Hijrah - Part 4

[Guest guest]

('Hijrah' - migration, especially the Muslims' migrations to Medina. [Muhammad

Prophet For Our Time Glossary pg. 216].)

 

 

Hijrah - Part 4

 

(p.101) Muhammad's position in Mecca remained dangerously insecure. During the

hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] of 620, he again visited the pilgrims who were

camping in the valley of Mina (*), going from tent to tent in the hope of

attracting support and protection. This time, instead of wholesale rejection, he

met a group of six Arabs from Yathrib (**), who had camped in the gully of

'Aqabah (***). As usual, Muhammad sat with them, explained his mission and

recited the Qur'an, but this time, he noticed that the pilgrims were attentive

and excited. When he had finished, they turned to one another and said that this

must be the prophet expected by their Jewish and hanifi neighbors. If Muhammad

really was the messenger of Allah, he might be just the person to solve the

seemingly insuperable problems of Yathrib.

 

(*) Minna--A valley about five miles east of Mecca; one of the stations of the

'hajj'. (Glossary, p.221).

 

(**) Yathrib--An agricultural settlement, some 250 miles north of Mecca,

populated by Arabs and Jewish tribes. After the 'hijrah', it became known as

Medina, the city of the Prophet. (Glossary, p.221).

 

(***) 'Aqabah--The gully outside Mecca where Muhammad first met with pilgrims

from Yathrib. (Glossary, p.220).

 

 

Yathrib was not a city like Mecca, but a series of hamlets, each occupied by a

different tribal group, and each heavily fortified. [16] The settlement was

situated in an oasis, a fertile island of about twenty square miles, surrounded

by volcanic rocks and uncultivable stony ground. Some of its inhabitants engaged

in trade, but most were farmers, making a living out of their dates, palm

orchards, and arable fields. Unlike the Quraysh [Muhammad's tribe; rulers of

Mecca], they were not wholly dependent upon commerce, and had retained more of

the old badawah [nomadic; hence Bedouin] values, including, unfortunately, an

entrenched hostility to other tribal groups. As a result, the oasis was engulfed

in an escalating series of apparently unstoppable wars. (p.102) The area had

originally been cultivated by pioneering Jewish settlers and by the sixth

century there were about twenty Jewish tribes in Yathrib, many of whose members

may have been Arabs who had assimilated to Judaism. [17] They preserved a

separate religious identity, but otherwise were almost indistinguishable from

their pagan neighbors. Clan and tribal loyalty came first, and there was no

united " Jewish community. " The Jewish tribes formed separate allegiances with

Arab groups and were often at war with one another. Their date crop had made

them rich, but they were also skilled jewellers, manufacturers of weapons, and

craftsmen. The five largest Jewish clans--Thalabah, Hudl, Qurayzah, Nadir, and

Qaynuqa', the last of which controlled the only market in Yathrib--had achieved

an almost complete monopoly of the economy that they had pioneered.

 

But during the sixth century, the Arab tribe of the Bani Qaylah had emigrated

from South Arabia and settled in the oasis, alongside the Jews. They then formed

two distinct clans--Aws and Khazraj--which eventually became two separate

tribes. Gradually the Arabs acquired their own land, built their own fortresses,

and by the early seventh century were in a slightly stronger position than the

Jews. But despite the inevitable competition over resources, Jews and pagans

were able to coexist. The Jews often employed the Arabs to transport their

dates, while the Arabs respected the skills and heritage of the Jews, seeing

them as " a people of high lineage and properties, whereas we were but an Arab

tribe, who did not possess any palm trees nor vineyards, being people of only

sheep and camels. " [18]

 

(p.103) But by the time of the pilgrims' meeting with Muhammad in 620, the

situation had deteriorated. The engrained tribal rivalry had surfaced, and Aws

and Khazraj were now engaged in a bloody conflict with one another. The Jewish

clans had become involved in their struggle, Nadir and Qurayzah supporting Aws,

while Qaynuqa' was allied to Khazraj. Bu 617, there was stalemate: neither side

could gain ascendancy. Everybody was exhausted by the violence. At certain key

moments, 'Abdullah ibn Ubayy, a chief of Khazraj, had stood aloof from the

fighting and thus acquired a reputation for impartiality. Some saw him as a

possible king or supreme chief, who could enforce law and order. But the Arabs

were averse to monarchy, and this type of experiment had never worked well in

the peninsula. The Aws were naturally reluctant to hand the leadership to a

member of Khazraj, while the other chiefs of Khazraj were equally unwilling to

relinquish their power to Ibn Ubayy.

 

The six pilgrims immediately realized that, as the spokesman of Allah, Muhammad

would be a far more effective arbitrator ('hakam') than Ibn Ubayy. They had no

problems with his religious message, because for some time the Arabs of Yathrib

had been drifting towards monotheism. The Aws and Khazraj had long felt inferior

to the Jews because they had no scripture of their own, and the pilgrims were

thrilled to hear that God had finally sent a prophet to the Arabs. They made

their formal surrender to God on the spot, with high hopes. " We have left our

people, for no tribe is so divided by hatred and rancor as they. Perhaps God

will unite them through you. So let us go to them and invite them to this

religion of yours; and if God unites them in it, then no man will be mightier

than you. " [19] (p.104) But they admitted that they had little influence in the

oasis, and needed to consult their chiefs and wise men. If he was to be an

effective hakam, it was essential that he have wide support. They promised to

report back to Muhammad in a year's time. It was a decisive moment.

Circumstances had forced Muhammad to look beyond Mecca and even to entertain the

extraordinary idea of abandoning his tribe to take up permanent residence with

another.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 3, 'Hijrah', p. 101-104

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[16] Martin Lings, 'Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources' (London:

Islamic Society Texts, 1983), 57, 105-111; W. Montgomery Watt, 'Muhammad at

Mecca' (Oxford, 1953), 141-49; Watt, 'Muhammad at Medina' (Oxford, 1956),

173-231.

 

[17] Reza Aslan, 'No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam'

(London and New York, 2005), 54; Gordon Newby, 'A History of the Jews in Arabia'

(Columbia, SC, 1988), 75-79, 84-85; Moshe Gil, " Origin of the Jews of Yathrib, "

'Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam' (1984).

 

[18] Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Waqidi, 'Kitab al-Maghazi' in Aslan, 'No god but

God', 54.

 

[19] Ibn Ishaq, 287, in Guillaume, 'Life of Muhammad'.