Among the Jews of Banū Ḥārithah was Kinānah ibn Ṣurayā.
Among the Jews of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf was Qardam ibn ʿAmr.
Among the Jews of Banū al-Najjār was Silsilah ibn Barhām.
Ibn Isḥāq said (1): These men were Jewish rabbis, people of evil and enmity toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions. They were the contentious questioners who used to bombard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with inquiries (2) born of obstinacy and disbelief.
He continued: They were also the ones who actively opposed Islam, striving to extinguish its light—except for ʿAbd Allah ibn Salām and Mukhayriq.
He then described the conversion of ʿAbd Allah ibn Salām and of his aunt Khālidah (3), as we have mentioned, and the conversion of Mukhayriq on the Day of Uḥud (4), as will be explained. That day was a Sabbath, and he said to his people:
“O assembly of Jews! By Allah, you know full well that Muhammad’s victory over you is the truth.”
They replied, “But today is the Sabbath.”
He said, “You have no Sabbath!” He then took up his weapons and went out until he reached the Messenger of Allah (5). Before leaving, he instructed those he left behind:
“If I am killed today, all my property is Muhammad’s; he may dispose of it as Allah shows him” (6).
He was a man of considerable wealth. He next joined the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and fought until he was killed (7). The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is reported to have said, “Mukhayriq is the best of the Jews.”
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Ibn Isḥāq (8) also mentioned those hypocrites from the Aws and the Khazraj who sided with these adversarial Jews. From the Aws were Zawiyy ibn al-Ḥārith and Jallās ibn Suwayd ibn al-Ṣāmit al-Anṣārī. Concerning him the verse was revealed:
“They swear by Allah that they did not say it, yet they certainly uttered the word of disbelief and rejected faith after having submitted” (al-Tawbah 9:74).
This occurred when he stayed behind from the Expedition of Tabūk and said, “If this man is telling the truth, then we are worse than donkeys” (9). His stepson, ʿUmayr ibn Saʿd, reported what he had said