When A’mru B. Ommyah had unwittingly killed those two individuals of the Bani A’amer, his lordship the apostle said: ‘I must pay the ransom for them.’ As the Bani An-natzyr were allies of the Bani A’amer, and had likewise made a treaty and covenant with his lordship, he assembled some of his companions, such as Abu Bakr, O’mar, Ali and Ttolhah. Then he proceeded to the habitations of the Bani An-natzyr to make arrangements concerning the ransom to be paid for the two slain men. When the apostle of Allah had arrived at the spot and explained the case, they replied: ‘O father of Qâsim, we shall do as thou likest. Stop awhile that we may fulfil the duties of hospitality.’ Therefore the apostle of God took up a position leaning with his back against the wall of a house, and his companions reposing opposite to that prince. On this occasion Ebn Akhttâb exclaimed: O ye Jews, such amity between you and Muhammad can never be established. The best is that a man throw a stone from this roof upon his head, that we may be freed of his importunity.’ A’mru Hajash replied: ‘I shall take that matter upon myself.’ Sollâm B. Mashkam had, however, warned them not to do any such thing, because Muhammad, he said, would receive information from heaven, and the affair would cause the alliance between the nation and Muhammad to be cancelled; but the people would not listen, and at that very moment Jebrâil arrived and made his lordship aware of their treachery. Therefore the apostle rose and departed from the place, as if going to answer a call of nature, without informing his companions, and proceeded to Madinah; for he knew that as long as his sacred person was left untouched his friends would likewise be left in safety. When the Jews became aware of his lordship’s departure, Kanâz said: ‘O people, do you know why Muhammad has left the assembly?’ They replied: ‘We know it not, and swear by God that thou likewise art not aware of the cause.’ He retorted: ‘By the truth of the Torah,* I know God; and the Most High has apprised Muhammad of your intention. Do not deceive yourselves. Muhammad is an apostle of God, and the seal of prophets—u. w. b. You thought the seal of prophets would be of the sons of Hârun, but the Lord and Giver of all good gifts bestoweth His favours upon whom He liketh, and has opened this portal of felicity to whomsoever was worthy thereof. Whatever we have read in the Torah about the qualities of that prophet coincides with those of Muhammad, without any increase or diminution. I fancy you will be ordered to emigrate, and will be unwilling to do so. Therefore your children will be dispersed, your habitations deserted, and your houses destroyed. It will then be expedient for you to make a profession of the religion of Muhammad to save your children and progeny from destruction.’ They replied: ‘We cannot abandon the Toratah and the religion of Mûsa.’ He continued: ‘My second proposition is that you obey the order to emigrate from this country as soon as you receive it, because then your lives and property will be spared.’ The Jews replied: ‘We shall wait, because it is easier for us to leave our country than to give up the religion of Mûsa—u. w. b.’
When his lordship the apostle had left his companions among the Bani An-natzyr and departed to Madinah, the companions were waiting a considerable time for him. After they were tired of waiting they arose, started, and when they arrived at Madinah they were allowed the honour of attending upon his lordship. On that occasion they said: ‘O apostle of God, we did not know the reason of thy departing and not returning.’ And he replied: ‘The Jews meditated treachery, and God the Most High informed me thereof.’ After that he despatched Muhammad B. Moslamah with the following message to the Bani An-natzyr: ‘As you have machinated evil against me, I order you to leave the country, giving you a respite of ten days for doing so, and whoever remains after the expiration of that time will have his head cut off by my orders.’ The Jews thereon began to make preparations to emigrate, when all of a sudden an envoy from A’bdullah B. Abu Salûl arrived among them with this advice: ‘Leave not your country, but strengthen your position in your forts and be of good cheer, for I shall with two thousand valiant and experienced warriors come to your aid. Nor will the Bani Qorittah Jews and their allies of the Bani Ghattfân refuse to assist you.’ On account of these words Hay Bin Akhttâb sent the next day a man to wait upon his lordship the refuge of termination—u. w. b.—with the following reply: ‘We shall not abandon our habitations: act thou as thou likest!’ At the receipt of this news his lordship— u. w. b.—shouted the Takbyr, to which his companions responded. By order of the best of men — u. w. b.— the professors of Islâm then made preparations for the campaign. The lord of apostleship—u. w. b.—appointed Ebn Omm Maknûb to be his lieutenant in Madinah; and, having bestowed the victorious standard upon the conquering lion of God [i.e., on A’li], they marched out of Madinah and held their next orisons in the plain of the Bani Annatzyr. When the Jews beheld the army of Islâm they took refuge in their forts, from the ramparts whereof they shot arrows and threw stones till the night set in. After the monotheists had held their dormitory orisons, and his lordship had, with ten of his companions, adjourned to his own quarters, all the companions, whose chief was A’li— u. w. b.—and, according to another tradition, Abu Bakr, were, till the morning, occupied in besieging the Jews and in shouting the Takbyr.
It is said that the tent of his lordship had been pitched in the plain of Hattmah, and that a Jewish archer, called Ghurûr, had struck it, for which occasion it was removed to another spot. When the night had set in it was found that his lordship, A’li Murtadza—u. w. b.—was absent from the camp. This circumstance having been reported to his lordship, he said: ‘I fancy he has gone out on some business.’ After awhile, however, the Lord A’li Murtadza —u. w. b.—again made his appearance, throwing the skull of Ghurûr at the feet of his lordship, and saying: ‘O apostle of God, this is the head of that accursed fellow who has hit thy tent with an arrow.’ His lordship enquired about the circumstances, whereon A’li Murtadza— u. w. b.—continued: ‘As I knew him to be a valiant man, I thought I might sally out during the night and capture him when he was off his guard. I accordingly placed myself in ambush, and suddenly beheld him coming out with a drawn sword and nine men. I attacked and beheaded him; and his friends are so near that if thou wilt send some men with me I hope I shall vanquish them.’ His lordship thereon despatched Abu Dujjânah and Sahal B. Hanyf, with eight other brave men in the company of A’li the lion of attack, as also ten of the principal Anssâr, in pursuit of the comrades of Ghurûr, whom they overtook at the gate of the fort, killed, and suspended the unhallowed skulls of the Jews from the house-doors of the Bhani Khutbah.
During the days of the siege, the lord of apostleship— u. w. b. — ordered A’bdullah B. Sollâm and Abu Layly Mozany to discomfit the machinations of the Jews, and to uproot the tree of their hopes which they had planted in their impure minds. Therefore Abu Layly felled the most fruitful date-trees called A’jwah, and said: ‘This will much sadden and distress the Jews.’ Ebn Sollâm, however, felled the worst of the trees, saying: ‘I know that soon all the property of the Jews will belong to the professors of Islâm, and I have therefore left the best trees for them.’ With reference to this matter the blessed verse, ‘What palm-trees ye cut down or left standing on their roots,’ etc.,* was revealed.
As A’bdullah Abu Monâfiq had not kept his promise to aid the Bani An-natzyr, and as they had no assistance from any other quarter, they repented of what they had done, and sent a person to his lordship with the request to be left unmolested and to be allowed to emigrate. His lordship replied: ‘I comply with your request only so far as to allow you to load upon your beasts whatever they can carry except arms, and to depart from my country.’ In this manner some of the Jews went to Syria and others to Yemen, abandoning their fields and immovable property to his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—in so plenary a manner that he did not separate one-fifth therefrom [in the usual way]. The arms of the Bani Natzyr amounted to fifty cuirasses, as many helmets, and three hundred sabres, which he distributed to whoever wanted any. As for the crops of those unfortunate people, the apostle kept as much of the provisions for his family as would suffice for one year, and abandoned the remainder to the professors of Islâm.
This year A’bdullah B. Othmân, who was of the tribe of the apostle of Allah—u. w. b.—died, and Zaynab, the daughter of Khozaymah, as well as spouse of his lordship, also departed to the gardens of paradise, together with Abu Solmah B. A’bdullah Asad, who was the husband of Omm Solmah, and with Fattimah, the daughter of Asad, who was the mother of A’li the Commander of the Faithful— u. w. b. In this year also his lordship the apostle— u. w. b.—contracted a matrimonial alliance with Omm Solmah.