Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 99same time he passed a finger over his neck, making thesign of death. The Prophet sa had said nothing on thissubject to anybody. But Abu Lubaba ra , fearing that thecrime of the Jews merited nothing but death,unwittingly made this sign, which proved fateful for theJews. The latter declined Abu Lubaba's ra advice andrefused to accept the Prophet's sa award. Had theyaccepted it, the utmost punishment they would havehad was expulsion from Medina. But as ill-luck wouldhave it, they refused to accept the Prophet's sa award.Instead of the Prophet's sa , they said, they would acceptthe award of Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh ra , chief of their allies, theAus. They would agree to any punishment proposed byhim. A dispute also arose among the Jews. Some ofthem began to say that their people had really gone backon their agreement with the Muslims. The behaviour ofthe Muslims, on the other hand, showed that they weretrue and honest and that their religion also was true.Those who thought in this way joined Islam. ‘Amr binMa‘di ra , one of the Jewish chiefs, reproved his peopleand said, "You have committed a breach of faith andgone back on your plighted word. The only course nowopen to you is either to join Islam or give jizya."They said, "We will neither join Islam nor give jizya,for dying is better than giving jizya." ‘Amr replied that inthat case he stood absolved, and saying this left the fort.He was sighted by Muhammad bin Maslama ra ,commander of a Muslim column, who asked him who hewas. On learning of his identity he told him to depart inpeace and himself prayed loudly:"God, give me ever the power to screen the mistakesof the decent."What he meant was that this Jew had shownremorse and regret over the conduct of his people. It wasthe moral duty of Muslims, therefore, to forgive men likehim. In letting him go he had done a good thing, and heprayed that God should give him the chance to do suchgood deeds again and again. When the Prophet sa got toknow of what Muhammad bin Maslama ra had done, he