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The massacre of the Banu Qurayzah
Below is the cover of Andrew Bostom’s soon to be published Legacy of Jihad. I’ve briefly discussed once before this remarkable 19th century Persian illustration, which Dr. Bostom discovered in the catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the British Museum. It portrays Muhammad and his companions, including Ali (the faces of Muhammad and the Caliphs are always veiled in Muslim paintings), sitting in a plaza witnessing the beheadings of the 600 to 900 men of the Jewish tribe of the Qurayzah, who had just surrendered to Muhammad after a seige in which he refused to allow them to surrender and leave with their personal belongings, or even to surrender and leave without their personal belongings. He just wanted them dead.
The illustration does not portray actual beheadings, and only shows a few victims rather than hundreds. Indeed, the treatment is almost abstract—note the flame-shaped object in the hand of of the executioner instead of a sword. While coldly horrifying, the picture is also strangely compelling and beautiful. In a note on the cover art, Dr. Bostom gives a detailed account of the massacre based on authoritative Muslim sources, available online at the website for his book. Email entry |