I checked the meaning of Khaybar

Submitted by Prashant (United States), May 15, 2021 at 12:46

Dear Dr Pipes, I have known about Muhammad's war against the Jewish Banu Nadir tribe for long. Reader Morah's above messahe reminded me of the fact that this battle took place in Khaybar. For those who do not know, Khaybar was a prosperous Jewish region where Jews had introduced agriculture. Muhammad's allegation was that Jews of Khaybar were trying to unite against Muslims and so they deserved his violent attack.

Khaybar probably became a thing to celebrate in the Islamic culture. There is a small mountaneous region near the current Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It is called Khyber Pass. No Hindu/Buddist/Sikh will name this pass as 'Khyber Pass', so, it must have been named as such by our Muslim friends. Invading armies reached India through this pass throughout history, including pre-Islamic. I have long proposed that diverse Muslim armies did not work in isolation form each other. They exchanged culture/methods and notes. There are amazing similarities between the Muslim siege of Constantiople (in Turkey), Cordoba (in Spain) and Somnath (the temple complex in India) all of which happened within a few decades of each other.

It is very possible that Muslims saw a connection between how they destroyed and enslaved the Jews in Khaybar and how they planned to destroy Hindus in India and that is why they carried over the name Khaybar as Khyber to the then India.

The dark side of Islam must be exposed to Muslims. Repeatedly. Muslims of Today's Khaybar in Arabia should consider if they want to reread and reinterpret the Jewish Bible. It is less ambiguous, more soft, and more easy to understand than the Quran. Muslims of Khyber should try Hindu/Buddist/Sikh texts. They also have linguistic advantage over Quran. Making this suggestion is not a blasphemy.

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