{
 "id": "person/kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
 "class": "person",
 "slug": "kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
 "label": {
  "en": "Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf",
  "ar": "كعب بن الأشرف"
 },
 "summary": {
  "en": "A poet of Banu Nadir — Jewish on his father's side, Arab on his mother's — whose verses mourned the Meccan dead of Badr and satirized the Muslims and their women; assassinated with the Prophet's sanction in the first political killing of the Medinan period.",
  "ar": "شاعر من بني النضير — يهودي لأبيه عربي لأمه — رثت أبياته قتلى مكة ببدر وهجت المسلمين ونساءهم؛ اغتيل بإذن النبي في أول اغتيال سياسي في العهد المدني."
 },
 "stub": false,
 "wings": [
  "people"
 ],
 "regions": [
  "arabia"
 ],
 "periods": [
  "period/prophetic-era"
 ],
 "tags": [],
 "aliases": [],
 "themes": [
  "literature",
  "factions-splits-schisms",
  "polemic-and-apologetic"
 ],
 "span": {
  "earliest": 585.0023614447935,
  "latest": 624.7485574652139
 },
 "display": {
  "start": {
   "edtf": "0585~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "decade",
   "status": "tradition",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  },
  "end": {
   "edtf": "0624-09~",
   "hijri": "0003-03~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "month",
   "status": "historical",
   "note": "Assassinated at his stronghold near Medina, Rabi' I 3 AH / ~September 624 CE, by a band led by Muhammad ibn Maslama with the Prophet's sanction.",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
    "source/watt-1956-medina"
   ]
  }
 },
 "data": {
  "names": [
   {
    "kind": "full",
    "lang": "ar",
    "value": "كعب بن الأشرف"
   }
  ],
  "gender": "male",
  "born": {
   "edtf": "0585~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "decade",
   "status": "tradition",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  },
  "died": {
   "edtf": "0624-09~",
   "hijri": "0003-03~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "month",
   "status": "historical",
   "note": "Assassinated at his stronghold near Medina, Rabi' I 3 AH / ~September 624 CE, by a band led by Muhammad ibn Maslama with the Prophet's sanction.",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
    "source/watt-1956-medina"
   ]
  },
  "roles": [
   "poet"
  ],
  "traditions": [],
  "story_roles": [
   {
    "role": "opponent",
    "toward": "group/early-muslims",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0624"
    },
    "end": {
     "edtf": "0624"
    },
    "status": "historical",
    "note": "After Badr he went to Mecca composing elegies that incited Quraysh to revenge, then returned to satirize the Muslims in Medina.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
     "source/watt-1956-medina"
    ]
   },
   {
    "role": "victim",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0624-09~"
    },
    "status": "historical",
    "note": "Killed by a group of the Ansar led by Muhammad ibn Maslama; the sources record the Prophet authorizing the killing.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "faith": [
   {
    "value": "jewish",
    "basis": "documented",
    "note": "Of Banu Nadir through his father; his mother was of the Arab tribe of Banu Nadir's allies.",
    "sources": [
     "source/watt-1956-medina"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "issue": {
   "ar": "كيف تُوصف شخصية كعب بن الأشرف ومقتله؟",
   "en": "How are Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf and his killing described?"
  },
  "perspectives": [
   {
    "tradition": "sunni",
    "id": "sunni",
    "summary": {
     "en": "An enemy poet whose incitement after Badr made him, in the tradition's judgment, a combatant in verse; his killing is narrated as an authorized act of war.",
     "ar": "يروي التراث السني قتله عملًا مأذونًا به في حرب ضد شاعر مقاتل صار تحريضه بعد بدر من القتال."
    },
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   },
   {
    "tradition": "academic",
    "id": "academic",
    "summary": {
     "en": "Historians treat the affair as a political assassination in the factional struggle inside Medina, and note that the sources differ on details and on how far the Prophet directed it.",
     "ar": "أما المؤرخون فيعاملونه اغتيالًا سياسيًّا في صراع الفصائل داخل المدينة، ويلاحظون اختلاف المصادر في التفاصيل وفي مقدار ما وجّهه النبي مباشرة."
    },
    "sources": [
     "source/watt-1956-medina"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "sources": [
   "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
   "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley",
   "source/watt-1956-medina"
  ],
  "sensitivity": "contested",
  "status": {
   "review": "draft",
   "completeness": 2,
   "generated_by": "Devin; 2026-10-11"
  }
 },
 "prose": {
  "ar": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "نبذة",
     "markdown": "كعب بن الأشرف شاعر من بني النضير وجّه فنّه إلى الحرب بعد بدر — مراثٍ تبكي مكة وتبعثها، وهجاء لنساء المسلمين يجرح. اغتيل بالمدينة بإذن النبي."
    },
    {
     "heading": "الحياة",
     "markdown": "يهودي لأبيه من بني النضير وعربي لأمه، ركب كعب إلى مكة بعد [[event/battle-of-badr|بدر]] ينظم مراثي قتلاها فتنسب إليها المصادر تحريض قريش على الثأر؛ وعاد إلى المدينة يهجو نساء المسلمين بالشعر {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume}.\n\nوفي خريف سنة 624 قتله نفر من الأنصار بقيادة محمد بن مسلمة في حصنه — وتسجل المصادر أن النبي أذن فيه قائلًا «من لكعب بن الأشرف فإنه قد آذى الله ورسوله» {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume} {cite:watt-1956-medina}."
    },
    {
     "heading": "للزوار الصغار",
     "markdown": "حارب كعب بالقصائد لا بالسيوف — وفي تلك الحرب كان ذلك كافيًا ليُقتل."
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
    "lang": "ar",
    "source_lang": "en",
    "translators": []
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-12"
  },
  "en": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "Brief",
     "markdown": "Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, a poet of Banu Nadir, who turned his art to war after Badr: elegies that mourned Mecca and stirred it up, and satire of the women of the Muslims that wounds. He was assassinated in Medina with the Prophet's permission."
    },
    {
     "heading": "Life",
     "markdown": "Jewish through his father, of Banu Nadir, and Arab through his mother, Ka'b rode to Mecca after [[event/battle-of-badr|Badr]] and composed elegies for its dead. The sources attribute to these elegies the incitement of Quraysh to take revenge. He then returned to Medina and satirised the women of the Muslims in verse {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume}.\n\nIn the autumn of 624 CE a band of Ansar led by Muhammad ibn Maslama killed him in his fortress. The sources record that the Prophet authorised it, saying: \"Who will deal with Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf? He has harmed God and His Messenger\" {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume} {cite:watt-1956-medina}."
    },
    {
     "heading": "For young visitors",
     "markdown": "Ka'b fought with poems instead of swords, and in that war it was enough to get him killed."
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
    "lang": "en",
    "source_lang": "ar",
    "translators": [
     "Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5), draft translation"
    ]
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-22"
  },
  "ur": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "تعارف",
     "markdown": "کعب بن اشرف بنو نضیر کے شاعر تھے جنہوں نے [[event/battle-of-badr|بدر]] کے بعد اپنا فن جنگ کی طرف موڑ دیا: مکہ کے مقتولین پر مرثیے جو مکہ کو رلاتے اور اسے جوش دلاتے تھے، اور مسلمان عورتوں کی ہجو جو زخم لگاتی تھی۔ انہیں نبی کی اجازت سے مدینہ میں قتل کیا گیا۔"
    },
    {
     "heading": "زندگی",
     "markdown": "وہ باپ کی طرف سے یہودی اور ماں کی طرف سے عرب تھے۔ کعب بدر کے بعد مکہ گئے اور وہاں کے مقتولین کے مرثیے کہے، جن کی بنا پر ماخذ قریش کو انتقام پر اکسانے کا سبب ان کی طرف منسوب کرتے ہیں۔ پھر وہ مدینہ واپس آئے اور اپنے اشعار میں مسلمان عورتوں کی ہجو کرنے لگے۔ {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume}\n\nسنہ 624 کے موسمِ خزاں میں انصار کے ایک گروہ نے محمد بن مسلمہ کی قیادت میں ان کے قلعے میں انہیں قتل کیا۔ ماخذ ریکارڈ کرتے ہیں کہ نبی نے اس کام کی اجازت دیتے ہوئے فرمایا: «کعب بن اشرف کا کون ذمہ لے گا، کیونکہ اس نے اللہ اور اس کے رسول کو اذیت دی ہے» {cite:ibn-ishaq-guillaume} {cite:watt-1956-medina}۔"
    },
    {
     "heading": "چھوٹے زائرین کے لیے",
     "markdown": "کعب نے تلواروں سے نہیں بلکہ قصیدوں سے جنگ لڑی، اور اس جنگ میں یہی بات ان کے قتل کے لیے کافی ہو گئی۔"
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
    "lang": "ur",
    "source_lang": "ar",
    "translators": [
     "Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5), draft translation"
    ]
   },
   "updated": "2026-10-19"
  }
 },
 "degree": 8,
 "contemporaries": [
  "person/abbas-ibn-abd-al-muttalib",
  "person/abdullah-ibn-salam",
  "person/abdullah-ibn-ubayy",
  "person/abu-bakr",
  "person/abu-lahab",
  "person/abu-sufyan-ibn-harb",
  "person/abu-ubayda-ibn-al-jarrah",
  "person/al-aswad-al-ansi",
  "person/amr-ibn-al-as",
  "person/bilal-ibn-rabah",
  "person/halima-al-sadiyya",
  "person/hamza"
 ],
 "updated": "2026-10-12",
 "connections": [
  {
   "to": "place/medina",
   "type": "died_in",
   "inverse": false
  },
  {
   "to": "group/banu-nadir",
   "type": "member_of",
   "inverse": false
  },
  {
   "to": "group/early-muslims",
   "type": "opposed",
   "inverse": false,
   "start": {
    "edtf": "0624"
   },
   "end": {
    "edtf": "0624"
   },
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume"
   ]
  },
  {
   "to": "event/killing-of-kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
   "type": "participated_in",
   "inverse": false,
   "role": "الشاعر القتيل في حصنه",
   "sources": [
    "source/mubarakpuri-raheeq",
    "source/sahih-al-bukhari"
   ]
  }
 ],
 "related": [
  "place/medina",
  "event/killing-of-kab-ibn-al-ashraf",
  "group/banu-nadir",
  "group/early-muslims",
  "concept/medina-society-at-hijra",
  "event/battle-of-the-trench",
  "event/battle-of-uhud",
  "event/constitution-of-medina"
 ],
 "license": {
  "prose": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
  "data": "CC0 1.0"
 }
}