Banu Qaynuqa

The Banū Qainuqā ʿ (Arabic بنو قينقاع ) were next to the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza one of three main Jewish tribes in Yathrib, the pre-Islamic Medina. With respect to their origin, there is some doubt as to whether they were of idumäischer or Judaic origin. While the two other Jewish tribes involved in agriculture, Banū Qainuqā ʿ had no land and worked mainly as goldsmiths and armourers. They lived in the center of Yathrib, where the market was the city, and were clients of the Arab tribe of Khazraj, unlike the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza to who had allied with the corner.

The Banū Qaynuqa ʿ were the first tribe to which Muhammad led military conflicts. As the occasion is called in the tradition that after the Battle of Badr in 624 an Arab woman was insulted by a group of Jews in the market of Banū Qaynuqa ʿ. A Muslim who had observed the incident, killed one of the Jews and then killed himself. The Banū Qaynuqa ʿ were then besieged 15 days and eventually expelled.

Although the Banū Qaynuqa ʿ included several hundred members, however, had received from their Arab allies no support. They were given three days to collect their debts and take a few possessions, with the exception of professional tools. The Banu Qainuqa migrated northeastward through the desert of the Arabian Peninsula in the direction of the Persian Gulf. Some of them were prominent converts of Islam, such as Abdallah ibn Salām, one of the Jewish followers of Mohammed.

The contemporary Muslim scholar Yusuf al -Qaradawi sees the expulsion of the Banū Qaynuqa ʿ as an act of documented primarily the interest of the Prophet to economic issues. Namely, while previously had confessed to the market of Medina under the control of the Jewish Banū Qainuqā ʿ whose expulsion would have to create a " pure Islamic market" ( Sūq Islamiya ṣirfa ) in Medina permits whose rules stipulated the Prophet himself.