Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 68 - The Battle of Khaybar Part 1 - Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 9th Oct 2013
Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 68 - The Battle of Khaybar Part 1 - Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 9th Oct 2013
Before we begin the Battle of Khaybar, we will recap the situation of the Jewish tribes. Why? The Battle of Khaybar represents the final expulsion of Jewish tribes in central Arabia at the time, and a lot of Muslims always get confused so we will quickly recap about previous incidents.
Recap on the History of the Jews in Arabia
How did they get to Arabia in the first place? One theory is they came from Yemen, another theory is they were sent by Musa AS himself looking for the final prophet. Another theory is they were there from the Jewish diaspora i.e. the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem and there are considered to be three diasporas, two major and one minor. The first took place is 587 BC when the Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the temple of Solomon and he exiled the Jews from Jerusalem. This was when most of the Jews went to Iran, and some say it was here Jews went to Arabia but this seems far too early (1000 years before the Prophet's PBUH birth). The second diaspora took place at 70 CE under the Emperor Titus. Once again the temple of Solomon was destroyed and the Jews scattered and it's most likely here they made their way down to south of Yemen. There was a minor diaspora in 135 CE under the Emperor Hadrian similar to the 70 CE one. So most likely the Jews went to Iran first in 587 BC, and then in 70 CE the Jews went down to Yemen. Either some of them settled in Arabia for some time. Or another theory which makes more sense is that a group of Yemeni Jews went back up north to Yathrib. And this explains many things - why there were Arab in culture, language and tribes. It was not typical for Jews to be divided into tribes whereas in Yathrib they were i.e. Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa etc. And it is not of the character of the Jewish nation to be divided like this - it's an Arab thing. Most likely after the second diaspora, large groups of Jews settled in Yemen. And we have historical evidence Yemeni Jews have been in Yemen for around 2000 years.
And we all know Yemen was a civilization far more advanced than Arabia at the time of the Prophet PBUH. It had a kingdom, writing, history, etc. We have records from Yemeni kings who enacted treaties with the Jews, and they date back 1700 years. So the Jewish presence in Yemen is very ancient. There are no Jews in Yemen anymore because in 1948 there was a huge airlifting which America helped to do financially, where they airlifted the Yemeni Jews to the modern nation of Israel. There's only a handful of Yemeni Jews left in Yemen. So in any case, it appears the Jews of central Arabia came from Yemen in 70 CE, and then at some time which we don't know (there is no mention of them in non-Islamic sources) maybe 100-150 years before the Prophet PBUH settled in Yathrib. Not 500-600 years before the coming of the Prophet PBUH. Why? Because if you look at the quantity of the tribes at Yathrib, it makes sense that they date back this far. Generally speaking a tribe can't be too big or else it will split. The Jews in Yathrib had only three major tribes, a size of around 6000 in total. Going back we can extrapolate they were there for around 200 years before the coming of the Prophet PBUH. This also explains why the Aws and Khazraj were comfortable with the Jews of Yathrib. Because they are also from Yemen. So perhaps, either the Jews came there first and then the Aws and the Khazraj felt comfortable settling with them; or the other way around - The Aws and Khazraj settled first and then the Jews of Yemen said, "Why don't we also have an alliance with you" etc. Allah knows best.
The first tribe to be expelled was the Banu Qaynuqa. They were expelled right after Badr in Shawwal of the second year of the Hijrah. Why? Because they gave veiled threats to the Prophet PBUH that, "If you fought real men you would not have won." The second tribe was the Banu Nadir because they tried to assassinate the Prophet PBUH by throwing a rock on him. So they were expelled. And the final tribe was the Banu Qurayza who was executed for treason. So with this expulsion there was no Jewish tribes in Madinah. However the two tribes who had been expelled before migrated to Khaybar. And it was the closest Jewish tribe to Madinah; especially the leaders of them Huyayy ibn Akhtab and Salam ibn Abu al-Huqayq were very open and hostile enemies. We know in the Battle of the Trench the Jews of Khaybar helped some of the opponents, and persuaded the Banu Qurayza to also break the treaty with the Prophet PBUH. And they helped with their arms, weapons etc.
Therefore as soon as Hudaybiyyah was finalized (i.e. the threat from Quraysh was eliminated,) now the Prophet PBUH can worry about the one potential threat in his local vicinity left: The people of Khaybar.
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Khaybar
What is Khaybar? It is a luscious city north of Madinah. And it sits at the top of a huge underground river. Khaybar and Madinah both sit on top of these large currents. And Khaybar actually has far more fertile land than Madinah - it has much more land, but the quantity of people living there is fewer than Madinah. So Khaybar, the name goes back to one of the Amalekites, or according to another opinion, a Jewish name for a fortress (khayabir, Hebrew for fortress), or according to another opinion, comes from an Arabic word khabira which means fertile. And Khaybar was one of the largest dates producing land in the whole of Arabia. And it was populated only by Jewish tribes. And they had done what they had done in every other land, which is to build their unique fortresses. This again shows us the Jews of Yathrib and Khaybar come from Yemen where there was the knowledge of building dams, fortresses etc. The Arabs had not mastered this art and the Jews kept this building of fortresses a complete secret. One or two Arabs tried to imitate them but it was second class. And Khaybar was known to have the biggest and most magnificent fortresses in Arabia. The entire city was living inside completely walled fortresses and thus it was impenetrable for the Muslims who didn't have any major weapons at the time. This was one of the big issues. Therefore the Muslims realized this would be a very difficult battle.
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Reason to Attack Khaybar
As we said the main reason to attack Khaybar was to preemptively attack. Why? Because Khaybar were evil and treacherous and they would do anything to get their land back in Madinah. So it was a preemptive attack so the people of Khaybar do not launch an attack on Madinah. And this is frankly how things worked. Khaybar had no treaty with Madinah, and in those days every single land has to be prepared for attack. Why do you think the Jews had huge fortresses anyway? It was survival of the fittest, and the rule of the land was that you can attack other tribes. People who say 'oh look at this..' we simply say this is how every group did it. That was the law in those times. Since there is no treaty with the people of Khaybar, they are completely legitimate targets.
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When Did It Take Place?
So the Prophet PBUH announced he is going to Khaybar, and he took with him around 1700 men. When did it take place? Slight difference of opinion. Ibn Ishaq says it took place in Muharram 7 AH. Al-Waqidi says Safar 7 AH and this makes sense since it began in Muharram and ended in Safar. Imam Malik and al-Zuhri say Muharram 6 AH, but this goes back to their calculation of the Hijrah of the first year being 0 H, so in reality when they say 6 AH they mean 7 AH. So the majority position is Muharram - this shows us the Muslims barely rested for two weeks after Hudaybiyyah and immediately the Prophet PBUH is thinking of Khaybar. It is the only real threat left in central Arabia.
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Marching to Khaybar
All the books of hadith say the Muslims left in high spirits (Bukhari, Muslim, etc.). They say when the Muslims were marching, they were so enthusiastic they were shouting and screaming, "Allahu Akbar" but the Prophet PBUH said, "Oh people be gentle with yourselves, for verily the One you are calling out to is not deaf, He can hear you and see you and is nearer to you than your jugular vein." And the Prophet PBUH marched and Khaybar was around 230 km away, and the Prophet PBUH reached there in less than two days. And he did not stop until he was right outside Khaybar.
Note Khaybar wasn't a real city - it was just a bunch of fortresses. How many? The books say many - at least 8 or 9. Most likely 15, and each of its fortresses had its own mini camp. And Khaybar was divided into two halves i.e. in one half there was 6-8 fortresses, and on the other side was 6-8 fortresses. Khaybar is a large land; many acres of green lush land. It had land on which dates are being harvested. Within this land, the land had basically two halves - on one half there were many 6-8 fortresses, on the other half which was a few hours of marching away there 6-8 fortresses. And when the Prophet PBUH came to Khaybar, it was a complete surprise for the people of Khaybar. They never expected it. Bukhari says the Prophet PBUH intentionally camped away from Khaybar at night so they started marching to Khaybar before Fajr to completely surprise them. And when they finally came within the distance of the first fortress, they saw the people exiting with their clothes, tools and axes etc. to harvest the dates, but when they saw the Muslims they rushed back running saying, "Muhammad and his army has arrived!" The very fact they say this shows, even though they are surprised, they knew it was going to happen and somewhat expected it. So they yelled out, "Muhammad has arrived," and they ran inside, shut the doors and sealed them. Here is when the Prophet PBUH uttered his famous lines mentioned in every book of seerah and hadith, "Allahu'akbar, Allahu'akbar. Khaybar has been destroyed. And whenever we arrive at the border of a people, then what an evil warning it is for those who have been warned."
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The Battle of Khaybar
The books of seerah mention a bunch of incidents and as usual we piece them together. So what happens? All of the individual tribes have locked themselves up. And the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba conquer one fortress at a time. This actually was partly the cause for their downfall. Why? They never thought, "What if an army comes straight to our land, we won't be able to help one another! And each group will have to face the entire army on their own." And this is exactly what happened. Each single group and mini fortress had to face up to 2000 men alone. It was a gaping hole in the construction of the fortresses and that is they could not unite against a large army. And the Prophet PBUH kept on targeting one fortress after another. One fortress was al-Nizar, another was called al-Sa'b. One of the largest fortress, Na'im, it took Muslims 10 days to conquer it. And the Muslims threw arrows and constant firing for 10 days straight. Abu Bakr RA took charge for a few days, then Umar RA etc. For 10 days they fought and one of the famous sahaba died a shaheed when the people of the fortress threw a large log back. The Muslims never experienced this before, and did not quite know how to set up to defend. And one of the sahabi came too close to the fortress and they threw a large log on him - Mahmud ibn Maslamah al-Ansari RA, and this was very demoralizing for the sahaba.
So for 10 days straight the Muslims fought this one Fortress al-Na'im, and on the 10th night the Prophet PBUH made an announcement and said, "Tomorrow at Salah al-Fajr I will hand the banner to someone whom Allah and His Messenger love. And Allah will grant us victory at his hands." And Umar RA said, "Never in my life did I wish to become a leader like I did on that night." Because this is a great honor.
In the morning the Prophet PBUH prayed Fajr, turned around and said, "Where is Ali ibn Abi Talib?" And so they said, "He has some problem with his eyes (i.e. infection) so he remained in his tent." So the Prophet PBUH said, "Bring him to me." When Ali RA came, the Prophet PBUH spat into his eyes and he became cured. And he then handed the banner to Ali RA and said, "Go forth bismillah! And keep on going and do NOT turn back." And this was a great blessing for Ali ibn Abi Talib and he came forth with the banner but then he paused because he wanted to ask a question. But the Prophet PBUH had told him, "Go forth and don't turn back!" so he paused where he was and instead of turning around he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Ya Rasulullah what conditions should I give them?!" Subhan'Allah he doesn't want to turn around because that would be disobeying. So he shouts out, "What are the conditions?" And so the Prophet PBUH said, "Fight them until they testify I am the Messenger of Allah; if they do so, their lives will be protected." And this shows us the ultimate goal of these types of expedition is not killing nor is it conquest of land. It was inviting people to Islam. After 10 days the Prophet PBUH still says first call them to Allah; if they agree everything they own is theirs. Because, "By Allah if one person is guided to Islam through you, it's better than a whole herd of camels." Thus these conquests were dawah focused. And the chieftain of this fortress was Mirhab, and he felt bold enough to challenge the Muslims to a duel. And firstly Amir ibn al-Akwa, an Ansari took on the challenge, but Mirhab killed him. The next person was Ali RA himself and so Ali RA took him on in the duel and managed to kill Mirhab. And this was one of the biggest victories for the Muslims.
After Mirhab died eventually the people came out to face the Muslims and fought a severe battle. But the Muslims eventually overcame. It is during this expedition the famous incident we know happened. That Ali's RA shield was knocked out, and Ali was left defenseless. So he went to the door of the fortress, and it's a massive structure. And he used the entire door as a shield for the remainder of the battle. And when it was over he threw it aside and Abu Rafi' the narrator said, "Seven of us tried to pick up the door but we couldn't," and there is no doubt this is a mini miracle given to Ali RA. Ali RA was a man whom Allah and His messenger loved and we too love him with a true love. So when al-Na'im was conquered they moved on to the next fortress which was al-Sa'b, and it took the Muslims three days to conquer this - it was a great miracle they conquered it because their food supplies had dwindled to nothing and they had nothing left. But amazingly when the Muslims conquered al-Sa'b it was full of grain, food etc. So they used this food and lived off of it for the remainder of the Battle of Khaybar.
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Mini Stories
A number of stories is mentioned in this battle.
1. Of them is the story of the slave who came to the Prophet PBUH who had heard a man is claiming to be a prophet. So he asked the Prophet PBUH, "What are you about?" So the Prophet PBUH said, "I am a prophet." So he said, "What have you come with?" So the Prophet PBUH explained what Islam is, and when he heard this the slave accepted Islam then and there. And he said, "My master has sent me to graze the flock, what shall I do with it?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Return it to your master." The Prophet PBUH rubbed the heads of the sheep and told the slave, "Go to such a place and the sheep will return to their master." And the slave came back to the army, fought a severe fight until a stray arrow killed him. And after the battle was over the Prophet PBUH stood over his body, and he only had a small cloth covering his aura during the burial. So as he was being buried, the Prophet PBUH closed his eyes. The sahaba asked why and the Prophet PBUH said, "His two Hoor al-Ayn have come to greet him." And this was a man who never did one sajdah to Allah yet died a shaheed. And we have such cases during the seerah. And subhan'Allah we see the honesty of the Prophet PBUH in rejecting the sheep. Even though he is at war with the tribe the Prophet PBUH knows the slave has been given a trust by the master. So the Prophet PBUH returned all of the sheep to the master, even though the irony is the Prophet PBUH is fighting the master in war.
2. This next story appears in multiple battles and scholars differ if it only happened once or more than once. In any case this story is mentioned in Bukhari that it occurred at Khaybar so we mention it here, and that it is the story of the Bedouin who was fighting a mighty fight. And the people are impressed and say, "This is a man from Jannah," and the Prophet PBUH said, "No, rather he is from the Hellfire." So one of the sahaba follow him until an arrow injured his hand, and when this man saw this, he took his sword, put it on the ground and jumped on the sword. So the reason he was fighting was to be called powerful and mighty, for ego and honor, not for the sake of Allah. So the man who was following him went back to the Prophet PBUH and repeated the kalimah. The Prophet PBUH said, "What is the matter you are already a Muslim." So he explained what happened and the Prophet PBUH said, "It is possible a person does deeds that appears to the eyes of people to be deeds of the people of Jannah, but qadr catches up to him and he dies while doing a deed of the Fire of Hell. And it's possible a person appears to be doing the deeds of an evil person, but he dies doing a deed of Jannah." So the point is Allah judges us depending on the state we die in.
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(Cont.) The Battle of Khaybar
Eventually the Muslims conquered fortress after fortress and they came to the 'castle of Zubayr.' And this fortress did not have its own internal well. Rather it was fed via an external water supply, so the Muslims blocked with water supply so the men HAD to come out and fight. And eventually when they came out and fought they were defeated, and with this defeat the one half of Khaybar was conquered. And the other half remained. So the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba crossed over to the other side of Khaybar and began another series of mini conquests. Remember it was not a simple battle: It was a series of at least 9 battles. Some last 10 days, some lasted 1 day and some 3 days. So in the exact same manner the Prophet PBUH engaged with each fortress individually. Note every time one fortress fell, the group of remaining fighters there ran to other fortresses. Of course they wouldn't just surrender, they would run all the way to the big fortress which had the best protection. So the Prophet PBUH conquered each mini fortress until eventually there was one of the largest fortress left, and all of the people from tribes already conquered were in that fortress. And so the Prophet PBUH and the Muslims just camped outside and waited. This fortress was just too big so a solid two weeks went by until finally the people inside realized they were outnumbered and could not do anything, so they negotiated a surrender.
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Was Khaybar a Conquest or a Surrender?
And here is what a lot of scholars differ: Was Khaybar a conquest or a surrender? Why does it matter? Because firstly there are fiqh differences, secondly it's a matter of honor for the Muslims and humiliation for the group conquered. If they surrendered then they gain some honor since they willingly gave up, but if they were forced militarily this is humiliation. So it's a matter of history and a little bit of fiqh. The confusion of Khaybar is the Prophet PBUH fought so many battles, but right at the end with one of the biggest fortresses they just surrendered. So overall was it a conquer or a surrender? The majority position, held by ibn al-Qayyim and others is that they were conquered. The evidence for this is that, if they wanted to surrender they would have done so from the start. But every single fortress was conquered until the Muslims reached the last who surrendered because they knew they were going to be conquered. And so they worked out a treaty with the Prophet PBUH - they argued and said, "Ya Aba al-Qasim, your people do not know how to operate or mend these lands. We are people who know Khaybar inside out. So why don't we agree to a percentage."
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Terms of the Agreement
And so back and forth they went until finally the conditions were decided:
1. The people of Khaybar would give 50% of the produce to the Muslims. Now the people of Khaybar had hundreds of acres of lands. And 50% is literally a fortune, it's equal to tens of millions of pounds.
2. The maintenance and cost and the labor will not be 50/50, it will be 100% on the Jews.
3. This treaty is in effect for as long the Prophet PBUH decides. He can cancel whenever he wants to.
And so they agreed and remained with these conditions. And it shows us the foresight of the Prophet PBUH to allow them to remain. The fact is the Muslims neither had the experience or manpower to manage Khaybar. It would need around 1000 people to take care of it but the Muslims did not have 1000 men to spare. Further, the people of Khaybar knew Khaybar inside out, so the Prophet PBUH said, "Let them take care of it and we will get a fortune." So this is what happened all the way until the end of the khilafa of Umar RA - and at that time there were so many Muslims Umar expelled the Jews (in accordance to the treaty) from Arabia completely.
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Attempt to Poison the Prophet PBUH
After these negotiations took place, the attempted poisoning of the Prophet PBUH happened. Some food was gifted to the Prophet PBUH and later on we learn it was cooked by the wife of one of the leaders of Khaybar that had been killed. When the food was gifted the Muslims did not know. And so the Prophet PBUH was given high level exotic food, and it is understood when a person has conquered the land and he is the new leader, it was natural for the people to appease the new leader with gifts and food. So the Prophet PBUH was sent a lavish, massive tray full of food. And we know now that the woman who cooked it asked, "What meat does the Prophet PBUH like the most?" And she was told, "The shoulder blade of a lamb." And so she put poison in the whole lamb, but especially the shoulder. And it was a very potent and powerful poison. When the Prophet PBUH and sahaba sat down to eat, he put a bite in his mouth and as soon as he did he said, "Everyone STOP eating." He said that but unfortunately one sahabi by the name of Bishr ibn al-Bara had already eaten and it was too late for him. And the Prophet PBUH said, "The shoulder of the lamb has told me it has been poisoned" i.e. the lamb spoke to the Prophet PBUH. Subhan'Allah. Obviously Allah allowed this. So the Prophet PBUH did not swallow, but he put it in his mouth. As for Bishr he swallowed a little bit and he fell severely ill. A number of other sahabi spat out the meat before they swallowed so they had to be treated. The Prophet PBUH as a result of this poison felt the pain for the rest of his life (four years). So much so on his deathbed when he had a week left, he said to Aisha RA, "I still feel the effects of the poison from the women of Khaybar." As for Bishr he died in a few days.
The Prophet PBUH then called the tribe who gifted him this meat. And he said, "If I ask you anything will you tell the truth?" He said, "Who is your ancestor?" They said, "So and so." But the Prophet PBUH said, "You are lying. Your ancestor is so and so," meaning he is proving to them he knows the truth and they lied. Perhaps there was some point of embarrassment for the ancestor so they lied about it. So the Jews said, "You have spoken the truth, you have been honest with us." So the Prophet PBUH asked again, "If I ask you a question will you be honest with me?" They said, "Ya Aba al-Qasim you have already exposed our lies so we will be honest." So he asked, "Who is going to the fire of hell?" They said, "We will go for a short period, but then Allah will save us. And you and your people will remain forever." This was their belief as Allah mentions in Baqarah. So they are saying they know they are sinful so they will be punished for a while but eventually be taken out.
Of course this is completely wrong and the Prophet PBUH said, "Remain humiliated and in the fire of hell. By Allah we will not remain after you." So now he said for a third time, "Will you tell me the truth?" And they said, "Yes." So the Prophet PBUH asked, "Did you poison the goat?" And they said, "Yes we did." And perhaps it was their honesty which saved them from all being killed. So he said, "Why?" They said, "If you were a liar we would be free of you; if you are a prophet our mischievousness would not have harmed you anyway." Look at the arrogance here. They see the Prophet PBUH has been saved therefore he must be a prophet but it still doesn't affect them. As Allah says in the Quran they clearly recognize he is a prophet just like they recognize their own children but it is a matter of pride. So they admitted they did the poison and they said, "It was so-and-so" i.e. the cook.
The Prophet PBUH then called the cook and asked, "Why did you do this?" And she was honest and said, "You killed my husband, uncle, etc. so this is revenge." And some of the sahaba said to execute her, and here is where the narratives differ. Some say the Prophet PBUH did forgive her, but others say she was killed. Scholars try to reconcile and Ibn al-Qayyim the master of seerah says, "The Prophet PBUH forgave her for what she had done to him, but after a few days when Bishr died, she had to be killed for qisas. So the haq of the Prophet PBUH - he forgave her. He did not retaliate for himself. When Bishr died however, it's not fair for him that his death goes un-avenged so she was killed by qisas."
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The Ghanima
So all of the fortresses were conquered, and all of the Muslims who participated in Hudaybiyyah were given extra shares, because this is exactly what Allah promised in the Quran in Surah al-Fath, "Allah has promised you will gain A LOT of ghanima." Subhan'Allah. And Allah is giving some of the rewards of Jannah in this life for their patience and allegiance at Hudaybiyyah. So every single sahabi who participated in Hudaybiyyah was given a huge share.
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Ja'far ibn Abi Talib RA and Other Sahaba's Return From Abyssinia
Another incident happened which was while the Muslims were at Khaybar, and the Prophet PBUH has finished the negotiations and just conquered all of Khaybar, on the same day Ja'far ibn Abi Talib makes his way to Khaybar. He's returned from Abyssinia with 50 or so Muslim men and women, and he has been gone for over a decade. It's the 7th year of the Hijrah and they went to Abyssinia in the 6th year of dawah (maximum 7th). So at least 10 years have gone by since the Prophet PBUH has not seen one of his most beloved cousins and best friends. Remember Ali RA was a child compared to the Prophet PBUH, he raised Ali RA. Ja'far was much older and he had a different relationship with the Prophet PBUH. And Ja'far was very beloved to the Prophet PBUH. And when he saw Ja'far he stood up to greet him, kissed him on the forehead and said, "I don't know which of the two things are making me happier: Conquest of Khaybar or seeing Ja'far." Imagine a whole month of battling and the biggest conquest in terms of monetary since the beginning of Islam, yet the Prophet's PBUH joy is equal or even greater for seeing Ja'far. And subhan'Allah even though the people from Abyssinia did not participate in Khaybar, they all got a share in Khaybar. And it's an amazing blessing for them which shows Allah never ignores those who sacrifice for Him. Because their hardships were hardships no Muslim endured: Emigrating to a foreign place, leaving everything behind, learning a new civilization etc. More than a decade of harsh living amidst civil war: Najashi's nephew was waging war against Najashi and the Muslims were on the verge of being expelled. And Najashi in fear said, "If my nephew kills me, go to this place and there is a ship waiting just for you." Subhan'Allah, and when Allah saved him the Muslims were so happy. So here is a group of Muslims that did not participate in Khaybar, yet they still got a massive amount of reward in this dunya for their hardship.
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The People of Two Hijrahs
There's a beautiful hadith that when they returned to Madinah, and Asma bint Umays was among those who migrated to Abyssinia from Makkah (all are Makkans of course). So after a day or two she visits her friend Hafsa, the wife of the Prophet PBUH and when she visits Hafsa whom she hasn't seen for 10-15 years, Umar RA asks his daughter Hafsa, "Who is this lady with you?" And Hafsa said, "This is Asma bint Umays." So Umar RA says, "Bint Umays? You are the sea faring lady? We have more right to the Prophet PBUH than you, because we immigrated to Madinah with him," i.e. he is semi-teasing her. He is saying, "You guys are coming after seven years." And Asma RA snapped. All of this frustration and anger snapped at Umar RA and she said, "No wallahi you have no more right to the Prophet PBUH. You were at least with him for these 10 years. He would console you at times of grief, feed you when you were hungry, he would guide you when you were mistaken. And we suffered, and toiled and were in a strange land with nobody. Wallahi I won't eat and drink until I go to the Prophet PBUH and tell him what you said, and you can see for yourself who is right or wrong."
So then and there she went to the masjid of the Prophet PBUH and in front of all the sahaba she started ranting about Umar RA that, "Ya Rasulullah Umar said this and that..." So the Prophet PBUH said, "He does not have any more right than you; go back and tell him, he made one Hijrah. You people made two Hijrahs." Subhan'Allah. And she went back flaunting this and the news spread like wildfire to all of the Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia, and the whole day the Muslims of Abyssinia went to Asma wanting to hear the exact details directly from Asma. And the narration says they were never ever happier than that day for they did two Hijrahs, and Umar RA only did one.
Of course all this happiness will be tampered shortly by the death of Ja'far very soon. And the death of Ja'far was very tragic for the Prophet PBUH.
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Massive Fortune
So the conquest of Khaybar was indeed a huge demoralizing factor for the people of Quraysh. Because Khaybar was known to be the most protected, fertile and monetary area in Arabia but now it's in the hands of the Prophet PBUH. It's a lot of money and power, and it was also the most impenetrable fortress but the Prophet PBUH still conquered it.
And of course around Khaybar the Prophet PBUH conquered all the small tribes with the same conditions (50% goes to the Muslims). The people of Fadak, a tribe close to Khaybar, became scared so without any army or threat, they people of Fadak sent a letter to the Prophet PBUH that, "We also agree to the exact same conditions." The Prophet PBUH didn't even step foot in Fadak nor did he intend to go there, yet they still agreed to the conditions. The Prophet PBUH accepted this, and the lands of Fadak was a special gift from Allah directly. And the Prophet PBUH would use the proceeds of Fadak to take care of his family.
And Khaybar generated the most wealth the Muslims had ever seen, and in terms of sheer land, Khaybar was the greatest conquest in the history of the seerah of the Prophet PBUH. In terms of money, maybe Hunayn was bigger. Maybe - but Hunayn did not have much land. In terms of land there is no competition. It was the largest conquest in the history of the seerah. And it was most priciest lands: All the lands had food, armor, weapons, sheep, goat, etc. And it was at this point the Muhajirun returned the land the Ansar gave them at the beginning of the Hijrah. Indeed when the Muhajir first came to Madinah it was the Ansar who provided everything and the Muhajir always felt, "This is not ours." And ibn Umar said, "We never ate to our fill until after Khaybar." Subhan'Allah. And of course Allah always gives reward to those who are patient. For so many years the sahaba have struggled for over 15 years, yet now every one of the Muhajirs gets a lifelong fortune. Because every year the produce will come without lifting a finger. And this is enough to take care of him and his family. And this is the point of anyone who struggles for Allah and His Messenger.
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Update on the Marriages of the Prophet PBUH
1. Up to this point, we have skipped some details, and that is that the marriage of the Prophet PBUH to Zaynab bint Jahsh. And it is the most difficult story in the entire seerah. It's very awkward because there are reports different to the standard accounts. Just like the satanic verses there are three different versions, one version is trivial, another is understandable, the third is very evil.
2. We talked about Rayhana from the Banu Qurayza that the Prophet PBUH married her, and she died in his lifetime.
3. The other marriage that took place a month before Khaybar was Ramla bint Abu Sufyan. Her husband was in Abyssinia and she became a widow in Abyssinia, and she had nobody in Abyssinia, and the Prophet PBUH sent her a marriage proposal in Madinah while she was in Abyssinia. And she is the daughter of Abu Sufyan - her father is the chieftain. In those days lineage is the number one thing you marry a woman. It's about pride of who the father is. Why? Because once you marry into a tribe you have negotiation and political power. But of course Ramla was a true believer - she was generous to the poor etc. But her lineage on top of this is unparalleled. She is the daughter of the most powerful person in Makkah. And Najashi himself gifted the mahr on behalf of the Prophet PBUH. Why? When Najashi heard he became so happy, he is the one who acted as the wali, he did the wedding ceremony etc. So Ramla had the grandest wedding ceremony out of all the wives, and then he sent her to Madinah with a trusted party.
4. In the Battle of Khaybar, Safiyyah bint Huyayy, the daughter of the chieftain of the Banu Nadir, marries the Prophet PBUH.