Hijrah (Migration) - Part 10

[Guest guest]

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

Prophet For Our Time Glossary pg. 216].)

 

 

Hijrah (Migration) - Part 10

 

(p.117) The immense uprooting of the hijrah meant that even though they still

used the old tribal terminology, the Muslims had to create an entirely different

type of community. One of the first things Muhammad did was set up a system of

" brothering " whereby each Meccan was assigned an Ansar [Medinese] " brother " to

help Muslims to bond across the lines of kinship. The political separation of

Emigrants and Helpers was soon dropped: when the first of the twelve Ansari

" overseers " died, Muhammad simply took over his position. [39] The Muslims were

gradually creating a " neo-tribe, " [new tribe] which interpreted the old kinship

relationships differently. Those who had made the hijrah were to regard

themselves as distinct from the Muslims who had remained behind in Mecca, even

though they all belonged to the same blood group. Whatever their tribe or clan,

Muslims must never fight one another. Emigrants and [Medinese] Helpers must

become as solidly united as any conventional tribe. [40] Like the tribe, the

ummah was " one community to the exclusion of all men, " and would make

" confederates " of non-Muslim allies in the usual way. [41]

 

As chieftain of the ummah [community], Muhammad could now implement his moral

and social reforms in a way that had been impossible in Mecca. His goal was to

create a society of hilm [forbearance, patience, mercy, tranquility]. Those who

kept the faith ('mu'min') were not simply " believers. " (p.118) Their faith must

be expressed in practical actions: they must pray, share their wealth, and in

matters that concerned the community, " consult among themselves " to preserve the

unity of the ummah. If attacked, they could defend themselves, but instead of

lashing out in the old, uncontrolled jahili way, they must always be prepared to

forgive an injury. Automatic, vengeful retaliation--the cardinal duty of muruwah

[bedouin chivalry]--could be a great evil. " Hence, whoever pardons [his foe] and

makes peace, his reward rests with God, " the Qur'an insisted tirelessly. " If one

is patient in adversity and forgives--this, behold, is indeed something to set

one's heart upon. " [42]

 

But this transformation could not be achieved overnight, because the old spirit

of jahiliyyah still lurked in Muslim hearts. Shortly after the hijrah, one of

the pagan Arabs noticed a crowd of Muslims, which included members of both Aws

and Khazraj, chatting together amicably as though their tribes had never been

sworn enemies. He was furious. Clearly Islam was making them soft and feeble! He

ordered a young Jewish man to sit near the group and recite poems that reminded

them of the old bitter feuds. It was not long before the engrained tribal

chauvinism flared up, and the Muslims were soon at one another's throats.

Muhammad hurried to the scene in great distress. " Are you still tempted by the

call of jahiliyyah when I am here among you? " he demanded, " when God has guided

you...honored you, and cut off thereby the bond of jahiliyyah from you,

delivered you from a state of defiant ingratitude ('kufr'), and made you friends

of each other? " Deeply ashamed, the Ansar wept and embraced. [43]

 

Not all the Muslims of Medina were committed to change. Some had embraced Islam

purely for material gain, and they were sitting on the fence, waiting to see how

this new venture would turn out. The Qur'an called these people the " waverers "

or the " Hypocrites, " ('munafiqun') because they were not sincere and kept

changing their minds. [44] When they were with devout Muslims, they cried: " We

believe [as you believe], " but in company of other doubters, they assured them:

" Verily, we are with you; we were only mocking! " [45] Their leader was Ibn

Ubayy, who had become a Muslim but remained resentful and critical of the new

faith. Muhammad always behaved respectfully to him, and allowed him to address

the community every week during the Friday prayers, but from time to time his

buried hostility came to the surface. " Don't be hard on him, " one of the Helpers

begged Muhammad after a particularly unpleasant incident, " for before God sent

you to us we were making a diadem to crown him, and by God, he thinks you have

robbed him of a kingdom. " [46]

 

Some of the Jews were also becoming hostile to the newcomers. Muhammad did not

expect them to convert to Islam, and their quarrel with him was not primarily

religious but political and economic. The Jews' position in the oasis had

deteriorated, and if Muhammad succeeded in uniting Aws and Khazraj, they would

have no chance of regaining their former supremacy. Hence three of the larger

Jewish tribes thought it wiser to support Ibn Ubbay and the pagan Arabs in the

oasis who remained opposed to Muhammad. [47] (p.120) The early Muslim historians

tell us that they mounted a scholarly polemic [controversy] against the theology

of the Qur'an, but this probably reflected Jewish-Muslim debate during the

eighth and ninth centuries. [48] The Jews of seventh century Medina had only a

limited knowledge of Torah and Talmud, were not strictly observant, and most

were used to seeing their faith as a variant of Arabian religion. [49] The idea

of an Arabian prophet was not a strange idea to them: they had a prophet of

their own called Ibn Sayyad, who, like Muhammad, wrapped himself in a cloak,

recited inspired verses, and claimed to be the apostle of God. [50]

 

But if there were no learned rabbinical debates, the Muslims probably

encountered a good deal of populist religious chauvinism in Medina. Ibn Ishaq

tells us that when they came to the mosque, some of the Jews would " laugh and

scoff " at the Qur'an. [51] Many Jews were friendly and Muhammad probably learned

a great deal from them, but some of the People of the Book had ideas that he

found very strange indeed. The idea of an exclusive religion was alien to

Muhammad; he hated sectarian quarrels, [52] and was offended by the idea of a

" chosen people " or the conviction that only Jews or Christians could get to

Paradise. [53] He was also bewildered to learn that some Christians believed

that God was a trinity and that Jesus was the son of Allah. [54] But he remained

convinced that these peculiar notions were the heretical deviations of a deluded

minority. [55] (p.121) The Qur'an reminded Muslims that many of the People of

the Book were " upright people, " who recite God's messages throughout the night

and prostrate themselves [before him]. They believe in God and the Last Day, and

enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and vie

with one another in doing God's works; and these are among the righteous. [56]

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 3, 'Hijrah', p. 117-121

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

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

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[39] Bamyeh, 'Social Origins of Islam', 218.

 

[40] Qur'an 8:72-73, Asad translation.

 

[41] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 341, in Guillaume, 'Life of Muhammad', 232.

 

[42] Qur'an 43:37-43, Asad translation.

 

[43] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 386, translation in Izutsu,

'Ethico-Religious Concepts', 29.

 

[44] Qur'an 4:137, Asad translation.

 

[45] Qur'an 2:8-15, Asad translation.

 

[46] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 341, in Guillaume, 'Life of Muhammad'.

 

[47] Watt, 'Muhammad at Medina', 201-2.

 

[48] D.S. Margoliouth, 'The Relations between Arabs and Israelites Prior to the

Rise of Islam' (London, 1924); Salo Wittmayer Baron, 'A Social and Religious

History of the Jews' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 3:261; Hannah

Rahman, " The Conflict between the Prophet and the Opposition in Medina, " 'Der

Islam (1985); Moshe Gil, " The Medinan Opposition to the Prophet, " 'Jerusalem

Studies in Arabic and Islam' (1987).

 

[49] S.N. Goitein, 'Jews and Arabs' (New York, 1960), 63; Newby, 'History of the

Jews', 78-90; Aslan, 'No god but God', 97-98.

 

[50] David J. Helperin, " The Ibn Sayyad Traditions and the Legend of al-Dajjal, "

'Journal of the American Oriental Society' (1976).

 

[51] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah'., 362, in Guillaune, 'Life of Muhammad'.

 

[52] Qur'an 6:151.

 

[53] Qur'an 2:111-113, 120.

 

[54] Qur'an 2:116, 19:88-92, 10:68, 5:73-77, 116-118.

 

[55] Qur'an 5:73.

 

[56] Qur'an 3:115, Asad translation.