Sariyyat Khaybar
The Sariyyah of Khaybar refers to a military detachment dispatched by the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ in connection with the region of Khaybar, the well-fortified oasis north of Madīnah inhabited largely by Jewish tribes. Khaybar occupied a significant strategic position on the trade and military routes of northern Arabia and became an important center of opposition to the Muslims after the expulsion of Banū al-Naḍīr from Madīnah. Several hostile alliances against the Muslims, including support for the Confederates during the Battle of al-Khandaq, were linked to leaders residing in Khaybar. Consequently, the Prophet ﷺ organized several sarāyā and expeditions related to the region before and after its eventual conquest in 7 AH / 628 CE.
Among the notable sarāyā associated with Khaybar was the expedition led by Muḥammad ibn Maslamah (RA), dispatched to neutralize the threat posed by Sallām ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq (Abū Rāfiʿ), a prominent figure accused of inciting tribes against the Muslims. According to the early sīrah and maghāzī sources, the operation was conducted secretly at Khaybar and ended with the death of Abū Rāfiʿ. The expedition demonstrated the growing military organization of the Muslim community and reflected the broader political tensions between Madīnah and Khaybar during the later Medinan period.
The most decisive event connected to Khaybar was the campaign culminating in the conquest of the oasis in Muḥarram–Ṣafar 7 AH / May–June 628 CE. Although technically categorized as a ghazwah because the Prophet ﷺ personally participated, several smaller sarāyā preceded and followed the campaign for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and maintaining security in the surrounding areas. The conquest significantly strengthened the Muslim polity economically and politically, as Khaybar’s agricultural resources came under Muslim authority through treaty arrangements with its inhabitants.
The events surrounding Khaybar occupy a central place in the literature of sīrah and maghāzī. Muslim historians viewed the expeditions as part of the consolidation of the Islamic state in Arabia and as a response to recurring military threats against Madīnah. Classical sources such as the works of Ibn Isḥāq, al-Wāqidī, and Ibn Saʿd preserve detailed reports concerning the sarāyā connected with Khaybar, while later historians and scholars continued to analyze their military, political, and legal implications.
## References
1 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 520. 2 Qāḍī Muḥammad Sulaymān Salmān Manṣūrpūrī, Wa-mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li’l-ʿālamīn (Lahore: Progressive Books, 2022), 2: 150-70. 3 Muhammad b. ʿUmar al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, Urdu trans. Sāʾīm Chishtī (Lahore: Chishtī Kutubkhānah, 2024). 4 Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Muḥammad Bākhshīsh Abū Mālik (Casablanca: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1994).