The Hijra and the Growth of the Muslim Community

Because of the troubles in Mecca, Muhammad eventually encouraged his followers to leave and make a new home elsewhere. The people of a little settlement north of Mecca with a small Jewish population welcomed him, and he encouraged his followers to go there.

Muhammad did not travel with the first group that went to Medina; he and some of his companions waited for a few weeks to make the trip. When they finally left for Medina, angry Meccans from the Quraysh tribe pursued them. A popular story recounts that during Muhammad’s journey to Medina he hid from the Quraysh in a cave for three days. When his pursuers reached the cave, they did not look inside because a kindly spider had spun a web to hide the entrance, thus saving Muhammad. Even today, some Muslims will not kill spiders because of their appreciation for the spider’s important role in protecting the Prophet from the Meccans. Stories about the hijra and the foundational period of Islam are well known and inform the way many Muslims live their lives. Today, Muslims around the world recall the hijra as a difficult but very important time.

What happened to the Muslim community with the move to Medina? With the move, the growing Muslim community took on a new political and social form. Additionally, Muhammad’s role expanded over the years as he became the leader of the new community. In Mecca, Muhammad had primarily preached and taught the revelations to his followers.

The migration to Medina did not end the Muslim community’s problems with Mecca. Muhammad and the Muslims lived a perilous existence for several years as they suffered economic hardships in Medina and threats from Mecca. With the aim of providing economically for the community, the Muslims had begun to raid trade caravans bound for Mecca, though with limited success. It may sound surprising to the modern reader, but raiding was a common and even acceptable economic practice in Arabia at that time, especially in times of hardship. Most often, the raids did not involve bloodshed.

Conflicts with the Meccans continued, primarily with the Quraysh tribe, who still viewed the Muslims as a threat. Furthermore, the raids caused many economic problems for the Meccans and increased the tension between the two cities. The result was one of the most famous clashes in early Muslim history, the Battle of Badr in the year 624 ce. The Muslims had planned a raid on a Meccan caravan at a place called Badr. The Meccans, learning of the plan, sent a force of more than 900 men to protect the caravan. The Muslims, though badly outnumbered at only 300 strong, soundly defeated the Meccan forces. The battle is mentioned in the Qur’an, which reports that angels helped the outnumbered Muslims win the battle (8:9). The Qur’an also notes this as a critical moment in the development of the spirit and destiny of the Muslims. After this dramatic battle, Muhammad’s reputation as a great leader grew.

A few years later, in 628 ce, Muhammad attempted to lead the Muslims back to Mecca for a pilgrimage.

Muhammad lived for only two more years after his victorious return to Mecca. At the time of his death, he had a large family. Khadija had died several years earlier, and after her death Muhammad married several more wives. Some of his marriages were contracted for political alliances, and others to care for widowed and divorced women who had no one else. The best known of his later wives was a woman called ‘A’isha, who was the daughter of Abu Bakr. She was much younger than Muhammad, which was not unusual in marriages at the time. ‘A’isha was a very important early figure in Islamic history and is thought to be one of Muhammad’s most beloved wives. As mentioned earlier, she was the source of much information about Muhammad’s life and was often consulted by other Muslims because of her vast knowledge of religious matters. In 632 ce, Muhammad is believed to have died peacefully in ‘A’isha’s arms after returning from a final journey to Mecca. He was buried under her home in Medina, and to this day, some Muslims visit this site as a place of pilgrimage.

By the time of his death, Muhammad was the political and religious leader of much of Arabia. After the move to Medina, Muslim rule had spread rapidly across the Arabian Peninsula through both nonviolent political alliances and military conquests.

Not all people living under Muslim rule converted to Islam, however. Significant Christian, Jewish, and other religious minority populations remained. From this early period, Muslims have considered Christians and Jews to be People of the Book, a designation that means that they are a people who have received scripture from God and are thus close to the Muslim community. Later, Hindus and Buddhists were also considered People of the Book, as Muslim rule spread into South Asia. Under Muslim rule, these minority communities were governed by what are termed dhimmi laws; the term dhimmi refers to their status as protected peoples. These laws allowed non-Muslims in Muslim territories to worship how they chose, provided they paid taxes and submitted to Muslim authority. The dhimmis did not enjoy all the privileges of Muslims—they were not allowed to bear arms, for example—but they were entitled to the protection of the Islamic state.