The Quran

هُوَ الَّذي أَخرَجَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا مِن أَهلِ الكِتابِ مِن دِيارِهِم لِأَوَّلِ الحَشرِ ۚ ما ظَنَنتُم أَن يَخرُجوا ۖ وَظَنّوا أَنَّهُم مانِعَتُهُم حُصونُهُم مِنَ اللَّهِ فَأَتاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن حَيثُ لَم يَحتَسِبوا ۖ وَقَذَفَ في قُلوبِهِمُ الرُّعبَ ۚ يُخرِبونَ بُيوتَهُم بِأَيديهِم وَأَيدِي المُؤمِنينَ فَاعتَبِروا يا أُولِي الأَبصارِ

Ali Unal

He it is Who drove out those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book from their (fortified) homes as the first instance of gathering (them for punishment and banishment from the heartland of Islam). You did not think that they would go forth (so easily), just as they thought that their strongholds would protect them against God. But (the will of) God came upon them from where they had not reckoned (it could come): He cast dread into their hearts. And so they were wrecking their homes by their own hands, as well as by the hands of the believers.¹ Learn a lesson, then, O people of insight.

When God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, emigrated to Madīnah, he signed a pact with the Jewish tribes living there. The pact stipulated that the Jews would remain neutral in the hostilities between the Muslims and the pagan Quraysh, but if there were to be an attack on Madīnah, they would defend the city together with the Muslims. But the Jewish tribes were reluctant to honor their agreements. During the Battle of Badr, they favored the Makkan polytheists; after Badr, they openly encouraged the Quraysh and other Arab tribes to unite against the Muslims. They also collaborated with the hypocrites, who were apparently an integral part of the Muslim body-politic. To sabotage the spread of Islam, they began to fan the flames of old animosities between the Aws and Khazraj, the two tribes of Madīnan Muslims. Ka’b ibn Ashraf, the chief of the Banū Nadīr, went to Makkah and recited stirring elegies concerning the Makkans killed at Badr to provoke the Quraysh into renewed hostile action. He also slandered the Muslims and satirized God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, in his poems.
The violation by the Jewish tribes of their obligations according to the treaty exceeded all reasonable limits. A few months after Badr, a Muslim woman was treated indecently by some Jews of Banū Qaynuqa’, the most anti-Muslim Jewish tribe. During the ensuing fight, a Muslim and a Jew were killed. When God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, reproached them for this conduct and reminded them of their treaty obligations, the Jews threatened him: “Don’t be misled by your encounter with a people who have no knowledge of warfare. You were lucky. But if we fight you, you will know that we are the men of war.”
Finally, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, had to attack the Jewish Banu Qaynuqa’, he defeated them and banished them from the outskirts of Madīnah.
As for the Jewish Banū Nadīr tribe, its members also secretly intrigued with the Makkan pagans and the Madīnan hypocrites to destroy the Muslim community once and for all. They even tried to kill the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, while he was visiting them. God’s Messenger asked them to leave their strategic position, about three miles south of Madīnah, and depart from the city. They would be allowed to return every year to gather the produce of their date groves. But when ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy, the chief of the hypocrites, promised them help in case of war, the Banū Nadīr disagreed. They had great faith in their strongly built houses and other strongholds.
The Muslim army then besieged them in their fortresses. The Banū Nadīr, seeing that neither the Makkan polytheists nor the Madīnan hypocrites cared enough to help them, had to leave the city. They were dismayed, but their lives were spared. They were given ten days to remove themselves, their families, and all they could carry. Most of them joined their brethren in Syria and others in Khaybar (Ibn Hishām, 3: 47–49, 190–192).