Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
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Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf (Arabic: كعب بن الاشرف)(d. 624) was a chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir and a poet, who was assassinated by an order of Muhammad. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was born to a Jewish mother from the Banu Nadir tribe and an Arab father, and he followed his mother's religion.[1][2]
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[edit] Biography
Ka'b was infuriated at Muhammad's execution of a number of Meccan notables of the Quraysh tribe who had been captured after the Muslim victory in the Battle of Badr in March 624.[1] The traditional Muslim biography of Muhammad reports Ka'b as saying "...if Muhammad has indeed struck down those people, then it were better to be buried in the earth than to walk upon it!"[3] He went to Mecca, where he wrote a poetic eulogy commemorating the Quraysh prisoners of war who had been killed upon Muhammad's order after the Battle of Badr and encouraged the Quraysh to fight against the Muslims. Upon returning to Medina, Ka'b also wrote erotic poetry about Muslim women, which Muhammad and his followers found offensive.[1][3]
Other historians cite that Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf went to Quraish in order to lament the loss at Badr and to incite them to take up arms to regain lost honour, noting the statement of Muhammad: "He (Ka'b) has openly assumed enmity to us and speaks evil of us and he has gone over to the polytheists (who were at war with Muslims) and has made them gather against us for fighting".[4] This too was thought to be in contravention of the Constitution of Medina, of which the tribe led by Ka'b ibn al-Asharf was a signatory, which prohibited them from "extending any support" to the tribes of Mecca, namely the Quraish.
Because the norms of the Arab society of that period demanded retaliation for a slight to a group's honor,[2] Muhammad called upon his followers to kill Ka'b, and Muhammad ibn Maslama offered his services, collecting four others, including a foster-brother of Ka'b. By pretending to have turned against Muhammad, they enticed Ka'b out of his fortress on a moonlight night[1] for what was supposed to be negotiations of Ka'b's sale of food to them. When the assassins went out on their mission, Muhammad accompanied them for much of their way[original research?]. After Ka'b walked out of his fortress to meet Muhammad ibn Maslama and his companions, they attacked Ka'b and killed him in spite of his vigorous resistance.[5][6]
The Jews were terrified at the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, and as a Muslim biographer of Muhammad put it "...there was not a Jew who did not fear for his life".[7] Shortly after the killing of Ka'b, Muhammad attacked Banu Nadir and expelled them from Medina.[8]
[edit] Relevant hadith
Sahih Bukhari Vol 5 Book 59 Hadith 369
[edit] See also
- Non-Muslim interactants with Muslims during Muhammad's era
- Asma bint Marwan
- Abu 'Afak
- Huyayy ibn Akhtab
- Ka'b ibn Asad
- Al-Kawthar
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Montgomery Watt, W.. "Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Ed. P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912.
- ^ a b Stillman, Norman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, p. 13. ISBN 082760198.
- ^ a b Ibn Hisham. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Life of The Prophet). English translation in Stillman (1979), p. 124
- ^ al-Zurqaani, Sharh al-Muwaahib, Vol II p. 10-12
- ^ Ibn Hisham. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Life of The Prophet). English translation in Stillman (1979), pp. 125–126
- ^ Sahih Bukhari [1]
- ^ Ibn Hisham. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (The Life of The Prophet). English translation in Stillman (1979), p. 127
- ^ Stillman (1979), p. 14
