The Assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
The sanctioned killing of the treasonous Banu Nadir poet.
Hijri 14 Rabi' al-Awwal 3 AH CE 625 CE
The sanctioned killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf — a chief and poet of the Banu Nadir — between Badr and Uhud (14 Rabi’ al-Awwal 3 AH), carried out by Muhammad ibn Maslamah and a small band on the order of the Prophet ﷺ. One of the seerah’s most politically sensitive episodes, treated honestly by Yasir Qadhi as a justified act against a treaty-breaking enemy of the state, not against a man for his religion.
Who Ka’b was
Half-Arab (of Banu Nabhan), half-Jew (of the Banu Nadir, his mother’s tribe), rich, handsome and a gifted poet. After Badr he rode secretly to Makkah, allied with Abu Sufyan against the Muslims, declared paganism “more rightly guided” (Q 4:50–51), and wrote slanderous, sensual poetry naming Muslim women — the final provocation.
The operation
The Prophet ﷺ asked, “Who will deal with Ka’b, for he has harmed Allah and His Messenger?” Muhammad ibn Maslamah — an Aws man, deliberately, since the Aws (unlike the Khazraj) had no blood-feud with Banu Nadir — volunteered, and obtained leave “to say things I do not mean.” Feigning disaffection and a need for a loan, he and Abu Na’ila (Silkan ibn Salama) arranged to bring “mortgage weapons,” giving cover to arrive armed. On a bright full-moon night they lured Ka’b from his fortress; Abu Na’ila drew him close by his scented hair, and the deed was done — one attacker, al-Harith ibn Aws, wounded by his comrades, was healed by the Prophet’s ﷺ saliva. Ka’b’s wife had warned him: “You are a man at war.”
Why — and reliability (schema §5)
Reasons: (1) his secret treaty with Abu Sufyan — treason under the Constitution; (2) his slander poetry; (3) per al-Salihi and others, his hand in a later plot to poison the Prophet ﷺ (they date the killing after Uhud). Yasir Qadhi’s points:
- The incident is authentic — a whole chapter in Sahih Bukhari, also Muslim, Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, al-Waqidi.
- The Prophet ﷺ was then head of state — judge, ruler and legislator in one; this was a legal act by the norms of its time, not to be retro-judged by modern courts. He did not do such things in Makkah, where he held no authority.
- Yasir Qadhi quotes the historian Norman Stillman: “Muhammad was acting in complete accordance with the norms of the Arab society of that period.” The message — no tribe could break faith with impunity — reached every enemy of Islam.
Cross-references
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf · Muhammad ibn Maslamah · Muhammad ﷺ · Abu Sufyan ibn Harb (ra) · The Constitution of Madinah · The Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa · Expeditions Between Badr and Uhud · Madinah (Yathrib) · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S007 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 044. Sahih Bukhari & Muslim, Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham, al-Waqidi (14 Rabi’ al-Awwal 3 AH); al-Salihi, Muqatil ibn Sulayman, al-Baghawi for the alternate (post-Uhud) dating; Norman Stillman cited.