Paret: Mohammed and the Koran. History and proclamation of the Arab prophet . Kohlhammer, 2001. p.128
- ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad. Prophet and Statesman . Oxford University Press, 1961. p. 140
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 7, p. 852
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 4, p. 1137: "Montgomery Watt has drawn attention to the fact that the Banu'l-Naḍīr, driven out of Medina, had taken refuge in Khaybar and that their chieftains and the chieftains of other Jewish groups, eager for revenge , were intriguing against Muhammad, along with the Arabs tribes of the neighborhood. So Muhammad had not only a just motive for attacking them, but there was also the positive necessity to destroy these enemies, more formidable even than the Quraysh, because of their adherence to their own religion, their intelligence and their superior culture. [...] The sources give support to the view of Montgomery Watt, showing that the Jews, already responsible for the coalition which had laid siege to Medina in 5 AH and worried by the growing power of the Prophet, continued to stir up the Arabs against him. " See also W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad. Prophet and Statesman . Oxford University Press, 1962. p. 189 and the same: Muhammad at Medina . Oxford University Press, 1962. pp. 217 f.
- ^ Norman A. Stillman: The Jews of Arab Lands. A History and Source Book . The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. p. 18 : " The Muslims had been disappointed by the Prophet's recent abortive attempt to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and by signing a truce with the Quraysh at al-Ḥudaybiyya. They needed a victory to raise their spirits. "; The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 4, p. 1137: " ... if he conquered Khaybar he would be able to satisfy with ample booty those of his companions who, having hoped to capture Mecca, were disappointed and discontented. "
- ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad. Prophet and Statesman . Oxford University Press, 1961. pp. 195 and pp. 102 f.
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 8, p. 817
- ^ A b Bernard Lewis: The Jews in the Islamic World. From the early Middle Ages to the 20th century . Beck, 2004. p. 20
- ↑ The description of the campaign is taken from the article Khaybar in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition. Brill, Leiden. Vol. 4, p. 1137).
- ↑ a b The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 4, p. 1137