Countering Islamic Propaganda: The Banu Nadir

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The Banu Nadir Incident

From Discover the Truth:

The Prophet prepared for war against the aggressors who had planned to assassinate him.
(March 10, 2016)

What the Apologists Want You to Believe

The Sira tells us that the Banu Nadir were one of three Jewish tribes at Medina which were expelled or massacred at Muhammad's direction. In the case of the Nadir, they were robbed of their wealth and evicted. Some leaders were even murdered.

In order to justify this, DTT contends that the Banu Nadir had given information to the Quraish enemy and also attempted to assassinate Muhammad by dropping a rock on him.

What They Offer as Proof

Discover the Truth goes into great detail about the Banu Nadir telling the Quraish "the weak spots of the Muslims in battle... where the Muslims were, where to attack, and where to hide, lay in wait to kill the Muslims" (although this seems to have completely eluded the early Sira and Hadith compilers).

Only two references are provided by DTT from established sources: Abu Dawud and Ibn Ishaq. Neither one mentions information being sent to the Quraish. Ishaq makes a reference to an assassination plot (more on that later), but the sahih hadith verse makes no mention of either a plot or information passed from the Nadir to the Quraish.

A laughable account from al-Waqidi's Kitab al-Maghazi contradicts the rest, and has thirty Jews trying to assassinate Muhammad with concealed daggers. It's one more reason why al-Waqidi is dismissed as fabricator.

What They Leave Out and Why They are Wrong

The Banu Nadir were evicted following the Muslim defeat at Uhud, when Muhammad would have been angry and looking for a way to save face with his cult-like band of believers.

There are two stories of the Banu Nadir incident. One mentions the alleged assassination attempt and the other does not. Neither account says that the Banu Nadir attacked Muhammad or assisted the enemy against him. A sahih verse from Abu Dawud simply says that the Quraish sent a letter to the Nadir tribe, attempting to recruit them.

The hadith clearly shows that the Banu Nadir were caught between the Quraish and Muhammad. They had lived peacefully in Medina well before he arrived and brought his feud with him. The Nadir were repeatedly threatened by the Quraish for having given shelter to someone who had declared war on the Quraish. In one case Muhammad talked them out of defending themselves by assuring them that they were safe:

The infidels of the Quraysh wrote (a letter) to Ibn Ubayy and to those who worshipped idols from al-Aws and al-Khazraj, while the Messenger of Allah...
(They wrote): You gave protection to our companion. We swear by Allah, you should fight him or expel him, or we shall come to you in full force, until we kill your fighters and appropriate your women.

When this (news) reached Abdullah ibn Ubayy and those who were worshippers of idols, with him they gathered together to fight the Messenger of Allah.

When this news reached the Messenger of Allah, he visited them and said: "The threat of the Quraysh to you has reached its end. They cannot contrive a plot against you, greater than what you yourselves intended to harm you...

When they heard this from the Prophet, they scattered. This reached the infidels of the Quraysh. The infidels of the Quraysh again wrote (a letter) to the Jews after the battle of Badr: You are men of weapons and fortresses. You should fight our companion or we shall deal with you in a certain way. And nothing will come between us and the anklets of your women. (Abu Dawud 2998)

The same verse goes on to say that the Banu Nadir offered to dialog with Muhammad:

They sent a message to the Prophet: Come out to us with thirty men from your companions, and thirty rabbis will come out from us till we meet at a central place where they will hear you. If they testify to you and believe in you, we shall believe in you

Muhammad's response was to surround the Banu Nadir with an army in an attempt to force them to sign a treaty. They did not want to ally themselves with either side, and so he attacked them after Uhud:

The Messenger of Allah went out in the morning with an army, and surrounded them. He told them: I swear by Allah, you will have no peace from me until you conclude a treaty with me. But they refused to conclude a treaty with him.

He therefore fought them the same day.

Next he attacked Banu Quraysh with an army in the morning, and left Banu an-Nadir. He asked them to sign a treaty and they signed it.

He turned away from them and attacked Banu an-Nadir with an army. He fought with them until they agreed to expulsion (Abu Dawud 2998)

These are not the actions of a man of peace, but one who craves power and material possessions. Once the situation with the Quraish was dealt with, Muhammad turned right around and attacked the Banu Nadir again until they were defeated and expelled. Nothing is said about treachery - on the part of the Nadir, at least. Clearly the Jewish tribe was the one being forced to act in self-defense.

This episode even follows the assassination of several key members of the Jewish tribe by Muhammad , including Ka'b al-Ashraf. These would surely be called violations of the treaty had they been Muslims, but such are the double standards of Islam. Needless to say, the Banu Nadir had every reason to doubt the wisdom of allowing Muhammad into the fold.

The supposed plot to assassinate Muhammad appears in the Sira, but not in the Hadith. In this version of the 'incident', Muhammad goes to ask the Banu Nadir for help with paying blood money to another tribe for a member who was killed by Muslims. This would have been a strange thing to do if the Nadir had just helped out the Quraish, as occurred in DTT's fictionalized account.

The sequence of events from the Sira is as follows:

    1) Muhammad goes to visit a Jewish tribe to beg for money

    2) Muhammad learns of an assassination plot... from an angel

    3) Muhammad convinces his tribe to attack and evict the Banu Nadir

    4) Muhammad confiscates the wealth of the Banu Nadir tribe entirely for himself

So, when apologists tell you that there was an assassination plot, keep in mind that the credibility of the account actually rests with the man who gained the most materially and claimed that he got his information from an angel. For this, an entire tribe was evicted. (And this from a man whom the apologists say never sought revenge for himself).

Muhammad's angel even told him that a man named Amr ibn Jahish was going to drop a rock on him from a rooftop. This would seem to be an unlikely form of assassination. However, no one disputes that Jahish was later murdered at Muhammad's direction... based on his "vision".

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The Banu Nadir Incident

From Discover the Truth:

What the Apologists Want You to Believe

What They Offer as Proof

What They Leave Out and Why They are Wrong

Further Reading

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