of impotence, refused to obey the command, and prepared to encounter the
wrath of Allah and the vengeance of his emissary.

"Behold the Jews prepare to fight: great is the Lord!" the Prophet
declared when the news was brought to him.

He was sure of his victim, and ruthless in destruction. All things were
made ready for the undertaking. The army was assembled and the march
begun. Ali carried the great green banner of the Prophet towards the
stronghold of his enemies. The Beni Nadhir were invested in their own
quarters, the date trees lying outside their fort were burned, their
fields were laid waste. For three weeks the siege endured, each day
bringing the miserable garrison nearer to the inevitable privations and
final surrender. At last the Jews recognised the hopelessness of their
lot and came to reluctant terms, submitting to exile and agreeing to
depart immediately.

Then followed the terrible breaking up of homes, and the wandering forth
of a whole tribe, as of old, to seek other dwelling-places. Some went to
Kheibar, where they were to suffer later on still more severely at
Mahomet's hands; some went to Jericho and the highlands south of Syria,
but all vanished from their ancient abiding places as suddenly as if a
plague had reduced their land to silence. It was an important conquest
for Mahomet, and has found fitting notice in the Kuran. The number of his
enemies within the city was considerably reduced. He was gradually
proving his power by breaking up the Jewish federations, and thereby
advancing far towards his goal, his unassailable, almost royal dominance
of Medina. Moreover, he bound the refugees closer to him by dividing the
despoiled country amongst them. It was an event worthy of incorporation
into the record of divine favours, for by it the sacred cause of Islam