Muhammad Read online

  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

  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. By 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 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.

  While awaiting developments in Yathrib, Muhammad made some changes in his household. He needed a wife, and it was suggested that he should marry Sawdah, the cousin and sister-in-law of Suhayl, the devout pagan chief of the Qurayshan clan of Amir. She had been married to one of the Muslims who had migrated to Abyssinia in 616, but was now a widow and this was a good match for her. Abu Bakr was also anxious to forge a closer link with the Prophet, and proposed that he should marry his daughter ‘A’isha, who was then six years old. ‘A’isha was formally betrothed to Muhammad in a ceremony at which the little girl was not present. In later years, she recalled that the first inkling she had of her new status was when her mother explained to her that she could no longer play in the streets, but must invite her friends into the family home.

  Muhammad’s harem has excited a good deal of prurient and ill-natured speculation in the West, but in Arabia, where polygamy was more common than the monogamous marriage that Muhammad had enjoyed with Khadijah, it would have been commonplace. These marriages were not romantic or sexual love affairs but were under-taken largely for practical ends. Sawdah seems to have been a rather homely woman, who was past her first youth; but she could take care of Muhammad’s domestic needs. Muhammad may also have hoped to win over Suhayl, who was still undecided about the revelations. There was no impropriety in Muhammad’s betrothal to ‘A’isha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at this time between adults and minors who were even younger than ‘A’isha. This practice continued in Europe well into the early modern period. There was no question of consummating the marriage until ‘A’isha reached puberty, when she would have been married off like any other girl. Muhammad’s marriages usually had a political aim. He was starting to establish an entirely different kind of clan, based on ideology rather than kinship, but the blood tie was still a sacred value and helped to cement this experimental community.

  During the hajj of 621, the six converts from Yathrib duly returned to Mecca, bringing seven others with them. Again, they met Muhammad in the gully of ‘Aqabah and, in what would become known as the Pledge of ‘Aqabah, promised to worship Allah alone, to refrain from stealing, lying, and infanticide, and pledged to obey Muhammad’s directives concerning social justice. In return, Muhammad promised them Paradise.20 In this first pact, the emphasis was on religion and ethics and there was as yet no political commitment. When the pilgrims returned to Yathrib, they took with them Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umayr, a trusted Muslim, to instruct the people of Yathrib in their new faith.

  This was a wise move. Tribal hatred was so intense in the oasis, that neither Aws nor Khazraj could bear to hear a rival leading the prayers or reciting the Qur’an, so it was important that these offices were performed by a neutral outsider. At first, the Aws were antagonistic to the faith, but gradually the power of the Qur’an broke down their reserves. One day, Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh, chief of one of the leading Aws clans, was horrified to hear that Mus‘ab was preaching in his territory, so he dispatched his second-in-command to drive him away, who bore down on the little group, brandishing his lance, and asked the Muslim how he had the temerity to spread these lies among weak, foolish people. But instead of retaliating with jahili rage, Mus‘ab quietly asked him to sit down and judge for himself. The deputy agreed, stuck his lance in the ground, and, as he listened to the recitation, his face changed. “What wonderful and beautiful discourse this is!” he cried, “What does one do to enter this religion?” After he had proclaimed his faith in Allah and prostrated himself in prayer, he went back to report to his chief. Sa‘d was furious, grasped his own lance, and marched off to confront Mus‘ab himself, only to be overwhelmed in his turn by the Qur’an. He then summoned his people and asked them to follow him; trusting his leadership implicitly, the entire clan converted en masse.21 The news of Sa‘d’s dramatic about-face made a great impression on other chiefs, who began to take Mus‘ab more seriously.

  It was not long before there were Muslims in almost every family in the oasis. In Mecca, Muhammad’s preaching mission had stalled largely because the Quraysh could not believe that such an ordinary person could become the messenger of Allah. But conditions in Yathrib were different.22 Muhammad was no commonplace fellow, who could be seen strolling around the marketplace and eating and drinking like anybody else, but a remote, mysterious figure, whose coming was eagerly anticipated. In Mecca, Muhammad’s teaching threatened to damage the cult of the Haram, which was crucial to the economy, but there was no sanctuary full of idols in Yathrib. Not everybody was enamored of the new faith, however. Ibn Ubayy naturally feared that his position was being undermined; others were still committed either to the old paganism or to the hanifiyyah, but at this stage the opposition was muted. If the new prophet really could solve the problems of Yathrib, there might be some material advantage to be gained from him. The Jewish tribes were also prepared to give Muhammad the benefit of the doubt, especially since the Muslims honored their prophets and had adopted some of their own customs.

  Muhammad had recently introduced some new practices. As a result of the night journey, perhaps, Muslims now prayed facing the direction (qiblah) of Jerusalem, reaching out to the holy city of the People of the Book. Muhammad had also instructed Mus‘ab to hold a specia
l prayer meeting on Friday afternoon while the Jews were preparing for their Sabbath, and to fast with the Jews on Yom Kippur. Muslims would now pray in the middle of the day, as the Jews did, and observe a modified version of the Jewish dietary laws, similar to those adopted by the early Christians.23 Scholars used to think that Muhammad introduced these new devotions in order to appeal to the Jews of Yathrib, but this view has recently been challenged. Muhammad would not have expected the Jews to convert to his religion, because they had their own revealed din. God had decreed that each community should have its own messenger.24 But it was natural for Muslims to pray and fast in the same way as the other members of the Abrahamic family.

  In 622 a large party of pilgrims left Yathrib for the hajj. Some were pagans, but seventy-three of the men and two of the women were Muslims. Yet again, Muhammad went out to greet them at ‘Aqabah, but this time the meeting took place at dead of night. On this occasion, there was a sense of menace and of bridges being irrevocably burned. The Qur’an speaks of the “scheming” of the Quraysh: perhaps Muhammad had reason to believe that the kafirun were plotting to expel him and bar the Muslims from the Haram.25 At all events, Muhammad was now taking practical steps to leave his tribe. Ibn Ishaq claims that this was a positive decision on his part, but the Qur’an repeatedly claims that the Muslims were “expelled” or “driven out” of Mecca.26 The meeting was conducted in deadly secrecy. The Muslims from Yathrib did not even mention it to the pagans in their party, in case they gossiped and alerted the Quraysh to what was afoot.

  Muhammad was about to do something absolutely unprecedented.27 He was asking the Muslims of Mecca to make a hijrah (migration) to Yathrib. This did not merely involve a change of address. The Muslims were about to abandon their kinsfolk and accept the permanent protection of strangers. In Arabia, where the tribe was the most sacred value of all, this amounted to blasphemy; it was far more shocking than the Qur’anic rejection of the goddesses. There had always been a system of confederation, whereby an individual or an entire group could become honorary members of another tribe, but these were usually temporary arrangements and had never entailed alienation from one’s own people. The very word hijrah suggests a painful severance. The root HJR has been translated: “he cut himself off from friendly or loving communication or intercourse . . . he ceased . . . to associate with them.”28 Henceforth the Muslims who made the hijrah to Yathrib would be called the Muhajirah, the Emigrants: this traumatic dislocation was central to their new identity.

  The Muslims of Yathrib were also embarking on a dangerous experiment. Even if a foreigner was adopted by a tribe, he always remained a zalim (“outsider”), a word which carried the connotation “base, ignoble, evil.”29 Poets described the zalim as a useless, super-fluous accretion. Tribal loyalty was experienced as burning love of kinsfolk and harsh contempt for the alien. Anybody who put a despised zalim before his own people invited passionate scorn and revulsion. But now the Aws and Khazraj were about to swear allegiance to the Qurayshi Muhammad, and promising to give protection and help (nasr) to a large group of outsiders who would inevitably put a strain on the limited resources of the oasis. Henceforth the Muslims of Yathrib would be known as the Ansar. This is usually translated “the Helpers,” but this gives a somewhat anemic impression of what was involved. Nasr meant that you had to be ready to back up your aid with force. When they met Muhammad that night in ‘Aqabah, the Helpers had decided to make a second pact with Muhammad, which would be known as the Pledge of War.

  When the time came, the Ansar left their pagan companions sleeping in their tents and stole “softly like sandgrouse” to ‘Aqabah, where they met Muhammad and his uncle ‘Abbas, who acted as his spokesman. ‘Abbas had not converted to Islam and he must have been shocked by Muhammad’s decision to leave Mecca, but he wanted to make sure that he would be safe in Yathrib. Muhammad, he said, was protected by the Hashim in Mecca, but was ready to forgo this security in order to join the Ansar. If they had the smallest doubt about his safety, they should give up the entire project immediately. But the Ansar stood firm. Bara’ Ibn Mar‘ur, a chief of Khazraj, took Muhammad by the hand, and swore that Aws and Khazraj would both extend to Muhammad exactly the same protection as they gave to their own women and children. But while he was speaking, another Helper interrupted. What if Muhammad went back to Mecca and abandoned Yathrib to the wrath of the Quraysh? Muhammad smiled and replied: “I am of you and you are of me. I will war against them that war against you and be at peace with those at peace with you.”30 And so the Ansar made this solemn oath: “We pledged ourselves to war in complete obedience to the apostle, in weal or woe, in ease and hardship and evil circumstances; that we would not wrong anyone; that we would speak the truth at all times; and that in God’s service we would fear the censure of none.”31

  The pact was couched in tribal terminology, and concentrated on mutual defense.32 There was as yet no thought of a single, united ummah. Aws, Khazraj, and Quraysh would still operate separately. Muhammad would not go to Yathrib as head of state, but simply as the arbitrator (hakam) of disputes between Aws and Khazraj and as the chief of the Emigrants from Mecca. The Ansar would be ruled by twelve “overseers” from the various clans. Even though Islam had made great strides in Yathrib—after a single year, the Muslim community there was almost as large as the beleaguered ummah in Mecca—the fact remained that even after the hijrah, the Muslims would remain a tiny minority in the oasis, dwarfed in size by the aloof, appraising pagans, hanifs, and Jews.33 The Pledge of War marked a major expansion of Islam: the new religion had spread to other tribal groups, but it had not yet transcended the tribal ethos. The hijrah was a risky enterprise, an irrevocable, frightening step. Nobody knew how it would work out, because nothing quite like it had ever happened in Arabia before.

  After the hajj, the Ansar returned to Yathrib to await the arrival of the Muslim fugitives. The Qur’an now adopted the Aramaic name that the Jews gave to the settlement of Yathrib: medinta (“the city”). Yathrib was about to become al-Madinat, the city of the Prophet. In Mecca, Muhammad began to persuade Muslims to make the hijrah, but he did not command it. Anybody who felt it to be beyond his or her strength was free to remain behind. But during July and August 622, about seventy Muslims set off with their families to Medina, where they were lodged in the houses of the Ansar until they could set up their own homes. The Quraysh do not seem to have made a concerted effort to detain them though some women and children were forcibly prevented from leaving, and one man was carted back in triumph, tied to his camel. For their part, the Muslims were careful not to draw attention to their flight, and usually agreed to meet up outside the city limits and to travel in small, unobtrusive groups. ‘Umar left with his family; ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan and Ruqayyah made the journey with Zayd and Hamzah, but Muhammad and Abu Bakr stayed behind until nearly everybody had left. But it was not long before this major defection left disturbing gaps in the city, revealing the open wound that Muhammad had inflicted on his tribe. The big houses in the middle of Mecca looked desolate and portentous to passers by, “doors blowing to and fro, empty of inhabitants.”34

  In August, shortly before he was due to leave, Mu‘tim, Muhammad’s Meccan protector, died. Muhammad’s position in Mecca was now untenable, because he was fair game for assassination. There was a special meeting to discuss his fate in the assembly, from which Abu Lahab pointedly absented himself. Some of the elders simply wanted to throw Muhammad out of Mecca, but they were overruled by those who felt that to allow him to join those unprincipled renegades in Yathrib would be dangerous. Abu Jahl came up with a plan: each clan would select a strong and well-protected young man. Collectively, they would represent the entire tribe, and would kill Muhammad together. There would be no vendetta, because the Hashim could not take on the whole of Quraysh.

  So that night a band of carefully chosen youths gathered outside Muhammad’s home, but were disturbed to hear the voices of Sawdah and some of the Prophet’s daughters through the window. It would
be shameful to kill a man in the presence of his women, so they decided to wait until he left the house the following morning. One of them peered in and saw a figure lying in bed, wrapped in Muhammad’s cloak. Unbeknownst to them, Muhammad had already escaped through a back window, leaving ‘Ali lying apparently asleep, wearing his clothes. When ‘Ali strolled outside the next morning, the young men realized that they had been tricked, and the Quraysh offered a reward of a hundred camel mares to anybody who would bring Muhammad back, dead or alive.

  By this time, Muhammad and Abu Bakr were hiding in a mountain cave just outside the city. They stayed there for three days, and from time to time, their supporters slipped out to bring them news and provisions. At one point, it was said, a search party actually passed the cave, but did not bother to look inside because an enormous spider’s web covered the entrance and a rock dove, who had clearly been sitting on her eggs for some time, had her nest in an acacia tree in exactly the place where a man would have to put his foot when climbing into the cave. All the while, Muhammad experienced a deep calm and a strong sense of God’s presence. The Qur’an recalls how he comforted Abu Bakr: “ ‘grieve not: verily God is with us.’ And thereupon God bestowed upon him from on high His [gift of ] inner peace.”35 Increasingly the Qur’an would insist that when Muslims found themselves in frightening or disturbing circumstances, they should be serene and tranquil, and should never fall prey to the impetuous rage and vengeful fury of jahiliyyah.