ISLAM COMES TO MADINAH
Before the coming of Islam, the city of Madinah was known as Yathrib. Besides the two main tribes of the Aws and Khazraj, some Jewish tribes lived in the area and established their dominance by pursuing a policy of divide and rule. Their prime concern was keeping their Arab neighbours weak and disunited. Just five years before the Prophet emigrated to Madinah, the Khazraj, at the instigation of the Jews, rose against the Aws. An Aws chieftain named Abu’l Baysar Anas ibn Rafi’ went to Makkah along with a few of his fellows to seek the Quraysh’s help. Hearing about their arrival, the Prophet went to see them and invited them to accept Islam.
One of their companions, a youth named Ayas ibn Mu’adh, was impressed by the Prophet’s words. He told his companions this was much better than they had come for, but they disagreed. Abu’l Baysar threw some earth in Ayas’ face in disgust and told him to forget what Muhammad had said, for they had other, more pressing business.
The Aws delegation returned without accepting Islam. Soon afterwards, the Aws and Khazraj fought a war known as Bu’ath. The enmity between the two tribes had become so intense that each wished to obliterate the other. In this war, the Khazraj first had ascendancy. Then the Aws, under Abu Usayd, defeated the Khazraj. They inflicted heavy losses on one another, even burning houses and orchards. In this way, the Arabs weakened themselves through their internal warfare.
It was the Jews who benefited from this war, and their ascendancy in Madinah was further consolidated. When feelings cooled, responsible people of both the Aws and the Khazraj realized they had made a grave mistake. They had played into the hands of their enemies. They had weakened themselves and strengthened the Jews. Many people in both tribes realized the need to rectify this situation. But this could be done only by both tribes agreeing to forgive and forget. The best way to achieve reconciliation would be by appointing a king to coordinate peacemaking. ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy of the Khazraj tribe, a man of personality and gifted with leadership qualities, was chosen for this task. At this very juncture, some Khazrajis travelled to Makkah on a pilgrimage. There they met the Prophet, Muhammad. He told them God had sent him with the true religion and called on them to believe in him. The Prophet’s words rang a bell in their minds. They remembered that the Jews used to tell them that a Prophet who would reign supreme would soon be coming. The Jews used to rejoice in the promise of his coming, for they envisaged joining forces with him to vanquish the Arabs permanently. The people of Madinah realized this was the Prophet the Jews had told them about. Here was a golden opportunity to accept him before the Jews could do so.
So, expressing their belief in the Prophet, they told him, “We have left our people behind. No nation is torn by hostility and infighting as they are. Perhaps God will unite them through you. We will return to them and tell them about our accepted religion. If our people unite on this faith, then there will be no one more powerful than you in this land.”
After this, the people of Madinah accepted Islam in large numbers. As a result, they became known as the Ansar, or helpers, of Islam. Their selfless support of Islam enabled the Prophet’s religion to gain supremacy in Arabia.
Five years before the Prophet’s emigration to Madinah, the city’s people had thought nothing of his message and rejected it. Yet just five years later, these same people accepted Islam. When they first met the Prophet, they were preoccupied with military considerations; they could think of nothing else but how to subdue their enemies. This meant that they had no time to consider spiritual matters. As a result, God and life after death appeared to them to be extraneous issues designed to divert them from their real aim.
The Aws and the Khazraj poured all their resources into the war of Bu’ath. All they received in return, however, was self-destruction. The very future of the two tribes was cast into doubt: it seemed as if the Jews would set them against one another until they were annihilated. These thoughts ushered in a change of attitude. They began to think of peace instead of war and unity instead of civil conflict. They started setting their relations with their neighbours in a broader context than the battlefield. They saw that the problem lay more between the Arab tribes of the Aws and Khazraj on one side and the Jews on the other than between the two Arab tribes themselves. If the Aws and Khazraj could unite on a single platform, they could present a united front to the Jews. A unifying faith was just what they needed to heal the wounds of tribal conflict and patch up the differences between the two tribes. And if they could find a leader acceptable to both sides, he would be able to see the process of reconciliation through to its completion. In the person of the Prophet Muhammad, they found the leader and the faith they needed. So they rushed to accept his religion.
Islam, then, benefited indirectly from the war of Bu’ath, for it made the Aws and Khazraj realize the futility of war and seek peace among themselves. They found this peace in Islam and united with one another as helpers of the Prophet. The incident of Bu’ath, according to ‘Aisha, was the tragedy that proved to be the turning point for the people of Medina, after this war they were ready for peace, and they accepted the Prophet of Islam as their religious guide.
