Huyayy ibn Akhtab was a chief of the Banu al-Nadir, a Jewish tribe of pre-Islamic Arabia. Huyayy was a courageous warrior and the most inveterate enemy of Muhammad, so that ibn Hisham, Muhammad's biographer, calls him "the enemy of Allah." He was also a learned man, and on one occasion had a discussion with Muhammad upon the mystical letters beginning some of the suras in the Quran. At first, when the Banu al-Nadir were located at Medina, Huyayy's hostility to Muhammad was not pronounced, and when Abu Sufyan, the Quraysh leader and an enemy of Muhammad, presented himself before Huyayy's house. Huyayy, fearing to compromise himself, refused to admit him. But when the Jews, driven by the Muslims from Medina, settled at Khaibar, Huyayy incited them, with the Arab tribes of Quraish and Ghatafan, into active revolt against Muhammad. When Huyayy came to Ka'b ibn As'ad, the chief of the Banu Quraiza, the latter, having sworn allegiance to Muhammad , hesitated to receive him; but Huyayy convinced him of the danger which threatened the Jews from Mohammed, and induced the Banu Qurayza to support him. Later, Muhammad took Qamus, the fortress of the Qurayza, carried to Medina from seven to eight hundred Jews, among them being Huyayy, and killed them in the market-place. When Huyayy was brought before Mohammed, he said to him: "I reproach not myself for having carried on war against thee." Huyayy's daughter Safiyyah bint Huyayy was also captured by Muhammad, who reportedly threw his cloak over her to mark her as his posession; she became one of his wives. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... For other uses, including people named Islam, see Islam (disambiguation). ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ... For other people named Muhammad, see Muhammad (disambiguation). ... Ibn Hisham, Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik (d. ... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Medina (Arabic: ‎ or المدينة ; also transliterated into English as Madinah) is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. ... Abu Sufyan ibn Harb was the leader of the Banu Abd Shams clan of the Quraish tribe, and was the chieftain of the entire Quraish tribe, making him one of, if not the most powerful men in Mecca during the lifetime of Muhammad. ... Quraish (sura) is also the name of a Surah in the Quran. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... -1...

Resources

• Gottheil, Richard and M. Seligsohn. "Huyayy ibn Akhtab." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906; which cites the following bibliography:

• Ibn Hisham, Kitab Sirat Rasul Allah, ed. Wüstenfeld, p. 351, passim;
• Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur V Histoire des Arabes, iii. 83, passim;
• Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., v. 100-102, 105.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... For the river and also village in Norway named Sira, see Sira, Norway. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ...