Lesley hazleton the first muslim the story of muhammad

Each one represented generations of careful tending and work, so that to destroy the palms was to destroy not only property but history. Cutting them down was a calculated statement that the Nadir now had nothing left to stay for, and a warning of what might happen to them if they resisted further. Plus it had the additional advantage of unnerving ibn-Ubayy, whose promised two thousand men never materialized. The ensuing siege was a repeat of that of the Qaynuqa the previous year. After fifteen days, with no water left and no future to look forward to in Medina, the Nadir capitulated. They would leave with little more than their lives, allowed to take only one camel-load of goods for every three people.

But this time there would be no sad procession.

Unlike the Qaynuqa, the Nadir left Medina in what seemed more like a triumphal parade. They beat drums and tambourines as they went, dressed in their finest clothes and decked out in all their jewelry. As one witness put it: “They went with a splendor and a glory the like of which had never been seen from any tribe in their time.� It was an impressive display of protest, a defiant statement by the Nadir that they were the ones who should be proud, and all the rest of Medina ashamed. As they headed north toward the oasis of Khaybar, and on into Palestine and Syria, the manner of their leaving said as much about their expulsion as the reason given for it.

The Quranic voice quickly came into play to