By Allah...

By Allah, I shall never add to the number of any group that would assemble against him." The man then began to invite his own people to Islam. Then Allah sent down the verse: O you who have faith, remember the bounty of Allah towards you, when some people intended to stretch out their hands against you; yet He restrained their hands from harming you [Qur'an 5 :111 ] . The Raid Of Al-Qaradah This was followed by the raid of al-Qaradah.

The Messenger of Allah sent Zayd ibn al-Harithah with a detachment, six months after his return to Medina from Badr. At the well called al-Qaradah, Zayd and his men came upon a caravan of the Quraysh led by Abu Sufyan, who had much silver. After the Battle of Badr, the Quraysh [of Mecca] did not feel safe taking their usual route to Syria. They therefore travelled the Iraq road, having hired as a guide a man of the tribe of Bakr ibn Wail called Furat ibn Hayyan.

Zayd ibn al-Harithah was able to capture the caravan, but the men eluded him and escaped. According to the report of al-Waqidi [^48] the caravan was led by Safwan ibn Umayyah. The Muslims captured one or two men, whom they brought with the caravan to the Messenger of Allah. Furat was himself a captive. But he accepted Islam, and was thus spared. The reprisal against the tribe of Banu Qaynuqa` for this action took place on Saturday, in mid-Shawwal, twenty months after the Migration.

The Messenger of Allah assembled the people of the tribe in their market and warned them saying: "Beware lest Allah afflict you with the same punishments as those with which He afflicted the people of Quraysh! Enter into Islam, for you know well the grace with which Allah has favored me, and you recognize my characteristics, which are in your scriptures." They answered: "O Muhammad, be not deceived by the fact that you met your own people in battle and defeated them.

Yet if we were to wage war against you, you would, by Allah, know that we are not like them! " They nearly came to blows. It was concerning the people of Qaynuqa` that the verse: There was a sign for you (the Muslims) in the two groups which encountered one another: the one fighting in the way of Allah, the other rejecting faith . . . [Qur'an. 3:13] , was sent down. It is reported that the Messenger of Allah besieged them for six days until finally they surrendered to him.