In the name of Allah, the most Gracious
the most Merciful
I wrote this article in response to the question posed by an
atheist friend of mine who quoted the following aayah of the Qur’an:
Whatever you have cut down of [their] palm trees or left
standing on their trunks - it was by permission of Allah and so He would
disgrace the defiantly disobedient.
(Quran 59;5)
His argument has been that, "I have been told hundreds of
times that Islamic ethics of war even prohibit chopping of trees unnecessarily,
let alone killing of innocent civilians, women and children. Yet the above
verse of Quran justifies not only the way Jews of Medina were treated but the
chopping of tender palm trees."
Response:
In
order to understand the reasoning behind Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) dealing with
the Jews of Medina and ordering the cutting of ‘tender’ palm trees, it is
important to understand the historical background of that particular incident.
In
70 A.D when the Romans massacred the Jews in Palestine, and then in 132 A.D
expelled them from that land, many of the Jewish tribes fled to find asylum in
the Hejaz, a territory that was close to Palestine in the south. There, they
settled wherever they found water springs and greenery, and then by intrigue
and through money lending business gradually occupied the fertile lands.
Among
the tribes that settled in Yathrib the Bani al Nadir and the Bani Quraizah were
more prominent for they belonged to the Cohen or priest class. They were looked
upon as of noble descent and enjoyed religious leadership among their co-
religionists. When they came to settle in Medina there were some other tribes
living there before, whom they subdued and became practically the owners of
this green and fertile land. About three centuries later the great flood of Yemen
occurred which forced many Arab tribes to disperse in different parts of Arabia
and the Aus and the Khazraj went to settle in Yathrib.
Economically
the Jews were much stronger than the Arabs. Since they had emigrated from more
civilized and culturally advanced countries of Palestine and Syria, they knew
many such arts as were unknown to the Arabs; they also enjoyed trade relations
with the outside world. But their chief occupation was trading in money lending
in which they had trapped the Arabs of the surrounding areas. More particularly
the chiefs and elders of the Arab tribes who were given to a life of pomp,
bragging and boasting on the strength of borrowed money were deeply indebted to
them. They lent money on high rates of interest and then would charge compound
interest, which one could hardly clear off once one was involved in it. Thus,
they had rendered the Arabs economically hollow, but it had naturally induced a
deep rooted hatred among the common Arabs against the Jews.
Such were the conditions when Islam
came to Medina, and ultimately an Islamic State came into existence after the
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) arrival there. One of the first things that Muhammad
(SAW) accomplished soon after establishing this state was unification of the
Aus and the Khazraj (Arab tribes) and the Emigrants into a brotherhood, and the
second was that he made a treaty between the Muslims and the Jews on definite
conditions, in which it was pledged that neither party would encroach on the
rights of the other, and both would unite in a joint defence against the
external enemies. Some important clauses of this treaty are as follows, which
clearly show what the Jews and the Muslims had pledged to adhere to in their
mutual relationship:
"The Jews must bear their
expenses and the Muslims their expenses. Each must help the other against
anyone who attacks the people of this document. They must seek mutual advice
and consultation, and loyalty is a protection against treachery. They shall
sincerely wish one another well. Their relations will be governed by piety and
recognition of the rights of others, and not by sin and wrongdoing. The wronged
must be helped. The Jews must pay with the believers so long as the war lasts.
Yathrib shall be a sanctuary for the people of this document. If any dispute or
controversy likely to cause trouble should arise, it must be referred to God
and to Muhammad the Apostle of God; Quraish and their helpers shall not be
given protection. The contracting parties are bound to help one another against
any attack on Yathrib; every one shall be responsible for the defence of the
portion to which he belongs" (lbn Hisham, vol. ii, pp. 147 to 150).
This was on absolute and definitive
agreement to the conditions of which the Jews themselves had agreed. But not
very long after this they began to show hostility towards Muhammad (SAW), Islam
and the Muslims, and their hostility and perverseness went on increasing day by
day for three main reasons:
First, they envisaged Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) merely as a chief of his people, who should be content to have
concluded a political agreement with them and should only concern himself with
the worldly interests of his group. But they found that he was extending an
invitation to belief in Allah and the Apostleship and the Book (which also
included belief in their own Prophets and scriptures), and was urging the
people to give up disobedience of Allah and adopt obedience to the Divine
Commands and abide by the moral laws of their own prophets. This they could not
put up with. They feared that if this universal ideological movement gained
momentum it would destroy their rigid religious beliefs and wipe out their
racial nationhood.
Second, when they saw that the Aus
and the Khazraj and the Emigrants were uniting into a brotherhood and the
people from the Arab tribes of the surrounding areas, who entered Islam, were
also joining this Islamic Brotherhood of Medina and forming a religious
community, they feared that the selfish policy that they had been following of
sowing discord between the Arab tribes for the promotion of their own well
being and interests for centuries, would not work in the new system, but they
would face a united front of the Arabs against which their intrigues and plotting
would not succeed.
Third, the work that Muhammad (SAW)
was carrying out of reforming the society and civilization included putting an
end to all unlawful methods" in business and mutual dealings. More than
that; he had declared taking and giving of interest also as impure and unlawful
earning. This caused them the fear that if his rule became established in
Arabia, he would declare interest legally forbidden, and in this they saw their
own economic disaster and death.
For these reasons they would never
hesitate to employ any trick and means to harm him. They spread every kind of
falsehood so as to cause distrust against him in the people's minds. They
created every kind of doubt, suspicion and misgiving in the hearts of the new
converts to turn them back from Islam. They would resort to every kind of
deceit and fraud in order to harm the Muslims economically. Whenever one of
those with whom that had business dealings, would accept Islam, they would do
whatever they could to cause them financial loss.
They had adopted this hostile
attitude against the covenant even before the Battle of Badr. But when Muhammad
(SAW) and the Muslims won a decisive victory over the Quraish at Badr, they
were filled with grief, anguish, malice and anger. They were in fact
anticipating that in that war the powerful Quraish would deal a death blow to
the Muslims. That is why even before the news of the Islamic victory reached Medina
they had begun to spread the rumours that Muhammad (SAW) had fallen a martyr
and the Muslims had retreated. But when the battle was decided against their
hopes and wishes, they burst with anger and grief. (Ibn Sad, Ibn
Hisham, Tabari).
At the victory of Badr, Jews became
so provoked that they began to trouble and harass the Muslims and their women
in particular, who visited their shops. Day by day the things got so worse that
one day a Muslim woman was stripped naked publicly in their bazaar. This led to
a brawl in which a Muslim and a Jew were killed. Thereupon Muhammad (SAW)
himself visited their locality, got them together and counselled them on decent
conduct. But the reply that they gave was; "O Muhammad, you perhaps think
we are like the Quraish; they did not know fighting; therefore, you overpowered
them. But when you come in contact with us, you will see how men
fight."This was in clear words a declaration of war. Consequently, Muhammad
(SAW) laid siege to their quarters towards the end of Shawwal (and according to
some others, of Dhi Qa'dah) 2 A.H. The siege had hardly lasted for a fortnight
when they surrendered and all their fighting men were tied and taken prisoners.
Now Abdullah bin Ubayy came up in support of them and insisted that they should
be pardoned. The Holy Prophet conceded his request and decided that the Bani
Qainuqa would be exiled from Medina leaving their properties, armour and tools
of trade behind.
(Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hisham, Tarikh Tabari).
For some time after these punitive
measures (i.e. the banishment of the Qainuqa and killing of Ka'b bin Ashraf the
Jews remained so terror stricken that they did not dare commit any further
mischief. But later when in Shawwal, 3 A.H, the Quraish in order to avenge
themselves for the defeat at Badr, marched against Medina with great
preparations, and the Jews saw that only a thousand men had marched out with Muhammad
(SAW) as against three thousand men of the Quraish, and even they were deserted
by 300 hypocrites who returned to Medina, they committed the first and open
breach of the treaty by refusing to join the Holy Prophet in the defence of the
city although they were bound to it. Then, when in the Battle of Uhud the
Muslims suffered defeat, they were further encouraged, so much so that Bani
an-Nadir made a secret plan to kill Muhammad (SAW), though the plan failed
before it could be executed.
Now there was no question of showing
them any further concession. The Holy Prophet at once sent to them the
ultimatum that the treachery they had meditated against him had come to his
knowledge; therefore, they were to leave Medina within ten days; if anyone of
them was found staying behind in their quarters, he would be put to the sword.
Meanwhile Abdullah bin Ubayy sent them the message that he would help them with
two thousand men and that the Bani Quraizah and Bani Ghatafan also would come
to their aid; therefore, they should stand firm and should not go. On this
false assurance they responded to the Holy Prophet's ultimatum saying that they
would not leave Medina and he could do whatever was in his power. Consequently,
in Rabi' al-Awwal, 4 A.H, Muhammad (SAW) laid siege to them, and after a few
days of the siege (which according to some traditions were 6 and according to
others 15 days) they agreed to leave Medina on the condition that they could
retain all their property which they could carry on the camels, except the armour.
Thus, Medina was rid of this second mischievous tribe of Jews.
The reference is to the fact that
the Muslims cut down or burnt many of the palm-trees that stood in the oases
around the settlement of the Bani al Nadir in order to facilitate the siege.
However, they left those trees standing which did not obstruct the military
operations. At this the hypocrites of Medina and the Bani Quraizah, and the
Bani an-Nadir themselves, raised a clamour, saying that, on one hand,
Muhammad (SAW) prohibited spreading disorder in the world, but, on the other,
fruit trees were being cut down by his command, which amounted to spreading disorder
in the world. At this AIIah revealed this verse “whatever you have
cut down of [their] palm trees or left standing on their trunks - it was by
permission of Allah and so He would disgrace the defiantly disobedient” (Quran
59; 5, Sahih International). The legal injunction that is derived from this
verse is that the destruction caused for the sake of military operations does
not come under "spreading disorder in the world". (S A A Maududi)
Allah knows best.
Dr Samad Billoo