The Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa
historical❧Speaker Introduction
Dr. Yasir Qadhi prefaces this story with an extended contextual discussion about the historical relationship between Jews and Muslims throughout history. He emphasizes that the Prophet ﷺ dealt with Banū Qaynuqāʿ, and later the other Jewish tribes, entirely based on their actions and treaty violations, not on their religious identity. The historical record, he argues, shows that for most of Islamic history, Jewish communities found more protection and flourishing under Muslim rule than under Christian Europe. He cites figures like Maimonides (Mūsā ibn Maymūn), Saadia Gaon, and even Sabbatai Zevi (whose followers, the Dönmeh, converted to Islam in the Ottoman period) as examples of Jews who found refuge in Muslim lands.
He states explicitly: "We must understand this incident on its own terms. The Prophet ﷺ is not dealing with them because they are Jewish. He is dealing with them because they broke their treaty."
❧Background: Who Were Banū Qaynuqāʿ?
Banū Qaynuqāʿ was the largest of the three main Jewish tribes of Madinah (the others being Banū Naḍīr and Banū Qurayẓah). They were primarily goldsmiths and metalworkers, and they controlled the largest marketplace (sūq) in Madinah. They lived in their own fortified quarter of the city.
When the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah and established the Constitution of Madinah (Ṣaḥīfat al-Madinah), all three Jewish tribes were party to the pact. The agreement guaranteed their religious freedom, their property, and their right to self-governance, in exchange for mutual defense and certain obligations.
❧Their Reaction to Badr
After the Muslim victory at Badr (17 Ramaḍān 2 AH), Banū Qaynuqāʿ were deeply disturbed. They had not expected the Muslims to win such a decisive battle against the Quraysh.
The Prophet ﷺ went personally to their marketplace and addressed them: "O Banū Qaynuqāʿ, be careful. Do not let happen to you what happened to Quraysh. Accept Islam." Their leader responded defiantly: "O Muḥammad, do not let the battle against those inexperienced merchants deceive you. If you were to fight against us, you would know that we are real men."
❧The Triggering Incident
Roughly a month after Badr (15 Shawwāl 2 AH), an Anṣārī woman came to the sūq of Banū Qaynuqāʿ to buy something. A goldsmith there attached the hem of her garment to her back, so that when she stood up, she was exposed. The men around laughed.
A Muslim man who witnessed this became enraged and killed the goldsmith. In retaliation, the men of Banū Qaynuqāʿ killed the Muslim man.
This was a clear breach of the treaty, not only the act of humiliation, but the organized killing of a Muslim in response. The Prophet ﷺ declared the treaty null and void, citing the Qurʾānic principle: "And if you fear treachery from a people, then throw their treaty at them in like manner" (Q 8:58).
❧The Siege
The Muslims marched to the quarter of Banū Qaynuqāʿ. The tribe retreated into their fortresses. The Prophet ﷺ laid siege for fifteen days (some narrations say fifteen days, others twenty days; Dr. Qadhi cites the shorter narration).
Banū Qaynuqāʿ, realizing they could not hold out, surrendered. All the men were bound.
❧ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy's Intervention
ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, the chief of the Khazraj, who had expected to become the king of Madinah before the Prophet's arrival, and who was the head of the Munāfiqūn, had a long-standing pre-Islamic alliance (ḥilf) with Banū Qaynuqāʿ. He was their hulafāʾ (confederate ally).
When the men were bound and the Prophet ﷺ was about to pass judgment, ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy physically grabbed the Prophet ﷺ by his armor, interposing himself between the Prophet and the prisoners. He demanded: "Muḥammad, deal kindly with my mawālī (allies)!"
He repeated it. And again. He would not let go of the Prophet's armor.
The Prophet's face changed, his expression showing displeasure. He told ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy: "Hum laka", "They are yours." Meaning: he spared their lives because of ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy's insistence, but their fate (exile without execution) was the maximum mercy he would grant.
Dr. Qadhi notes that the Prophet's political wisdom is evident here: he understood that executing ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy was not yet possible without splitting the Anṣār community, so he accepted the intercession for a lesser punishment while maintaining the expulsion.
al-Mundhir ibn Qudāmah, the Ṣaḥābī in charge of the prisoners, confronted ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy directly: "If you dare try to free even one of them, I will kill you."
❧ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit's Renunciation
In sharp contrast to ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit, also from the Khazraj, also a former ally of Banū Qaynuqāʿ, stepped forward and declared before the Prophet ﷺ:
"Yā Rasūlallāh, innī atawallā Allāha wa Rasūlahu wal-muʾminīna wa abra'u min wilāyat al-kuffār."
"O Messenger of Allah, I take as my walī Allah, His Messenger, and the believers, and I renounce the alliance of the disbelievers."
He added: "And I would not have even given them three days."
❧The Expulsion
The judgment: Banū Qaynuqāʿ were given three days to pack their belongings and leave Madinah. Their lives were spared, but they were permanently expelled from the city. They departed for the region of Syria (Shām). Their wealth and property, including their marketplace, tools, and goods, passed to the Muslims.
ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy tried once more to extend the deadline or soften the judgment. He was refused. ʿUbādah's words were: he would not even have given them three days.
❧Qurʾānic Commentary: Sūrah al-Māʾidah 5:51–56
Allah revealed Sūrah al-Māʾidah verses 51–56 in response to this incident. Dr. Qadhi gives an extended discussion:
The verse: "O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as awliyāʾ. They are awliyāʾ to each other. Whoever takes them as awliyāʾ from among you, indeed he is of them. Verily Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people." (Q 5:51)
Dr. Qadhi explains that the word awliyāʾ in this verse does NOT mean "friends." It means political allies, military confederates, the pre-Islamic institution of ḥilf. The verse addresses the situation where ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy said: "We are afraid that something will befall us" (nakhshā an tuṣībanā dāʾirah), meaning, he feared the political tide might turn and he wanted to preserve his alliance with the Jewish tribes as a hedge against Muslim power.
Allah's words include ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy's exact phrase ("nakhshā an tuṣībanā dāʾirah", Q 5:52), his specific political calculation is literally quoted in the Qurʾān as an example of nifāq.
By contrast, Allah praises those like ʿUbādah (Q 5:54–56): "Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and the believers, those are the ones who will be victorious."
❧Key Lessons (Dr. Qadhi's Commentary)
1. The awliyāʾ verse in context. This verse is not a blanket prohibition on friendship with Jews or Christians. It addresses political-military alliances that compromise Muslim communal loyalty, the specific scenario of Madinah's tribal politics.
2. The Prophet's political wisdom with the Munāfiqūn. The Prophet ﷺ did not execute ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy despite his clear hypocrisy and interference, because he did not want to give the impression that "Muḥammad kills his own Companions." He managed the situation by accepting ʿAbdullāh's intercession (for the lesser punishment of exile rather than death) while achieving the core objective: removing Banū Qaynuqāʿ from Madinah.
3. Two choices, one crisis. The contrast between ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy (clinging to pre-Islamic alliances out of political calculation) and ʿUbādah ibn aṣ-Ṣāmit (publicly renouncing the same alliance for Allah's sake) illustrates the distinction between nifāq and true īmān.
4. Historical treatment of Jews under Islamic rule. Dr. Qadhi notes that the Jewish communities expelled from Madinah were not killed. They emigrated and settled elsewhere under Muslim rule. Throughout Islamic history, from Andalusia to the Ottoman Empire, Jewish communities generally found protection and flourishing under Muslim governance, more than in medieval Christian Europe. The specific acts against Jewish tribes in Madinah were responses to specific treaty violations, not expressions of a general hostility.