" HAIDER - AE - KARRAR "

Battle of Khyber . [ L14 ]

Today the area of Khaybar is located 165 kilometers north of Medina in the road leading to Syria (Tabuk Road), and its center is the city of al-Shurayf. The area includes a number of villages and green farms located in Khaybar oasis in a stone area of a height of about 854 meters above the sea level. Khaybar includes large valleys and water, agriculture, and a large population. Its main agricultural product is date, for which it has long been known.

In 4/625 after the Prophet Muhammed (saw) expelled the banu nadir jews from Medina because of their betrayals, some of them took refuge to Khaybar. One year later they went to Mecca and incited the Quraysh against the Prophet (s). Thus Khaybar turned into a center of conspiracy against the nascent Islamic Umma.

People of Khaybar, whose number was, on some apparently exaggerated accounts, 10,000 or 20,000, never thought that the Prophet (s) would go to war with them. Relying on their firm forts that were located on top of mountains and their weaponry and large population and permanent water, they thought that they could resist for years. Some Jews in Medina warned Muslims that they could not defeat people of Khaybar and their strong forts. They sent someone to Kinana b. Abi l-Huqayq in Khaybar to tell him that the number of Muslims was small and they did not have much weaponry at their disposal. Quraysh polytheists hoped that if a war occurred, People of Khaybar would defeat the Prophet (s) and his army, and they made bets on that.

Commencement of the Battle

The Prophet (s) and his army departed to Khaybar with two informants. He ordered one of the informants to guide the army in such a way that they would eventually stop between Khaybar and Syria, so that people of Khaybar could not be assisted by their Ghatafani allies. Of several ways leading to Khaybar, the Prophet (s) went on the road known as Marhab. It was later known that the Jews were horrified by Muslim attacks.

The War's Strategy of Jews in Khaybar

When the Jews in Khaybar learned that the Prophet (s) was heading towards them, Harith Abu Zaynab, one of the Jews, suggested to them that they camp outside the forts and prepare themselves for the war, but relying on the fortification of their forts, they preferred to stay inside the forts.

The Army of Islam Entering Khaybar

After crossing the forts of Shiqq and Natat, the Prophet (s) arrived near Khaybar at night and spent the night there. The next day they moved on until they arrived in Manzila. In Manzila, the Prophet (s) selected a place as a mosque and said prayers there. The place later turned into the Mosque of Khaybar. In the morning, Jews of Khaybar were surprised by the Prophet's (s) arrival in the area and escaped to their forts. The Prophet (s) prohibited his people from killing women and children. That day, they fought the residents of the Natat Fort until night. The Prophet (s) then moved the military camp from its wet location that was in the range of arrows to an area called Raji'. He then ordered that some dates of Khaybar be cut.

On the first day of the battle, 50 Muslims were injured. The Prophet (a) and his companions camped in Raji' for 7 days and nights. He fought the Jews together with Muslims each group of whom had their own flag. On the sixth night, a Jewish man from Natat, called Sammak, went to the Prophet (s) and asked for a safety conduct to guide them to the fort. He informed the Muslims that Natat, in which the Jews' supply of food and various weaponries were stored, was in turmoil, and its residents were leaving it. The next day, the Muslims conquered Natat. That Jewish man later became a Muslim.

Conquest of the Na'im Fort

It is said that the first fort of Khaybar conquered by the Prophet (s) was Na'im. The fort consisted of several forts. On that day, the Prophet (s) gave his white flag to two people from Muhajirunn Ibn Ishaq's account, and then to a man from ansar . But they returned without gaining any victory. The Prophet (s) said: "Tomorrow I will give the flag to someone who is loved by God and His prophet, and God will give victory to Muslims on his hands, and he never runs away". Imam Ali (as) suffered from an eye illness & was not in battle ready condition . Althhe was ill , Muhammed (saw) called him &he came to his services .The next morning, the Prophet (s) miraculously healed Imam 'Ali's (a) eyes by rubbing his saliva on Ali's eyes . that were in pain, and then gave the flag to him.