Muhammad and The Jews — Page 32
of forts, many built on the tops of hills in virtually impregnable positions. According to al-YaGqiibi twenty thousand fighters lived in these forts. 1 Fadak, Wadi al-Qura and Tayrna' were the other three Jewish strongholds. Torrey's thesis that there were Jews in Mecca at the time of the Apostle 2 is, however, without foundation. Al-Azraqi makes no mention of any Jewish settlement in Mecca, but refers to their reverence for KaGbah; they took their shoes off when they reached the boundaries of the sanctuary. a As Lammens remarks, the fact that the Quraysh sent a delegation to Medina to consult the Jews regarding the Apostle's claims proves there were no Jews in Mecca whom they could consult. 4 When Banii Qaylah arrived in Yathrib from the south, they were presumably allowed by the Jews to settle on those lands in and around Yathrib which had not yet been brought under cultivation. Divided into the Aws and the Khazraj and further sub-divided into clans they accepted the dominant position of the Jews and entered into a relation- ship with them which was that of jiwiir (neighbour) or bi// (con- federation). f;Iilf is a compact between quite separate tribes, general in scope, made for the object of establishing a permanent state of peace between the tribes. It did not diminish their autonomy, but united them for purposes of common defence, for mutual payment of settlements to third parties, for vengeance, and for the common use of pasturage. 5 Towards the middle of the sixth century the situation changed, largely owing to Malik b. al-G Ajlan's revolt against the Jewish prince al-Fityawn of the Zubra tribe who as a mark of Khazraj subordination exercised the }us primae noctis with a bride from that tribe. 6 Malik 1 Al-Ya'qubi (Beirut, 1960), II, p. 56. 2 Charles Cutler Torrey, The Jewish Foundation of Islam, second and third lectures, pp. 28-104. 3 Mul. iammad b. cAbd Allah b. Al. imad al-Azraqi, Akhbiir Makkah (Mecca, 1965), Vol. II, p. 131. 1 H. Lammens, L'Arabie occidentale avant L 'H egire (Beyrouth, 1928), p. 51. 5 W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (First published in 1903, Boston, n. d. ), pp. 53-57, E. Tyan; " l;I ilf", Encyclopaedia of Islam (2), Vol. III, pp. 388-89. 6 Al-Samhudi, Vol. I, p. 178. F. Krenkow (EI[l], Vol. II, p. 938) read the name of the Jewish prince as al-Qaytun and considered it as fictitious since it is ori- ginally Greek. Al-Samhiidi, however, has clearly stated that the name begins with "fl". Watt (Muhammad at Medina, p. 193), who has not given his source, also gives the name as Fityawn and says he belonged to the B. Tha'labah. ,, 32