THE JEWS (YAHUD)
AND
“ASHAB AL-UKHDOOD”
الیهود
و
أصحاب الأخدود
By
Yasin T.
al-Jibouri
This article/essay takes you back
to the time when Arabia was bracing itself for the advent of the Islamic
message brought by Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings of Allah with him, his
Progeny and righteous companions.
Saudis accompany
German tourists examining ruins of the Ukhdood in Najran
During and prior to the advent of
Islam, Jews in Hijaz, northern part of today’s Saudi Arabia, were concentrated
mostly in Medina and Mecca, the first contained a much larger population of them
perhaps due to its better climate, robust trade and thriving businesses which
all awarded the Jews opportunities to do business and to enjoy a measure of
prosperity.
Medina’s Jews had migrated from
Palestine and Yemen and settled there waiting for the coming of a new Prophet
from the seed of Abraham in whom they said they would believe and to be the
foremost in following, something which unfortunately did not materialize; on
the contrary, they joined ranks with the Pagans to fight the spread of Islam.
Only a handful of them embraced Islam, including one man who was a neighbor of
Muhammed (ص);
he lived in the same alley in Mecca where Khadīja's house stood; his wife, also
Jewish, used to collect dry thorny bushes from the desert just to throw them in
the Prophet's way.
The Arabs during the Prophet’s
lifetime belonged to one ethnic race, but history does not record that they
were ever united as one nation. They were divided into tribes and clans, each
having its own chief or chieftain. They, no doubt, spoke the same language, but
each tribe followed a different dialect. Indeed, even religion was not a
binding force. Almost every house had its own god; tribes had their own supreme
deities. In the south were the small principalities of Himyar, Awza and Aqyal.
In the middle and northern Arabia lived the tribes of Bakr, Taghlib, Shaiban,
Azd, Quza`ah, Kandaf, Lakhm, Juzam, Banu Hanifa, Tay, Assad, Hawazin, Ghatfan,
and Aws. Khazraj, Thaqif, Quraish and others were frequently engaged in
intensive warfare. The Aws and the Khazraj belonged to Banu Qayla. Shortly
before Muhammed's arrival, the Battle of
Bu`ath, which broke out during the seventh year of the Prophet's mission,
between these two clans, had shattered the power of the Khazraj who were now
considering making Ibn Ubay, namely Abdullah ibn Ubay Salool, king of Medina.
They hoped, by doing so, that they would be guided by him in consolidating
their power, especially since they were more numerous than the other clan. But
the appearance of the Prophet and the conversion of the majority of the Aws to
Islam turned the tide in favor of the Prophet. He proved himself to be the
right man who came to the right place at the right time to put an end to the
senseless bloodshed. Bakr and Taghlib, too, had been fighting each other for
forty years. Blood engagements had ruined many a tribe of Hadramaut. And the
Battle of Fijar between Banu Qais and Quraish had not yet ended. If any member
of a tribe was killed, the tribe considered itself duty bound to seek revenge
not merely on the murderer but also on the tribe to which he belonged. Since
there was no effective machinery to settle such disputes, this invariably
touched off furious wars which lasted for generations. Tribal might, dash and
alacrity, were the only guarantee of a precarious security. The desert and the
hills were home to fierce nomadic tribes that lived largely on plunder and
depredation, but trade was also a major source of livelihood. Only a few months
of the year were regarded as sacred. It was only then that bloodshed was
stopped in order to facilitate the performance of the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca or to trade at `Okaz. But even this convention was at times relaxed to
suit the convenience of individual tribes. Only the precincts of the Ka`ba were
considered sacred and were free from bloodshed. It is to this state of affairs
that the Qur’an has drawn attention:
Do they not see that we have made a
sacred territory secure for them, while men are carried off by force all around
them? (Qur’an,
29:67)
The conditions in the country were
so insecure that till 5 A.H./626 A.D., the powerful tribe of Abdul-Qais of
Bahrain could not think of going to Hijaz outside the sacred months. Even the
caravans going to or returning from Syria were sometimes plundered in open
daylight.
Muslims' pasture lands were at
times raided. Although conditions had considerably improved by then, the route
to Mecca from Medina was not altogether safe till the fall of Mecca in 630 A.D.
While the country was so
strife-ridden internally, dangers from outside were no less. The Roman and
Persian empires had extended their domain to the fertile provinces of Yemen,
Oman and Bahrain, extending their sovereignty to their land. The Romans had occupied
Syria. Ghassan and some other Arab tribes, who had embraced Christianity, had
been set up as the latter's feudatories. The Romans had expelled the Jews from
Syria and Palestine in the second Century B.C. These Jews had migrated to
Medina and its suburbs and built strong fortresses at Medina, Khaibar, Taima,
Fadak and other places. Prospering themselves, the Jews were extremely jealous
of prosperity in other races and strongly resented rivalry in trade business.
They believed themselves to be God's Achosen
people and their conduct was characterized by pride and arrogance intensified
by the feeling of being secure inside their formidable fortresses. Only a few
of them, including Abdullah ibn Salam, one of their rabbis, embraced Islam. The
majority did not believe in Muhammed, the prophet prophecized in
their Scriptures, because they expected the Promised One to be one of the
Israelites, one who would rise in Syria, not in Arabia, with Hebrew as his
language.
It was during such times that the
Prophet started his great mission. For preparing the ground and the proper
climate, the first step that he took was to unite the Ansar
and the Muhajirun.
PROPHET
(ص) SIGNS A PACT WITH THE JEWS (624 A.D.)
Having thus welded the Ansar and the Muhajirun into one Brotherhood, the Prophet now set
himself to the task of establishing a stable society, a commonwealth based on
equality of rights and on the concept of universal humanity. Granting equality
of status and rights as well as full freedom of religion and of conscience to
the Jews, he invited them to enter into a pact with the Muslims. He drew up a
charter which has been reproduced by the historian Ibn Hashim thus:
In the Name of the Most Merciful
and Compassionate God.
Granted by Mohammed, the Prophet, to the Believers, whether of Quraish or of
Yathrib, and all individuals of whatever origin who have made common cause with
them, all these shall constitute one nation.
Then, after regulating the payment
of the diyya (blood money) by the various clans and fixing some wise
rules regarding the private duties of Muslims among themselves, the document
proceeds thus:
The state of peace and war shall be
common to all Muslims; none among them shall have the right of concluding peace
with, or declaring war against, the enemies of his co-religionists. The Jews
who enter into this covenant shall be protected from all insults and vexations;
they shall have an equal right with our own people to our assistance and good
offices. The Jews of the various branches of `Awf, Najjar, al-Harith, Jashm,
Tha`labah, Aws, and all others domiciled in Yathrib shall form with the Muslims
one composite nation. They shall practice their religion as freely as the
Muslims. The clients and allies of the Jews shall enjoy the same security and
freedom. The guilty shall be pursued and punished. The Jews shall join the
Muslims in defending Yathrib against all enemies. The interior of Yathrib shall
be a sacred place for all those who accept this Charter. The clients and allies
of the Muslims and of the Jews shall be as respected as the principals. All
Muslims shall hold in abhorrence anyone found guilty of a crime, injustice, or
disorder. None shall uphold the culpable, even if he may be his nearest in
kinship.
Then, after some other provisions
regarding the internal management of the State, this extraordinary document
concluded thus:
All future disputes between those
who accept this Charter shall be finally referred, after God, to the Prophet.
The Jews of Medina accepted this
Pact. After some time, the neighbouring Jewish tribes of Banu Nadir and Banu
Quraizah signed it, too. But, as later events proved, it was only expediency
that had dictated this course of action to the Jews. There was no change of
heart on their part and they secretly nursed the same hostile feelings against
the Aws and the Khazraj as before and viewed the growing confederation of the
Muslims with grave concern and animosity. In the course of time, they started
taunting and abusing the Muslims, frequently quarrelling with them and
resorting to treachery and sedition. They were assisted by some people of the
Aws and the Khazraj who had become lukewarm converts: the Munafiqun
(hypocrites). These were headed by Abdullah ibn Ubay who had his own designs to
become the king of Medina and, together with the Jews, they became a constant
source of danger to the newborn religion and to its adherents.
The Jews, who had thriving business
deals with Quraish of Mecca, conspired with them to eradicate the infant
religion before it assumed formidable proportions. As the head of the religion,
and a general in a time of almost continuous warfare, Muhammed (ص)
was the guardian of the lives and liberty of the people. The very existence of
the nascent religion was in serious peril. Islam preaches the brotherhood of
mankind; it insists on toleration of all religions and creeds; it enjoins
kindness and compassion, but it does not permit its followers to submit to the
forces of disintegration.
Being in league with the Jews and
the Munafiqun, the Meccans started harassing the Muslims. Under the
leadership of Karz ibn Jabir al-Fahri, they started raiding up to the very
outskirts of Medina, destroying fruit-bearing trees and carrying away flocks. News
began pouring into Medina that the Meccans were allying with other tribes to
launch a massive attack against the Muslims. Muhammed
sent out small ambassadorial missions to these tribes to contract alliances and
treaties. One of those missions entered into a treaty with Banu Zamra. The
terms of the treaty were as follows:
This is the document of Muhammed, Messenger of God, for Banu
Zamra. Their lives and property are safe. If they are attacked by anyone, they
will be assisted except when they themselves fight against the religion
(Islam). In return, they will come to the help of the Prophet when called on by
him.
A similar pact was made with Banu
Madlaj at Dhul-`Ashira place. Quraish had sent a threatening letter to Abdullah
ibn Ubay who was the chief of his tribe prior to the arrival of the Prophet: AYou have given shelter to our man
(Muhammed). You should either kill him
or turn him out of Medina or else we swear that we will attack you and, killing
all the males, we will capture and enjoy your women.
The attack was considered so
imminent, and the small band of Muslims was in such peril, that the Prophet
used to remain awake throughout the night. Al-Darmi and al-Hakim have recorded
that AWhen the Prophet and his companions
came to Medina and the Ansar sheltered them, the Arabs
decided to attack them. The Prophet's companions used to sleep holding to their
weapons.”
This was the prelude for the Battle
of the Khandaq, moat, which took place in the month of Shawwal of 5
A.H./February of 627 A.D.
WHERE DID THE JEWS COME FROM?
One may wonder what brought those Jews to
Medina to live among people whom they regarded as their inferior, polytheist
pagans who regarded as profession other than trade to be beneath their status.
There are two theories. One says that those Jews were motivated by the desire
to be the first to believe in the new Arabian Prophet whose name was written in
their religious books and whose mission was about to start, so they made a mass
immigration to Medina.
Their high rabbis had told them that Medina would be the place where the new
Prophet, Muhammad (ص), would be preaching
the divine message. This view is supported by verses 40 – 103 of Surat
al-Baqara (Chapter of the Cow, i.e. Ch. 2) which repeatedly admonishes the
Israelites and strongly rebukes them for seeing the truth but turning away from
it. According to this theory, those Jews with religious fervor had come from
Jerusalem in particular and Greater Syria (Sham) in particular.
The other theory seeks an explanation from the historic events
that took place in southern Arabia, particularly Yemen, concluding that those
Jews had migrated from there seeking religious freedom and better economic
conditions. This is how advocates of this theory reason: The immigration
of the majority of Jews into Yemen from abroad appears to have taken place
about the beginning of the 2nd century A.D. But Yemen province is mentioned
neither by Josephus, better known as Yoseph ben (ibn, i.e. son of) Mattithyahu
(37 – cir. 100 A.D.), a Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer, nor by the
main books of the Jewish oral law, namely the Mishnah and Talmud.
According to some sources, the Jews of Yemen enjoyed prosperity until the 6th
century A.D. The Himyarite King, Abu-Karib Asad Toban, converted to Judaism at
the end of the 5th century, while laying siege to Medina. It is likely some of
his soldiers preferred to stay there for economic and perhaps other reasons.
His army had marched north to battle the Aksumites who had been fighting for
control of Yemen for a hundred years. The Aksumites were only expelled from the
region when the newly Jewish king rallied the Jews from all over Arabia,
together with pagan allies. But this victory was short-lived.
In 518 A.D., the kingdom of Yemen was taken over by Zar’a Yousuf, who was of
“royal descent” but was not the son of his predecessor, Ma'di Karib Ya’fur.
Yousuf converted to Judaism and instigated wars to drive the Aksumite
Ethiopians from Arabia. Zar'a Yousuf is chiefly known by his cognomen “Thu
Nuwas”, in reference to his curly hair. The Jewish rule lasted till 525 A.D.,
only 85 years before the inception of the Islamic Prophetic mission.
Some historians, however, date it later, to 530, when Christians from the
Aksumite Kingdom of Ethiopia defeated and killed Thu Nuwas, taking power in
Yemen. According to a number of medieval historians, Thu Nuwas announced that
he would persecute the Christians living in his kingdom, mostly in Najran,
because Christian states had persecuted his fellow co-religionists (the Jews)
in their realms. This persecution, which took place in the year 524 A.D., is
blamed on one Dimnon in Najran, that is, modern al-Ukhdood area of Saudi
Arabia.
Road sign marking the Ukhdood area
Najran is
a city now located in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with
Yemen, whereas Yemenis have always claimed it as their own area which the
Saudis seized by force and annexed to their kingdom in May of 1934. It is the
capital of the Najran Province. Local tradition says that the land derived its
name from the first man to settle in the area, Najran ibn Zaydan ibn Saba ibn
Yahjub ibn Ya`rub ibn Qahtan قحطان
(Joctan).
Najran was the Yemeni centre of cloth making. Originally, the kiswa or
the cloth of the Ka`ba was made there. The tradition of clothing the Ka`ba
was first started by the Yemeni kings of Saba (Sheba). There used to be a
Jewish community at Najran renowned for the garments they manufactured.
According to Yemenite Jewish tradition, the Jews of Najran traced their
origin to the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Aerial view of the
Ukhdood
Any reader of the Holy Qur’an must have
come across verse 4 of Surat al-Buruj (Chapter 85) of the Holy Qur’an which
refers to أَصْحَابُ الأُخْدُودِ,
fellows of the Ukhdood, which is imprecisely translated as “the ditch self-destructed”
in some English translations of the Holy Qur’an. To the author of this book,
who speaks Arabic as his mother tongue, my dear reader, “the ditch
self-destructed” does not make much sense at all.
Actually, this “Ukhdood” was a long ditch filled with firewood. It was lit and
the believers were thrown into it if they refused to abandon their faith. Some
ran away from this inferno, which may remind one of a similar situation which
took place with Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) at the hands of Nimrud of 13th
Century B.C. Assyria. The survivors, most likely Christians and Jews, fled up
north in the direction of Medina which they made home. The Almighty in 85:4
condemns this massacre in the strongest of terms, and Christians and Jews ought
to appreciate this fact.
According to some sources, after seizing the throne of the Himyarites, in 518
or 523 A.D., Thu Nuwas attacked the Aksumite (mainly Christian) garrison at
Zafar, capturing them and burning their churches. He then moved against Najran,
a Christian and Aksumite stronghold. After accepting the city's capitulation,
he massacred those inhabitants who would not renounce Christianity in this Ukhdood
incident. Estimates of the death toll from this event range up to 20,000 in
some sources. So, believers in God, Christians and Jews, had reasons to go
somewhere else where they would practice their religion freely while enjoying
better business opportunities among Arabs who, at the time, were mostly nomads.