Medina ,(Arabic: اَلْمَدِينَة
اَلْمَنَوَّرَة, officially
al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, “the radiant city”, or اَلْمَدِينَة
al-Madīnah, also officially transliterated as Madinah by the Saudi Government
and in modern Islamic literature generally), is a modern city in the Hejaz
region of western Saudi Arabia, and the capital of Al Madinah Province. An
alternative name is Madinat Al-Nabi ("The City of the Prophet," i.e.
Muhammad). The Arabic word madinah simply means "city." Before the
advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib but was personally renamed by
Muhammad.
It is the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca and the burial place
of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Medina
is critically significant in Islamic History for being where Muhammad's final
religious base was established after the Hijrah and where he died in 632 AD/11
AH. Medina was
the power base of Islam in its first century, being where the early Muslim
community (ummah) developed under the Prophet's leadership, then under the
leadership of the first four caliphs of Islam: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali.
In fact, Year 1 of the Islamic calendar is based on the year
of the emigration (or Hijra (هِجْرَة))
of Muhammad and his original followers (Muhajirun) from Mecca
to the city of Medina
in 622 AD/1 AH. The Maliki madhab places emphasis on ulema and scholars
originating in Medina .
Similarly to Mecca , entrance
to the sacred core of Medina
(but not the entire city) is restricted to Muslims only; non-Muslims are
permitted neither to enter nor cross through the city center.
Muslims believe that the final chapters (surahs) of the
Qur'an chronologically were revealed to the Prophet in Medina and are called Medinan surahs in
contrast to earlier Meccan surahs.
Overview
As of 2006, the city of Medina city has a population of about 1.3
million. During the pre-Islamic period up until 622 AD, the city was known as
Yathrib, an oasis city. In addition to its Arab inhabitants, Yathrib was
inhabited by Jewish refugees, who came expecting the coming of a prophet as
foretold in their books, in the second century AD. Later the city's name was
changed to Madīnat an-Nabiy (مَدِينَةُ ٱلنَّبِيّ
"city of the prophet") or Al-Madīnat(u) 'l-Munawwarah (اَلْمَدِينَةٌ ٱلْمٌنَوَّرَة "the enlightened
city" or "the radiant city"). Medina
is celebrated for containing the mosque of Muhammad and also as the city which
gave refuge to him and his followers, and so ranks as the second holiest city
of Islam , after Mecca . Muhammad was buried in Medina , under the Green
Dome, as were the first two Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs), Abu Bakr and
Umar, who were buried next to him in what used to be the prophet house.
The historic city formed an oval, surrounded by a strong
wall, 30 to 40 ft (9.1 to 12 m) high, dating from the 12th century CE, and was
flanked with towers, while on a rock, stood a castle. Of its four gates, the
Bab-al-Salam, or Egyptian gate, was remarkable for its beauty. Beyond the walls
of the city, west and south were suburbs consisting of low houses, yards,
gardens and plantations. These suburbs also had walls and gates. Almost all of
the historic city has been demolished in the Saudi era. The rebuilt city is
centred on the vastly expanded Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (The mosque of the Prophet).
The tombs of Fatimah (Muhammad's daughter) and Hasan
(Muhammad's grandson), across from the mosque at Jannat al-Baqi, and Abu Bakr
(first caliph and the father of Muhammad's wife, Aisha), and of Umar (Umar ibn
Al-Khattab), the second caliph, are also here. The mosque dates back to the time
of Muhammad, but has been twice burned and reconstructed.
Because of the Saudi government's religious policy and
concern that historic sites could become the focus for idolatry, much of Medina 's Islamic physical
heritage has been destroyed since the beginning of Saudi rule.
Religious
significance in Islam
The first mosque built during Muhammad's time is also
located in Medina
and is known as Masjid Qubaʼ (the Quba Mosque). It was destroyed by lightning,
probably about 850 CE, and the graves were almost forgotten. In 892, the place
was cleared up, the tombs located and a fine mosque built, which was destroyed
by fire in 1257 CE and almost immediately rebuilt. It was restored by Qaitbay,
the Egyptian ruler, in 1487.
Masjid al-Qiblatain is another mosque also historically
important to Muslims. It is where the prophet changed the direction of prayer
(qibla) from Jerusalem to Mecca according to Sunni hadiths.
Like Mecca, the city of Medina only permits Muslims to
enter, although the haram (area closed to non-Muslims) of Medina is much
smaller than that of Mecca, with the result that many facilities on the
outskirts of Medina are open to non-Muslims, whereas in Mecca the area closed
to non-Muslims extends well beyond the limits of the built-up area. Both
cities' numerous mosques are the destination for large numbers of Muslims on
their Hajj (annual pilgrimage). Hundreds of thousands of Muslims come to Medina annually to visit
the Tomb of Prophet. Al-Baqi' is a significant cemetery in Medina where several family members of
Muhammad, caliphs and scholars are buried.
Islamic scriptures emphasize the sacredness of Medina . Medina is mentioned several times as being
sacred in the Qur'an, for example ayah; 9:101, 9:129, 59:9, and ayah 63:7.
Medinan suras are typically longer than their Meccan counterparts. There is
also a book within the hadith of Bukhari titled 'virtues of Medina '.
Sahih Bukhari says:
“ Narrated
Anas: The Prophet said, "Medina
is a sanctuary from that place to that. Its trees should not be cut and no
heresy should be innovated nor any sin should be committed in it, and whoever
innovates in it an heresy or commits sins (bad deeds), then he will incur the curse
of Allah, the angels, and all the people.". ”
Pre-Islamic
times
The first mention of the city, under its old Arabic name
Yathrib, dates to the 6th century BC. It appears in Assyrian texts (namely, the
Nabonidus Chronicle) as Iatribu In the time of Ptolemy the oasis was known
as Lathrippa.
Jewish
influence
Into the older Arab town of Yathrib , Jews arrived in the 2nd century AD.
There were three prominent Jewish tribes that inhabited the city into the 7th
century AD: the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Qurayza, and Banu Nadir. Ibn Khordadbeh
later reported that during the Persian Empire's domination in Hejaz ,
the Banu Qurayza served as tax collectors for the shah.
The situation changed after the arrival from Yemen of two
new Arab tribes named Banu Aus (or Banu 'Aws) and Banu Khazraj. At first, these
tribes were clients of the Jews, but later they revolted and became independent.
Toward the end of the 5th century,the Jews lost control of the city to Banu Aus
and Banu Khazraj. The Jewish Encyclopedia states that they did so "by
calling in outside assistance and treacherously massacring at a banquet the
principal Jews", Banu Aus and Banu Khazraj finally gained the upper hand
at Medina.
Most modern historians accept the claim of the Muslim
sources that after the revolt, the Jewish tribes became clients of the Aus and
the Khazraj. However, according to scholar of Islam William Montgomery Watt,
the clientship of the Jewish tribes is not borne out by the historical accounts
of the period prior to 627, and he maintained that the Jews retained a measure
of political independence.
Early Muslim chronicler Ibn Ishaq tells of a pre-Islamic
conflict between the last Yemenite king of the Himyarite Kingdom [and
the residents of Yathrib. When the king was passing by the oasis, the residents
killed his son, and the Yemenite ruler threatened to exterminate the people and
cut down the palms. According to Ibn Ishaq, he was stopped from doing so by two
rabbis from the Banu Qurayza tribe, who implored the king to spare the oasis because
it was the place "to which a prophet of the Quraysh would migrate in time
to come, and it would be his home and resting-place." The Yemenite king
thus did not destroy the town and converted to Judaism. He took the rabbis with
him, and in Mecca , they reportedly recognized
the Ka'ba as a temple built by Abraham and advised the king "to do what
the people of Mecca
did: to circumambulate the temple, to venerate and honour it, to shave his head
and to behave with all humility until he had left its precincts." On
approaching Yemen ,
tells ibn Ishaq, the rabbis demonstrated to the local people a miracle by
coming out of a fire unscathed and the Yemenites accepted Judaism.
Eventually the Banu Aus and the Banu Khazraj became hostile
to each other and by the time of Muhammad's Hijra (emigration) to Medina in 622 AD/1 AH,
they had been fighting for 120 years and were the sworn enemies of each other.
The Banu Nadir and the Banu Qurayza were allied with the Aus, while the Banu
Qaynuqa sided with the Khazraj.They fought a total of four wars.
Their last and bloodiest battle was the Battle of Bu'ath
that was fought a few years before the arrival of Muhammad. The outcome of the
battle was inconclusive, and the feud continued. Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy, one
Khazraj chief, had refused to take part in the battle, which earned him a
reputation for equity and peacefulness. Until the arrival of Muhammad, he was
the most respected inhabitant of Yathrib. To solve the ongoing feud, concerned
residents of the city met secretly with Muhammad in Aqaba, inviting him and his
small band of believers to come to Yathrib, where the Prophet could serve as
disinterested mediator between the factions and his community could practice
its faith freely.
Muhammad's
arrival
In 622 AD/1 AH, Muhammad and around 70 Meccan Muhajirun
believers left Mecca for sanctuary in Yathrib, an event that transformed the
religious and political landscape of the city completely; the longstanding
enmity between the Aus and Khazraj tribes was dampened as many of the two Arab
tribes and some local Jews embraced Islam. Muhammad, linked to the Khazraj
through his great-grandmother, was agreed on as civic leader. The Muslim
converts native to Yathrib of whatever background—pagan Arab or Jewish—were
called Ansar ("the Patrons" or "the Helpers").
According to Ibn Ishaq, the local pagan Arab tribes, the
Muslim Muhajirun from Mecca ,
the local Muslims (Ansar), and the Jews of the area signed an agreement, the
so-called Constitution of Medina, which committed all parties to mutual cooperation
under the leadership of Muhammad. The nature of this document as recorded by
Ibn Ishaq and transmitted by Ibn Hisham is the subject of dispute among modern
Western historians, many of whom maintain that this "treaty" is
possibly a collage of different agreements, oral rather than written, of
different dates, and that it is not clear exactly when they were made. Other
scholars, however, both Western and Muslim, argue that the text of the
agreement—whether a single document originally or several—is possibly one of
the oldest Islamic texts we possess.
The Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr was a key battle in the early days of
Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the
Quraysh in Mecca .
In the spring of 624, Muhammad received word from his
intelligence sources that a trade caravan, commanded by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and
guarded by thirty to forty men, was traveling from Syria
back to Mecca .
Muhammad gathered an army of 313 men, the largest army the Muslims had put in
the field yet. However, many early Muslim sources, including the Qur'an,
indicate that no serious fighting was expected, and the future Caliph Uthman
ibn Affan stayed behind to care for his sick wife.
As the caravan approached Medina , Abu Sufyan began hearing from
travelers and riders about Muhammad's planned ambush. He sent a messenger named
Damdam to Mecca
to warn the Quraysh and get reinforcements. Alarmed, the Quraysh assembled an
army of 900–1,000 men to rescue the caravan. Many of the Qurayshi nobles, including
Amr ibn Hishām, Walid ibn Utba, Shaiba, and Umayyah ibn Khalaf, joined the
army. However, some of the army was to later return to Mecca before the battle.
The battle started with champions from both armies emerging
to engage in combat. The Muslims sent out Ali, Ubaydah ibn al-Harith (Obeida),
and Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. The Muslims dispatched the Meccan champions in
a three-on-three melee, Hamzah killed his victim on very first strike although
Ubaydah was mortally wounded.
Now both armies began firing arrows at each other. Two
Muslims and an unknown number of Quraysh were killed. Before the battle
started, Muhammad had given orders for the Muslims to attack with their ranged
weapons, and only engage the Quraysh with melee weapons when they advanced. Now
he gave the order to charge, throwing a handful of pebbles at the Meccans in
what was probably a traditional Arabian gesture while yelling "Defaced be
those faces!" The Muslim army yelled "Yā manṣūr amit!" and
rushed the Qurayshi lines. The Meccans, all tough substantially outnumbering
the Muslims, promptly broke and ran. The battle itself only lasted a few hours
and was over by the early afternoon. The Qur'an describes the force of the
Muslim attack in many verses, which refer to thousands of angels descending
from Heaven at Badr to slaughter the Quraysh.Early Muslim sources take this
account literally, and there are several hadith where Muhammad discusses the
Angel Jibreel and the role he played in the battle.
Ubaydah ibn al-Harith (Obeida) was given the honour of
"he who shot the first arrow for Islam" as Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
altered course to flee the attack. In retaliation for this attack Abu Sufyan
ibn Harb requested an armed force from Mecca .
Throughout the winter and spring of 623 other raiding
parties were sent by Muhammad from Medina .
The Battle of Uhud
In 625, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, King of Mecca, who paid tax to
the Byzantine empire regularly, once again led a Meccan force against Medina . Muhammad marched
out to meet the force but before reaching the battle, about one third of the
troops under Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy withdrew. With a smaller force, the Muslim
army had to find a strategy to gain the upper hand. A group of archers were
ordered to stay on a hill to keep an eye on the Meccan's cavalry forces and to
provide protection at the rear of the Muslim's army. As the battle heated up,
the Meccans were forced to somewhat retreat. The battle front was pushed
further and further away from the archers, whom, from the start of the battle,
had really nothing to do but watch. In their growing impatience to be part of
the battle, and seeing that they were somewhat gaining advantage over the
Kafiruns, these archers decided to leave their posts to pursue the retreating
Meccans. A small party, however, stayed behind; pleading all along to the rest
to not disobey their commanders' orders. But their words were lost among the
enthusiastic yodels of their comrades.
However, the Meccans' retreat was actually a manufactured
manouvre that paid off. The hillside position had been a great advantage to the
Muslim forces, and they had to be lured off their posts for the kafiruns to
turn the table over. Seeing that their strategy had actually worked, the
Meccans cavalry forces went around the hill and re-appeared behind the pursuing
archers. Thus, ambushed in the plain between the hill and the front line, the
archers were systematically slaughtered, watched upon by their desperate
comrades who stayed behind up in the hill, shooting arrows to thwart the
raiders, but to little effects. So they suffered defeat in the Battle of Uhud.
However, the Meccans did not capitalize on their victory by
invading Medina and returned to Mecca . The Medinans suffered heavy losses,
and Muhammad was injured.
The Battle of the Trench
In 627, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb once more led Meccan forces
against Medina .
Because the people of Medina had dug a trench to
further protect the city, this event became known as the Battle of the Trench. After a protracted
siege and various skirmishes, the Meccans withdrew again. During the siege, Abu
Sufyan ibn Harb had contacted the remaining Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza and
formed an agreement with them, to attack the defenders from behind the lines.
It was however discovered by the Muslims and thwarted. This was in breach of
the Constitution of Medina and after the Meccan withdrawal, Muhammad
immediately marched against the Qurayza and laid siege to their strongholds.
The Jews eventually surrendered. Some members of the Banu Aus now interceded on
behalf of their old allies and Muhammad agreed to the appointment of one of
their chiefs, Sa'd ibn Mua'dh, as judge. Sa'ad judged by Jewish Law that all
male members of the tribe should be killed and the women and children enslaved
as was the law stated in the Old Testament for treason.(Deutoronomy) This
action was conceived of as a defensive measure to ensure that the Muslim
community could be confident of its continued survival in Medina . The historian Robert Mantran argues
that from this point of view it was successful — from this point on, the
Muslims were no longer primarily concerned with survival but with expansion and
conquest.
In the ten years following the Hijra, Medina
formed the base from which Muhammad and the Muslim army attacked and were
attacked, and it was from here that he marched on Mecca , entering it without battle in 629 AD/8
AH, all parties acquiescing to his leadership. Afterwards, however, despite
Muhammad's tribal connection to Mecca and the
ongoing importance of the Meccan kaaba for Islamic pilgrimage (hajj), Muhammad
returned to Medina , which remained for some
years the most important city of Islam
and the capital of the early Caliphate.
Pagan Yathrib was renamed Medina from "Madinat al-Nabi"
("city of the Prophet" in Arabic) in honor of Muhammad's prophethood
and death there. (Alternatively, Lucien Gubbay suggests the name Medina could also have
been a derivative from the Aramaic word Medinta, which the Jewish inhabitants
could have used for the city.)
Under the first three Caliphs, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman, Medina was the capital of
a rapidly increasing Muslim Empire. During the period of Othman, the third
caliph, a party of Arabs from Egypt, disgruntled at his political decisions,
attacked Medina in 656 AD/35 AH and murdered him in his own home . Ali, the
fourth caliph, changed the capital of the caliphate from Medina
to Kufa in Iraq .
After that, Medina 's
importance dwindled, becoming more a place of religious importance than of
political power.
After the fragmentation of the Caliphate, the city became
subject to various rulers, including the Mamluks of Cairo in the 13th century
and finally, in 1517, the Ottoman Turks.
World War I
to Saudi control
In the beginning of 20th century, during World War I, Medina witnessed one of
the longest sieges in history. Medina
was a city of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Local rule was in the hands of the
Hashemite clan as Sharifs or Emirs of Mecca. Fakhri Pasha was the Ottoman
governor of Medina .
Ali bin Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca and leader of the Hashemite clan, revolted
against the Caliph in Constantinople (Istanbul )
and sided with Great Britain .
The city of Medina
was besieged by the Sharif's forces, and Fakhri Pasha tenaciously held on
during the Siege of Medina from 1916 till 10 January 1919. He refused to
surrender and held on another 72 days after the Armistice of Moudros, until he
was arrested by his own men. In anticipation of the plunder and destruction to
follow, Fakhri Pasha secretly sent the Sacred Relics of Medina to Istanbul.
As of 1920, the British described Medina
as "much more self-supporting than Mecca ."
After the First World War, the Hashemite Sayyid Hussein bin Ali was proclaimed
King of an independent Hejaz . Soon after, in
1924, he was defeated by Ibn Saud, who integrated Medina
and the whole of the Hejaz into the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia .
Today, Medina ("Madinah" officially in Saudi
documents), in addition to being the second most important Islamic pilgrimage
destination after Mecca, is an important regional capital of the western Saudi
Arabian province of Al Madinah. In addition to the sacred core of the old city,
which is off limits to non-Muslims, Medina is a modern, multi-ethnic city
inhabited by Saudi Arabs and an increasing number of Muslim and non-Muslim
expatriate workers: other Arab nationalities (Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese,
etc.), South Asians ( Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis, etc.), and Filipinos.
Economy
Historically, Medina
is known for growing dates. As of 1920, 139 varieties of dates were being grown
in the area.Medina also was known for growing many types of vegetables.
Religion
Islam is the religion followed by all the population of Medina , just like most of the cities in Saudi Arabia . Sunnis of different
schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali) constitute the majority while
there is a significant Shia minority in and around Medina .
Geography
The soil surrounding Medina
consist of mostly basalt, while the hills, especially noticeable to the south
of the city, are volcanic ash which date to the first geological period of the
Paleozoic Era.
In 1256 Medina
was threatened by lava flow from the last eruption of Harrat Rahat
Devastation of
heritage
The Medina Knowledge Economic
City project, a city focused on
knowledge-based industries, has been planned and is expected to boost
development and increase the number of jobs in Medina .
The city is served by the Prince Mohammad
Bin Abdulaziz
Airport which opened in
1974. It handles on average 20–25 flights a day, although this number triples
during the Hajj season and school holidays.
Saudi Wahhabism is hostile to any reverence given to
historical or religious places of significance for fear that it may give rise
to 'shirk' (that is, idolatry). As a consequence, under Saudi rule, Medina has
suffered from considerable destruction of its physical heritage including the
loss of many buildings over a thousand years old.Critics have described this as
"Saudi vandalism" and claim that in Medina and Mecca over the last 50
years 300 historic sites linked to Muhammad, his family or companions have been
lost.In Medina, examples of historic sites which have been destroyed include
the Salman al-Farsi Mosque, the Raj'at ash-Shams Mosque, the Jannat al-Baqi
cemetery, and the house of Muhammed.
Climate
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