The Battle of Khaybar
The conquest of the Jewish oasis (7 AH); Ali's banner; the greatest land-conquest.
Hijri Muharram 7 AH CE 628 CE
The conquest of the fortified Jewish oasis of Khaybar (~180 km north of Madinah) — the final expulsion of hostile Jewish power in central Arabia, and the greatest conquest of the seerah in terms of land and one of its richest in spoils, fulfilling Allah’s promise of “abundant spoils” to the people of Hudaybiyyah (Q 48:20).
Date (Hijri / CE)
Muharram 7 AH (628 CE) — beginning in Muharram, ending in Safar (reconciling Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi); barely two weeks after Hudaybiyyah.
Background
The exiled Banu Nadir and Banu Qaynuqa had regrouped at Khaybar, whose chiefs Huyayy ibn Akhtab and Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq had financed and instigated the Confederates. With the Quraysh neutralised by Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet ﷺ moved pre-emptively against the last real threat, taking ~1,700 men.
What happened
- Fortress by fortress. Khaybar was not a city but ~8–15 separate fortresses; the Jews’ fatal flaw was that they could not unite against an army. The Prophet ﷺ surprised them at dawn (“Khaybar has been destroyed… what an evil morning for those who were warned”) and reduced the strongholds one at a time — Na’im (10 days; the martyr Mahmud ibn Maslamah crushed by a log), al-Sa’b, the water-starved Castle of Zubayr, then the far side.
- The banner to Ali. After 10 days the Prophet ﷺ promised the banner “to one whom Allah and His Messenger love.” He gave it to Ali — healing his infected eyes with his saliva. Ali slew the champion Mirhab, and when his shield was struck away, used a fortress door as a shield (seven men could not lift it afterward — a karamah). His orders: “Fight them until they testify… for if Allah guides one man through you, it is better than red camels.”
- The poisoning. A Khaybar woman poisoned a lamb (the shoulder especially). The Prophet ﷺ, told by the meat itself, spat it out and warned the others — but Bishr ibn al-Bara had swallowed and died. The Prophet ﷺ felt the poison’s effect until his death (“I still feel it,” on his deathbed). The cook was forgiven for his own right, then executed for qisas when Bishr died (Ibn al-Qayyim’s reconciliation).
Participants
The Prophet ﷺ and ~1,700; Ali (banner), Abu Bakr and Umar (early assaults); the Jews of Khaybar under Mirhab, Kinana, and others; extracting the hidden gold of Huyayy from Sa’ya (via al-Zubayr). Ja’far and the Abyssinian emigrants, and Abu Hurairah, arrived as it ended.
Outcome & significance
- Conquest, then treaty. The majority (Ibn al-Qayyim) hold Khaybar was conquered, not surrendered. The Jews stayed on to farm under a 50% sharecropping treaty (muzara’ah) — labour and cost theirs, cancellable at the Muslims’ will (Umar expelled them in 23 AH). Wadi al-Qura and Fadak (a gift used for the Prophet’s ﷺ family) submitted on the same terms.
- Massive fortune. The single greatest land conquest of the seerah; the Muhajirun “never ate their fill until Khaybar.” The people of Hudaybiyyah received extra shares (Q 48:19–20); even the non-fighting Abyssinian and Dawsi arrivals were given shares.
- Marriages & return. The joy of Ja’far‘s return (“I don’t know which makes me happier — Khaybar or Ja’far”) and the “People of Two Hijrahs” (Asma bint Umays & Umar); the marriages to Umm Habiba (concluded via the Najashi just before) and Safiyyah bint Huyayy.
- Fiqh legislated: the prohibition of donkey meat; not approaching a captive until her cycle; the ban on zawaj al-mut’ah; and the prohibition of riba al-fadl (the good-vs-normal dates hadith).
Lessons
Long-term strategy and pre-emption within the norms of the age; the honesty of the Prophet ﷺ (returning a slave’s flock even mid-war); Allah’s reward for the patient and for those who sacrificed (Abyssinia); and the humanity of the Prophet ﷺ (the poison, and his camel tripping).
Cross-references
Khaybar · Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) · Huyayy ibn Akhtab · Safiyyah bint Huyayy (rha) · Umm Habiba — Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (rha) · Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (ra) · Abu Hurairah (ra) · The Expulsion of Banu Nadir · The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah · Riba (Usury / Interest) · Ghanima (Spoils of War) · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S009 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 068 & 070. The banner, the poisoning, the treaty, and the Khaybar fiqh (donkey meat, mut’ah, riba al-fadl) in Sahih Bukhari & Muslim; the door and Mirhab via Ibn Ishaq; the marriages and Sa’ya’s gold via Ibn Sa’d; Q 48:19–20 for the promised spoils.