Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … The brief story is that when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to Madinah, he made a peace treaty with these Jews that neither would he fight them nor would they fight him. However, these people broke that covenant, due to which Allah’s wrath descended upon them. Allah Ta’ala gave His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam dominance over them, and he expelled them from there. The Muslims had never even imagined such a thing, and the Jews themselves thought that with their strong fortresses, no one could harm them. But when Allah’s punishment came, all these things remained as they were, and suddenly they were seized in such a way that they were left astonished, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam expelled them from Madinah. Some of them went to the agricultural lands of Syria, which is the place of gathering and resurrection (hashr wa nashr), and some went towards Khaybar. They were told that whatever belongings they could carry on their camels, they could take with them, so they broke down their houses and took whatever they could carry with them; whatever was left behind fell into the hands of the Muslims.

In this verse, the mention is of Banu Nadir. When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam besieged them, he set fire to some of their date-palm trees, cut down some, and left some standing. The purpose of this was to eliminate the enemy’s cover and to make it clear that now the Muslims had become dominant over them.