Before we begin the battle of Khaybar, we will recap the situation of the jewish

tribes. Why? The battle of Khaybar represents the final expulsion of jewish tri
bes in central Arabia at the time, and alot of muslims always get confused so we
will quickly recap about previous incidents.
How did they get to Arabia in the first place? One theory is they came from Yeme
n, another theory is they were sent by Musa AS himself looking for the final pro
phet. Another theory is they were there from the jewish diaspera i.e. the expuls
ion of Jews from Jerusulam and there are considered to be three diasperas, two m
ajor and one minor. The first took place is 587BC when the Nabyokat Naza destroy
ed the temple of Soloman and he exiled the jews from Jeresulam. This was when mo
st of the jews went to Iran, and some say it was here jews went to Arabia but th
is seems far too early (1000 years before the prophet PBUHs birth). The second d
iaspera took place at 70CE under the emporer Titas. Once again the temple of Sol
oman was destroyed and the jews scattered and its most likely here they made the
ir way down to south of Yemen. There was a minor diaspera in 135CE under the emp
orer Hadyrian similar to the 70CE one. So most likely the jews went to Iran firs
t in 587BC, and then in 70CE the jews went down to Yemen. Either some of them se
ttled in Arabia for some time. Or another theory which makes more sense is that
a group of yemeni jews went back up north to Yathrib. And this explains many thi
ngs - why there were arab in culture, language and tribes. It was not typical fo
r jews to be divided into tribes whereas in Yathrib they were i.e. Banu Nadheer,
Banu Qanuqa etc. And it is not of the character of the jewish nation to be divi
ded like this - it's an arab thing. Most likely after the second diaspera, large
groups of jews settled in Yemen. And we have historical evidence Yemeni jews ha
ve been in Yemen for around 2000 years.
And we all know Yemen was a civilisation far more advanced than Arabia at the ti
me of the prophet PBUH. It had a kingdom, writing, history etc. We have records
from yemeni kings who inacted treaties with the jews, and they date back 1700 ye
ars. So the jewish presence in Yemen is very ancient. There are no jews in Yemen
anymore because in 1948 there was a huge airlifting which America helped to do
financially, where they airlifted the yemeni jews to the modern nation of Isreal
. There's only a handful of yemeni jews left in Yemen. So in any case, it appear
s the jews of central Arabia came from Yemen in 70CE, and then at some time whic
h we don't know (there is no mention of them in non Islamic sources) maybe 100-1
50 years before the prophet PBUH settled in Yathrib. Not 500-600 years before th
e coming of the prophet PBUH. Why? Because if you look at the quantity of the tr
ibes at Yathrib, it makes sense that they date back this far. Generally speaking
a tribe can't be too big or else it will split. The jews in Yathrib had only th
ree major tribes, a size of around 6000 in total. Going back we can extrapolate
they were there for around 200 years before the coming of the prophet PBUH. This
also explains why the Aws and Khazraj were comfortable with the jews from Yathr
ib. Because they are also from Yemen so perhaps they knew them from before and t
rusted each other. Or the Aws and Khazraj settled first and then jews from Yemen
came down to Yathrib and allianced.
The first tribe to be expelled was the Banu Qaynuqa. They were expelled right af
ter Badr in Shawwal of the second year of the Hijrah. Why? Because they gave thr
eats to the prophet PBUH that "if you fought real men you would have won". The s
econd tribe was the Banu Nadheer because they tried to assassinate the prophet P
BUH by throwing a rock on him. So they were expelled. And the final tribe was th
e Banu Quraydha who was executed for treason. So with this expulsion there was n
o jewish tribes in Madinah. However the two tribes who had been expelled before
migrated to Khaybar. And it was the closest jewish tribe to Madinah; especially
the leaders of them Huyay ibn Akhtab and Salam ibn Abul Huqayq were very open an
d hostile enimies. We know in the battle of the trench the jews of Khaybar helpe
d some of the fighters from the battle of the trench to convice the Banu Quraydh
a to break the treaty with the prophet PBUH. And they helped with their arms, we
apons etc. Therefore as soon as Hudaybiyya was finalised, now he can worry about

the one potential threat in his local vicinity left: the people of Khaybar.
What is Khaybar? It is a lucious city north of Madinah. And it sits at the top o
f a huge underground river. Khaybar and Madinah both sit on top of these large c
urrents. And Khaybar actually has far more fertile land than Madinah - it has mu
ch more land, but the quantity of people living there is fewer than Madinah. So
Khaybar the name goes back one of the Amalkytes, or a jewish name for a fortress
(Kayabeer is hebrew for fortress) or it comes from an arabic word kabira which
means fertile. And Khaybar was one of the largest dates producing land in the wh
ole of Arabia. And it was populated only by jewish tribes. And they had done wha
t they had done in every other land, which is to build their unique fortresses.
This again shows us the jews of Yathrib and Khaybar come from Yemen where there
was the knowledge of building dams, fortresses etc. The arabs had not mastered t
his art and the jews kept this building of fortresses a complete secret. One or
two arabs tried to imitate them but it was second rate. And Khaybar was known to
have the biggest and most magnificent fortresses in Arabia. The entire city was
living inside completely walled fortresses and thus it was impenetrable for the
muslims who didn't have any major weapons at the time. This was one of the big
issues. Therefore the muslims realised this would be a very difficult battle.
As we said the main reason to attack Khaybar was to pre-emptively attack. Why? B
ecause Khaybar were evil and treacherous and they would do anything to get their
land back in Madinah. So it was a pre-emptive attack so the people of Khaybar d
oes not launch an attack on Madinah. And this is frankly how things worked. Khay
bar had no treaty with Madinah, and in those days every single land has to be pr
epared for attack. Why do you think the jews had huge fortresses anyway? It was
survival of the fittest, and the rule of the land was that you can attack other
tribes. People who say 'oh look at this..' we simply say this is how every group
did it. That was the law in those times. Since there is no treaty with the peop
le of Khaybar, they are completely legitimate targets.
So the prophet PBUH announced he is going to Khaybar, and he took with him aroun
d 1700 men. When did it take place? Slight difference of opinion. Ibn Ishaaq say
s it took place in Muharram 7H. Al Waaqidi says Safar 7H and this makes sense si
nce it began in Muharram and ended in Safar. Imam Malik and az Zuhri say Muharra
m 6H, but this goes back to their calculation of the hijrah of the first year be
ing 0H, so in reality when they say 6AH they mean 7AH. So the majority position
is Muharram - this shows us the muslims barely rested for two weeks after Hudayb
iyya and immediately the prophet PBUH is thinking of Khaybar. It is the only rea
l threat left in central Arabia. And all the books of hadith left in high spirit
s (Bhukari and Muslim). They say when the muslims were marching, they were so en
thusiastic they were shouting and screaming "Allahu Akbar" but the prophet PBUH
said "oh people be gentle with yourselves, for verily the One you are calling ou
t to is not deaf, He can hear you and see you and is nearer to you than your jug
ular vein". And the prophet PBUH marched and Khaybar was around 230km away, and
the prophet PBUH reached there in less than two days. And he did not stop until
he was right outside Khaybar.
Note Khaybar wasn't a real city - it was just a bunch of fortresses. How many? T
he books say many - at least 8 or 9. Most likely 15, and each of its fortresses
had its own mini camp. And Khaybar was divided into two halves i.e. in one half
there was 6-8 fortresses, and on the other side was 6-8 fortresses. Khaybar is a
large land; many acres of green lush land. It had land on which dates are being
harvested. Within this land, the land had basically two halves - on one half th
ere were many 6-8 fortresses, on the other half which was a few hours of marchin
g away there 6-8 fortresses. And when the prophet PBUH came to KHaybar, it was a
complete suprise for the people of Khaybar. They never expected it. Bhukari say
s the prophet PBUH intentionally camped away from Khaybar at night so they start
ed marching to Khaybar before Fajr to completely suprise them. And when they fin
ally came within the distance of the first fortress, they saw the people exiting

with their clothes, tools and axes etc to harvest the dates, but when they saw
the muslims they rushed back running saying "Muhammad and his army has arrived!"
The very fact they say this shows, even though they are suprised, they knew it
was going to happen and somewhat expected it. So they yelled out "Muhammad has a
rrived" and they ran inside, shut the doors and sealed them. Here is when the pr
ophet PBUH uttered his famous lines mentioned in every book of seerah and hadith
"Allah is the greatest. Khaybar has been destroyed. And whenever we arrive at t
he border of a people, then what an evil warning it is for those who have been w
arned".
The books of seerah mention a bunch of incidents and as usual we peice them toge
ther. So what happens? All of the individual tribes have locked themselves up. A
nd the prophet PBUH and the sahaba conquer one fortress at a time. This actually
was partly cause for their downfall. Why? They never thought "what if an army c
omes straight to our land, we won't be able to help one another! And each group
will have to face the entire army on their own". And this is exactly what happen
ed. Each single group and mini fortress had to face up to 2000 men alone. It was
a gaping whole in the construction of the fortresses and that is they could not
unite against a large army. And the prophet PBUH kept on targetting one fortres
s after an other. One fortress was Abu Nizar, another was called As-Sahb. One of
the largest fortress Na'im took over 10 days to conquer. And the muslims threw
arrows and constant firing for 10 days straight. Abu Bukr RA took charge for a f
ew days, then Umar RA etc. For 10 days they fought and one of the famous sahaba
died a shaheed when the people of the fortress threw a large log back. The musli
ms never experianced this before, and did not quite know how to set up to defend
. And one of the sahabi came too close to the fortress and they threw a large lo
g on him - Mahmood RA and this was very demoralising for the sahaba.
So for 10 days straight the muslims fought this one fortress Na'im, and on the 1
0th night the prophet PBUH made an announcement and said "tomorrow as Fajr I wil
l hand the banner to someone whom Allah and His messenger love. And Allah will g
rant us victory as his hands". And Umar RA said "never in my life did I wish to
become a leader like I did on that night". Because this is a great honour, and i
n the morning the prophet PBUH prayed Fajr, turned around and said "where is Ali
ibn Abi Talib?" And so they said "he has some problem with his eyes (i.e. infec
tion) so he remained in his tent". So the prophet PBUH said "bring him to me". W
hen Ali RA came, the prophet PBUH spat into his eyes and he became cured. And he
then handed the banner to Ali RA and said "Go forth bismillah! And keep on goin
g and do NOT turn back". And this was a great blessing for Ali ibn Abi Talib and
he came forth with the banner but then he paused because he wanted to ask a que
stion. But the prophet PBUH had told him "go forth and don't turn back!" so he p
aused where he was and instead of turning around he shouted at the top of his lu
ngs "Ya RasulAllah what conditions should I give them?!" SubhanAllah he dosen't
want to turn around because that would be disobeying. So he shouts out "what are
the conditions?" And so the prophet PBUH said "fight them until they testify I
am the Messenger of Allah; if they do so, their lives will be protected". And th
is shows us the ultimate goal of these types of expidition is not killing nor is
it conquest of land. It was inviting people to the prophet PBUH. After 10 days
the prophet PBUH still says first call them to Allah; if they agree everything t
hey own is theirs. Beacuse "by Allah if one person is guided to Islam through yo
u, it's better than a whole herd of camels". Thus these conquests were dawah foc
used. And the cheifton of this fortress was Mirhab, and he felt bold enough to c
hallenge the muslims to a duel. And firstly Amr ibn Al Akwah, an ansari took on
the challenge, but Mirhab killed him. The next person was Ali RA himself and so
Ali RA took him on in the duel and managed to kill Mirhab. And this was one of t
he biggest victories for the muslims.
After Mirhab died eventually the people came out to face the muslims and fought
a severe battle. But the muslims eventually overcame. It is during this expiditi
on the famous incident we know happened. That Ali RAs sheild was knocked out, an

d Ali was left defenceless. So he went to the door of the fortress, and its a ma
ssive structure. And he used the entire door as a sheild for the remainder of th
e battle. And when it was over he threw it aside and Abu Rafi' the narrator said
"seven of us tried to pick up the door but we couldn't" and there is no doubt t
his is a mini miracle given to Ali RA. Ali RA was a man whom Allah and His messe
nger loved and we too love him with a true love. So when an Na'im was conquered
they moved on to the next which was As Sa'ab, and it took the muslims three days
to conquer this - it was a great miracle they conquered it because their food s
upplies had dwindled to nothing and they had nothing left. But amazingly when th
e muslims conquered As Sa'ab it was full of grain, food etc. So they used this f
ood and lived off of it for the remainder of the battle of Khaybar.
A number of stories is mentioned in this battle. Of them is the story of the sla
ve who came to the prophet PBUH who had heard a man is claiming to be a prophet.
So he asked the prophet PBUH "what are you about?" So the prophet PBUH said "I
am a prophet". So he said "what have you come with?" So the prophet PBUH explain
ed what Islam is, and when he heard this the slave accepted Islam then and there
. And he said "my master has sent me to graze the flock, what shall I do with it
?" The prophet PBUH said "return it to your master". The prophet PBUH rubbed the
heads of the sheep and told the slave "go to such a place and the sheep will re
turn to their master". And the slave came back to the army, fought a severe figh
t until a stray arrow killed him. And after the battle was over the prophet PBUH
stood over his body, and he only had a small cloth covering his aura during the
burial. So as he was being buried, the prophet PBUH closed his eyes. The sahaba
asked why and the prophet PBUH said "his two Hoor al Ayn have come to greet him
". And this was a man who never did one sadjah to Allah yet died a shaheed. And
we have such cases during the seerah. And subhanAllah we see the honesty of the
prophet PBUH in rejecting the sheep. Even though he is at war with the tribe the
prophet PBUH knows the slave has been given a trust by the master. So the proph
et PBUH returned all of the sheeps to the master, even though the irony is the p
rophet PBUH is fighting the master in war.
This next story appears in multiple battles and scholars differ if it only happe
ned once or more than once. In any case this story is mentioned in Bhukari that
it occured at Khaybar so we mention it here, and that it is the story of the bed
ouin who was fighting a mighty fight. And the people are impressed and say "this
is a man from Jannah" and the prophet PBUH said "no rather he is from the hellf
ire". So one of the sahaba follow him until an arrow injured his hand, and when
this man saw this, he took his sword, put it on the ground and jumped on the swo
rd. So the reason he was fighting was to be called powerful and mighty, for ego
and honour, not for the sake of Allah. So the man who was following him went bac
k to the prophet PBUH and repeated the khalma. The prophet PBUH said "what is th
e matter you are already a muslim". So he explained what happened and the prophe
t PBUH said "It is possible a person does deeds that appears to the eyes of peop
le to be deeds of the people of Jannah, but kudr catches up to him and he dies w
hile doing a deed of the fire of hell. And its possible a person appears to be d
oing the deeds of an evil person, but he dies doing a deed of Jannah". So the po
int is Allah judges us depending on the state we die in.
Eventually the muslims conquered fortress after fortress and they came to the 'c
astle of Zubair'. And this fortress did not have its own internal well. Rather i
t was fed via an external water supply, so the muslims blocked with water supply
so the men HAD to come out and fight. And eventually when they came out and fou
ght they were defeated, and with this defeat the one half of Khaybar was conquer
ed. And the other half remained. So the prophet PBUH and the sahaba crossed over
to the other side of Khaybar and began another series of mini conquests. Rememb
er it was not a simple battle: it was a series of at least 9 battles. Some last
10 days, some lasted 1 day and some 3 days. So in the exact same manner the prop
het PBUH engaged with each fortress individually. Note every time one fortress f
ell, the group of remaining fighters there ran to other fortresses. Of course th

ey wouldn't just surrender, they would run all the way to the big fortress which
had the best protection. So the prophet PBUH conquered each mini fortress until
eventually there was one of the largest fortress left, and all of the people fr
om tribes already conquered were in that fortress. And so the prophet PBUH and t
he muslims just camped outside and waited. This fortress was just too big so a s
olid two weeks went by until finally the people inside realised they were outnum
bered and could not do anything, so they negotiated a surrender.
And here is what alot of scholars differ: was Khaybar a conquest or a surrender?
Why does it matter? Firstly there are fiqh differences, secondly it's a matter
of honour for the muslims and humiliation for the group conquered. If they surre
ndered then they gain some honour since they willingly gave up, but if they were
forced militarily this is humiliation. So its a matter of history and a little
bit of fiqh. The confusion of Khaybar is the prophet PBUH fought so many battles
, but right at the end with one of the biggest fortresses they just surrendered.
So overall was it a conquer or a surrender? The majority position, held by ibn
al Qiyyam and others is that they were conquered. The evidence for this is that,
if they wanted to surrender they would have done so from the start. But every s
ingle fortress was conquered until the muslims reached the last who surrendered
because they knew they were going to be conquered. And so they worked out a trea
ty with the prophet PBUH - they argued and said "Ya Abil Qasim, your people do n
ot know how to operate or man these lands. We are people who know Khaybar inside
out. So why don't we agree to a percentage." And so back and forth they went un
til finally the conditions were decided:
1. The people of KHaybar would give 50% of the produce to the muslims. Now the p
eople of Khaybar had 100s of acres of lands. And 50% is literally a fortune, it'
s equal to 10s of millions of pounds.
2. The maintenance and cost and the labour will not be 50/50, it will be 100% on
the jews.
3. This treaty is in effect for as long the prophet PBUH decides. He can cancel
whenever he wants to.
And so they agreed and remained with these conditions. And it shows us the fores
ight of the prophet PBUH to allow them to remain. The fact is the muslims neithe
r had the experiance or manpower to manage Khaybar. It would need around 1000 pe
ople to take care of it but the muslims did not have 1000 men to spare. Further,
the people of Khaybar knew Khaybar inside out, so the prophet PBUH said "let th
em take care of it and we will get a fortune". So this is what happened all the
way until the end of the khilafah of Umar RA - and at that time there were so ma
ny muslims Umar expelled the jews (in accordance to the treaty) from Arabia comp
letely.
After these negotiations took place, the attempted poisining of the prophet PBUH
happened. Some food was gifted to the prophet PBUH and later on we learn it was
cooked by the wife of one of the leaders of Khaybar that had been killed. When
the food was gifted the muslims did not know. And so the prophet PBUH was given
high level exotic food, and it is understood when a person has conquered the lan
d and he is the new leader, it was natural for the people to appease the new lea
der with gifts and food. So the prophet PBUH was sent a lavish, massive tray ful
l of food. And we know now that the woman who cooked it asked "what meat does th
e prophet PBUH like the most?" And she was told "the shoulder blade of a lamb".
And so she put poison in the whole lamb, but especially the shoulder. And it was
a very potent and powerful poison. When the prophet PBUH and sahaba sat down to
eat, he put a bite in his mouth and as soon as he did he said "everyone STOP ea
ting". He said that but unfortunately one sahabi by the name of Bishar ibn Baraa
had already eatan and it was too late for him. And the prophet PBUH said "the s
houlder of the lamb has told me it has been poisoned" i.e. the lamb spoke to the

prophet PBUH. SubhanAllah. Obviously Allah allowed this. So the prophet PBUH di
d not swallow, but he put it in his mouth. As for Bishar he swallowed a little b
it and he fell severly ill. A number of other sahabi spat out the meat before th
ey swallowed so they had to be treated. The prophet PBUH as a result of this poi
son felt the pain for the rest of his life (four years). So much so on his death
bed when he had a week left, he said to Aisha RA "I still feel the effects of th
e poison from the women of Khaybar". As for Bishar he died in a few days.
The prophet PBUH then called the tribe who gifted him this meat. And he said "if
I ask you anything will you tell the truth?" He said "who is your ancestor?" Th
ey said "so and so". But the prophet PBUH said "you are lying" meaning he is pro
ving to them he knows the truth and they lied. Perhaps there was some point of e
mbarrasment for the ancestor so they lied about it. So they said "you have spoke
n the truth, you have been honest with us". So he asked "if I ask you a question
will you be honest with me?" They said "Ya Abil Qasim you have already exposed
our lies so we will be honest". So he asked "who is going to the fire of hell?"
They said "we will go for a short period, but then Allah will save us. And you a
nd your people will remain forever". This was their belief as Allah mentions in
Baqarah. So they are saying they know they are sinful so they will be punished f
or a while but eventually be taken out. Of course this is completely wrong and t
he prophet PBUH said "Remain humiliated and in the fire of hell. By Allah we wil
l not remain after you". So now he said for a third time "will you tell me the t
ruth?" And they said "yes". So the prophet PBUH asked "did you poison the goat?"
And they said "yes we did". And perhaps it was their honesty which saved them f
rom all being killed. So he said "why?" They said "if you were a liar we would b
e free of you; if you are a prophet our mischeivousness would not have harmed yo
u anyway". Look at the arrogance here. They see the prophet PBUH has been saved
therefore he must be a prophet but it still dosen't effect them. As Allah says i
n the Quran they clearly recognise he is a prophet just like they recognise thei
r own children but it is a matter of pride. So they admitted they did the poison
and they said "it was so-and-so" i.e. the cook.
THe prophet PBUH then called the cook and asked "why did you do this?" And she w
as honest and said "you killed my husband, uncle etc so this is revenge". And so
me of the sahaba said to execute her, and here is where the narrations differ. S
ome say the prophet PBUH did forgive her, but others say she was killed. Scholar
s try to reconcile and ibn al Qiyyam the master of seerah says "the prophet PBUH
forgave her for what she had done to him, but after a few days when Bishar died
, she had to be killed for Qisas. So the haq of the prophet PBUH - he forgave he
r. He did not retaliate for himself. When Bishar died however, it's not fair for
him that his death goes unavenged so she was killed by Qisas". So all of the fo
rtresses were conquered, and all of the muslims who participated in Hudaybiyya w
ere given extra shares, because this is exactly what Allah promised in the Quran
in Surah Fath: "Allah has promised you will gain ALOT of ganeema". SubhanAllah.
And Allah is giving some of the rewards of Jannah in this life for their patien
ce and alliegance at Hudaybiyya. So every single sahabi who participated in Huda
ybiyya was given a huge share.
Another incident happened which was while the muslims were at Khaybar, and the p
rophet PBUH has finished the negotiations and just conquered all of KHaybar, on
the same day Ja'far ibn Abi Talib makes his way to Khaybar. He's returned from A
byssinia with 50 or so muslim men and women, and he has been gone for over a dec
ade. Its the 7th year of the Hijrah and they went to Abyssinia in the 6th year o
f dawah (maximum 7th). So at least 10 years have gone by since the prophet PBUH
has not seen one of his most beloved cousins and best friends. Remember Ali RA w
as a child compared to the prophet PBUH, he raised Ali RA. Ja'far was much older
and he had a different relationship with the prophet PBUH. And Ja'far was very
beloved to the prophet PBUH. And when he saw Ja'far he stood up to greet him, ki
ssed him on the forehead and said "I don't know which of the two things are maki
ng me happier: conquest of Khaybar or seeing Ja'far". Imagine a whole month of b

attling and the biggest conquest in terms of monetary since the beginning of Isl
am, yet the prophet PBUHs joy is equal or even greater for seeing Ja'far. And su
bhanAllah even though the people from Abysinnia did not participate in Khaybar,
they all got a share in Khaybar. And its an amazing blessing for them which show
s Allah never ignores those who sacrifice for Him. Because their hardships were
hardships no muslim endured: emigrating to a foregin place, leaving everything b
ehind, learning a new civilisation etc. More than a decade of harsh living amids
t civil war: Najashi's nephew was waging war against Najashi and the muslims wer
e on the verge of being expelled. And Najashi in fear said "if my newphew kills
me, go to this place and there is a ship waiting just for you". SubhanAllah, and
when Allah saved him the muslims were so happy. So here is a group of muslims t
hat did not participate in Khaybar, yet they still got a massive amount of rewar
d in this dunya for their hardship.
There's a beautiful hadith that when they returned to Madinah, and Asmah bint Um
ais was among those who immigrated to Abyssinia from Mecca (all are meccans of c
ourse). So after a day or two she visits her friend Hafsa, the wife of the proph
et PBUH and when she visits Hafsa whom she hasn't seen for 10, 15 years, Umar RA
asks his daughter Hafsa "who is this lady with you?" And Hafsa said "this is As
ma bint Umais". So Umar RA says "bint Umais? You are the sea faring lady? We hav
e more right to the prophet PBUH than you, because we immigrated to Madinah with
him" i.e. he is semi teasing her. He is saying "you guys are coming after seven
years". And Asma RA snapped. All of this fustration and anger snapped at Umar R
A and she said "No walahi you have no more right to the prophet PBUH. You were a
t least with him for these 10 years. He would console you at times of greif, fee
d you when you were hungrey, he would guide you when you were mistaken. And we s
uffered, and toiled and were in a strange land with nobody. Walahi I won't eat a
nd drink until I go to the prophet PBUH and tell him what you said, and you can
see for yourself who is right or wrong". So then and there she went to the masji
d of the prophet PBUH and in front of all the sahaba she started ranting about U
mar RA that "Ya RasulAllah Umar said this and that..." So the prophet PBUH said
"he does not have any more right than you; go back and tell him, he made one hij
rah. You people made two hijrahs". SubhanAllah. And she went back flaunting this
and the news spread like wildfire to all of the muslims who immigrated to Abyss
inia, and the whole day the muslims of Abyssinia went to Asma wanting to hear th
e exact details directly from Asma. And the narration says they were never ever
happier than that day for they did two hijrahs, and Umar RA only did one. Of cou
rse all this happiness will be tampered shortly by the death of Ja'far very soon
. And the death of Ja'far was very tragic for the prophet PBUH.
So the conquest of Khaybar was indeed a huge demoralising factor for the people
of Quraysh. Because Khaybar was known to be the most protected, fertile and mone
tary area in Arabia but now its in the hands of the prophet PBUH. Its alot of mo
ney and power, and it was also the most impenetrable fortress but the prophet PB
UH still conquered it. And of course around Khaybar the prophet PBUH conquered a
ll the small tribes with the same conditions (50% goes to the muslims). The peop
le of Fadak, a tribe close to Khaybar, became scared so without any army or thre
at, they people of Fadak sent a letter to the prophet PBUH that "we also agree t
o the exact same conditions". The prophet PBUH didn't even step foot in Fadak no
r did he intend to go there, yet they still agreed to the conditions. The prophe
t PBUH accepted this, and the lands of Fadak was a special gift from Allah direc
tly. And the prophet PBUH would use the proceeds of Fadak to take care of his fa
mily.
And Khaybar generated the most wealth the muslims had ever seen, and in terms of
sheer land, Khaybar was the greatest conquest in the history of the seerah of t
he prophet PBUH. In terms of money, maybe Hunayn was bigger. Maybe - but Hunayn
did not have much land. In terms of land there is no competition. It was the lar
gest conquest in the history of the seerah. And it was most priciest lands: all
the lands had food, armour, weapons, sheep, goat etc. And it was at this point t

he muhajiroon returned the land the Ansar gave them at the beginning of the Hijr
ah. Indeed when the muhajir first came to Madinah it was the Ansar who provided
everything and the muhajir always felt "this is not ours". And ibn Umar said "we
never ate to our fill until after Khaybar". SubhanAllah. And of course Allah al
ways gives reward to those who are patient. For so many years the sahaba have st
ruggled for over 15 years, yet now every one of the muhajir gets a life long for
tune. Because every year the produce will come without lifting a finger. And thi
s is enough to take care of him and his family. And this is the point of anyone
who struggles for Allah and His messenger.
In this time the marriage of the prophet PBUH to Zainab bint Jahsh happened. And
it is the most difficult story in the entire seerah. Its very akward because th
ere are reports different to the standard accounts. Just like the satanic verses
there are three different versions, one version is trivial, another is okayish,
the third is very evil. We talked about Rayhaana from the Banu Quraydha that th
e prophet PBUH married her, and she died in his lifetime. The other marriage tha
t took place a month before Khaybar was Ramla bint Abu Suffyan. Her husband was
in Abyssinia and she became a widow in Abyssinia, and she had nobody in Abyssini
a, and the prophet PBUH sent her a marriage proposal in Madinah while she was in
Abyssinia. And she is the daughter of Abu Suffyan - her father is the cheifton.
In those days lineage is the number one thing you marry a women. Its about prid
e of who the father is. Why? Because once you marry into a tribe you have negoti
ation and political power. But of course Ramla was a true believer - she was gen
erous to the poor etc. But her lineage on top of this is unparralelled. She is t
he daughter of the most powerful person in Mecca. And Najashi himself gifted the
maher on behalf of the prophet PBUH. Why? When Najashi heard he became so happy
, he is the one who acted as the wali, he did the wedding ceromony etc. So Ramla
had the grandest wedding ceromony out of all the wives, and then he sent her to
Madinah with a trusted party. In the battle of Khaybar, Saffiyah bint Huyay, th
e daughter of the cheifton of the Banu Nadheer, marries the prophet PBUH.