Download Muhammad`s Diplomacy in Medina

Muhammad’s Diplomacy in
Medina
Julian Weiss
Muhammad Paper
Professor Pinto, Islamic History 208
10/24/2011
Weiss 1
Pre-Islamic Medina was a torn city. There were five bloody conflicts in the city within a
fifty year period between the many Arab clans which inhabited it,1 mostly involving the two
prominent polytheist tribes of the city, the Banu Khazraj and Banu Aws. These groups proved
essential to the Prophet’s hijra, his emigration to Medina from Mecca. Their members formed
the first ansar, or group of Medinians who aided the prophet’s emigration2 and later would be
vital in establishing the city as the first political, cultural, and military base of Muslim power in
the Arabian Peninsula. Traditional accounts depict Muhammad meeting groups of the Khazraj
and Aws some time before the hijra at Aqabah, where the Prophet gained favor with their
pilgrims and sent them on a mission to establish support in the city which was at that time named
Yathrib. The problem with these accounts is that they assume the immediate conversion of the
ansar and Khazraj. 3 It is unlikely in 622, the year of the hijra, that the polytheist Arabian tribes
converted so quickly from the prophet’s will alone. A monotheistic prophet who had an affinity
for destroying idols could not have been popular religiously.4 If the traditional histories of the
Prophet hold true, then all that is certain is in the two year period before the battle of Badr he
gained the devoted following of a group of people who would seem most at odds with each other
and with his teachings. There must have been another reason for them to aid Muhammad with
his acquisition of power in Medina.
Secondary sources provide few explanations. The aforementioned conflicts between the
tribes may have been so great that a hakam, or objective arbiter, was necessary to avoid open
war. The clans would have understood that unity leads to prosperity, as opposed to destructive
campaigns, so Muhammad’s entrance into the city would have been seen as a godsend.
Additionally, their Jewish neighbors had been posing threats openly, and unification would
ensure continual defense against any possible aggression. Either way, it is unlikely that the
1.
“al-Madina” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Online. (accessed 10/4/11)
2.
Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1988), 124.
3.
Ibn Isham, The Life of Muhammad, (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1982), 196-199.
4.
W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press 1966), 155-158.
Weiss 2
tribes would convert immediately, which would make it impossible for their trust to come from
his religious prowess. Muhammad had to make use of great political and diplomatic bargaining
skills to achieve his goals and become, in a very short time, the preeminent ruler of Medina.
Near the time of the hijra, the Prophet made an effort to gain the favor of the Arab
shaykhs and elites from Medina in order to establish his legitimacy, like any good statesman
would. He knew that if he gained the trust of tribal leaders, he would gain the trust of whole
tribes. Therefore, “whenever he heard of an arrival who had name and nobility among the
Arabs, he would give special attention to him, summon him to God, and offer him his message”5
in the hopes of creating a strong footing with the Arab elite. Shaykhs had a strong influence on
their people, and if Muhammad had any hope of recruiting members of Arab tribes he would
have to gain their favor.
Originally, Islam was a religion that found its strongest support amongst the weakest
members of society; the community-oriented beliefs of Islam easily attracted the down-trodden.
The transition from such an appeal to Muhammad’s courting of the wealthy and powerful is
apparent at the first meeting of the ansar, which, when described by al-Tabari, mentions the
status of Muhammad’s clients: “Suwayd b. Samit the brother of the Banu ‘Amr b. ‘Awf came to
Mecca on the pilgrimage… Banu ‘Amr b. ‘Awf was an important clan of the tribe al-Aws…
When the messenger of God heard of his arrival, he was attentive to him and summoned him to
God and to Islam. ”6 The fact that a part of the ansar had familial connections to nobility cannot
be overemphasized. The support of men like Suwayd, who could reinforce the Prophet’s
influence with ties to the elite, allowed him to win popular support in Medina before his arrival.
No prophet could walk into a city triumphantly the way Muhammad did from the hijra without
the right connections.
5.
Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, 122.
6.
Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, 122-123.
Weiss 3
The Prophet must have been planning from the beginning to exploit their favor to his
advantage. Perhaps he did not know early on that Medina would become the first Muslim city,
but he did know that having contacts there would benefit him in the long run, and so he
continued to meet with the pilgrims from that city often. Muhammad’s attempts at unification
promised wealth for both the tribes and the hakam himself: “If God reunites them in it, there will
be no man mightier than you [Muhammad].”7 The Prophet’s resolution of the tribal warfare
would give him influence over the adversaries and ensure that the tribes had enough power to
support his entrance into a bid for rule of the first city of Islam. Eventually, the pilgrims returned
to their homes with the quest of spreading Islam, and it is probably at this point that Muhammad
saw the potential for his rule from Medina.
Before he could successfully gain power in Medina, the Prophet needed conditions to be
right for a new leader, and he was in luck. The Aws and Khazraj were experiencing a costly
conflict before his arrival. As was previously mentioned, there was a series of violent
interactions in Medina for many decades without much resolution. The two tribes did not have a
strong internal sense of unity, and even neighboring clans from the same tribe would fight each
other for economic gains with battles ranging from skirmishes over parts of lands to wholesale
conquering of farms and villages.8 Towards the end of these conflicts, the tribes had reached
some level of internal unification amongst their respective clans and gone to war with each other.
After the climactic battle of Bu’ath in 617, the Aws were remotely victorious over the Khazraj,
but both sides left in an “uneasy truce.”9
The picture of Medina painted here is that of a society with the potential for a thriving
economy but too ravaged by war to sustain it. There was a need for a hakam and Muhammad, a
reputable member of the Quraysh, a successful businessman, and most importantly well7.
Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, 125.
8.
W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 155-158.
9.
“Bu’Ath” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Online. (accessed 10/4/11)
Weiss 4
connected with some of the more illustrious clans of the tribes, was in the perfect place at the
perfect time. A later story regarding Muhammad’s dealings with these tribes, after the hijra,
explains how a disaffected Medinian brought up old war poems from Bu’ath in a successful
attempt to enrage the Aws at the Khazraj and vice versa. The tribes only settle down their high
tension when the prophet returns and reminds them that they are no longer warring pagan tribes,
but all brothers of Islam.10 This story emphasizes Muhammad’s role as hakam amongst the
Arabs in Medina, and also reinforces the idea that the city was a powder keg before
Muhammad’s arrival. By the time of this account, Muhammad clearly has a great deal of
influence over the tribes. On the Arabian Peninsula, tribal conflicts could last centuries and
feuds between clans created a great deal of raw hatred. For Muhammad’s rejection of such
engrained practices to be so widely accepted indicates the immensity of his power in Medina.
It is clear that Medina before Muhammad’s intervention was a disjointed collection of
warring tribes. His acceptance as a hakam is still not explained by his influence and perfect
timing alone. There had to be a reason that the Khazraj and Aws wanted the conflict to end, and
this can be explained by the security threat which division posed. The Arab tribes were in a very
vulnerable situation. Decades of intense violence between them, and even inter-tribal warfare
highlighted the rifts in their community. Half a century of fighting had weakened them
significantly, but even with their frail state of affairs, they were still in a better position than their
Jewish neighbors,11 who were fearful of Arab eminence and had gone so far as to threaten the
Arabs that their time as the superior force would come to an end. In fact, in the story of the first
ansar conversion, Muhammad takes these threats into consideration and explains that their
conversion will give them advantage over the Jews, “Take note! This, by God, is the prophet
with whom the Jews are menacing you. Do not let them be before you in accepting him. ” And
10. Ibn Isham, The Life of Muhammad, 261-262.
11. Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, 124.
Weiss 5
when accepting Muhammad’s message, the Arabs make note of their own broken community,
stating, “no people is as divided by enmity and malice as they are”,12 hoping that acceptance of
Islam will give them a rallying call to improve their defensive position against a potentially
dangerous enemy.
Muhammad’s role as hakam then is to unite the Arab tribes in a mutually beneficial way.
By ending the conflict, both tribes become much stronger in their unity. They no longer have to
worry about a devastating conflict either internally or with the Jewish tribes. Such peace could
only lead to a safe, open market and more consistent harvests since the fields would no longer
change hands every few years. Muhammad, as soon as these tribes converted, would become the
most powerful person in Medina due to his influence over them. The position of hakam gave
him unilateral authority to resolve disputes and the ability to spread his faith amongst the people.
With this role, he would be in a strong enough position to establish the Medinian base.
In conclusion, Muhammad’s political and diplomatic abilities, paired with the ripe setting
that Medina provided, gave him the opportunity to complete the hijra and rule the city with
abnormal success. Medina was in a state of potential crisis in the time leading up to the
emigration. Tribal warfare had culminated in a significant battle at Bu’ath, leaving the Aws and
Khazraj in an uneasy peace and with their disaffected Jewish neighbors waiting for a chance to
strike at the weakened, disjointed Arabs. The time was ripe for someone to profit off of the
situation. When Muhammad entered Medina, he came not as a lowly foreign diplomat to a
desolate world of strife but a fervent Imperialist who had bought off the local muscle in order to
establish his dominance. He was the hakam, one of the most trusted and revered members of the
two strongest parties in Medina. It would not be difficult to go from such a position of power to
the throne he had achieved by making the city into the Muslim base of operations. Muhammad’s
12. Al- Ṭabarī, Muhammad at Mecca, 125.
Weiss 6
tactics and bargaining skills were unparalleled in his time. In two years, Medina had become not
only a Muslim base but one that was strong enough to supply an army and win a battle against
the Quraysh at Badr in 624. If Muhammad had not perfected his diplomatic craft, the success of
Islam could have been brought to a grinding halt after the hijra.
I affirm that I will uphold the highest principles of honesty and integrity in all my
endeavors at Gettysburg College and foster an atmosphere of mutual respect within
and beyond the classroom
Julian N. Weiss
Weiss 7
Bibliography
Al- Ṭabarī. Muhammad at Mecca. Translated and Annotated by W. Montgomery Watt, M. V.
McDonald. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1988. Print.
Ibn Isham. The Life of Muhammad: a Translation of Isḥāq's Sīrat Rasūl Allāh. Introduction and
Notes by A. Guillaume. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, USA, 1982. Print.
Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad at Medina. London, England: Oxford University Press,
1966. Print.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth,
E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs. Web. Accessed 10/5/11.