In consequence, the early Muslims were subjected to torture, killing, and confiscation of their property. Muhammad’s enemies included some of his own close relatives and tribesmen. Among them was his uncle Abu Lahab, whom God cursed through a revelation, along with his wife. Worst of all was the leader of the Makhzum clan of the Quraysh, Abu Jahl, who would make a mockery of Muhammad and assault his followers. Shortly after the conversion of ‘Umar, the Quraysh publicly ostracized Muhammad and his followers. Notwithstanding the protection afforded to the Prophet by his uncle Abu Talib, the poorer and weaker Muslims were continually subjected to mistreatment. A number of them, with the Prophet’s permission, sought refuge in Abyssinia, where they were welcomed by its king, Najashi (the Negus), despite efforts of the Meccans to dissuade him. This is known as the first hijra or migration.
In 619 Muhammad endured his annus horribilus. In that year he lost Khadija, his wife, his confidante, and his mainstay in all that he did. Muhammad’s monogamous marriage with Khadija for almost twenty-five years was something highly unusual at that time. From the age of fifty until fifty-two he remained unmarried. Thereafter, between the ages of fifty-three and sixty, he married ten women, primarily for political reasons. For example, he married ʿAʾisha and Hafsa, daughters respectively of the influential leaders Abu Bakr and ʿUmar. He also married a Jewish woman, Rehana, to form ties with the tribe of Bani Qurayza, as well as a Christian woman, Maryam, which helped forge a link with Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt. His marriage to an aging and impoverished woman called Sawda was designed to exemplify kindness to women.
In the same year that Khadija died, Muhammad also lost Abu Talib, his uncle, his father by trust, his protector against hostile clansmen and other Meccan detractors. Abu Talib had been one of the most respected elders of the Quraysh and he had been committed to safeguarding the Prophet even though he himself never converted to Islam. Without his protection, Muhammad and his followers became far more vulnerable to abuse and persecution. Realizing that he could garner no more support in Mecca, the Prophet walked about fifty miles to a neighboring town called Taʾif, hoping to convert people there. But they drove him out, stirring up their slaves to insult him and throw stones at him. Muhammad regarded this as the bitterest day of his life.
After these setbacks, there occurred an extraordinary event in that eventful year of 619. The Prophet was awakened from his sleep at the Kaʿba by the Archangel, who took him on “the night journey” (isra) on a white horse from Mecca to the mosque of Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem (originally, the temple built by Solomon). There the Prophet found Abraham, Moses, and Jesus with all the prophets, whom he led in prayer. He was then led through an ascension (miʿraj) of the seven heavens, one by one, in which he again met the various prophets, and was finally taken into the Divine Presence, where he received instruction that Muslims were obliged to pray five times daily. On returning, the Prophet met with skepticism when he related his adventure; but Abu Bakr believed instantly, and was thenceforth honored with the title al-Siddiq, which means “one who confirms or supports the truth.”
The Flight to Medina
Even after the momentous experience of 619, Muhammad continued to face harassment, persecution, and threats of assassination to himself and his followers. He sought help in other oasis towns, with tribes beyond his own. Some 250 miles to the north of Mecca was the town of Yathrib. It was inhabited by tribes that were finding it impossible to live together in peace. They sought in Muhammad—known for his truthfulness and fairness—a just leader who would arbitrate their disputes. Muhammad agreed, on condition that they accept Islam. During the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in 620, a delegation of six men from Yathrib came to meet with Muhammad. Having converted, they agreed to return to Yathrib and deliver the message of Islam to their townspeople. The following year, a delegation of twelve leading men, including five from the previous year, came and pledged allegiance to the Prophet and to Islam at ʿAqaba (known as the First ʿAqaba). In 622 a further delegation of seventy-three men and two women pledged allegiance to the Prophet, again at ʿAqaba, and vowed to protect him if he came to reside in their city (the Second ʿAqaba). These pledges promised hope of an established community with its own sovereign territory—something Muhammad needed if his religion were to survive.
The Prophet now encouraged his followers to migrate to Yathrib; it was not long before most of them had gone, leaving behind in Mecca only Abu Bakr, ʿAli, and the Prophet himself. After a plot by the Quraysh to assassinate Muhammad was foiled, the Prophet also departed, along with Abu Bakr. They stayed initially in a cave in Mount Thaur to the south of Mecca. The Quraysh, who came looking for them with murderous intent, found an acacia tree in front of the cave, with a spiderweb spread between the tree and the mouth of the cave; also, a rock dove had made her nest there. Concluding that no one could be hidden inside, they left.
The Prophet and Abu Bakr, with their Bedouin guide, reached the oasis of Qubaʾ, not far from Yathrib, in late September 622. They stayed there for three days during which the Prophet laid the foundations of the first mosque. They departed soon for the city since there was great anticipation in Medina of the Prophet’s arrival. A guard of honor from the Yathribi tribes of Aws and Khazraj rode on both sides of the Prophet as he proceeded through the city lined with people gathered to greet him. He ordered that a mosque be built at the courtyard where his camel chose to rest. The Prophet gave the title of ansar (helpers) to the Muslims of Medina while the Muslims of the Quraysh and other tribes who had immigrated there were called muhajirun (emigrants).
In order to bring peace and unity to the community in his new city, the Prophet made a covenant (later known as the Constitution of Medina) between the eight clans of the ansar and the muhajirun, as well as between the Jews and the Muslims. The nine Muslim tribes and the Jews of the oasis now constituted a single umma or community. Muslims and Jews were to be accorded equal status, with freedom of belief, and they were obliged to fight enemies or to make peace with them as one people. Yathrib was now known as the City of the Prophet or Madinat al-nabi, and today simply as Medina. It was from Medina that Muhammad was to begin his journey as a prophet both for fellow Arabs and all humankind. The flight (hijra) to Medina in 622 marked the beginning of a new moment and also a new calendar; 622 became the first year for the community who accepted Muhammad, those who prayed with him, those who fought for his cause, those who, like him, waited for guidance from beyond through Gabriel.
Early Wars
The Muslim immigrants to Medina had left their belongings behind in Mecca, which was seized by their opponents. Much of their property had already been confiscated and they were still under threat. Shortly after his arrival in Medina there came to Muhammad the following revelation in the Quran:
Permission to fight is given
to those who are attacked,
for they have been wronged.6
And God is All Powerful
in His support of them—
those driven out of their homes unjustly
—merely for saying, “Our Lord is the One God.”
If God did not restrain some people
by means of others, then monasteries,
churches, synagogues, and mosques
—where the name of God
is remembered often—would be torn down.
God will help those who help His cause,
for God is Supremely Strong, Almighty.
SURA AL-HAJJ, 22:39–40
But this was always to be a defensive war, a reluctant recourse to violence when other stratagems had failed. The war Muhammad waged against the Meccans was not a struggle for prestige or wealth; it was a war for the survival of God’s Word. The helpers from Medina joined the migrants from Mecca. They provided the migrants with food and shelter from their own resources, but they were all stretched to the limit. They began to raid the caravans of their Meccan foes. They raided only small caravans at first, and never attacked during those times when fighting, especially blood feuds, was prohibited. As someone who had guided many successful caravans, Muhammad knew the routes and the seasons. He also knew the wells where Meccan traders would pass with their camels and their goods.
After the Muslims attacked a Meccan caravan at the oasis of Nakhla in December 623, the provocation to Muhammad’s former tribespeople was clear. Muhammad and his followers braced for the next outbreak in what was to become an enduring conflict with their Meccan kinsmen. During the next nine years Muhammad planned thirty-eight battles that were fought by his fellow believers. He himself led twenty-seven military campaigns. The merchant messenger had become not only a recognized prophet but also a successful military strategist.
Muhammad did not have to wait long before leading his first full-scale military campaign. It came at the wells of Badr the following year, in 624. The Muslims chose to attack a caravan coming south from Palestine to Mecca. The Meccans learned of their plan, opposing them with a force of a thousand men and two hundred horses, far outnumbering the
