Muhammad in Medina
Encyclopedia
The period of Muhammad in Medina started with the Hijra
(migration to Medina) in 622 and ended with the conquest of Mecca
in 630.
, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad
as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There was fighting in Yathrib (Medina) mainly involving its Arab and Jewish
inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the battle of Bu'ath
in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye
were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves.
Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all of his followers had left Mecca
. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate him. With the help of Ali
, however, he fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town. By 622, Muhammad had emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis
. Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca.
Among the things Muhammad did in order to settle the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina
(date debated), "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca
, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including that of the Muslim community to other communities specifically the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book
"). The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, umma
, had a religious outlook but was also shaped by the practical considerations and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes
. Muhammad also adopted some features of the Jewish worship
and customs such as fasting on the Yom Kippur
day. According to Alford Welch
, the Jewish practice of having three daily prayer rituals appears to have been a factor in the introduction of the Islam
ic midday prayer (previously Muhammad was keeping the morning and evening prayers). Welch thinks that Muhammad's adoption of facing north towards Jerusalem when performing the daily prayers (qibla
) however need not to necessarily be a borrowing from the Jews as the reports about the direction of prayer before migration to Medina are contradictory and further this direction of prayer was also practiced among other groups in Arabia
.
The first group of pagan
converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population
of Medina, apart from some exceptions. This was, according to Ibn Ishaq
, influenced by the conversion to Islam of Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
, one of the prominent leaders in Medina.
s and Jews (both of whom he referred to as "People of the Book") as natural allies, part of the Abrahamic religions
, sharing the core principles of his teachings, and anticipated their acceptance and support. Muslim
s, like Jews, were at that time praying towards Jerusalem. In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews' political loyalty in return for religious and cultural autonomy.
The Jewish clans however kept aloof from Islam though in the course of time there were a few converts from them. After his migration to Medina, Muhammad's attitude towards Christians and Jews changed. Norman Stillman
states:
Economically uprooted by their Meccan persecutors and with no available profession, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans
to respond to their persecution and to provide sustenance for their Muslim families, thus initiating armed conflict between the Muslims and the pagan Quraysh
of Mecca. Muhammad delivered Qur'anic verses permitting the Muslims, "those who have been expelled from their homes", to fight the Meccans in opposition to persecution (see Qur'an Sura
22 (Al-Hajj
) Ayat
39-40). These attacks provoked and pressured Mecca by interfering with trade, and allowed the Muslims to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working toward their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith.
In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for the Meccans at Badr. Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims. Meanwhile a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan. The force did not return home upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The battle of Badr
began in March of 624. Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died. They had also succeeded in killing many of the Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl
. Muhammad himself did not fight, directing the battle from a nearby hut alongside Abu Bakr
. In the weeks following the battle, Meccans visited Medina in order to ransom captives from Badr. Many of these had belonged to wealthy families, and were likely ransomed for a considerable sum. Those captives who were not sufficiently influential or wealthy were usually freed without ransom. Muhammad's decision was that those prisoners who refused to end their persecution of Muslims and were wealthy but did not ransom themselves should be killed. Muhammad ordered the immediate execution of two Quraysh
men without entertaining offers for their release. Both men, which included Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt, had personally attempted to kill Muhammad in Mecca. The raiders had won much booty, and the battle helped to stabilize the Medinan community. Muhammad and his followers saw in the victory a confirmation of their faith and a prime importance in the affairs of Medina. Those remaining pagans in Medina were very bitter about the advance of Islam. In particular Asma bint Marwan
and Abu 'Afak
had composed verses insulting some of the Muslims and thereby violated the Constitution of Medina
to which they belonged. These two were assassinated and Muhammad did not disapprove of it. No one dared to take vengeance on them, and some of the members of the clan of Asma bint Marwan who had previously converted to Islam in secret, now professed openly. This marked an end to the overt opposition to Muhammad among the pagans in Medina.
Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa
, one of the three main Jewish tribes. Jewish opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons". On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a non-Jewish
prophet, and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures. The Qur'an's response regarding the possibility of a non-Jew being a prophet was that Abraham
was not a Jew. The Qur'an also stated that it was "restoring the pure monotheism
of Abraham which had been corrupted in various, clearly specified, ways by Jews and Christians". According to Francis Edwards Peters
, "The Jews also began secretly to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him."
Following the battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin
tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hejaz
.
subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina. They were accompanied by some prominent women of Mecca, such as Hind bint Utbah
, Abu Sufyan's wife, who had lost family members at Badr. These women provided encouragement in keeping with Bedouin custom, calling out the names of the dead at Badr.
A scout alerted Muhammad of the Meccan army's presence and numbers a day later. The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war, there was dispute over how best to repel the Meccans. Muhammad and many of the senior figures suggested that it would be safer to fight within Medina and take advantage of its heavily fortified strongholds. Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying their crops, and that huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige. Muhammad eventually conceded to the wishes of the latter, and readied the Muslim force for battle. Thus, Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain of Uhud (where the Meccans had camped) and fought the Battle of Uhud
on March 23.
Although the Muslim army had the best of the early encounters, indiscipline on the part of tactically placed archers led to a tactical defeat for the Muslim army, with 75 Muslims killed. However, the Meccans failed to achieve their goal of destroying the Muslims completely. The Meccans did not occupy the town and withdrew to Mecca, since they were unable to attack Muhammad's position again, owing to military losses, low morale and the possibility of Muslim resistance in the town. There was also hope that Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy leading a group of Muslims in Medina could be won over by diplomacy. Following the defeat, Muhammad's detractors in Medina said that if the victory at Badr was proof of the genuineness of his mission, then the defeat at Uhud was proof that his mission was not genuine. Muhammad subsequently delivered Qur'anic verses 133-135 and 160-162 from the Al-i-Imran sura indicating that the loss, however, was partly a punishment for disobedience and partly a test for steadfastness.
ic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of booty, memories of the prestige of Quraysh and straight bribes.
Muhammad's policy in the next two years after the battle of Uhud was to prevent as best he could the formation of alliances against him. Whenever alliances of tribesmen against Medina were formed, he sent out an expedition to break it up. When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity. One example is the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
, a member of the Jewish tribe
of Banu Nadir
who had gone to Mecca and written poems that had helped rouse the Meccans' grief, anger and desire for revenge after the battle of Badr (see the main article for other reasons for killing of Ka'b given in the historiographical sources). Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Jewish Banu Nadir from Medina.
Muhammad's attempts to prevent formation of confederation against him were not successful, although he was able to augment his own forces and keep many tribes from joining the confederation.
. The siege of Medina began on 31 March 627 and lasted for two weeks. Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications they were confronted with, and after an ineffectual siege, the coalition decided to go home. The Qur'an discusses this battle in verses 9-27 of sura 33, Al-Ahzab
.
During the Battle of the Trench, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza
who were located at the south of Medina were charged with treachery. After the retreat of the coalition, Muslims besieged Banu Qurayza, the remaining major Jewish tribe in Medina. The Banu Qurayza surrendered and all the men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were beheaded, while all the women and children were enslaved. In dealing with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina, aside from political explanations, Arab historians and biographers have explained it as "the punishment of the Medina Jews, who were invited to convert and refused, perfectly exemplify the Quran's tales of what happened to those who rejected the prophets of old." F.E. Peters
, a western scholar of Islam, states that Muhammad's treatment of Jews of Medina was essentially political being prompted by what Muhammad read as treasonous and not some transgression of the law of God
. Peters adds that Muhammad was possibly emboldened by his military successes and also wanted to push his advantage. Economical motivations according to Peters also existed since the poorness of the Meccan migrants was a source of concern for Muhammad. Peters argues that Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina was "quite extraordinary", "matched by nothing in the Qur'an", and is "quite at odds with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews he encountered outside Medina." According to Welch, Muhammad's treatment of the three major Jewish tribes brought Muhammad closer to his goal of organizing a community strictly on a religious basis. He adds that some Jews from other families were, however, allowed to remain in Medina.
In the siege of Medina, the Meccans had exerted their utmost strength towards the destruction of the Muslim community. Their failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria
was gone. Following the battle of trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting. While returning from one of these two expeditions (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha
, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation, verse4 in the An-Nur
sura, confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses.
, the Muslims had not performed it due to the enmity of the Quraysh. In the month of Shawwal
628, Muhammad ordered his followers to obtain sacrificial animals and to make preparations for a pilgrimage (umrah
) to Mecca, saying that God had promised him the fulfillment of this goal in a vision where he was shaving his head after the completion of the Hajj. According to Lewis, Muhammad felt strong enough to attempt an attack on Mecca, but on the way it became clear that the attempt was premature and the expedition was converted into a peaceful pilgrimage. Andrae disagrees, writing that the Muslim state of ihram (which restricted their freedom of action) and the paucity of arms carried indicated that the pilgrimage was always intended to be pacific. Upon hearing of the approaching 1,400 Muslims, the Quraysh sent out a force of 200 cavalry to halt them. Muhammad evaded them by taking a more difficult route, thereby reaching al-Hudaybiyya, just outside of Mecca. According to Watt, although Muhammad's decision to make the pilgrimage was based on his dream, he was at the same time demonstrating to the pagan Meccans that Islam does not threaten the prestige of their sanctuary, and that Islam was an Arabian religion.
Negotiations commenced with emissaries going to and from Mecca. While these continued, rumors spread that one of the Muslim negotiators, Uthman ibn Affan, had been killed by the Quraysh. Muhammad responded by calling upon the pilgrims to make a pledge not to flee (or to stick with Muhammad, whatever decision he made) if the situation descended into war with Mecca. This pledge became known as the "Pledge of Good Pleasure" or the "Pledge of the Tree
." News of Uthman's safety, however, allowed for negotiations to continue, and the treaty of Hudaybiyyah
, scheduled to last ten years was eventually signed between the Muslims and the Quraysh. The main points of treaty were the following:
Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura Al-Fath
(The Victory) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one. It was only later that Muhammad's followers would realise the benefit behind this treaty. These benefits, according to Welch, included the inducing of the Meccans to recognise Muhammad as an equal; a cessation of military activity posing well for the future; and gaining the admiration of Meccans who were impressed by the incorporation of the pilgrimage rituals.
After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar
. The explanation given by western scholars of Islam for this attack
ranges from the presence of the Banu Nadir in Khaybar, who were inciting hostilities along with neighboring Arab tribes against Muhammad, to deflecting from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya, increasing Muhammad's prestige among his followers and capturing booty. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam (the exact date are given variously in the sources). Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius
of the Byzantine Empire
(the eastern Roman Empire), Khosrau
of Persia
, the chief of Yemen
and to some others. In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs of Mu'tah
on Byzantine soil in Transjordania since according to the tradition, they had murdered Muhammad's envoy. F. Buhl however holds that the real reason "seems to have been that he wished to bring the (Christian or pagan) Arabs living there under his control." Muslims were defeated in this battle.
The truce of Hudaybiyya had been enforced for two years. The tribe of Khuz'aah had a friendly relationship with Muhammad, while on the other hand their enemies, the Banu Bakr, had an alliance with the Meccans. A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the Khuz'aah, killing a few of them. The Meccans helped their allies (i.e., the Banu Bakr
) with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting. After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were the following
The Meccans replied that they would accept only the third condition. However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Safyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad.
Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.
In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. With minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Mecca. He declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who had mocked and made fun of him in songs and verses. Some of these were later pardoned. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all of the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba
, without any exception. The Qur'an discusses the conquest of Mecca in verses 1-3 of the An-Nasrsura.
who were collecting an army twice the size of Muhammad's. The Hawzain were old enemies of Meccans. They were joined by the tribe of Banu Thaqif
inhabiting in the city of Ta’if
who had adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans. Muhammad defeated the Hawzain and Thaqif in the battle of Hunayn
.
In the same year, Muhammad made an against northern Arabia expedition, the battle of Tabouk
, because of their previous defeat at the battle of Mu'tah, as well as the reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some of the local chiefs of the region. A year after the battle of Tabuk, the tribe of Thaqif, inhabiting in the city of Ta’if, sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many Bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe from his attacks and to benefit from the booty of the wars. The Bedouins however were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Consequently Muhammad demanded of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzeranity of Medina, [promise] to refrain from attacking the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat
, the Muslim religious levy."
and weakness. He succumbed on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Medina. His tomb had previously been the home of his wife Aisha. It is now enclosed within Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
(Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina.
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
(migration to Medina) in 622 and ended with the conquest of Mecca
Conquest of Mecca
Mecca was conquered by the Muslims in January 630 AD .-Background:In 628 the Meccan tribe of Quraysh and the Muslim community in Medina signed a 10 year truce called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah....
in 630.
Hijra to Medina
A delegation from MedinaMedina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There was fighting in Yathrib (Medina) mainly involving its Arab and Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the battle of Bu'ath
Battle of Bu'ath
The Battle of Bu'ath was fought in 617 between Banu Aus and Banu Khazraj, the Arab tribes of Yathrib , in Saudi Arabia, in the south-eastern quarter of the Medinan oasis, belonging to the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza...
in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye
Eye For An Eye
Eye for an Eye is a Polish hardcore punk rock band founded in 1997 in Bielsko-Biała. EFAE, as it is also known, plays an old school style of punk, more along the veins of The Exploited or even, some say, Agnostic Front. The punk stylings of EFAE has been compared to fellow countrymen Post Regiment,...
were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves.
Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all of his followers had left Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate him. With the help of Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
, however, he fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town. By 622, Muhammad had emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
. Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca.
Among the things Muhammad did in order to settle the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina
Constitution of Medina
The Constitution of Medina , also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib , including Muslims, Jews, Christians and pagans. This constitution formed the...
(date debated), "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca
Muhajirun
Muhajirun are the early, initial Muslims who followed Muhammad on his Hijra . The early Muslims from Medina are called the Ansar .-List:*Muhammad*Ali*Umar *Abu Bakr .*Salman the Persian*Bilal ibn Ribah...
, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including that of the Muslim community to other communities specifically the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book
People of the Book
People of the Book is a term used to designate non-Muslim adherents to faiths which have a revealed scripture called, in Arabic, Al-Kitab . The three types of adherents to faiths that the Qur'an mentions as people of the book are the Jews, Sabians and Christians.In Islam, the Muslim scripture, the...
"). The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, umma
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
, had a religious outlook but was also shaped by the practical considerations and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes
Tribes of Arabia
Tribes of Arabia refers to Arab clans hailing from the Arabian Peninsula.Much of the lineage provided before Ma'ad relies on biblical genealogy and therefore questions persist concerning the accuracy of this segment of Arab genealogy...
. Muhammad also adopted some features of the Jewish worship
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
and customs such as fasting on the Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
day. According to Alford Welch
Alford T. Welch
Alford T. Welch is a Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. Welch got his Ph.D. degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1970. He also holds a M.Div. degree on Biblical language, literature and Near Eastern history from Southern Baptist...
, the Jewish practice of having three daily prayer rituals appears to have been a factor in the introduction of the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic midday prayer (previously Muhammad was keeping the morning and evening prayers). Welch thinks that Muhammad's adoption of facing north towards Jerusalem when performing the daily prayers (qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
) however need not to necessarily be a borrowing from the Jews as the reports about the direction of prayer before migration to Medina are contradictory and further this direction of prayer was also practiced among other groups in Arabia
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
.
The first group of pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population
Arabian mythology
Arabian mythology comprises the ancient, pre-Islamic beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic culture of pre-Islamic Arabia...
of Medina, apart from some exceptions. This was, according to Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥaq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār was an Arab Muslim historian and hagiographer...
, influenced by the conversion to Islam of Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa'd ibn Mua'dh
Sa’d ibn Mu'adh was a chief of the Banu Aus tribe in Medina and later converted to Islam. Sa'd was one of the chief of the Banu Aus, one of the two clans settled in Medina.-Biography:...
, one of the prominent leaders in Medina.
Relationship with followers of Abrahamic religions
In the course of Muhammad proselytizing in Mecca, he viewed ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s and Jews (both of whom he referred to as "People of the Book") as natural allies, part of the Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him...
, sharing the core principles of his teachings, and anticipated their acceptance and support. Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, like Jews, were at that time praying towards Jerusalem. In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews' political loyalty in return for religious and cultural autonomy.
The Jewish clans however kept aloof from Islam though in the course of time there were a few converts from them. After his migration to Medina, Muhammad's attitude towards Christians and Jews changed. Norman Stillman
Norman Stillman
Norman Arthur Stillman, also Noam , b. 1945, is the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma. He specializes in the intersection of Jewish and Islamic culture and history, and in Oriental and Sephardi Jewry, with special interest in the Jewish...
states:
Beginnings of armed conflict
Camel train
A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points. Although they rarely travelled faster than the walking speed of a man, camels' ability to handle harsh conditions made camel trains a vital part of...
to respond to their persecution and to provide sustenance for their Muslim families, thus initiating armed conflict between the Muslims and the pagan Quraysh
Quraysh
The Quraysh or Quraish were a powerful merchant tribe that controlled Mecca and its Kaaba upon the appearance of the religion of Islam.Muhammad was born into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe.-Early history:...
of Mecca. Muhammad delivered Qur'anic verses permitting the Muslims, "those who have been expelled from their homes", to fight the Meccans in opposition to persecution (see Qur'an Sura
Sura
A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...
22 (Al-Hajj
Al-Hajj
Surat Al-Hajj is the 22nd sura of the Qur'an with 78 ayat.Verses , and addresses the Jews, Christians and Sabians...
) Ayat
Ayah
Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...
39-40). These attacks provoked and pressured Mecca by interfering with trade, and allowed the Muslims to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working toward their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith.
In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for the Meccans at Badr. Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims. Meanwhile a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan. The force did not return home upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The battle of Badr
Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr , fought Saturday, March 13, 624 AD in the Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca...
began in March of 624. Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died. They had also succeeded in killing many of the Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl
Amr ibn Hisham
‘Amr ibn Hishām , better known as Abu al-Hakam, was one of the Meccan pagan Quraysh leaders, known for his hostility against and persecution of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims in Mecca....
. Muhammad himself did not fight, directing the battle from a nearby hut alongside Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
. In the weeks following the battle, Meccans visited Medina in order to ransom captives from Badr. Many of these had belonged to wealthy families, and were likely ransomed for a considerable sum. Those captives who were not sufficiently influential or wealthy were usually freed without ransom. Muhammad's decision was that those prisoners who refused to end their persecution of Muslims and were wealthy but did not ransom themselves should be killed. Muhammad ordered the immediate execution of two Quraysh
Quraysh
The Quraysh or Quraish were a powerful merchant tribe that controlled Mecca and its Kaaba upon the appearance of the religion of Islam.Muhammad was born into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe.-Early history:...
men without entertaining offers for their release. Both men, which included Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt, had personally attempted to kill Muhammad in Mecca. The raiders had won much booty, and the battle helped to stabilize the Medinan community. Muhammad and his followers saw in the victory a confirmation of their faith and a prime importance in the affairs of Medina. Those remaining pagans in Medina were very bitter about the advance of Islam. In particular Asma bint Marwan
Asma bint Marwan
ʻAṣmāʼ bint Marwān was a female member of the Ummayad clan who lived in Medina in 7th century Arabia.The story of her death by command of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, after she bitterly opposed him with poetry and provoked other pagans to commit violence against him, can be found in the sīra...
and Abu 'Afak
Abu 'Afak
Abu 'Afak was a Jewish poet who lived in the Hijaz region . Abu 'Afak did not convert to Islam and was vocal about his opposition to Muhammad...
had composed verses insulting some of the Muslims and thereby violated the Constitution of Medina
Constitution of Medina
The Constitution of Medina , also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib , including Muslims, Jews, Christians and pagans. This constitution formed the...
to which they belonged. These two were assassinated and Muhammad did not disapprove of it. No one dared to take vengeance on them, and some of the members of the clan of Asma bint Marwan who had previously converted to Islam in secret, now professed openly. This marked an end to the overt opposition to Muhammad among the pagans in Medina.
Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa
Banu Qaynuqa
The Banu Qaynuqa was one of the three main Jewish tribes living in the 7th century of Medina, now in Saudi Arabia...
, one of the three main Jewish tribes. Jewish opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons". On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a non-Jewish
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
prophet, and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures. The Qur'an's response regarding the possibility of a non-Jew being a prophet was that Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
was not a Jew. The Qur'an also stated that it was "restoring the pure monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
of Abraham which had been corrupted in various, clearly specified, ways by Jews and Christians". According to Francis Edwards Peters
Francis Edwards Peters
Francis Edward Peters , who generally publishes as F.E. Peters, is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and History at New York University.Peters studied at St...
, "The Jews also began secretly to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him."
Following the battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
.
Conflict with Mecca
The attack at Badr committed Muhammad to total war with Meccans, who were now eager to avenge their defeat. To maintain their economic prosperity, the Meccans needed to restore their prestige, which had been lost at Badr. The Meccans sent out a small party for a raid on Medina to restore confidence and reconnoitre. The party retreated immediately after a surprise and speedy attack but with minor damages; there was no combat. In the ensuing months, Muhammad led expeditions on tribes allied with Mecca and sent out a raid on a Meccan caravan. Abu Sufyan ibn HarbAbu Sufyan ibn Harb
Sakhr ibn Harb , more commonly known as Abu Sufyan was a leading man of the Quraish of Mecca. He was a staunch opponent of the Islamic prophet Muhammad before accepting Islam later in his life.-Opposition to Islam:...
subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina. They were accompanied by some prominent women of Mecca, such as Hind bint Utbah
Hind bint Utbah
Hind bint ‘Utbah was an Arab woman who lived in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE; she was the wife of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, a powerful man of Mecca, in western Arabia. Both Abu Sufyan and Hind originally opposed the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
, Abu Sufyan's wife, who had lost family members at Badr. These women provided encouragement in keeping with Bedouin custom, calling out the names of the dead at Badr.
A scout alerted Muhammad of the Meccan army's presence and numbers a day later. The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war, there was dispute over how best to repel the Meccans. Muhammad and many of the senior figures suggested that it would be safer to fight within Medina and take advantage of its heavily fortified strongholds. Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying their crops, and that huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige. Muhammad eventually conceded to the wishes of the latter, and readied the Muslim force for battle. Thus, Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain of Uhud (where the Meccans had camped) and fought the Battle of Uhud
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud was fought on March 19, 625 at the valley located in front of Mount Uhud, in what is now northwestern Arabia. It occurred between a force from the Muslim community of Medina led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a force led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb from Mecca, the town from...
on March 23.
The rousing of the nomads
In the battle of Uhud, the Meccans had collected all the available men from the Quraysh and the neighboring tribes friendly to them but had not succeeded in destroying the Muslim community. In order to raise a more powerful army, Abu Sufyan attracted the support of the great nomadNomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of booty, memories of the prestige of Quraysh and straight bribes.
Muhammad's policy in the next two years after the battle of Uhud was to prevent as best he could the formation of alliances against him. Whenever alliances of tribesmen against Medina were formed, he sent out an expedition to break it up. When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity. One example is the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf was a chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir and a poet, who plotted with Quraysh and a group of Jews to fight against Muslims and assassinate the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was assassinated by Muslims on the order of Muhammad before he could carry out his plans...
, a member of the Jewish tribe
Jewish tribes of Arabia
The Arab Jewish tribes are the Arab tribes professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent of Islam. It is not always clear whether they were originally Israelite in ancestry, genealogically Arab tribes that converted to Judaism, or a mixture of both...
of Banu Nadir
Banu Nadir
The Banu Nadir were a Jewish tribe who lived in northern Arabia until the 7th century at the oasis of Yathrib . The tribe challenged Muhammad as the leader of Medina. and planned along with allied nomads to attack Muhammad and were expelled from Medina as a result. The Banu Nadir then planned the...
who had gone to Mecca and written poems that had helped rouse the Meccans' grief, anger and desire for revenge after the battle of Badr (see the main article for other reasons for killing of Ka'b given in the historiographical sources). Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Jewish Banu Nadir from Medina.
Muhammad's attempts to prevent formation of confederation against him were not successful, although he was able to augment his own forces and keep many tribes from joining the confederation.
Siege of Medina
Abu Sufyan, the military leader of the Quraysh, with the help of Banu Nadir, the exiled Jewish tribe from Medina, had mustered a force of numbering 10,000 men. Muhammad was able to prepare a force of about 3,000 men. He had however adopted a new form of defense, unknown in Arabia at that time: Muslims had dug trenches wherever Medina lay open to cavalry attack. The idea is credited to a Persian convert to Islam, SalmanSalman the Persian
Salman the Persian or Salman al Farisi was one of Muhammad's companions.During some of his later meetings with the other Sahaba, he was referred to as Abu Abdullah .-Birth place:...
. The siege of Medina began on 31 March 627 and lasted for two weeks. Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications they were confronted with, and after an ineffectual siege, the coalition decided to go home. The Qur'an discusses this battle in verses 9-27 of sura 33, Al-Ahzab
Al-Ahzab
Surat Al-Ahzab is the 33rd sura of the Qur'an with 73 ayat.Verse 5: Adoption in Islam.Ayat 6 contains a reference to the term Mother of Believers.Ayat 25 contains a reference to Battle of the trench....
.
During the Battle of the Trench, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza
Banu Qurayza
The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib , until the 7th century, when their conflict with Muhammad led to their demise, after the Invasion of Banu Qurayza, took place in the Dhul Qa‘dah, 5 A.H i.e. in February/March, 627 AD...
who were located at the south of Medina were charged with treachery. After the retreat of the coalition, Muslims besieged Banu Qurayza, the remaining major Jewish tribe in Medina. The Banu Qurayza surrendered and all the men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were beheaded, while all the women and children were enslaved. In dealing with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina, aside from political explanations, Arab historians and biographers have explained it as "the punishment of the Medina Jews, who were invited to convert and refused, perfectly exemplify the Quran's tales of what happened to those who rejected the prophets of old." F.E. Peters
Francis Edwards Peters
Francis Edward Peters , who generally publishes as F.E. Peters, is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and History at New York University.Peters studied at St...
, a western scholar of Islam, states that Muhammad's treatment of Jews of Medina was essentially political being prompted by what Muhammad read as treasonous and not some transgression of the law of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Peters adds that Muhammad was possibly emboldened by his military successes and also wanted to push his advantage. Economical motivations according to Peters also existed since the poorness of the Meccan migrants was a source of concern for Muhammad. Peters argues that Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina was "quite extraordinary", "matched by nothing in the Qur'an", and is "quite at odds with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews he encountered outside Medina." According to Welch, Muhammad's treatment of the three major Jewish tribes brought Muhammad closer to his goal of organizing a community strictly on a religious basis. He adds that some Jews from other families were, however, allowed to remain in Medina.
In the siege of Medina, the Meccans had exerted their utmost strength towards the destruction of the Muslim community. Their failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
was gone. Following the battle of trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting. While returning from one of these two expeditions (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation, verse4 in the An-Nur
An-Nur
Surat Al-Nur is the 24th sura of the Qur'an with 64 ayat.- Background :The general agreement of scholars is that this sura was revealed shortly before or after the Battle of the Trench in 5 AH-Content:...
sura, confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses.
Truce of Hudaybiyya
Although Qur'anic verses had been received from God commanding the HajjHajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, the Muslims had not performed it due to the enmity of the Quraysh. In the month of Shawwal
Shawwal
Shawwāl is the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Shawwāl means to ‘lift or carry’; so named because she-camels normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year.-Fasting during Shawwāl:...
628, Muhammad ordered his followers to obtain sacrificial animals and to make preparations for a pilgrimage (umrah
Umrah
The Umrah or is a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic, Umrah means "to visit a populated place"...
) to Mecca, saying that God had promised him the fulfillment of this goal in a vision where he was shaving his head after the completion of the Hajj. According to Lewis, Muhammad felt strong enough to attempt an attack on Mecca, but on the way it became clear that the attempt was premature and the expedition was converted into a peaceful pilgrimage. Andrae disagrees, writing that the Muslim state of ihram (which restricted their freedom of action) and the paucity of arms carried indicated that the pilgrimage was always intended to be pacific. Upon hearing of the approaching 1,400 Muslims, the Quraysh sent out a force of 200 cavalry to halt them. Muhammad evaded them by taking a more difficult route, thereby reaching al-Hudaybiyya, just outside of Mecca. According to Watt, although Muhammad's decision to make the pilgrimage was based on his dream, he was at the same time demonstrating to the pagan Meccans that Islam does not threaten the prestige of their sanctuary, and that Islam was an Arabian religion.
Negotiations commenced with emissaries going to and from Mecca. While these continued, rumors spread that one of the Muslim negotiators, Uthman ibn Affan, had been killed by the Quraysh. Muhammad responded by calling upon the pilgrims to make a pledge not to flee (or to stick with Muhammad, whatever decision he made) if the situation descended into war with Mecca. This pledge became known as the "Pledge of Good Pleasure" or the "Pledge of the Tree
Pledge of the Tree
The Pledge of the Tree or Pledge of Pleasure or Pledge of Ridwan was a pledge that was sworn to the Islamic prophet Muhammad by his Sahaba prior to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah...
." News of Uthman's safety, however, allowed for negotiations to continue, and the treaty of Hudaybiyyah
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is the treaty that took place between the state of Medina and the Quraishi tribe of Mecca in March 628CE .-Background:...
, scheduled to last ten years was eventually signed between the Muslims and the Quraysh. The main points of treaty were the following:
- The two parties and their allies should desist from hostilities against each other.
- Muhammad, should not perform Hajj this year but in the next year, Mecca will be evacuated for three days for Muslims to perform Hajj.
- Muhammad should send back any Meccan who had gone to Medina without the permission of his or her protector (according to William Montgomery WattWilliam Montgomery WattWilliam Montgomery Watt was a Scottish historian, an Emeritus Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh...
, this presumably refers to minors or women). - It was allowed for both Muhammad and the Quraysh to enter into alliance with others.
Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura Al-Fath
Al-Fath
Surat Al-Fatḥ is the 48th sura of the Qur'an with 29 ayat.-See also:...
(The Victory) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one. It was only later that Muhammad's followers would realise the benefit behind this treaty. These benefits, according to Welch, included the inducing of the Meccans to recognise Muhammad as an equal; a cessation of military activity posing well for the future; and gaining the admiration of Meccans who were impressed by the incorporation of the pilgrimage rituals.
After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar
Khaybar
Khaybar is the name of an oasis some 153 km to the north of Medina , Saudi Arabia. It was inhabited by Jews before the rise of Islam, and was conquered by Muhammad in 629 AD.-Pre-Islamic Khaybar:...
. The explanation given by western scholars of Islam for this attack
Battle of Khaybar
The Battle of Khaybar was fought in the year 629 between Muhammad and his followers against the Jews living in the oasis of Khaybar, located from Medina in the north-western part of the Arabian peninsula, in modern-day Saudi Arabia....
ranges from the presence of the Banu Nadir in Khaybar, who were inciting hostilities along with neighboring Arab tribes against Muhammad, to deflecting from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya, increasing Muhammad's prestige among his followers and capturing booty. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam (the exact date are given variously in the sources). Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(the eastern Roman Empire), Khosrau
Khosrau
Khusro, Khosrau, Khusrau, Khosro, or Khusraw is the name of a mythical Persian leader, in the Avesta of the Zoroastrians known as Kavi Haosravah, with the meaning "with good reputation"...
of Persia
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, the chief of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
and to some others. In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs of Mu'tah
Battle of Mu'tah
The Battle of Mu'tah was fought in 629 , near the village of Mu'tah, east of the Jordan River and Karak in Karak Governorate, between an army sent by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and an army of the Byzantine Empire- The Eastern Romans.In Muslim histories, the battle is usually described as the...
on Byzantine soil in Transjordania since according to the tradition, they had murdered Muhammad's envoy. F. Buhl however holds that the real reason "seems to have been that he wished to bring the (Christian or pagan) Arabs living there under his control." Muslims were defeated in this battle.
Conquest of Mecca
Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manat
The Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manat were an Arabian tribe of the Hejaz region, in western Arabia.During Muhammad's lifetime, they were allies of the Quraish of Mecca....
) with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting. After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were the following
- The Meccans were to pay blood moneyBlood money (term)Blood money is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender or his family group to the family or kin group of the victim.-Particular examples and uses:...
for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe, or - They should have nothing to do with the Banu Bakr, or
- They should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null.
The Meccans replied that they would accept only the third condition. However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Safyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad.
Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.
In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. With minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Mecca. He declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who had mocked and made fun of him in songs and verses. Some of these were later pardoned. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all of the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
, without any exception. The Qur'an discusses the conquest of Mecca in verses 1-3 of the An-Nasrsura.
Conquest of Arabia
Soon after the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad was alarmed by a military threat from the confederate tribes of HawazinHawazin
Ha'wa zin was a sub-division from the Qais Ailan tribe, Hawazin is the mighty Pre-Islamic Arabian tribe concentrated in the area around Ta’if in the Arabian Peninsula. Its descendants are scattered across the Middle-East and North Africa as many of its members were dispatched after the Muslim...
who were collecting an army twice the size of Muhammad's. The Hawzain were old enemies of Meccans. They were joined by the tribe of Banu Thaqif
Banu Thaqif
The Thaqif was one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era. Thaqif was the main tribe of the town of Taif, in present-day Saudi Arabia, and descendants of the tribe still live in that city today and so many names in Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Hatay...
inhabiting in the city of Ta’if
Ta’if
Ta’if is a city in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia at an elevation of on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains . It has a population of 521,273 . Each summer the Saudi Government moves from the heat of Riyadh to Ta'if...
who had adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans. Muhammad defeated the Hawzain and Thaqif in the battle of Hunayn
Battle of Hunayn
The Battle of Hunain was fought between Muhammad and his followers against the Bedouin tribe of Hawazin and its subsection the Thaqif in 630 in a valley on one of the roads leading from Mecca to al-Ta'if. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims, who captured enormous spoils...
.
Battle of Tabouk
The Battle of Tabouk was a military expedition, which, according to Muslim biographies, was initiated by the Prophet Muhammad in October, AD 630. Muhammad led a force of as many as 30,000 north to Tabouk in present-day northwestern Saudi Arabia, with the intention of engaging the Byzantine army...
, because of their previous defeat at the battle of Mu'tah, as well as the reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some of the local chiefs of the region. A year after the battle of Tabuk, the tribe of Thaqif, inhabiting in the city of Ta’if, sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many Bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe from his attacks and to benefit from the booty of the wars. The Bedouins however were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Consequently Muhammad demanded of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzeranity of Medina, [promise] to refrain from attacking the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
, the Muslim religious levy."
The Farewell Pilgrimage
At the end of the tenth year after the migration to Medina, Muhammad performed his first truly Islamic pilgrimage, thereby teaching his followers the rules governing the various ceremonies of the annual Great Pilgrimage (hajj). On this occasion he uttered the Qur'anic verse:Death
A few months after the farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with head painHeadache
A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...
and weakness. He succumbed on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Medina. His tomb had previously been the home of his wife Aisha. It is now enclosed within Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi , often called the Prophet's Mosque, is a mosque situated in the city of Medina. As the final resting place of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, it is considered the second holiest site in Islam by Muslims and is one of the largest mosques in the world...
(Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina.