The Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa
The first Jewish tribe exiled from Madinah, ~3½ weeks after Badr.
Hijri 15 Shawwal 2 AH CE 624 CE
The exile from Madinah of the Banu Qaynuqa — the first of the city’s three Jewish tribes to be punished — about 3½ weeks after Badr (15 Shawwal 2 AH), for breaking the Constitution of Madinah. The least severe of the three punishments (exile, no execution), it set the pattern for the later Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza.
Background
The Banu Qaynuqa were the largest of Madinah’s Jewish tribes (~700 fighting men) and its chief goldsmiths, holding the main market. After Badr they openly mourned the Quraysh and grew hostile. When the Prophet ﷺ reminded them of the Constitution, a leader retorted: “Do not be deluded by Badr — you fought men who did not know war. Face us and see.”
What happened
The fuse was a marketplace assault: a goldsmith, with a companion, pinned an Ansari woman’s garment so that it fell when she rose, and the Jews around laughed. A Muslim killed the offender; the Banu Qaynuqa killed the Muslim in return. The Prophet ﷺ openly declared the treaty void — never breaking a pact in secret (Q 8:58 — “if you fear treachery, throw [the treaty] back to them openly”) — and laid siege to their fortresses for about two weeks until they surrendered.
The intercession of Abdullah ibn Ubayy
Their old ally Ubadah ibn al-Samit publicly renounced his pact with them, choosing “Allah and His Messenger.” But Abdullah ibn Ubayy seized the Prophet’s ﷺ armour and would not let go until he pledged to spare their lives — “700 men who protected me.” The verdict: three days to leave Madinah, their weapons and much wealth left behind (falling to the Muslims), their gold carried away.
Significance & reliability (schema §5)
- Surah al-Ma’idah 51–56 was revealed here. Yasir Qadhi stresses that Q 5:51 (“do not take Jews and Christians as awliya”) means protectors/allies in a conflict, not “friends” — and is bound to this context of treaty-breakers; Ubadah is praised (5:55–56), Abdullah ibn Ubayy’s excuse “we fear a turn of fortune” quoted (5:52).
- Yasir Qadhi frames the whole affair as punishment for treachery, not for being Jews — noting Jews lived in peace across Muslim lands for a millennium; “how can Arabs, themselves Semites, be anti-Semitic?”
- Sources are thin: Ibn Ishaq gives less than a page. Details are sparse because chroniclers recorded triumphs in full and reverses only in passing.
- A graded escalation: Qaynuqa exiled → Banu Nadir exiled (after Uhud) → Banu Qurayza executed (after al-Ahzab) — each tribe having seen the last one’s fate.
Cross-references
Muhammad ﷺ · Madinah (Yathrib) · The Battle of Badr · The Constitution of Madinah · Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul · Ubada ibn al-Samit (ra) · The Assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf · Nifaq (Hypocrisy) · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S007 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 043. Draws on Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham, al-Waqidi (15 Shawwal 2 AH), and the tafsir of Surah al-Ma’idah. Cites the historian Norman Stillman on Arab-society norms.