State of Medina Arabic: دولة المدينة | |||||||||||||||
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622–632 | |||||||||||||||
Left: Banner of Muhammad Right: Standard of Muhammad | |||||||||||||||
Capital | Medina | ||||||||||||||
Common languages | Classical Arabic | ||||||||||||||
Religion | Islam (official) Judaism Christianity | ||||||||||||||
Government | Theocratic [1] Islamic state | ||||||||||||||
Islamic Prophet, Statesman | |||||||||||||||
• 623–632 | Muhammad | ||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||
622 | |||||||||||||||
623 | |||||||||||||||
627 | |||||||||||||||
628 | |||||||||||||||
630 | |||||||||||||||
632 | |||||||||||||||
Currency | Dinar Dirham | ||||||||||||||
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The first Islamic State, also known as State of Medina, [2] was the first Islamic state established by Islamic prophet Muhammad in Medina in 622 under the Constitution of Medina. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation). After Muhammad's death, his companions known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs (Rashidun) founded the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), which began massive expansion and motivated subsequent Islamic states, such as the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and Abbasid caliphate (750–1258).
The Islamic prophet Muhammad came to the city of Medina following the migration of his followers in what is known as the Hijrah (migration to Medina) in 622. He had been invited to Medina by city leaders to adjudicate disputes between clans from which the city suffered. [3] He left Medina to return to and conquer Mecca in December 629.
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A delegation from Yathrib, 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 community. [3] [4] There had been conflict in Yathrib between its Arab and Jewish tribes for around a hundred years prior. [3] The recurring disagreements, fighting and killing over competing claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans were involved, rendered the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and eye for an eye justice unworkable without a neutral authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. [3] The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and to protect him as one of own. [5]
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. He instructed his cousin and future son-in-law Ali to sleep in his bed to trick the assassins that he had stayed (and to fight them off in his stead) and secretly slipped away from the town. [6] By 622, Muhammad had emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis. [5] Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca. [7]
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 brotherhood 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"). [3] [4] 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. [5]
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.
In the course of Muhammad proselytizing in Mecca, he viewed Christians 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. Muslims, 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 in many treaties. [8]
The Jewish clans however did not obey these treaties because of a feud with the Muslims though in the course of time there were a few converts from them. [9] After his migration to Medina, Muhammad's attitude towards Christians and Jews changed "because of experience of treachery". Norman Stillman states: [10]
During this fateful time, fraught with tension after the Hijra [migration to Medina], when Muhammad encountered contradiction, ridicule and rejection from the Jewish scholars in Medina, he came to adopt a radically more negative view of the people of the Book who had received earlier scriptures. This attitude was already evolving in the third Meccan period as the Prophet became more aware of the antipathy between Jews and Christians and the disagreements and strife amongst members of the same religion. The Qur'an at this time states that it will "relate [correctly] to the Children of Israel most of that about which they differ" 27:76.
Economically uprooted by their Meccan persecutors, 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. [11] [12] 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 [13] ). [14] 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. [15] [16]
In March 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. [17] 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 624. [18] 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. [19] Muhammad himself did not fight, directing the battle from a nearby hut alongside Abu Bakr. [20] 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. [21] [22] Muhammad ordered the immediate execution of two Quraysh men without entertaining offers for their release. [22] Both men, which included Uqba ibn Abu Mu'ayt, had personally attempted to kill Muhammad in Mecca. [21] The raiders had won a lot of treasure, and the battle helped to stabilize the Medinan community. [23] 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. [24]
Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa, one of the three main Jewish tribes. [5] Jewish opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons". [25] On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a non-Jewish prophet, [26] and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures. [26] [27] 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". [26] According to Francis Edward Peters, "The Jews also began secretly to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him." [28]
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. [5]
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. [29] 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. [30] In the ensuing months, Muhammad led expeditions on tribes allied with Mecca and sent out a raid on a Meccan caravan. [31] Abu Sufyan ibn Harb subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina. [32] 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. [33]
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. [34] [35]
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. [36] 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. [37] 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. [38] Muhammad subsequently delivered Qur'anic verses 133-135 and 160-162 from the Al-i-Imran sura [39] indicating that the loss, however, was partly a punishment for disobedience and partly a test for steadfastness. [40]
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 nomadic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of treasure, memories of the prestige of Quraysh and straight bribes. [41]
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. [41] When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity. [42] 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). [43] Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Jewish Banu Nadir from Medina. [44]
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. [45]
Abu Sufyan, the military leader of the Quraysh, with the help of Banu Nadir, had mustered a force 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, Salman. The siege of Medina began on 31 March 627 and lasted for two weeks. [46] Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications they were confronted with, and after an ineffectual siege, the coalition decided to go home. [47] The Qur'an discusses this battle in verses 9-27 of sura 33, Al-Ahzab. [48] [49]
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. [50] [51] 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." [52] 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. [28] 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. [53] 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." [28] 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. [5]
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. [54] Following the battle of trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting. [5] 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, verse 4 in the An-Nur sura, [55] confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses. [56]
Although Qur'anic verses had been received from God commanding the Hajj, [57] 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. [58] 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. [59] 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. Most Islamic scholars agree with Andrae's view. [60] 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 Mecca. [61] 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. [62]
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" (Arabic : بيعة الرضوان, bay'at al-ridhwān) 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. [59] [61] 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) [65] assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one. [66] 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. [5]
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. [32] [67] 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). [5] [68] [69] 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. [68] [69] Most critical scholars doubt this tradition, however. [70] 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. Muslims were defeated in this battle. [71]
In Ramadan 8 AH (around October 629), Muhammad left for Mecca with approximately 10,000 of his sahaba aiming to capture the city from the Quraysh following a violation of the terms of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah by the Banu Bakr, who were allies of the Quraysh, after they attacked the Banū Khuzaʽah, allies of the Muslims. The Treaty had called for a 10-year truce and ceasefire between the Muslims, the Quraysh and their respective allies. Muhammad arrived at Mecca a week from his departure, dividing the army into four regiments, each entering Mecca from one point of entry. The conquest was largely bloodless and the Quraysh eventually surrendered without putting up a fight. [72] [73] [74]
Following the Conquest of Mecca, Muhammad was informed of a military threat from the confederate tribes of Hawazin who were readying an army twice as strong as Muhammad and the sahaba . They were joined by the Thaqif inhabiting in the city of Ta’if who had adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans. Both tribes were subsequently defeated in the Battle of Hunayn. [5] [75] Muhammad subsequently launched an expedition against the Byzantine Empire and their Ghassanid allies in the north in the Expedition of Tabuk. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some of the local chiefs of the region. [5] [76] Following this expedition, the Banu Thaqif and other Bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe from attack and to benefit from the bounty of the wars. [5]
Following the Conquest of Mecca and these events, Muhammad would perform the Farewell Pilgrimage and return to Medina, where he would fall ill for several days with a headache and weakness. He died on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city, being buried where the home of his wife Aisha had been. It has since been modified several times and is now enclosed under the Green Dome within Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. [5] [77]
Muhammad was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is believed to be the Seal of the Prophets within Islam, and along with the Quran, his teachings and normative examples form the basis for Islamic religious belief.
The Battle of Badr, also referred to as The Day of the Criterion in the Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE, near the present-day city of Badr, Al Madinah Province in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad, commanding an army of his Sahaba, defeated an army of the Quraysh led by Amr ibn Hishām, better known among Muslims as Abu Jahl. The battle marked the beginning of the six-year war between Muhammad and his tribe. Prior to the battle, the Muslims and the Meccans had fought several smaller skirmishes in late 623 and early 624.
The Quraysh or Qureshi is an Arab tribe that inhabited and used to control Mecca and the Kaaba. Comprising ten main clans, it includes the Hashim clan into which the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born. By 600 CE, the Quraysh had become wealthy merchants, dominating trade between the Indian Ocean, East Africa, and the Mediterranean. They ran caravans to Gaza and Damascus in summer, and Yemen in winter. They also mined and pursued other enterprises on these routes, placing business interests first.
The Hijrah, also Hegira, was the journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date equates to 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar.
The Treaty of al-Hudaybiya was an event that took place during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was a pivotal treaty between Muhammad, representing the state of Medina, and the tribe of the Quraysh in Mecca in March 628. The treaty helped to decrease tension between the two cities, affirmed peace for a period of 10 years, and authorised Muhammad's followers to return the following year in a peaceful pilgrimage, which was later known as the First Pilgrimage.
A total of eleven women are confirmed as having been married to Muhammad, the founder of Islam. As a sign of respect, Muslims refer to each of these wives with the title Umm al-Muʼminin, which is derived from 33:6 of the Quran.
The Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of Khandaq and the Battle of the Confederates, was part of the conflict between the Muslims and the Quraysh, where this time the Quraysh took the offensive and advanced on the Muslims, who defended themselves in Medina by digging a trench around their settlement at the suggestion of Salman the Persian. The battle, which took place in 627 and lasted around two weeks, was lightly fought, with the Muslims reported to have suffered five to six casualties and the Quraysh three.
The military career of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet, encompasses several expeditions and battles throughout the Hejaz region in the western Arabian Peninsula which took place in the final ten years of his life, from 622 to 632. His primary campaign was against his own tribe in Mecca, the Quraysh. Muhammad proclaimed prophethood around 610 and later migrated to Medina after being persecuted by the Quraysh in 622. After several battles against the Quraysh, Muhammad conquered Mecca in 629, ending his campaign against the tribe.
The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib. They were one of the three major Jewish tribes of the city, along with the Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir. Jewish tribes reportedly arrived in Hijaz in the wake of the Jewish–Roman wars and introduced agriculture, putting them in a culturally, economically and politically dominant position. However, in the 5th century, the Banu Aws and the Banu Khazraj, two Arab tribes that had arrived from Yemen, gained dominance. When these two tribes became embroiled in conflict with each other, the Jewish tribes, now clients or allies of the Arabs, fought on different sides, the Qurayza siding with the Aws.
The Battle of Uhud was fought between the early Muslims and the Quraysh during the Muslim–Quraysh wars in a valley north of Mount Uhud near Medina on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD.
Muhammad at Medina is a book about early Islam written by the non-Muslim Islamic scholar W. Montgomery Watt. Published at 418 pages by Oxford University Press in 1956, it is the sequel to Watt's 1953 volume, Muhammad at Mecca.
The Banu Nadir were a Jewish Arab tribe that lived in northern Arabia at the oasis of Medina until the 7th century. They were expelled by Muhammad after The Battle of Uhud against the Quraysh, which took place after attacks by the Muslims on their trade caravans and to seek revenge for Badr.
Mount Uhud is a mountain north of Medina, in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. It is 1,077 m (3,533 ft) high and 7.5 km long. It was the site of the second battle between the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the polytheists of his tribe of Quraysh. The Battle of Uhud was fought on 19 March, 625 CE, between a force from the small Muslim community of Medina and a force from Mecca, in north-western Arabia.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn 'Ubayy ibn Salūl, died 631, was a chieftain of the Khazraj tribe of Medina. Upon the arrival of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Ibn Ubayy seemingly became a Muslim, but Muslim tradition says that he remained treacherous to Islam until his death. Because of repeated conflicts with Muhammad, Islamic tradition has labelled him a Munafiq (hypocrite) and "leader of the Munafiqun".
Muhammad, the final Islamic prophet, was born and lived in Mecca for the first 53 years of his life until the Hijra. This period of his life is characterized by his proclamation of prophethood. Muhammad's father, Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, died before he was born. His mother would raise him until he was six years old, before her death around 577 CE at Abwa'. Subsequently raised by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, and then his uncle, Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad's early career involved being a shepherd and merchant. Muhammad married Khadija bint Khuwaylid after a successful trading endeavour in Syria. After the death of Khadija and Abu Talib in the Year of Sorrow, Muhammad married Sawdah bint Zam'a and Aisha.
The Islamic prophet Muhammad's views on Jews were formed through the contact he had with Jewish tribes living in and around Medina. His views on Jews include his theological teaching of them as People of the Book, his description of them as earlier receivers of Abrahamic revelation; and the failed political alliances between the Muslim and Jewish communities.
The Battle of Hamra al-Assad, was a Ghazawat, a battle in which Muhammad took part. It occurred in AD 625 after the Battle of Uhud, when the Quraysh were returning to Mecca.
Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya, commonly known by his kunyaAbu Sufyan, was a prominent opponent-turned companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the father of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I and namesake of the Sufyanid line of Umayyad caliphs which ruled from 661 to 684.
According to Islamic tradition, the invasion of Banu Qaynuqa, also known as the expedition against Banu Qaynuqa, occurred in AD 624. The Banu Qaynuqa were a Jewish tribe expelled by the Islamic prophet Muhammad for breaking the treaty known as the Constitution of Medina
The Muslim–Quraysh War was a six-year military and religious war in the Arabian Peninsula between the early Muslims led by Muhammad on one side and the Arab pagan Quraysh tribe on the other. The war started in March 624 with the Battle of Badr, and concluded with the Conquest of Mecca.