Medina: Difference between revisions

'''Medina''', also known as ''al-Madinah al-Munawwarah'' (المدينة المنورة, lit. "the enlightened city") is a city in the Hijaz region of the Arabian peninsula, today ruled by [[Saudi Arabia]]. It is considered the second most holy city in [[Islam]], is host to the second most holy mosque in Islam (''Masjid al-Nabawi'', lit. " the prophetic mosque") and is the burial place of [[Muhammad]]. While not a mandatory part of the [[Hajj]] pilgrimage that all able Muslims are required to make at least once in their lifetimes, most Muslims who visit [[Mecca]] also end up visiting Medina as well.  

The name Medina simply means "city" and was the name the city took when Muhammad came to rule it, as a shortened version of ''Madinah al-Nabi'' (lit. "the prophet's city"). Prior to Muhammad's rule, the city was known as ''Yathrib'', and this is the name by which the city is referred to in the Qur'an.  

Islamic sources describe the city of Medina as having been host to two competing Arab tribes (the ''<nowiki/>'Aws'' and the  ''Khazraj'') as well as three Jewish tribes (the ''Banu Qaynuqa'', the ''[[Banu Qurayza]]'', and the ''Banu Nadir''). It is further said that at the when Muhammad fled Mecca for Medinah, in what became known as the ''Hijra'', in 622, he had in fact been invited by the ever-at-arms Aws and Khazraj tribes to serve as a neutral third party and ruler over them. The Muslims who would follow Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in making this ''Hijra'' would come to be known as the ''Muhajirun,'' or "migrants". This migrants would be distinguished from the 'Aws and Khazraj who, having converted to Islam, would be subsumed under the title and role of the ''Ansar'', or "helpers", who would serve as hosts to the Muhajirun.

Whereas the portion of the Qur'an produced during Muhammad's years in Mecca (so-called ''Makki'' verses) focused almost entirely on personal matters of faith and worship, the verses of the [[Qur'an]] produced during Muhammad's years in Medina would center on legalistic and military doctrine, transforming Islam, in large part, into the religion that it is today.

During his years in Medina, the [[hadiths]] record that Muhammad and his followers would engage in several assaults on Qurayshi Meccan caravans and trigger battles between the two cities, which the Muslims would win with varying levels of success (the Battle of Badr in 624, the Battle of Uhud in 625, and the Battle of the Trenches, or ''al-khandaq'', in 627).

By the time Muhammad is said to have built up sufficient military forces to conquer Mecca, all the Jewish tribes in Medina were removed, being compelled to leave or eliminated entirely through battle, siege, or [[Banu Qurayza|massacre]].

{{Quote|{{quran-range|33|12|13}}|12. And when the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, were saying: Allah and His messenger promised us naught but delusion.

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{{Quote|{{quran|9|100}}|And the first to lead the way, of the Muhajirin and the Ansar, and those who followed them in goodness - Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him, and He hath made ready for them Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide for ever. That is the supreme triumph.}}{{Quote|{{quran|9|117}}|Allah hath turned in mercy to the Prophet, and to the Muhajirin and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of hardship. After the hearts of a party of them had almost swerved aside, then turned He unto them in mercy. Lo! He is Full of Pity, Merciful for them.}}

{{Quote|{{bukhari|3|30|92}}|Narrated Anas:

When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) reached Medina, Abu Bakr and Bilal became ill. When Abu Bakr's fever got worse, he would recite (this poetic verse): "Everybody is staying alive with his People, yet Death is nearer to him than His shoe laces." And Bilal, when his fever deserted him, would recite: "Would that I could stay overnight in A valley wherein I would be Surrounded by Idhkhir and Jalil (kinds of goodsmelling grass). Would that one day I could Drink the water of the Majanna, and Would that (The two mountains) Shama and Tafil would appear to me!" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "O Allah! Curse Shaiba bin Rabi`a and `Utba bin Rabi`a and Umaiya bin Khalaf as they turned us out of our land to the land of epidemics." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then said, "O Allah! Make us love Medina as we love Mecca or even more than that. O Allah! Give blessings in our Sa and our Mudd (measures symbolizing food) and make the climate of Medina suitable for us, and divert its fever towards Aljuhfa." Aisha added: When we reached Medina, it was the most unhealthy of Allah's lands, and the valley of Bathan (the valley of Medina) used to flow with impure colored water.}}{{Quote|{{bukhari|3|30|98}}|The people will leave Medina in spite of the best state it will have, and none except the wild birds and the beasts of prey will live in it, and the last persons who will die will be two shepherds from the tribe of Muzaina, who will be driving their sheep towards Medina, but will find nobody in it, and when they reach the valley of Thaniyat-al-Wada'h, they will fall down on their faces dead.}}

[[Category:Stubs]]