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498 Banu Bahdal

stronger, they gradually

made themselves masters

Eventually of the place, and oppressed the Jews. they invited Mohammed to live in Medina. This

ended in the complete overthrow of the Jews, who were partly expelled and partly massacred. g. H. Hm.

BANTJ BAHDAL A Jewish tribe in Medina There is which dwelt with the Banu Kuraiza. some uncertainty as to the correctness of the name, as the sources give also the names "Hadal" and "Handal."

H.

g.

Hm.

BANU KAINUKA'A A Jewish tribe in north

Arabia, apparently the first Jews that settled at Medina, and the most powerful of all the Jewish They formed tribes of the peninsula before Islam. a gild of goldsmiths. They had also a marketplace, known under the name " Market of the Banu Kainuka'a," which was the general market-place of the city before Mohammed laid out the great Besides this they possessed two market-place. strong castles in the north of Medina. After Mo-

hammed had come

to Medina, he endeavored to win Jews over to Islam. Failing in his efforts, he assumed a more threatening attitude and first declared war on the Banu Kainuka'a. They retired to their fortresses, but after a siege which lasted fifMohammed put them teen days, they surrendered. in chains, and wished to have all the men executed. He was, however, persuaded to spare them on conall

the

dition that they quitted the town, leaving their goods Subchattels in the hands of the couquerors.

and

sequently they settled in Adra'at in the north. In addition to tbe biographies of Mohammed,

Bibliography



see Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, iv. 10, 14, 82 Hirschfeld, Essai sur VHistoire des Juifs de Medine, in Rev. Et. Juives, vii. 169 et seq., x. 16 et seq.

H. HlB.

G.

BANU KURAIZA Medina

that, like tbe

One of the Jewish Banu al-Nadir, seem

tribes in

to

have

They consisted chiefly of descendants of Aaron. inhabited the villages Mahzttr, Bir Abba, and Buath on the eastern side of Medina and also held fortiToward the end fied positions in the neighborhood. of the fifth century many notable Jews, the major;

whom appear to have belonged to the Banu Kuraiza, were massacred in consequence of the Kuraizite treachery of one of the Arab chiefs. woman, named Sarah, bewailed the disaster in a

ity of

A

dirge,

which

498

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Baptism

is still

extant.

have a pretext to fight them, Mohammed charged them with treason, and declared war against them. They retired to their castles, hoping for assistance from the heathen Arabs. The chief of the latter, Ka'ab ibn Asad, advised them to make a sortie on the night of Sabbath, but they refused. Some of them Among these are said to have embraced Islam. to

woman who

Seven hundred and children to be kept prisoners. Kuraizites were executed, among whom were The fate the Rabbi Hukaik of the Banu al-Nadir. of those slain was bewailed in verse by the Jewish poet Jabal b. Jawwal. The captive children were converted to Islam, and one of the women, named

fifty

For some Reihana, was married to Mohammed. time she remained a Jewess, but ultimately adopted her husband's faith. The booty was considerable, and the gain of the Moslems was all the greater, as many Israelites came to redeem the captive women. Bibliography

Hirschfeld, Essai sur VHistoire des Juifs de vii. 169 et seq., x. 17 et seq.:



Medine, in Rev. Et. Juives,

Wellhausen, Sltizzen und Vorarbeiten, iv. 7 et seq., 70 et seq.; Sprenger, Leben und Lehre des Mohammed, Index, s.ti.

H. Hie.

g.

BANU AL-NApiR A

Jewish tribe in Medina. It appears to have been chiefly composed of priestly families, as this, together with the Banu Kuraiza, was styled " Alkahinan" (The Two Priests). Their habitations were situated in the northern environs of Medina, notably Bu'airah, al-Nawa'im, Mudainib, and the castles of Al-Buwailah, Baraj, Guars, and Fadija. At the time of Mohammed the following persons were their leaders: Huyayy ibn Akhtab, his brothers Abu Jasir and Juday, Sallam ibn Mishkam, and some others. The poet Ka'ab b. al-Ashraf, a member of this tribe, the son of an Arab father and a Jewish mother, was an enemy of Mohammed and composed poems hostile to his cause. Mohammed, therefore, wished to be rid of him, and accepted the services of an Arab who offered to assassinate him. The deed was done and approved of by Mohammed. The simile in the Koran (vii. 175), " His likeness is

as the likeness of a dog" (kalb), etc., is probably an allusion to " Ka'ab. " After his death Mohammed proceeded to attack the whole tribe. He besieged them and burnt their palm-trees, which was against the customs of war in Arabia. The Jews were obliged to surrender, but were permitted to depart.

Their estates, goods, and chattels were confiscated, and they were only allowed to take one camel-load for each group of three persons. They left for the north, and founded new habitations partly in Khaibar and partly in Syria, near the refugees of the Banu a i nu ^ a a The chief cause of their disaster

K

was lack

'

-

of unity.

Bibliography Hirschfeld, Essai sur VHlstoire des Juifs de Medine, in Revue Etudes Juices, vii.170 et seq., x. 169 et seq.;

The Banu Kuraiza were the last tribe to be attacked by Mohammed, and, as the power of the latIn order ter was on the increase, they had no allies.

converts was also a

surrender. Mohammed submitted the decision of their fate to one of his most fanatical followers, who ordered the men to be killed and the women and

tried to convert her

husband. He, however, rebuked her, and in a short poem, still extant, exhorted her to return to her old

Researches into the Composition and Exegesis of the Qoran Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, iv. 7 et seq.

H.

G.

to

Hm.

BANUS: A

teacher of Josephus ("Vita," § 2, Bavoc in ed. Niese, Bdwof). He " lived in the desert, used no other clothing than grew upon trees, had no other food than what grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently, both by night and by day " (ib.) like the Essenes. Josephus stayed with him three years. Chajes ("Beitrage zur Nord-Semitischen Onomatologie," p. 13, Vienna, 1901) connects the name " Banus " with the

Talmudic "Bannaah." Bibliography

faith.

The Banu Kuraiza were eventually obliged

New

g.



Gratz, Gesch. der

Juden, 4th

ed.,

iii.

482.

S.

Kr.