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Year 3 of the Hijra: the campaign of Najd, the Banu Qaynuqa’, the killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, the expedition of Zayd and the campaign of Uhud.
Updated on 05 October 2026 at 10:56 AM
Part of: Year 3 of the Hijra: the Banu Qaynuqa’, Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf and Uhud
Al-Waqidi claimed it was on the Saturday, mid-Shawwal of the year two of the Hijra; and Allah knows best. They are the ones intended by the word of the Most High: like those before them, they soon tasted the evil consequence of their affair, and for them is a painful punishment [al-Hashr: 15]. Ibn Ishaq said: among what occurred between the campaigns of the Messenger of Allah was the affair of the Banu Qaynuqa’. Of their story is that the Messenger of Allah gathered them in their market and said: O assembly of Jews, beware of Allah as the punishment befell Quraysh, and accept Islam, for you know I am a prophet sent; you find that in your Book and the covenant of Allah with you. They said: O Muhammad, you think we are your people; let not the fact that you met a people with no knowledge of war deceive you, so you gained an opportunity over them; by Allah,
if we warred with you, you would know that we are the people. Ibn Ishaq said: a freedman of the family of Zayd ibn Thabit related to me, from Sa’id ibn Jubayr or from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas: these verses descended only concerning them: say to those who disbelieved, you will be overcome and gathered to Hell, and wretched is the resting place; there has already been for you a sign in the two companies that met, meaning the men of Badr of the companions of the Messenger of Allah and Quraysh: one company fighting in the path of Allah and another disbelieving; they saw them as twice their number by the sight of the eye, and Allah supports with His help whom He wills; in that is a lesson for those of sight. Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada related to me that the Banu Qaynuqa’ were the first Jews to break the covenant and make war in the period between Badr and Uhud.
Ibn Hisham said: Abdallah ibn Ja’far ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn al-Miswar ibn Makhrama mentioned, from Abu Awn, who said: of the affair of the Banu Qaynuqa’ was that an Arab woman came with merchandise and sold it in the market of the Banu Qaynuqa’ and sat beside a goldsmith of theirs. They sought to uncover her face and she refused, so the goldsmith took the hem of her garment and tied it to her back; when she rose her shame was exposed and they laughed at her, and she cried out, and a man of the Muslims leapt upon the goldsmith and killed him, and he was a Jew. The Jews fell upon the Muslim and killed him, and the kin of the Muslim called the Muslims against the Jews, and the Muslims became angry, and evil fell between them and the Banu Qaynuqa’. Ibn Ishaq said: Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada related to me that the Messenger of Allah besieged them until they submitted to his judgment, and Abdallah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul came to him when Allah had given him power over them and said: O Muhammad, be good to my allies, and they were allies of the Khazraj.
The Messenger of Allah delayed before him and he said: O Muhammad, be good to my allies. He turned away from him, so he put his hand into the neck-hole of the Prophet’s mail, called Dhat al-Fudul, and the Messenger of Allah said: release me. The Messenger of Allah became angry until they saw shades upon his face, then said: woe to you, release me. He said: no, by Allah, I shall not release you until you are good to my allies: four hundred wearers of mail and three hundred wearers of breastplate,
who stood between me and the red and the black; you would mow them down in a single morning, and I am a man who fears the reversals of fortune. The Messenger of Allah said: they are yours. Ibn Hisham said: the Messenger of Allah appointed over Medina during his siege of them Abu Lubaba Bashir ibn Abd al-Mundhir, and his siege of them was fifteen nights. Ibn Ishaq said: my father related to me, from Ubada ibn as-Samit: when the Banu Qaynuqa’ made war upon the Messenger of Allah, Abdallah ibn Ubayy clung to their affair and stood against him, while Ubada ibn as-Samit walked to the Messenger of Allah; he was of the Banu Awf, having of his allegiance the like of what they had of Abdallah ibn Ubayy’s, so he absolved them to the Messenger of Allah and declared himself innocent toward Allah and His Messenger of their allegiance, and said: O Messenger of Allah, I take Allah and His Messenger and the believers as allies and declare myself quit of the allegiance of these disbelievers and of their protection.
Concerning him and Abdallah ibn Ubayy descended the passage of the Table: O you who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for allies; they are allies one of another, the verses, up to His word: and you see those in whose hearts is disease hastening among them, saying: we fear a change of fortune may strike us, meaning Abdallah ibn Ubayy, to His word: and whoever takes Allah and His Messenger and those who believe as allies, the party of Allah are the victors [al-Ma’ida: 51-56], meaning Ubada ibn as-Samit; and we have discussed it in the Tafsir.