Could someone please explain in a non-biased fashion what occured between Muhammad and the Jews of Khaibar with regard to the Treaty of Hudaibiyah and the subsequent attack on Khaibar?
Thanks!
WRS
Probably not, but I’ll try. There was (and still is) a fortified town not very far from Medina named Khaibar, which at the time of Muhammed, was occupied by a Jewish tribe. Meanwhile, there was another Jewish tribe, the Banu Nadhir, who had lived in Medina until they had been expelled by the Muslims for plotting (or at least being suspected of plotting) against Muhammed. Some of the Banu Nadhir had settled in Khaibar, and they basically said to the leaders of the town, “Hey, these Muslims are trouble. They want to take over everything, you’d better watch out for them.”
So, then, in 628, Muhammed’s army entered the area around Khaibar, and the town was ready to resist it. There were a bunch of fairly long sieges, in which the fortresses were taken, and there was a bunch of heroism on both sides. Finally, the town fell, and it signed a peace treaty with the Muslims where the town would be allowed to exist peacefully and govern itself in exchange for an annual tribute.
This lasted until after Muhammed’s death. In 640, the Caliph Umar violated the treaty, and expelled the Jews of Khaibar, resettling them in Al-Kufah, in what now is Iraq.
The Treaty of Hudaibiyah didn’t have anything directly to do with Khaibar. It was a peace treaty signed between Muhammed and the Quraysh of Mecca. It set up a ten year truce between the two, said that Muslims would be allowed to come to Mecca for pilgrimage if they were unarmed, both the Muslims and the Quraysh were allowed to seek allies among the other tribes, and that Muhammed would return any fugitives who escaped Mecca as well as anyone who converted to Islam/joined Muhammed without the consent of the head of his family. It also said that any Muhammed didn’t have any claim on anyone who chose to return to Mecca/paganism. The treaty, especially those last two provisions were controversial in the Muslim community at the time.
Like I said, there’s no direct connection to Khaibar, except that peace with the Quraysh allowed Muhammed to concentrate on other things and expand elsewhere.