Results of Muslims' Victory

Results of Muslims' Victory

The victory of the Islamic troops has certain consequences some of which will be dealt with hereinafter:

(1) God has previously promised Muslims victory over the Meccan troops (Qur’¡n 8:7) and the Holy Prophet informed them about this promise at the end of their military discussions.[1] With this victory, Muslims relied more on God's assistance and became stronger in their faith.

(2) Both the hypocrites and the Jews of Medina became upset and humiliated by this victory. When the Holy Prophet's envoy reached Medina to announce the Muslims' victory, the Hypocrites spread the rumor that Mu¦ammad was killed and Muslims were defeated and spread apart.[2]

The Jews surfaced their hatred.[3] Ka`b al-Ashr¡f, one of the leaders of Jews, said,

“Those who are said to be killed were among the noblemen. If this news is correct, then to die is preferred to living on the earth.[4]

(3) The tribes living around Medina reckoned this victory as a sign of the truthfulness of Islam and showed inclinations to it. Ya`q£b¢ writes:

“After God granted His Prophet victory in the Battle of Badr and killed many of troops of Quraysh, the Arab tribes showed inclinations to Islam and sent their representatives to the Holy Prophet. Four or five months after the Battle of Badr, the tribe of Rab¢`ah, at the district of Dh¢q¡r, fought with Khosrow. They told one another that they should raise the slogan of tih¡m¢ (Mu¦ammad) in the battlefield. Then, they would utter, O Mu¦ammad, Oh Mu¦ammad. Following this, they won over their enemies.”[5]

(4) Quraysh realized they had made mistakes in estimating Mu¦ammad's power; they had never imagined that they could be beaten so easily by a group of escapees and farmers! They thus concluded that their trade was endangered and that they could never rely on the Mecca-Damascus trade route which crossed Badr. In a gathering, ¯afw¡n ibn Umayyah said:

“Mu¦ammad and his followers have endangered our trade. We do not know what to do with them. They would not abandon the shores as long as the shore-dwellers have united with them. We do not know where to go. Our life subsistence in this city is provided by our summer trip to Damascus and winter trip to Abyssinia. If we are stuck in this city, we have to consume our capital and lose our income and wealth.”

Quraysh, then, decided to make their trade trip to Damascus via Iraq. ¯afw¡n headed a caravan towards Damascus through Iraq. His share of the merchandize was three hundred thousand D¢n¡rs. When the Holy Prophet knew about this, he sent a one-hundred strong troop under the leadership of Zayd ibn °¡rithah to confiscate the goods. That was in Jum¡d¡ al-ªkhir, the third year of Hegira. The caravan men fled and the goods were confiscated by the Muslim troops. Moreover, one or two prisoners were taken to Medina.[6] This mission is referred to, in books of history,[7] as Sariyyat al-Qaradah.[8]

Breach of Ban£-Qaynuq¡` Treaty

Ban£-Qaynuq¡` was the first Jewish tribe that violated the nonaggression pact. This was because Muslims' victory was bitter for both the Jews and the infidels. After the Battle of Badr and the victory of Muslims, both the Jews and the hypocrites became so furious. The first group that started incurring animosity of Islam was Ban£-Qaynuq¡` although the Holy Prophet had warned them against so and advised them to learn a lesson from the defeat of Quraysh and to be Muslims. He told them they had learned about his traits in their Book.[9]

Their reply was, “Your victory over Quraysh has made you proud. Quraysh were a trade group. If you ever fight us, you will know how real warriors look like!”

Stricken by false pride, they did not take the Holy Prophet's warnings seriously; rather, they continued in aggression. Once, one of these Jews insulted the wife of one of An¥¡r in the mart of this tribe outside Medina, creating turmoil. The woman called for help and a Muslim killed that intruder. Then, the Jews collectively killed that Muslim. Although two persons were killed, they could have stopped the situation at this point. However, they returned to their castles and readied themselves to attack. The Holy Prophet ordered their castle to be besieged. After fifteen days of siege, the Holy Prophet accepted the intermediation of `Abdull¡h Ibn Ubayy, who had been already an ally of them, and permitted them to leave Medina after submitting their weapons. They migrated to a place called Adhru`¡t, in Damascus. This event occurred in the month of Shaww¡l of the second year of Hegira.[10]

Having been the bravest Jews,[11] Ban£-Qaynuq¡` used to take pride in their power. They relied on their allies from Khazraj and Ban£-`Awf.[12] However, Khazraj could not save them from banishment.[13] `Ab¡dah ibn ¯¡mit al-`Awf¢ gave them up.[14] The two Jewish tribes of Ban£’l-Na¤¢r and Ban£-Quray¨ah, who were the previous allies of Aws, could not help them either. Sa`d ibn Mu`¡dh, the chief of Aws, did not have any role in preventing their interferences in this crisis. Thus, the banishment of this tribe from Medina benefited Muslims in the sense that the power of these three tribes was disintegrated. It was also a warning to the other Jews of Medina not to commit the same mistake.