Saturday, January 20, 2007

Ma'al Hijrah #3

Prophet’s Hijrah to Madinah.

Prophet Muhammad SAW had preached publicly for thirteen years in Makkah. The opposition against him were intense, fearful for their safety, so much so he sent some of his followers to Ethiopia, where the Christian ruler extended protection to them, the memory of which has been cherished by Muslims ever since. But in Makkah the persecution worsened. Prophet Muhammad's followers were harassed, abused, and even tortured. Prophet Muhammad SAW also advised seventy of his followers to immigrate to the northern town of Yathrib, which was later renamed as Medinah ["The City"].

In the early 622, he learned of a plot by the Quraish to murder him and, and with his closest friend, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, they set off to join the emigrants Medinah.

In Makkah the plotters arrived at Prophet Muhammad's home to find that his cousin, 'Ali Abi Talib, had taken his place in bed. Enraged, the Makkahans set a price on Muhammad's head and set off in pursuit. Prophet Muhammad SAW and Abu Bakar, however, had taken refuge in a cave where, as they hid from their pursuers, a spider spun its web across the cave's mouth. When they saw that the web was unbroken, the Makkahans passed by and Muhammad SAW and Abu Bakr went on to Medina, where they were joyously welcomed by a throng of Medinahans as well as the Makkans who had gone ahead to prepare the way.

This was the Hijrah - anglicized as Hegira - usually, but inaccurately, translated as "Flight" - from which the Muslim era is dated. In fact, the Hijrah was not a flight but a carefully planned migration which marks not only a break in history - the beginning of the Islamic era- but also, for Muhammad SAW and the Muslims, a new way of life. Henceforth, the organizational principle of the community was not to be mere blood kinship, but the greater brotherhood of all Muslims. The men who accompanied Muhammad SAW on the Hijrah were called the Muhajirun - "those that made the Hijrah" or the "Emigrants" - while those in Medinah who became Muslims were called the Ansar or "Helpers."

Prophet Muhammad SAW was well acquainted with the situation in Medinah. Earlier, before the Hijrah, the city had sent envoys to Makkah asking Muhammad SAW to mediate a dispute between two powerful tribes. What the envoys saw and heard had impressed them and they had invited Muhammad SAW to settle in Medinah. After the Hijrah, Muhammad's exceptional qualities so impressed the Medinahans that the rival tribes and their allies temporarily closed ranks as, on March 15, 624, Muhammad SAW and his supporters moved against the pagans of Makkah.

The first battle, which took place near Badar, now a small town southwest of Medinah, had several important effects. In the first place, the Muslim forces, outnumbered three to one, routed the Makkahans. Secondly, the discipline displayed by the Muslims brought home to the Makkahans, perhaps for the first time, the abilities of the man they had driven from their city. Thirdly, one of the allied tribes which had pledged support to the Muslims in the Battle of Badar, but had then proved lukewarm when the fighting started, was expelled from Medinah one month after the battle. Those who claimed to be allies of the Muslims, but tacitly opposed them, were thus served warning: membership in the community imposed the obligation of total support.

A year later the Makkahans struck back. Assembling an army of three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside Medinah. After an initial success the Muslims were driven back and the Prophet SAW himself was wounded. As the Muslims were not completely defeated, the Makkahans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked Medinah again two years later but with quite different results. At the Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of the Confederates, the Muslims scored a signal victory by introducing a new defense. On the side of Medinah from which attack was expected they dug a trench too deep for the Makkahan cavalry to clear without exposing itself to the archers posted behind earthworks on the Medinah side. After an inconclusive siege, the Makkahans were forced to retire. Thereafter Medinah was entirely in the hands of the Muslims.

The Constitution of Medinah, under which the clans accepting Muhammad as the Prophet of God formed an alliance, or federation - dates from this period. It showed that the political consciousness of the Muslim community had reached an important point; its members defined themselves as a community separate from all others. The Constitution also defined the role of non-Muslims in the community. Jews, for example, were part of the community; they were dhimmis, that is, protected people, as long as they conformed to its laws. This established a precedent for the treatment of subject peoples during the later conquests. Christians and Jews, upon payment of a yearly tax, were allowed religious freedom and, while maintaining their status as non-Muslims, were associate members of the Muslim state. This status did not apply to polytheists, who could not be tolerated within a community that worshipped the One God.

Ibn Ishaq, one of the earliest biographers of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, says it was at about this time that Muhammad sent letters to the rulers of the earth, the King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt among others - inviting them to submit to Islam. Nothing more fully illustrates the confidence of the small community, as its military power, despite the battle of the Trench, was still negligible. But its confidence was not misplaced. Muhammad SAW so effectively built up a series of alliances among the tribes his early years with the Bedouins must have stood him in good stead here- that by 628 he and fifteen hundred followers were able to demand access to the Ka'abah during negotiations with the Makkahans.

This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Just in a short time before, Muhammad SAW had to leave the city of his birth in fear of his life. Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. A year later, in 629, he reentered and, in effect, conquered Makkah without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance which established an ideal for future conquests. He also destroyed the idols in the Ka'abah, to put an end forever to pagan practices there. At the same time Muhammad SAW won the allegiance of 'Amr ibn al-'As, the future conqueror of Egypt, and Khalid ibn al-Walid, the future "Sword of God," both of whom embraced Islam and joined Muhammad SAW. Their conversion was especially noteworthy because these men had been among Muhammad's bitterest opponents only a short time before.

In one sense Muhammad's return to Makkah was the climax of his mission. In 632, just three years later, he was suddenly taken ill and on June 8 of that year, with his third wife 'Aishah in attendance, the Messenger of God "died with the heat of noon."

The death of Prophet Muhammad SAW was a profound loss. To his followers this simple man from Makkah was far more than a beloved friend, far more than a gifted administrator, far more than the revered leader who had forged a new state from clusters of warring tribes. Prophet Muhammad SAW was also the exemplar of the teachings he had brought them from God: the teachings of the Quran, which, for centuries, have guided the thought and action, the faith and conduct, of innumerable men and women, and which ushered in a distinctive era in the history of mankind. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia, and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. As Abu Bakar put it: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad SAW let him know that Muhammad SAW is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not."

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