Le Massacre des Banu Qurayza: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}[[File:Banu qurayza massacre.jpg|175px|right|thumb|Detail from miniature painting: ''The Prophet, Ali, and the Companions at the Massacre of the Prisoners of the Jewish Tribe of Beni Qurayza'', illustration of a 19th century text by Muhammad Rafi Bazil.]]Selon les sources islamiques traditionnelles, en 627 après J.-C., à la suite de la [[Bataille de la Tranchée]] et de la trahison des Musulmans par la tribu juive des Banu Qurayza, les Musulmans, sous le commandement militaire direct du prophète [[Muhammad]], ont assiégé le camp des Banu Qurayza. Après un siège d'environ 2 semaines, selon les sources, les Juifs des Banu Qurayza se sont rendus et ont confié leur sort à un intermédiaire de confiance des Musulmans de la tribu des 'Aws, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh. Cependant, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, affirmant suivre la loi de la Torah elle-même, a conseillé à Muhammad de massacrer les hommes de la tribu et de vendre les femmes et les enfants comme esclaves. Muhammad a suivi ce conseil et, par conséquent, entre 400 et 900 prisonniers de la tribu, incluant des enfants montrant des signes de puberté, ont été abattus, beaucoup devant leur famille, et le reste de la tribu a été vendu en esclavage. L'événement est bien attesté dans la tradition historique islamique et a servi de base à de multiples décisions tout au long de l'histoire concernant le traitement des non-Musulmans capturés par les forces militaires Musulmanes.

Selon ibn Ishaq, les raids agressifs constants et la propension à la guerre de Muhammad avaient poussé les Mecquois, en alliance avec les tribus juives que Muhammad avait expulsées de Yathrib et la tribu arabe du nord, les Ghatafan, à mettre fin à ce prédicateur et à son mouvement une fois pour toutes. Les trois tribus juives originelles de Médine, les Banu Nadir, les Banu Qaynuqa et les Banu Qurayza, avaient vu leur nombre diminuer à une seule car Muhammad avait expulsé les Banu Nadir et les Banu Qaynuqa de Médine pour des prétextes différents. Pendant ce temps, leurs biens, y compris leurs précieux palmiers, avaient été saisis par Muhammad et les Musulmans. Avec les Mecquois et les Ghatafan, les tribus juives exilées de Médine avaient formé une alliance et rassemblé une armée dont les effectifs sont donnés dans la Sira comme étant d'environ 10 000 hommes, dont plus de 600 cavaliers montés, contre très peu de cavalerie pour les Musulmans, et 7 000 hommes plus puissants que l'armée qui avait vaincu Muhammad et les Musulmans à Uhud. A cette époque, Muhammad ne pouvait compter que sur une force d'environ 3 000 hommes. Muhammad a reçu la nouvelle de leur avance et a commencé à prendre des dispositions. Un compagnon perse du prophète nommé Salman, apparemment un vétéran des nombreuses guerres opposant les Sassanides face aux Romains, a conseillé que lorsqu'on était confronté à un grand nombre de cavaliers ennemis comme ceux que possédaient les Juifs confédérés et les Mecquois, une bonne stratégie était de creuser une tranchée défensive. Il a été décidé de poursuivre cette stratégie <ref>Martin Lings Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources Inner Traditions 2006, pages 222-223</ref>. Les Banu Qurayza n’ont pas fourni d'hommes pour aider, mais ont donné des outils de retranchement et la stratégie des Musulmans a reposé sur les Banu Qurayza, dont le fort se trouvait à l'arrière des défenses Musulmanes, ne rompant pas leur alliance avec Muhammad et ne se joignant pas aux confédérés. La stratégie de la tranchée a fonctionné pour remporter la bataille contre les Mecquois et leurs alliés, et les confédérés ont été repoussés sans beaucoup de pertes pour les Musulmans, mais cela n’a pas mis fin aux combats.

The battle of the trench being won, Muhammad and his men put their entrenching tools and weapons down to head home. According to the sira, though, Allah had other plans. The angel [[Jibreel]] appeared to Muhammad just as he had put down his weapon, and informed him that the battle was not yet over for the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah still needed to be dealt with due to their treachery, mentioned above. Muhammad informed his men that they were not to pray the 'asr prayer until they reached the Banu Qurayzah compound, meaning he wanted them to go there quickly. The Muslims laid siege to the compound for differing amounts of time depending on the source (ibn Ishaq claims 25 days before "Allah cast terror in their hearts"). The Banu Qurayzah were told to surrender and accept Islam, something they swore they would never do. Despairing of their position, according to ibn Ishaq, they discussed three options: accepting Islam, killing their wives and children and engaging in a banzai-style attack against the numerically superior Muslim forces (perhaps, modern commentators have added, in emulation of their religious forbearers at Masada in Palestine), or engaging in a sneak attack on the Jewish Sabbath. The Jews of the Banu Qurayzah found none of these options acceptable.

Unable to come to a decision and under siege for weeks, the Banu Qurayzah asked to speak with Abu Lubaba, a man of the tribe of 'Aws, their allies. Abu Lubaba, when asked what the Banu Qurayzahshould do, advised them to surrender to the prophet, but at the same time raised his hand to his neck, indicating they would be slaughtered <ref>ibid, 462</ref>. After he left, he felt that his action in telling the Banu Qurayzah of their fate was a betrayal of the prophet, and he tied himself to a pillar to ask for Allah's forgiveness, an act that Muhammad approved of. Despite this warning, the Banu Qurayzah surrendered to the Muslims the following day <ref>ibid, 463</ref>.

The tribe of 'Aws, allies of the Banu Qurayzah from the time of [[jahilliyah]], asked for mercy for them from the prophet. The prophet, not wanting to cause dissension in his ranks (oaths and alliances of loyalty were very important in tribal Arab society, as in the absence of courts and established governments the only guaranty of security and justice which could be obtained was the promise of protection from allies in the case of murder, family feuds or war), entrusted the fate of the Banu Qurayzah to a trusted elder shaykh of the 'Aws, Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh, who had been mortally wounded during the battle and would in fact die a shortly after the slaughter of the Banu Qurayza. Once Sa'd bin Mu'adh had ascertained that both the Banu Qurayzah and the prophet would abide by his judgement, whatever it be, he gave it without hesitation: the men of the Banu Qurayzah were to be executed to the last, while the women and children should be sold into slavery. Sa'd bin Mu‘adh justified this decision as being from the Torah of the Jews itself. Ibn Ishaq does not cite the verse and chapter from the Bible but this is usually taken as a reference to the book of Deuteronomy 20:12-14:{{Quote|Deuteronomy 20:12-14|וְאִם  לֹ֤א  תַשְׁלִים֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ  וְעָשְׂתָ֥ה  עִמְּךָ֖ מִלְחָמָ֑ה  וְצַרְתָּ֖  עָלֶֽיהָ וּנְתָנָ֛הּ  יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ  בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ  וְהִכִּיתָ֥ אֶת  כָּל  זְכוּרָ֖הּ לְפִי  חָֽרֶב  רַ֣ק  הַ֠נָּשִׁים  וְהַטַּ֨ף וְהַבְּהֵמָ֜ה  וְכֹל֩  אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִהְיֶ֥ה  בָעִ֛יר  כָּל־  שְׁלָלָ֖הּ  תָּבֹ֣ז לָ֑ךְ  וְאָֽכַלְתָּ֙  אֶת  שְׁלַ֣ל  אֹיְבֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר  נָתַ֛ן  יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ  לָֽךְ

But if the city makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it; and when the Lord your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves; and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.}}

Although modern Muslims cite this verse in justification of Mu'adh's verdict, it should be noted that neither Jewish nor Christian tradition understands this verse as a blanket rule for warfare, but rather as a specific command to the Jews under the command of Joshua who were fighting the pagan peoples of the Holy Land. It has not, generally, been used by either religion to justify the sort of massacre that took place in Medina in other historical contexts.

The prisoners, thus condemned, were kept in the house or compound of a Muslim woman d. Al-Harith of the banu al-Najjaar tribe. In the morning they were marched out to a trench which had been dug in the city's market, and executed by decapitation <ref>ibid, 465</ref> . According to the sira of ibn Ishaq, one woman was amongst them. The other women and the children were given as sexual and labor slaves to the Muslims, with only boys who had not yet reached puberty being allowed to live. According to the sira, the haul of weapons and plunder was substantial, but Muhammad still sent some of the women and children to be sold in the Najd for more horses and weapons <ref>ibid, 466</ref>. Muhammad as was custom received his pick of the loot including his pick of the females, a beautiful Jewish named Rayhana whose husband was decapitated, and the rest went to all the rest of the Muslims, with a Muslim on horse receiving 3 times the spoils of a foot soldier <ref>ibid, 466</ref>.

==Tafsir Accounts==

The famed [[tafsir|mufassir]] [[ibn Kathir]], drawing upon his own sources as well as many other classical commentators, in his commentary on sura 33 Al-Ahzab الأحزاب  "The Confederates" reaffirms many of the pertinent details from the sira narrative. In particular, ibn Kathir reads into the Quran's denouncement of the [[people of the book]] the perfidious Jews of the tribe of Banu Qurayzah and their betrayal of the prophet:{{Quote|Tafsir of ibn Kathir Qur'an Surah 33

For thus the most-High said "Those how had backed them (the confederates) came down" meaning: they assisted the confederates and helped them to make war on the Apostle of God (sala allah 'aleyhi wasallam). "From the people of

the book" that is to say the Banu Qurayza of the Jews, descendants of the sons of Israel, who had come down to the Hijaz in olden times, doing so (aiding the Meccans) greedily against the followers of the illiterate prophet (Muhammad) whom they found written about in the Torah and the Gospel "when he came to them they did not know him and disbelieved in him" (surah al-baqarah 89) }}He refers here to [[Surah]] 33:{{Quote|{{Quran-range|33|26|27}}| And He brought those of the People of the Scripture who supported them down from their strongholds, and cast panic into their hearts. Some ye slew and ye made captive some.

And He caused you to inherit their land and their houses and their wealth, and land ye have not trodden. Allah is Able to do all things }}ibn Kathir confirms that it was the angels themselves who implored Muhammad not to stop fighting:{{Quote|Tafisr of ibn Kathir on Qur'an Surah 33|2=وَرَجَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ مُؤَيَّدًا مَنْصُورًا، وَوَضَعَ النَّاسُ السِّلَاحَ. فَبَيْنَمَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَغْتَسِلُ(٤) مِنْ وَعْثَاءِ تِلْكَ الْمُرَابَطَةِ فِي بَيْتِ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ