them as from those who already possessed the Book.
But this attitude soon changed. The Ka'ba took the place
of Jerusalem as the qibla or direction of prayer.
The Fast of Ramadan was instituted, and the Jewish fast
of the Day of Atonement was dropped. Shortly after the
Battle of Badr a Jewish tribe, the Bani Qainuqa', were
deprived of their goods and expelled from Medina. The
Bani Nadir were similarly expelled some two years later,
and finally the Bani Quraiza were besieged, and, after
capitulation at discretion, their men were slaughtered,
their goods confiscated, their women and children enslaved.
This bitter hostility was no doubt due to the annoyance
which the opposition of the Jews caused him. They seem
to have intrigued with his enemies, and to have been
at once irritating and faint-hearted. But in Muhammad's
mind there also rankled the old feeling that the Jews
had misled him in regard to what the Revelation contained,
and having discovered that Jesus had been a prophet
to the Bani Isra'il whom the Jews had rejected, he may
have in his own mind justified his harsh dealing with
them by the reflection that they were renegades who
had already more than once rejected the Divine message.
He accuses them of having slain the prophets. In ii.
v. 81, he rates them thus "We gave Moses the
Book and We caused a succession of prophets to follow
after him. And We gave 'Isa b. Maryam the demonstrative
signs, and supported him by the Holy Spirit. Did ye
not every time a Messenger came to you with a message
which ye yourselves did not like, act proudly, |
