Surah Al-Ahzab Verse 26

3701 The reference is to thejewish tribe of the Banu Qurayzah. They counted among the citizens of Madinah and were bound by solemn engagements to help in the defence of the city. But on the occasion of the Confederate siege by the Qurash and their allies, they intrigued with the enemies and treacherously aided them. Immediately after the siege was raised and the Confederates had fled in hot haste, the Prophet turned his attention to the treacherous "friends" who had betrayed his City in the hour of danger. 3702 The Banu Qurayzah (see last note) were filled with terror and dismay when Madinah was free from the Qurash danger. They shut themselves up in their castles about three or four miles to the east (or north east) of Madinah, and sustained a siege of 25 days, after which they surrendered, stipulating that they would abide by the decision of their fate at the hands of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of the Aws tribe, with which they had been in alliance. 3703 Sa'd applied to them the J ewish Law of the Old Testament, not as strictly as the case warranted. In Deut. 20:10-18, the treatment of a city "which is very far off from thee" is prescribed to be comparatively more lenient than the treatment of a city "of the people, which the Lord thy God does give thee for an inheritance," i.e., which is near enough to corrupt the religion of the Jewish people. The punishment for these is total annihilation: "thou shall save alive nothing that breatheth" (Deut. 20:16 ). The more lenient treatment for far-off cities is described in the next note. According to the Jewish standard, then, the Banu Qurayzah deserved total extermination-of men, women, and children. They were in the territory of MadTnah itself, and further they had broken their engagements and helped the enemy. 3704 Sa'd adjudged them the mildest treatment of the "far-off" cities which is thus described in the Jewish Law: "Thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee" (Deut. 20:13-14). The men of the Qurayzah were slain: the women were sold as captives of war: and their lands and properties were divided among the Muhajirs.