Literary text: T-S 16.353

Description

Bifolio purporting to contain copies of documents from the year 5 AH (probably a copyist's error for 9 AH, hence from Friday, 3 Ramaḍān 9 AH = 14 December 630 CE). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: likely 11th century. The text contains three subsections: (1) Address by a son of Ḥunayy b. Akhṭab b. Ḥanīna, a Khaybarī Jew. (2) Letter by Muḥammad to Ḥanīna and the Jews of Khaybar and Maqnā. (3) Muḥammad's genealogy, ending with "the son of Adam, the son of the earth." NB: This fragment used to be known as T-S 8Ka.1. T-S AS 155.397 (PGPID 37995) is a newly discovered (as of 2023) version of the same text. Hirschfeld's translation (with transliterations modified): In the name of the Merciful, Compassionate. O assembly of Muslims, and Fugitives, and Helpers. O people of the Prophet (peace upon him), O bearers of the Qurʾān, O people of the Prophet (peace upon him), of fasters of the month of Ramaḍān, I am a man who has detached himself from the sons of Ḥunayy b. Akhṭab b. Hanina of Khaybar, whom we came and overpowered, [to whom] our foot made war, and [whom] our horses carried away. We freely gave up our persons and provisions six days in the lustrous week. Then out came to us our mother, viz. the mother of al-Ḥunayy b. Akhṭab, saying: "Sabbath has come and the time of prayer." We answered her: "We have neither Sabbath, nor feast, nor rest, nor sleep, until the Prophet of Allah (may Allah pray for him and greet him) fulfill that which Allah has inspired him with." The Prophet of Allah (may, &c.) accepted this, and our Sabbath was not incumbent upon us. He married Safiyya, the daughter of our uncle, and gave her her freedom and marriage gift. And he wrote for us a treaty and covenant. . . ʿAlī b. Abū Ṭālib (may, &c.), that he should take the letter out, kiss it, draw it over his face, and read it [as follows]: In the name of the Merciful, Compassionate. This is a letter from Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah to Ḥanina and the people of Khaybar and Maqnā and their progeny as long as the heavens are above the earth, peace. I praise unto you God, save whom there is no God but he. Now [I say that] he has revealed unto me that you are about to return to your cities and to the inhabitants of your dwelling-place. Return in safety, in the protection of Allah and that of his Messenger. Yours is the safeguard of Allah and that of his Messenger with regard to your persons, belief, and property, slaves, and whatever is in your possession. You shall not have the annoyance of land-tax, nor shall a forelock of yours be cut off. No army shall tread on your soil, nor shall you be assembled [for military service], nor shall tithes be imposed on you, neither shall you be injured in any way. No one shall leave his mark on you, you shall not be prevented from wearing slashed or coloured garments, nor from riding horseback, nor from carrying any kind of arms. If any one attacks you, fight him, and if he is killed in the war against you, none of you shall be executed for his sake, nor is ransom to be paid for him. If one of you kills a Muslim intentionally, he shall be dealt with according to Muslim law. No disgraceful charges shall be brought against you, and you shall not be as other [non-Muslim] poll-tax payers. If you ask assistance, it shall be granted to you, and if you want help you shall have it. You shall not be punished for white, nor yellow, nor brown (garments), nor for a coat of mail, nor .... Not a shoe-lace of yours shall be cut. You shall not be hindered entering the mosques, nor precluded from governing Muslim. You shall have no other ruler except out of your own midst, or from the family of the messenger of Allah. Room shall be made for your funerals, except when they trespass on a sacred spot (mosque). You shall be held in honour on account of your own high station and the station of Ṣafiyya, the daughter of your Uncle. It shall be incumbent upon the people of the house of the Messenger of Allah and upon the Muslims to uphold your honour, and not to touch you (?). If any of you goes on a journey, he shall be under the safeguard of Allah and his Messenger. "There is no compulsion in matters of religion." If any of you follows the religion of the Messenger of Allah and his command, he shall have one fourth of what the Messenger of Allah has ordered to be given to the people of his house, to be given when the Quraysh receive their portions, viz. fifty dinars. This is a present from me for you. The family of the house of the Messenger of Allah as well as the Muslims are charged to fulfill all that is in this letter. Whoever deserves well of Ḥanina and the people of Khaybar and Maqnā, all the better for him; but he who does them evil, all the worse for him. Whoever reads this my letter, or to whomever it is read, and he alters or changes anything of what is in it, upon him shall be the curse of Allah and the curse of the cursing of. . . and all mankind. He is beyond my protection and intercession on the day of Resurrection, and I am his foe. And who is my foe is the foe of Allah, and he who is the foe of Allah goes to hell. . . and bad is the abode there. Witness is Allah, like whom there is no God, and Allah is sufficient as witness, and his angels. . ., and those Muslims who are present. ʿAlī, the son of Abū Ṭālib, wrote it with his writing, whilst the Messenger of Allah dictated to him letter for letter, Friday, the 3rd of Ramaḍān, in the year five of the Hijra. Witnesses: [ʿAmm]ār b. Yāsir; Salmān the Persian, the friend of the Messenger of Allah; Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī.