The Prophet’s dealing with the conspiracy of Banu Quraythah
2-10-2007 | IslamWeb
Question:
Certain Quranic verses reveal some unpleasant truths: The verses 33:25-27 were revealed to describe the Banu Qurayza incident and clearly talk about the unbelievers (Quraish pagans, and their allies Jews of Banu Quraiza). The verse 33:25 tells about the retreat of the great force of unbelievers without any success; verse-26 tells about how later the traitor Jewish tribe Banu Qurayza was raided and seized and Jewish people were terrorized by Muhammad’s army. Verse-33: 27 talks about how by the judgment of Sa’d ibn Muaz, all the men were slaughtered and women and children were made captives and Jewish land and property were taken as booty. Sa’d delivered his justice according to the Bible, hence Muhammad said—“Your judgment was like God.” Allah permitted the enslavement and beheading of Jews, so any Muslim familiar with the background of this verse knows that beheading as such has been assimilated into the Quran. The word q-t-l in verse-33:26 means slaughter. What is so troubling about the verse is that it seems Allah (Himself) celebrated the "terror" that He threw into the Jews’ hearts. Indeed, when Abu Lubabah the mediator approached the Jews during negotiations, the women and children were crying. Allah of course heavily terrorized them. What a "Merciful" God! The Prophet Muhammad had expelled two other Jewish tribes (Qaynuqa and Nadir) from Medina, so he could have done the same with the Qurayza—as indeed Banu Quryza Jews begged for mercy and requested to let them leave Medina. But the prophet for humanity (?) declined this merciful and humane option. I got this information from a website. Could you please clarify?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was indeed a Prophet of mercy; this is a confirmed fact which is well known and it does not need evidence. However, since jealous people continue to speak against him 
we will respond to them.
On the one hand, we do not deny that the ruling which was issued against the people of Banu Quraythah, was to kill their fighters, and to capture their women and children, and take their property and belongings as booty. Our Prophet told Sa'd ibn Mu'aath 
: "Indeed, you ruled against them with the ruling of The King (meaning Allaah).” This ruling in itself is evidence that the purpose of Islam is not to burden people, otherwise none of them would remain alive – neither a woman nor a child nor an old man – as some tyrants did in ancient history and during our era as well.
Imaam Muslim 
reported that the Prophet used to advise the Companions he appointed as leaders saying: "Fight in the Name of Allaah and for the sake of Allaah. […] but do not embezzle the spoils; do not break your pledge; and do not mutilate (the dead) bodies; and do not kill the children." At-Tabaraani reported the narration with the following addition: "…and do not kill a woman or an old man." The rightly guided Caliphs 
acted on this after the death of the Prophet .
On the other hand, it is only fair to be harsh and tough with those who are unmerciful, and it is wisdom itself to amputate the spoilt limb of the body [in order to preserve the life of the whole body]. A question is due here: 'What did Banu Quraythah do in order to deserve this fate? The answer is that they betrayed the Muslims and breached the covenant which was concluded with the Muslims at a crucial time when they were besieged by 10,000 non-Muslim fighters. Thus, they exposed the life of all the Muslims (men, women, children and elders) to danger if it was not for the Mercy and Grace of Allaah The Almighty Who repelled those who disbelieved in their rage.
One of the contemporary writers said, “If those who criticize the ruling of Sa'd on Banu Quraythah were to study the current laws efficiently and applied them on Banu Quraythah, they would conclude that the laws of the 20th century are no different than the ruling of Sa'd Ibn Mu'aath." The writer clarified that the Jews committed three crimes, which are:
1- Lifting arms along with the enemy invader against the ruler of Madeenah.
2- Conspiring with the enemy against the Muslims.
3- Facilitating the entrance of the enemy to the country.
Then the writer said, ''Contemporary criminal laws apply the death punishment to each of the above three crimes.''
It is worth mentioning here Deuteronomy chapter 20 which reads:
"10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 11. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. 12. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 13. And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14. But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 15. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. 16. But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them.''
Perhaps this is what prompted the man to say that Sa'd ibn Mu'aath ruled according to the Bible. However, it is enough for us Muslims, that the Prophet testified that this is according the ruling of Allaah.
As for why the Prophet did not treat them like the other Jewish groups, the answer is that he was a Prophet to whom revelation descended, so he did only what he was ordered to do by his Lord. In addition to this, the crime of this group was not like the crime of others so that the ruling would be the same.
This writer has committed a major act of Kufr [disbelief] by mocking Allaah and His Prophet and mocking the text of the Quran. Therefore, he needs to know who is Allaah The Almighty so that he would glorify Him, and then honor the Prophet and believe in his Book.
Finally, it should be noted that one should avoid visiting such biased sites in order to be safe from its misconceptions, and if one must visit such sites to view their content and repel their wrong beliefs, then it is only a person who has deep religious knowledge and who is safe from being influenced by those misconceptions who may visit them.
Allaah Knows best.