Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

JEWISH DESPAIR AND COLLAPSE
Muhammad Hussain Haykal writes about the Jews of Khayber in these words, ”The Jews were forced to come out and engage the Muslims in battle but, faced with preponderant Muslim forces, they fled. Their fortresses fell one after another into Muslim hands, the last of them being those of al Watih and al Sulalim in the al Katibah area. Only then did the Jews become truly desperate, and they begged for peace. The Holy Prophet had already seized most of their possessions at the fortresses of al Shaqq, Natat, and al Katibah. In the circumstances, they had only their own skins to seek to save.
1 Abdul Hameed Siddiqui, P.230.
Conquest of Khayber
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Muhammad (PBUH) accepted their plea and permitted them to stay on their land whose title now passed to him by right of conquest. The terms of their surrender provided that they would be given half their crops in compensation for their labour.”
The Jews of Khayber were thus treated differently from those of Banu Qajnuqa and Banu Nazir who were forced to evacuate their lands altogether. With the fall of Khayber, Jewish power no more threatened Islam or the Muslims. Moreover, Khayber had large areas of orchards and groves of date trees whose maintenance needed an experienced labour force. Although al-Ansar, the Muslims of Medina, were agriculturalists, they were needed back home to tend their own gardens and orchards’. The Holy Prophet also needed his men for the purpose of war and could not afford to demobilize his army for the sake of agriculture.
The Jews of Khayber were hence allowed to continue to work their own groves after their political dominion had been destroyed. Despite Muhammad’s (PBUH) sharecroppmg arrangement, the agricultural economy of Khayber retrogressed after the destruction of Jewish political power. Abdullah ibn Rawahah, Muhammad’s (PBUH) deputy for the division of the Khayber crops, dealt justly with the Jews, following in this regard the instructions of the Holy Prophet himself. So honourable was his conduct that he returned to them copies of the Torah seized by the Muslims in the course of the hostilities. This is indirect contrast to the manner in which the Romans treated the Jews when they conquered Jerusalem and burned all the sacred writings they found in the temple and trampled them under foot. It is also far from the Christian persecution of the Jews in Spain where every Torah seized was put to the torch.
As the Jews of Khayber pleaded for peace while the Muslims blockaded al Waith and al Sulalim at Khayber, the Holy Prophet sent a message to the Jews of Fadak asking them to surrender their properties and wealth or accept his terms. The people of Fadak were so panic-stricken at the news of Khayber that they agreed to give up half their wealth without fighting . The wealth of Khayber was to be distributed among the members of the Muslim armed forces according to rule because they had, fought to secure it.

144 Political and Cultural History of Islam
The wealth of Fadak, on the other hand, fell to Muhammad (PBUH). as no Muslims and no fighting were involved in its acquisition.
The Holy Prophet prepared to return to Medina by way of Wadi al-Qura where the Jews of that area prepared to fight the Muslims. Some fighting did indeed take place, but the Jews realized the futility of their resistance and pleaded for peace as Khayber and Fadak had done before. As for the Jews of Tayma, they accepted to pay the Jizya without fighting. Thus, all the Jews of the Peninsula submitted to the authority of the Holy Prophet and their political influence was brought to an end. The northern flank of Muslim power, namely the whole area north of Medina, was now as secure as the south had become through the Treaty of Hudaibia. With the collapse of Jewish political power, Muslim hatred of the Jews mellowed, and this v/as especially true of the Ansar of Medina who even closed their eyes when a number of Jews returned to Medina to resume their normal trades and professions.
Indeed, the Holy Prophet himself sympathized with such Jewish returnees and joined with them in mourning Abdullah ibn Ubay by presenting condolences to his son. Moreover, the Holy Prophet took especial care to instruct Muu’adh ibn Jabal how to sway the Jews from their religion but to allow them to practice it as they had done before. He did not impose any Jizya on Jews of Bahrayn despite the conservatism of the latter and their attachment to the faith of their forefathers. The Holy Prophet also reconciled the Jews of Banu Ghaziyah and Banu Arid and offered them his covenant and protection provided they agree to pay Jizya. On the whole, the Jews of the Peninsula lost their political power and fell under that of the Muslims. So much had their prestige deteriorated, however, that they soon found themselves having to emigrate from a land which once felt their influence. According to some versions, this Jewish emigration took place during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet; according to others, shortly after his death.
Jewish acquiescence in their fate under the dominion of Islam did not take place at one and the same time or immediately
’ Muhammad Hussain Haykal. The Life of Muhammad, (PBUH) PP. 370-371