The Hijra and the community at Medina

Overview

Term Hijra, pledges of al-Aqabah and name by which Yathrib came to be known.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   Define the term Hijra.

   Model answer

   Hijra means migration, and it names the departure of Muhammad and the Muslims from Mecca to Yathrib in 622 CE.

2. 2

   Why did people of Yathrib invite Muhammad to their city?

   Model answer

   Yathrib had been torn for years by feuding between the Aws and the Khazraj and needed an arbitrator of standing from outside, and a number of its people had already accepted Muhammad's message.

3. 3

   Describe the Pledges of al-Aqabah.

   Model answer

   The Pledges of al-Aqabah were two meetings near Mecca at which men of Yathrib gave their word to Muhammad: twelve men first pledged to worship God alone and shun grave sin, and over seventy the following year added a pledge to defend him as they would their own households.

4. 4

   What plot finally forced Muhammad to leave Mecca?

   Model answer

   The Quraysh agreed that a young man from every clan should strike Muhammad together, so that no single clan could be held liable for his blood and the Hashim could not exact revenge.

5. 5

   How did Muhammad escape from Mecca?

   Model answer

   Ali lay in Muhammad's bed to deceive the watchers while Muhammad left with Abu Bakr, and the two hid for three nights in the cave of Thawr before travelling north to Yathrib.

6. 6

   Why does the Muslim calendar begin from the Hijra rather than from the birth of Muhammad?

   Model answer

   The Hijra marks the point at which the believers ceased to be a persecuted group inside another society and became a community ordering its own life under God's law, so that year was later fixed as the first of the Muslim era.

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