The Conquest of Khaybar

In the seventh year of the Hijra the Prophet ﷺ set out with the people of the Pledge of Ridwan toward the fortified oasis of Khaybar north of Medina, and its forts were besieged one by one. Ali carried the flag and the forts opened in succession, and the Jews made peace on remaining in their land to work it for half the produce.

In Muharram 7 AH the Prophet ﷺ marched with fourteen hundred men — the people of the Ridwan pledge at Hudaybiyya — to the fortified oasis of Khaybar, the last stronghold of plotting against Medina. He took a road cutting it off from its Ghatafan allies and surprised them at dawn; the forts were besieged one by one: Na'im, al-Sa'b, al-Zubayr's castle, Abi, al-Nizar, then the second quarter. When some resisted he said 'tomorrow I will give the flag to a man who loves God and His messenger and whom God and His messenger love', and gave it to Ali; Marhab came out and Ali brought him down, and the forts opened in succession. The Jews settled on remaining in their land for half its produce.

In Muharram 7 AH — al-Zuhri and Malik date it otherwise — the Prophet ﷺ marched with fourteen hundred men and two hundred horses, the very people of the Ridwan pledge at Hudaybiyya, against the oasis of Khaybar, the Jews' last stronghold in Arabia and their base of plotting against Medina. He took a road cutting it off from Ghatafan and surprised them at dawn; the forts were besieged one by one: Na'im, al-Sa'b ibn Mu'adh, al-Zubayr's castle, Abi, al-Nizar, then al-Katiba, al-Watih and al-Sulalim in the second quarter. When some resisted he said 'tomorrow I will give the flag to a man who loves God and His messenger and whom God and His messenger love — God will open at his hands'; he called Ali, sore-eyed, and healed his eyes, telling him to go at his own pace and call them to Islam first; Marhab, Khaybar's horseman, duelled him and was brought down, and the opening was at Ali's hands. The Jews settled on sparing lives, then on remaining in their land for half the produce; the spoils were divided among the people of Hudaybiyya, and the Prophet freed Safiyya bint Huyayy (may God be pleased with her) and married her after her Islam. Al-Sallabi draws from it the Prophet's attesting of Ali's love and the blessing of his prayer, and answers — attributed to his sources — the Rafidi use of the hadith for the imamate.