Lo! ye are they who dispute about that of which ye have no knowledge .... God hath knowledge but ye know nothing.
Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian, but he was sound in the faith, (Hanif) a Muslim, and not of those who add gods to God. Sura Al-'Imran (iii) 57-60.

'Each time the Prophet had failed, or secured an incomplete success, he compensated for it by an attack on the Jews. This policy had served too well to be abandoned after the unsatisfactory affair of Hudaibiya and, therefore, a raid on the Jews of Khaibar was speedily planned.¹ I It took place in the autumn of 628 and brought much wealth to the camp of the Muslims. At first, Muhammad had sought the aid of the Jews, but failing to get it, he attacked them, tribe by tribe, massacred them, banished them from their homes or reduced them to a state of helpless subjection. In this victory Muhammad put an end to the independence of the Jews in Arabia. Safiyya, a daughter of one of the Prophet's most active adversaries, who had been assassinated by his order, was taken captive at Khaibar. She was invited to embrace Islam which she did and then became the wife of the conqueror. The people of Khaibar lived too far away from Madina to be a menace, but there was booty to be acquired and the total subjugation of Arabia seems now to have been decided upon.

Muhammad, being now secure from any attack on the part of the Quraish, made raids on different Bedouin tribes and so passed the time until the month for the 'Umra, or Lesser Pilgrimage, came round again. At this time some sick Bedouins of the 'Urain and Ukka families accepted Islam and received permission to stay on the pasture ground of the Prophet and to drink the milk of the she camels. They were ungrateful, and, after slaying the keeper of the camels, stole fifteen of them and ran away. They were caught and the punishment inflicted was brutal. Their hands and feet were cut off; their eyes and tongues were pierced with thorns (Tafsir-i-Husaini, vol. i, p. 144); their eyes were pierced with needles and they were exposed to the heat of the sun till they died (Khalasatu-t-Tafasir, vol. ii, p. 575). Then this verse was revealed:—

As to the thief, whether man or woman, cut ye off their hands in recompense for their doings. This is a penalty by way of warning from God himself. Sura Al-Ma'idah (v) 42.

In the spring of A.D. 629 Muhammad availed himself of the permission granted by the Quraish, and with about two thousand followers approached Mecca. The Quraish then retired and the Muslims, leaving their weapons outside, entered Mecca which for seven years they had not seen. When Muhammad came to the Ka'ba ¹ he said: 'May God be gracious to the man whom he shows them (the