Question:
In Jumada al-Ula, during the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the Prophet expelled one of the Jewish tribes from Medina, until one after another, all the Jewish tribes repeatedly broke their covenants with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Is there any commentary on these events? And are they the ones regarding whom Allah said: “Every time they make a covenant, some party among them throw it aside…“ [Al-Baqarah: 100]? Do the Jews have a [history of making] covenants throughout history?
Answer:
Yes, the Jews had covenants with their Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and those after him, and they made a covenant with the last and best of the messengers, Muhammad, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, but they violated the covenant.
When the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, arrived in Medina, there were three tribes: Banu Qainuqa, Banu an-Nadir, and Banu Qurayza. The last of them were Banu Qurayza, who violated the covenant when they colluded with the Confederates who came to fight the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, in Medina. When they violated the covenant and the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, returned from the Battle of the Confederates, Gabriel came to him and said: “Go forth to these”—meaning Banu Qurayza—”who have violated the covenant.” So he went out to them and besieged them until they submitted to the judgment of Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, may Allah be pleased with him. Sa’d ibn Mu’adh was the leader of the Aws—the second tribe of the Ansar—and he had been an ally of Banu Qurayza. They said: “We submit to his judgment,” thinking that he would act as Abdullah ibn Ubayy the hypocrite did—who had betrayed the covenant when Banu an-Nadir submitted to his judgment.
Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, may Allah be pleased with him, came out from his quarters in the mosque of the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family; for Sa’d ibn Mu’adh had been wounded on the Day of the Confederates by an arrow in his median arm vein (al-akhal), and he had said: “O Allah, do not let me die until You make my eyes rejoice regarding Banu Qurayza.” They were his allies, yet he did not die until Allah made his eyes rejoice regarding them. When the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, besieged Banu Qurayza, they agreed to submit to the judgment of Sa’d ibn Mu’adh. The Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, sent for him, and he came from the mosque out of the tent that the Prophet, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, had pitched for him. When he reached the Messenger, peace be upon him, along with his companions and the leaders of Banu Qurayza, the Prophet, peace be upon him, informed him that they had appointed him as judge. He, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “My judgment is binding upon them and upon these?”—pointing toward the Messenger, peace be upon him. They said: “Yes.” He said: “I judge that their combatants—meaning the men—should be executed, their offspring and women taken captive, and their wealth distributed as spoils.” The Jews had expected otherwise; they expected that he would intercede for them and that they would escape execution. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “You have judged regarding them with the judgment of Allah from above seven heavens.” The judgment was carried out, and more than six hundred men of the Jews in Medina were executed in a single day.
The point is that the Jews are people of treachery and people of betrayal, and their covenants cannot be trusted no matter how much they reaffirm them, and they are humiliated: “Indignity is put over them wherever they may be, except when under a covenant (of protection) from Allah, and from men…“ [Ali ‘Imran: 112].
Then He said: “…and destruction is put over them.” [Ali ‘Imran: 112] and did not make an exception, because they are always impoverished in heart, and for this reason they have been the people most greedy, covetous, stingy, and miserly. We will never trust their covenants, but there will be a battle between us and them in which the outcome will turn against them, to the extent that a man among them will hide behind a tree, and the tree will say: ‘O servant of Allah, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for one type of tree, which is the gharqad, for it is one of the trees of the Jews and will not betray them [reveal them].