Q22
The Prophet's wars and Banu Qurayza
The question, at its strongest
"The Prophet is called 'a mercy to the worlds' (21:107), yet he led many military campaigns. After the Battle of the Trench in 627, the Jewish tribe of Qurayza surrendered, and according to the sources all their adult men — hundreds of them — were beheaded, and their women and children enslaved. The Quran itself mentions it: 'a party you killed, and you took captive a party' (33:26). And the Quran commands: 'kill the polytheists wherever you find them' (9:5) and 'fight those who do not believe… until they give the jizyah… while they are humbled' (9:29). How is this a model of mercy?"
Why people ask it
It is cited as decisive by critics of Islam, and Muslims who care about Jewish–Muslim relations feel its weight. Jewish readers ask about it as part of their own history.
Short answer
The sources report that Qurayza, during a siege that threatened Medina with destruction, entered negotiations with the attacking army; that after the siege they surrendered and accepted the judgment of Saʿd ibn Muʿadh, leader of their former allies; and that he sentenced the fighting men to death and the women and children to captivity, a verdict the Prophet (pbuh) approved (Bukhārī 4121 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)). The numbers in the later historical sources — 600 to 900 in Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari, 700 to 800 in Ibn Kathir — are uncertain, and some scholars think they are inflated. M. J. Kister (1986) defended the core account as historical. It was a collective punishment that modern humanitarian law forbids. Muslims explain it as a wartime judgment for treason, not a rule against Jews; the Quran's general rules on war are defensive and forbid killing women and children. Verses 9:5 and 9:29 have specific settings, and their classical readings were sometimes broader than modern ones. No reading removes the moral weight of Qurayza, and nothing in it supports hatred of Jews.
The full answer
9min read
For the heart and mind
If you are Jewish and reading this, this is part of your people's history, told here as the sources tell it, with its weight acknowledged. It gives no one any right to hostility toward Jews today. The Quran itself defends synagogues by name among the places of worship God protects (22:40).
If you are Muslim and feel uneasy, love for the Prophet (pbuh) and moral unease can live together. Trying to make the account painless by changing the facts would cost more trust than it gains.
What the Quran says
The permission to fight was defensive. "Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged" (22:39); they were "evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, 'Our Lord is Allah.' And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques" (22:40). These are the first verses permitting fighting, revealed around the emigration to Medina. "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress" (2:190), Medinan.
The Qurayza verse. "And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts [so that] a party you killed, and you took captive a party" (33:26), in Sura al-Ahzab, Medinan, after the Battle of the Trench. "Those who supported them" means those who supported the besieging coalition. The verse confirms the outcome but gives no numbers and no details.
9:5 in its setting. "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way" (9:5). The next verses say: "And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah. Then deliver him to his place of safety" (9:6), and "So as long as they are upright toward you, be upright toward them" (9:7). The passage, in Sura al-Tawba (one of the last Medinan suras), concerns Arab polytheists who had broken treaties; 9:4 and 9:7 exempt those who kept them.
9:29 in its setting. "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled" (9:29). Ibn Kathir connects it with the campaign of Tabuk, when the Prophet (pbuh) marched "towards Ash-Sham to fight the Romans".
What the Prophet (pbuh) taught
Women and children are not to be killed. Ibn ʿUmar (ra) reports that in one campaign "a woman was found killed", and the Prophet (pbuh) "forbade the killing of women and children" (Bukhārī 3015 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)).
Saʿd's verdict. Abu Saʿid al-Khudri (ra) reports: "The people of (Banu) Quraiza agreed to accept the verdict of Saʿd bin Muʿadh." The Prophet (pbuh) sent for him and told the Ansar, "Get up for your chief or for the best among you." Saʿd said: "Kill their (men) warriors and take their offspring as captives", and the Prophet (pbuh) said: "You have judged according to Allah's Judgment," or "according to the King's judgment" (Bukhārī 4121 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)).
How "adults" were identified. ʿAtiyya al-Qurazi said: "I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah", and "those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed"; he was spared because he had not (Abū Dāwūd 4404 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound) — al-Albānī; al-Albani: ṣaḥīḥ). So yes, this report exists and is graded authentic. It shows that puberty was used as the line between "fighting man" and "child".
History
The setting. Medina had three main Jewish tribes: Qaynuqaʿ, al-Nadir and Qurayza. Qaynuqaʿ were besieged and expelled in 624 after a dispute that escalated into killings; al-Nadir were besieged and expelled in 625 after the Prophet (pbuh) was told they were plotting to kill him; both left (Qaynuqaʿ toward Syria, al-Nadir to Khaybar) (Wikipedia, "Military career of Muhammad"). Leaders of al-Nadir then helped assemble the coalition that besieged Medina in 626–627 — about 10,000 men — at the Battle of the Trench.
What treaty? The so-called Constitution of Medina, an early agreement among Medina's groups, does not name Qaynuqaʿ, al-Nadir or Qurayza: "the three great Jewish tribes of Medina are not included in the document" (Rubin, p. 6). Lecker writes that Qurayza had a separate "non-belligerency agreement with Muhammad" (Encyclopaedia Judaica). The historians Watt and Stillman doubted that a specific treaty existed; the historian al-Waqidi (d. 823) reports one that Qurayza tore up (Wikipedia, "Siege").
What Qurayza did. Lecker writes that Qurayza "probably remained neutral": they lent the Muslims tools for digging the trench but also sold provisions to the besiegers. Ibn Ishaq reports that they readmitted Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the leader of al-Nadir, and al-Waqidi that Huyayy tore up their agreement; Watt says they "seem to have tried to remain neutral" and later entered negotiations with the invading army (Wikipedia, "Siege"). So the "breach" was, at the least, negotiating with an army besieging the city they were bound not to fight against; how far it went is disputed.
The siege and the verdict. After the coalition withdrew, the Muslims besieged Qurayza for 25 days (Wikipedia, "Siege"). They surrendered unconditionally, and their fate was "reportedly decided not by Muhammad" but by Saʿd ibn Muʿadh, the gravely wounded leader of the Aws, Qurayza's former allies; some of the Aws opposed his decision (Lecker). One woman was also executed, reportedly for killing a Muslim by dropping a millstone (Wikipedia, citing Abu Dawud and al-Mubarakpuri).
How late are the sources? Ibn Ishaq, the main source for the details, died in Baghdad in 767 — about 140 years after the event. His biography of the Prophet (pbuh) survives mostly through Ibn Hisham (d. 833) and extracts in al-Tabari (Wikipedia, "Ibn Ishaq"). His contemporary Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) rejected his stories about the Jews of Medina because, he said, "they were taken solely based on accounts by sons of Jewish converts" (as reported by Wikipedia, citing Arafat).
The numbers. The hadith collections give no number. The later sources give: Ibn Ishaq, 600 or 700, with the highest estimate 800–900; al-Tabari, 600 or 700, up to 800–900; Ibn Kathir, 700–800 (Wikipedia, "Siege", citing these sources). Kister estimated the women and children at about 1,000. Kirazli (2019) argues that "the number of Jews punished in this incident were significantly less than what is reported by Ibn Isḥāq".
Arafat and Kister. W. N. M. J. Kister (Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 8, 1986) re-examined the traditions and concluded that the core account — the execution of the adult men — is historical. Whether most historians follow Kister has not yet been checked; the numbers remain uncertain.
The other campaigns. The sources count 27 campaigns led by the Prophet (pbuh) (al-Waqidi and Ibn Saʿd; Ibn Ishaq counts 19) and 35–48 smaller expeditions (Wikipedia). They end with the conquest of Mecca (630), which was "largely bloodless" with a general amnesty, and at Khaybar (628) the Jews were allowed to stay in return for half their produce.
How scholars have understood it
Classical readings were often broad. Ibn Kathir writes that 9:5 "was called the Ayah of the Sword", and cites al-Dahhak ibn Muzahim: it "abrogated every agreement of peace between the Prophet and any idolator, every treaty, and every term". He says these verses "allowed fighting people unless, and until, they embrace Islam". On 9:29, he reads "while they are humbled" as "disgraced, humiliated and belittled", and cites conditions attributed to ʿUmar that restricted Christians' public worship.
Other classical voices. Al-Hasan al-Basri held 9:5 to be unabrogated but specific; al-Shafiʿi reports scholars explaining "while they are humbled" as meaning that "Islamic rulings are enforced on them"; Ibn al-Qayyim read it as requiring all subjects to obey the law (Wikipedia, "Sword Verse"; "Jizya"). "An yadin" ("willingly", literally "from a hand") was read by al-Tabari as paying directly, by Rashid Rida as according to means (Wikipedia, "Jizya").
Modern readings. Muhammad Abdel Haleem says the targeted polytheists "continuously broke their agreements and aided others against the Muslims", that the passage exempts those who kept their treaties (9:4, 9:7), and that 9:6 "orders that those enemies seeking safe-conduct should be protected"; he rejects the humiliation reading of 9:29. Patricia Crone, a non-Muslim historian, says 9:5 "is directed against a particular group accused of oath-breaking and aggression" (Wikipedia, "Sword Verse"). The Ottoman Empire abolished the jizya in 1856; Yusuf al-Qaradawi wrote that "there is no longer room for any payment, whether by name of jizya or any other", since all citizens now serve in the army (Wikipedia, "Jizya"). The 2014 Open Letter to al-Baghdadi states: "Jihad in Islam is defensive war."
The reasoning
What the defence says. Qurayza were judged for treason during a siege that threatened the city's survival, by an arbiter they themselves accepted, under the war norms of their time; the Prophet (pbuh) forbade killing women and children (Bukhari 3015); the verdict was a judgment on one group's conduct, not a rule about Jews; and the Quran's rules on war are defensive (22:39–40; 2:190).
What the critic says. Collective execution of all adult males, decided by physical signs of puberty, violates basic modern principles of individual guilt. "The norms of the time" explain; they do not justify. And if the Prophet (pbuh) is a model beyond his time, his approval of the verdict needs more than context.
How the tradition can answer the "model" question. As on the page about Aisha's age, Muslim jurists distinguished the Prophet's acts as messenger from his acts as judge and head of state (al-Qarafi; Ibn ʿAshur). Saʿd's verdict was a judicial and political act in a specific war, not a general law; the Quran's general law of war is restraint and defence. Limit: the Prophet (pbuh) called the verdict "Allah's Judgment" (Bukhārī 4121 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)), which makes it harder to treat as merely political. The moral weight remains.
The strongest objection, and the reply
"The numbers prove a massacre." Reply: the numbers come from sources written 140 years later and vary widely; Arafat and Kirazli argue they are inflated. Limit: even the lowest numbers describe a mass execution; the debate is about scale, not about whether it was severe.
"9:5 commands killing all non-Muslims." Reply: the passage names treaty-breaking polytheists, exempts those who kept treaties (9:4, 9:7), and orders protection for those who seek it (9:6). Limit: classical scholars such as al-Dahhak (via Ibn Kathir) read it far more broadly, and that reading had real effects; the modern contextual reading is strong but not the only one in the tradition.
"9:29 commands humiliating Christians and Jews." Reply: scholars disagreed on what "humbled" means — from humiliation (Ibn Kathir) to submission to the law (al-Shafiʿi's report; Ibn al-Qayyim; Abdel Haleem) — and the jizya was abolished in 1856. Limit: the humiliation reading was common in classical tafsir and law.
The range of views
- Traditional account — treason in wartime, arbitration, verdict approved by the Prophet (pbuh).
- Arafat (1976) — the story as told by Ibn Ishaq is not credible.
- Kister (1986) — the core account is historical.
- Kirazli (2019) — far fewer were executed than Ibn Ishaq says.
- On 9:5 and 9:29 — broad classical readings (al-Dahhak; Ibn Kathir) and contextual readings (al-Hasan al-Basri; Abdel Haleem; Crone; al-Qaradawi).
Questions readers ask next
Who were Saʿd ibn Muʿadh and Ibn Ishaq?
Saʿd was leader of the Aws, a Medinan Arab tribe allied to Qurayza before Islam; he died of wounds from the Trench soon after. Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) wrote the earliest surviving biography of the Prophet (pbuh), about 140 years after the events.
Were boys judged adult by checking for pubic hair?
Yes, according to ʿAtiyya al-Qurazi's report in Abu Dawud 4404, graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albani.
What happened to the other Jewish tribes?
Qaynuqaʿ (624) and al-Nadir (625) were besieged and expelled; Khaybar's Jews (628) stayed on terms.
Was there a treaty?
Not the "Constitution of Medina", which does not name Qurayza (Rubin). Lecker speaks of a non-belligerency agreement; some historians doubt any specific treaty.
How is the Prophet (pbuh) a moral model on this point?
In his general rules of war — defence, restraint, protection of women, children and those who seek safety — rather than in one wartime verdict whose moral weight Muslims should acknowledge.
Does this justify hostility to Jews?
No. The Quran protects synagogues (22:40), and a judgment about one group in one war is not a judgment about a people.
Key verses
أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَٰتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا۟ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ٣٩ ٱلَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا۟ مِن دِيَٰرِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّآ أَن يَقُولُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلنَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّهُدِّمَتْ صَوَٰمِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَٰتٌ وَمَسَٰجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا ٱسْمُ ٱللَّهِ كَثِيرًا ۗ وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ ٱللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُۥٓ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَقَوِىٌّ عَزِيزٌ٤٠
Transliteration: udhina lilladhīna yuqātalūna bi-annahum ẓulimū wa-inna l-laha ʿalā naṣrihim laqadīrun · alladhīna ukh'rijū min diyārihim bighayri ḥaqqin illā an yaqūlū rabbunā l-lahu walawlā dafʿu l-lahi l-nāsa baʿḍahum bibaʿḍin lahuddimat ṣawāmiʿu wabiyaʿun waṣalawātun wamasājidu yudh'karu fīhā us'mu l-lahi kathīran walayanṣuranna l-lahu man yanṣuruhu inna l-laha laqawiyyun ʿazīzun
Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory. [They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is Allah." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.
Translation: Saheeh International
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Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors. 2:190
Arabic text and transliteration
وَقَٰتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِينَ يُقَٰتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ
waqātilū fī sabīli l-lahi alladhīna yuqātilūnakum walā taʿtadū inna l-laha lā yuḥibbu l-muʿ'tadīna
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And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts [so that] a party you killed, and you took captive a party. 33:26
Arabic text and transliteration
وَأَنزَلَ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَٰهَرُوهُم مِّنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ مِن صَيَاصِيهِمْ وَقَذَفَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمُ ٱلرُّعْبَ فَرِيقًا تَقْتُلُونَ وَتَأْسِرُونَ فَرِيقًا
wa-anzala alladhīna ẓāharūhum min ahli l-kitābi min ṣayāṣīhim waqadhafa fī qulūbihimu l-ruʿ'ba farīqan taqtulūna watasirūna farīqan
Sources
- Saheeh International via the site's Tanzil data — 22:39–40, 2:190, 33:26, 21:107, 5:32.
- Saheeh International via legacy.quran.com — 9:5, 9:6, 9:7, 9:29, 47:4.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4121 (sunnah.com), 3015 (sunnah.com); Sunan Abi Dawud 4404 (sunnah.com, graded by al-Albani).
- Michael Lecker, "Qurayẓa, Banū", Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed., via Encyclopedia.com.
- Uri Rubin, "The 'Constitution of Medina': Some Notes", pp. 6–22, https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/Library/Rubin,%20U%20-%20The%20‘Constitution%20of%20Medina’.pdf.
- Sadik Kirazli, "Re-Examining the Story of Banū Qurayẓah Jews in Medina with a Reference to the Account of Ibn Isḥāq", Australian Journal of Islamic Studies 4:1 (2019), pp. 1–17 — abstract.
- Wikipedia: "Siege of Banu Qurayza"; "Military career of Muhammad"; "Ibn Ishaq"; "Sword Verse"; "Jizya" — used for figures and for the scholars they cite (Watt, Stillman, Peterson, Abdel Haleem, Crone, Kister, Rida), which not yet consulted directly.
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir (abridged English), on 9:5 and 9:29, surahquran.com.
- Open Letter to al-Baghdadi (2014).
- Arafat, JRAS (1976)
- Kister, JSAI 8 (1986)
- B. Ahmad (1979)
- Bukhārī 4121
- Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra (Ar.)
- TDV, "Kurayza, Benî" (Tr.)
- Hamidullah (Fr.)
- WikiShia (Fr.)