Medina, the Jewish City

Muhammad's arrival

In 622, Muhammad left Mecca and arrived at Yathrib, an event that would transform the political landscape completely; the longstanding enmity between the Aws and Khazraj tribes was dampened as many of the two tribes embraced Islam. Muhammad, linked to the Khazraj through his great grandmother, was soon made on the chiefs and united the Muslim converts of Yathrib under the name "Ansar" (the Patrons). After Muhammad's arrival, the city gradually came to be known as Medina.

According to Ibn Ishaq, the Muslims and Jews of the area signed an agreement, the Constitution of Medina, which committed Jewish and Muslim tribes to mutual cooperation. The nature of this document as recorded by Ibn Ishaq and transmitted by ibn Hisham is the subject of dispute among modern historians many of whom maintain that this "treaty" is possibly a collage of agreements, oral rather than written, of different dates, and that it is not clear when they were made or with whom