Five months after his migration to Madinah Munawwarah, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) established a written treaty with the Jews of Madinah in which he promised to allow them to retain their religion, wealth and assets, subject to certain conditions included in the treaty. A summary of this treaty is mentioned below:
Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
This is a treaty from Muhammed (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), the unlettered Nabi, between the Muslims of the Quraish and Muslims of Madinah, and between the Jews who have accepted to be under the Muslims and who wish to enter into an alliance with the Muslims, that every affiliate of the treaty will, while retaining his own faith, be bound by the following conditions:
1. Qisaas (equal retribution) and the ancient system of blood money for killing a person will be retained with justice and integrity.
2. With fairness and justice, each tribe will be obliged to pay the ransom of its own people. In other words, if a prisoner (of war) is to be released by the payment of ransom, the obligation of payment rests upon the tribe to which the prisoner belongs.
3. All members will remain united against oppression, transgression, hostility and civil strife. There will be no exceptions to this rule, even if the offender is the son (of one of the leaders).
4. No Muslim will be permitted to kill another Muslim in retaliation of a Muslim killing a disbeliever. Furthermore, no disbeliever will be assisted against a Muslim.
5. The lowest-ranking Muslim will enjoy the same right of offering sanctuary and refuge as that of the highest-ranking Muslim.
6. The safety of Jews living under the Muslims will be the responsibility of the Muslims. They will not be oppressed in any way, and their enemies will not be assisted against them.
7. A disbeliever will neither have the right against Muslims to offer asylum to the Quraish or to offer protection to the wealth of the Quraish, nor will he have the right to interfere or come in between the Muslims and the Quraish.
8. In times of war, the Jews will be obliged to support the Muslims with their wealth and lives. They will not be permitted to assist the enemy against the Muslims.
9. If an enemy of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) attacks Madinah Munawwarah, the Jews will be duty-bound to assist Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) to defend Madinah Munawwarah against the enemy.
10. From the tribes who are affiliated to this treaty, none of them will have the right to withdraw from the obligations of this treaty without the permission of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam).
11. Assistance or asylum to a trouble monger will not be permitted. The one who assists or offers asylum to a Bid’ati attracts the wrath and curse of Allah. None of his good actions will be accepted until Qiyaamah.
12. If the Muslims enter into a peace treaty with anyone, the Jews will also be obliged to observe the conditions of this treaty.
13. The one who murders a Muslim and there is evidence and testimony to support this, he will be executed in qisaas (equal punishment), except in the case where the guardian agrees to accept blood money etc. from the killer.
14. In cases of dispute or mutual disagreement, matters will be referred to Allah and His Rasul (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) for judgement.
The tribes with which Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) concluded this treaty included three major tribes of the Jews who lived in and around Madinah Munawwarah. These three tribes were the Banu Qaynuqaa’, the Banu Nazeer and the Banu Qurayzah.
Since these three tribes declined to accept Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) as the Nabi, he entered into this treaty with them so that they would remain under his rule and would not be able to spread their mischief and corruption.
However, all three tribes, one after the other, violated the terms of the treaty and took part in their hostility and conspiracy against the Muslims. They were thus punished for their misdeeds as will later be mentioned in the chapter dealing with military expeditions.
This treaty was formed before the injunction of jizyah (tax levied on non-Muslims living under Muslim rule). At that time (immediately after the hijrah), Islam was still vulnerable and weak. Initially, the ruling was that if the Jews join the Muslims in any military expedition, they are to be given a percentage of the booty. This is why one of the conditions of this treaty was that the Jews will be obliged to share the burden of the expenditure incurred in these campaigns.
(Extracted from Seeratul Mustafa 1/455-459)