your uncle, and what he plotted against me?”

Yāmīn therefore promised a reward to a man on condition that he kill ʿAmr ibn Jihāsh, and the man did so—may Allah curse him.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: In connection with them Allah revealed the entire Sūrat al-Hashr, in which He records the vengeance He visited upon them, the power He granted His Messenger ﷺ over them, and what the Prophet ultimately did with them.

Ibn Isḥāq then began to explain the sūrah, but we have already discussed it in full, at length, in our Tafsīr—praise be to Allah.

Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth glorifies Allah, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. He it is who expelled those who disbelieved among the People of the Book from their homes at the first banishment. You did not think they would depart, and they imagined their fortresses would protect them against Allah. Then Allah came upon them from where they did not expect, and He cast terror into their hearts: they were destroying their houses with their own hands and with the hands of the believers. So take heed, O people of insight. Had Allah not decreed exile for them, He would have punished them in this world; and in the Hereafter they will have the punishment of the Fire. That is because they opposed Allah and His Messenger; and whoever opposes Allah—indeed, Allah is severe in punishment. Whatever palm tree you cut down or left standing on its roots was by Allah’s permission, so that He might disgrace the defiantly disobedient.” (Qurʾān 59:1–5)

He glorifies His noble Self and informs us that every creature in the upper and lower realms declares His transcendence. He is the Almighty, whose majesty cannot be challenged, and the All-Wise in all that He creates, decrees, and legislates. From His wisdom was His planning and facilitation for His Messenger ﷺ and the believers to overcome their Jewish enemies—those who opposed Allah and His Messenger and turned away from his law. As mentioned earlier, the Prophet besieged them, aided by dread that traveled a month’s journey ahead of him, yet the actual siege with his troops and his noble person lasted only six nights. Terror utterly overcame them, so they sued for peace, securing their lives on condition that they take only what their mounts could carry and none of their weapons—a humiliation and disgrace for them—so that “they were destroying their houses with their own hands and with the hands of the believers.”

The Almighty then declared that, had banishment from the vicinity of the Messenger ﷺ in Madinah not been decreed for them, they would have been met with a harsher worldly punishment—slaughter—alongside the painful torment awaiting them in the Hereafter. He next explained the wisdom behind burning some of their palm-trees while leaving others intact, affirming that it was all permissible:

“Whatever palm tree you cut down”—the finest date-palms—“or left standing on its roots was by Allah’s permission.” Both actions were sanctioned by divine law and decree; no blame attaches to you for them, and what you decided was excellent. It was not wanton destruction, as the wicked alleged, but rather a display of strength and a humiliation for the unbelieving sinners.

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both report—through Qutaybah, from al-Layth, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ burned and cut the date-palms of Banū al-Naḍīr at a place called al-Buwaira, whereupon Allah revealed: “Whatever palm tree you cut down or left standing on its roots was by Allah’s permission, so that He might disgrace the defiantly disobedient.”