on the first day of Rabīʿ al-Awwal. Khaybar comprised many fortresses, which he conquered one by one. The first fortress he conquered was Nāʿim, followed by al-Qamūs, the fortress of Ibn Abī al-Huqayq. Among its captives was “Safiyyah, whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, freed and married, making her freedom her bridal gift.” The scholars differed concerning this matter. We have set out our conclusions on it in the section headed “Halaf” (“He swore”), among Ibn al-Qāsim’s transmissions in the Book of Marriage in our commentary on al-ʿUtbiyyah.

The last of their fortresses to be conquered were al-Watīh and al-Sulālim. He besieged them for more than ten nights. They then asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to allow them to depart and spare their lives, and he did so. It is said that these two fortresses were acquired through a peace agreement, so no fifth was taken from them, and no one besides the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had any share in them. He therefore allotted portions of them to his wives. Likewise, it is said that al-Katbiyyah was acquired through a peace agreement and belonged exclusively to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, like the property of Banū al-Nadīr and Fadak. It is also said that all of it was conquered by force. We have discussed this disagreement, together with the ruling on land conquered by force, among Ashhab’s transmissions in the Book of Jihad in our commentary on al-ʿUtbiyyah. In the fourth volume of our commentary on its Book of Miscellaneous Subjects, we have also recounted some of the events surrounding its conquest.

During this expedition, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited the consumption of domestic donkeys.

During it, “the Jewish woman Zaynab bint Sallām ibn Mishkam presented the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with a roasted sheep. She poisoned its foreleg for him, since it was his favourite cut of meat. When he took some of the foreleg and chewed it, he spat it out and cast it aside, saying, ‘This bone tells me that it is poisoned.’ He summoned the Jewish woman and asked, ‘What prompted you to do this?’ She replied, ‘I wanted to find out whether you were a prophet, and I knew that if Allah wished to preserve your life, He would inform you.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not kill her. Bishr ibn al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr ate with him and died from what he ate on that occasion.” At Khaybar, the Muslims numbered fourteen hundred men and two hundred horsemen.

In that year, Fadak was conquered. When its inhabitants learned what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had done to the people of Khaybar, they sent word asking him to grant them safety in return for their relinquishing their property. He agreed to this. Fadak was thus among the properties that had not