Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 31them the idea of One God and told them to give upexcesses of all kinds and prepare for the Kingdom ofGod. Some listened and became interested. Somewished to listen but were sent away by the Meccans.Some who had already made up their minds, stopped toridicule. The Prophet sa was in the valley of Mina when hesaw a group of six or seven people. He found that theybelonged to the Khazraj tribe, one in alliance with theJews. He asked them if they would listen to what he hadto say. They had heard of him and were interested; sothey agreed. The Prophet sa spent some time telling themthat the Kingdom of God was at hand, that idols weregoing to disappear, that the idea of One God was due totriumph, and piety and purity were once again going torule. Would they not, in Medina, welcome the Message?The group became much impressed. They accepted theMessage and promised, on their return to Medina, toconfer with others and report next year whether Medinawould be willing to receive Muslim refugees from Mecca.They returned and conferred with their friends andrelations. There were, at the time, two Arab and threeJewish tribes at Medina. The Arab tribes were the Ausand the Khazraj and the Jewish tribes the BanuQuraiza, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Qainuqa‘. TheAus and the Khazraj were at war. The Quraiza and theNadir were in alliance with the Aus and the Qainuqa‘with the Khazraj. Tired of unending warfare, they wereinclined to peace. At last they agreed to acknowledge theKhazraj Chief, ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, as King ofMedina. From the Jews, the Aus and the Khazraj hadheard of prophecies in the Bible. They had heard Jewishtales of the lost glory of Israel and of the advent of aProphet sa "like unto Moses as ." This advent was near athand, the Jews used to say. It was to mark the return topower of Israel and the destruction of their enemies.When the people of Medina heard of the Prophet sa , theybecame impressed and began to ask if this MeccanProphet sa was not the Prophet sa they had heard of fromthe Jews. Many young men readily believed. At the next