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According to traditional Muslim sources, Huwayyisa was converted to
Muhammad's religion by the religious fervor with which his brother,
Muhayyisa, beheaded a prominent Jew named, Yahudha. It seems that
Huwayyisa was impressed that Muhayyisa enjoyed beheading Yahudha who had
actually benefited him in times past. Furthermore, Huwayyisa was
struck with the fact that that Muhayyisa would have beheaded him, if
Muhammad had requested him to do it. Muhammad pacified the Aus by
letting them behead some of the Jews too. The following is a
quotation of the account as given in "The Life of Muhammad" by Ibn
Ishaq on page 752.
Abu 'Ubayda told me on the authority of Abu 'Amr, the Medinan, when
the apostle got the better of the B. Qurayza he seized about four
hundred men from the Jews who had been allies of Aus against Khazraj,
and ordered that they should be beheaded. Accordingly Khazraj
began to cut off their heads with great satisfaction. The apostle
saw that the faces of Khazraj showed their pleasure, but there was no
such indication on the part of Aus, and he suspected that that was
because of the alliance that had existed between them and the B.
Qurayza. When there were only twelve of them left he gave them
over to Aus, assigning one Jew to every two of Aus, saying, 'Let
so-and-so strike him and so-and-so finish him off.' One of those
who was so handed over to them was Ka'b b. Yahudha, who was an important
man among them. He gave him to Muhayyisa and Abu Burda b. Niyar
(it was Abu Burda to whom the apostle had given permission to sacrifice
a young goat on the feast of Adha). He said, 'Let Muhayyisa strike
him and Abu Burda finish him off.' So Muhayyisa fetched him a
blow, which did not cut in properly, and Abu Burda dispatched him and
gave him the finishing stroke. Huwayyisa, who was still an
unbeliever, said to his brother, Muhayyisa, 'Did you kill Ka'b b.
Yahudha?', and when he said he did, he said, 'By God, much of the flesh
on your belly comes from his wealth; you are a miserable fellow,
Muhayyisa.' He replied, 'If the one who ordered me to kill him had
ordered me to kill you, I would have done so.' He was amazed at
this remark and went away astounded. They say that he used to wake
up in the night astonished at his brother's words, until in the morning
he said, 'By God, this is indeed a religion.' Then he came to the
prophet and accepted Islam. Muhayyisa then spoke the lines which
we have written above.
The Sunan of Abu Dawud states,
Narrated Muhayyisah: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said:
If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them. So Muhayyisah
jumped over Shubaybah, a man of the Jewish merchants. He had close
relations with them. He then killed him. At that time Huwayyisah
(brother of Muhayyisah) had not embraced Islam. He was older than
Muhayyisah. When he killed him, Huwayyisah beat him and said: O enemy of
Allah, I swear by Allah, you have a good deal of fat in your belly from
his property.
Book 19, Number 2996
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