Muhammad and The Jews — Page 52
the B. al-Na<;lir and the B. Quray?ah-withheld that cooperation with- out which the ummah could not play an effective role. "'Abd Allah b. Ubayy,a prominent Medinan opponent of the Apostle,led the muniifiqun, while the leaders of the B. al-Na<;lir provided the main Jewish opposi- tion. 1 In the next two chapters we shall examine that Jewish opposition. The Apostle escaped from the Meccan persecution to the safety of Yathrib in September 622. The date marks not only a new era in Muslim history, but also the second and most crucial phase of the Muslim struggle for survival. While it is admitted that there is "a scarcity of information about the internal politics of Medina"2 during the early years of the Apostle's H(irah, the strength of the opposition which the Muslims had to face does not seem to be fully realized. The Muslim hagiographer by playing up the miraculous aspects of the Apostle's maghiizi has complicated the historian's task of ascertaining the true strength of the Apostle's supporters and opponents up to the time of the truces of J:Iudaibiyah (6/628) and Khaybar (7/628). After an allowance is made for the tendency of the maghiizi writer to exaggerate the opposition and understate the Muslim strength, the fact remains that during the first two years the Quraysh of Mecca, the Jews of Khaybar, the pagan tribes of the J;Iijaz and above all the muniifiqun and the Jews of Yathrib had collectively superior and decisive strength vis-a-vis the new Muslim community. Though conscious of their strength, the pagans and the Jews were not unmindful of the progress the Apostle was making. They were worried at the advance of Islam. To stop its further progress the total communication media of the time were employed against the Apostle. The propagandist · poets, whom Rodinson describes as "the journalists of the time", and Carmichael as kindlers of battle 3 accused the Muslims of Medina of dishonouring themselves by submitting to an outsider. Abu "Afak taunted the children of Qaylah (the Aws and the Khazraj) : I have lived a long time, but I have never seen Either a house or gathering of people 1 See lbn Hisham, pp. 351-400 for the details of the Jewish opposition to the Apostle. 2 Watt, Muhammad at Medina, p. 180. 3 Maxime Rodinson, Mohammed, tr. Anne Carter (New York, 1971), p. 194. "A tribal poet among the Bedouin", as Joel Carmich ae l puts it, was "no mere versifier, but a kindler of battle'', his poems were "thought of as the serious beginning of real warfare". (The Shaping of the Arabs, A Study in Ethnic Identity, New York, 1967, p. 38). 52 '