Khaybar خَيْبَر | |
|---|---|
 Ancient ruins of Khaybar | |
  Khaybar | |
| Coordinates:25°41′55″N39°17′33″E / 25.69861°N 39.29250°E /25.69861; 39.29250 | |
| Country |  Saudi Arabia |
| Region | Al Madinah Region |
| established | 6th century BC |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (AST) |
Khaybar[note 1] (Arabic:خَيْبَر,IPA:[ˈxajbar]) is anoasis inMedina Province, Saudi Arabia, situated some 153 kilometres (95 mi) north of the city ofMedina. Prior to the arrival ofIslam in the 7th century, the area had been inhabited byArabian Jewish tribes until it fell toMuslims underMuhammad during theBattle of Khaybar in 628 CE.
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Before the advent of Islam in the 7th centuryCE, indigenous Arabs and Jews made up the population of Khaybar, but when Jewish settlement in northern Arabia began is unknown.[note 2] In 567, Khaybar was invaded and purged of its Jewish inhabitants by theGhassanid ArabChristian kingAl-Harith ibn Jabalah. He later freed the captives upon his return to theLevant. A brief account of the campaign is given byIbn Qutaybah,[1] which may also be mentioned in the sixth-centuryHarran inscription.[2][3]Khaybar Oasis was completely surrounded by a massive wall in pre-Islamic times, similar to other large walled oases in northwestern Arabia and dates back to the Bronze Age, between2250 and 1950 BCE it would have been needed for protection against surrounding nomadic groups of populations from the desert, potentially carrying out raids on oasis settlements.[4]
As late as the 7th century, Khaybar was still inhabited by Jews, who pioneered the cultivation of the oasis.[5]
In 627, Muhammad ordered theExpedition of Fadak to attack the Bani Sa‘d bin Bakr tribe because Muhammad received intelligence they were planning to help the Jews of Khaybar.[6] In this expedition one person was captured by Muslims, and the rest of the tribe fled.[7]
TheBattle of Khaybar took place in May/June 628.[8] The JewishBanū Naḍīr of Medina, who claimed to be descendants ofAaron the priest, owned lands in Khaybar and had castles, fortresses and weapons there. After Muhammad expelled them from Medina in 625, their leaders moved to their estates in Khaybar to prepare for war against Muhammad and to recruit the aid of other non-Muslim Arab tribes. Muhammad first sent disguised guests to the homes of the leaders of Banū Naḍīr, who killed their hosts. Muhammad's victory over the Jews of Khaybar in the subsequent battle was also aided by the distance of the settlements and their castles from one another, the absence of co-ordination between the fighting forces, the death of the leaderSallām ibn Mishkam and a Jew who showed the Muslims the secret entrances to one of the fortresses. The castles of Khaybar had tunnels and passages, which in wartime enabled the besieged to reach water sources outside the castles.[9] Between 16 and 18 Muslims and 93 Jews were killed.[10]
Captives of war and slaves from other countries were brought to Khaybar, and the people of Hejaz became more accustomed to agriculture. Jews continued to live in the oasis for several years until they were finally expelled by CaliphUmar, who decided to expel the Jews of Khaybar in 642 under the pretense that before his death, Muhammad had commanded that two religions could not exist simultaneously in the Hejaz.[9]
During the reign of CaliphUmar (634–644), the Jewish community of Khaybar was transported alongside the Christian community ofNajran to the newly-conquered regions of Syria andIraq. Umar also forbadenon-Muslims to reside in theHejaz for longer than three days.[11] Since then, the Jews of Khaybar travelled around many areas throughout theIslamic Empire as artisans and merchants and they are still referred to in documents from the Middle Ages.[12]
Benjamin of Tudela was a Jew fromTudela, in theKingdom of Navarre, who travelled to Persia and Arabia in the 12th century. He visited and described Khaybar and neighboringTayma sometime around 1170 and mentioned those places as Jewish habitations.[13]
Khaybar is referred to in various traditions outside the Hejaz. TheMakhamra family, aPalestinian extended family who lives in the city ofYatta, in the southernHebron Hills, claims ancestry from the Jews of Khaybar. Over the years, there have been reports of locals in Yatta and its vicinity continuing to observe various Jewish rituals. In the late 19th century, peasants fromMeithalun, present-day northernWest Bank, associated a nearby ruin locally known asKhirbet Kheibar with an unnamed Jewish king and his daughter who, according to their tradition, resided in the area. Some scholars have suggested tying those two traditions to the expulsion of Jews from Khaybar and their settlement in the region.[14]
The tale of the Jews of Khaybar being vanquished and driven out has been revived in recent decades by the Palestinian Islamicmilitant groupHamas, who have used it as a political slogan in its propaganda againstIsrael.[14] The slogan has also been used by some at pro-Palestine protests and other anti-Israel events, as well as online.[15][16]
Historically, Khaybar is known for growingdates. The dates raised in the region were generally exported toMedina.[17]
| Climate data for Khaybar | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 21.6 (70.9) | 24.6 (76.3) | 27.8 (82.0) | 32.6 (90.7) | 36.2 (97.2) | 38.9 (102.0) | 39.3 (102.7) | 39.3 (102.7) | 38.3 (100.9) | 34.2 (93.6) | 27.6 (81.7) | 22.8 (73.0) | 31.9 (89.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 9.1 (48.4) | 7.6 (45.7) | 12.2 (54.0) | 16.0 (60.8) | 20.7 (69.3) | 24.0 (75.2) | 24.7 (76.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 22.6 (72.7) | 18.4 (65.1) | 13.0 (55.4) | 9.0 (48.2) | 16.8 (62.3) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 9 (0.4) | 3 (0.1) | 14 (0.6) | 12 (0.5) | 5 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.0) | 0 (0) | 4 (0.2) | 17 (0.7) | 8 (0.3) | 73 (2.9) |
| Source:Climate-data.org | |||||||||||||
SARIYYAH OF 'ALI IBN ABl TALIB AGAINST BANU SA'D IBN BAKR AT FADAK
Muhammad had thus a straightforward reason for attacking Khaybar. The moment he chose for the attack May /June 628 (i/y) shortly after his return from the expedition of al-Hudaybiyah was one when it was also convenient for him to have booty to distribute to his followers whose expectations had recently been disappointed.(free online)
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