Medinan Period

The Medinan Period covers the last ten years of the Prophet Muhammad's life, which he spent in the city of Medina. It was marked by several significant battles, for example the Battle of Badr and the Battle of the Trench. These years were some of the most significant in Islam - within just a decade the Muslims went from a small group suffering extreme persecution to a powerful force with control of almost the whole Arabian Peninsula. But how and why did this dramatic transformation occur?

Medinan Period History

The history of the Medinan period can be split into four stages:

1. The Hijrah

2. Consolidation and Constitution of Medina

3. Conflict with the Quraysh

4. Expansion into the Arabian Peninsula

1. The Hijrah (622)

The Medinan period began in 622, when the Prophet Muhammad made the 200 mile journey north from his hometown of Mecca to the city of Medina. This journey became known as the Hijrah, and was so important to the early Muslim community that the Islamic calendar bases its start date from the date of the Hijrah. This means that the year 622 in the Gregorian calendar (the calendar Westerners use) is the year 0 in the calendar of Islam.

Why did the Prophet Muhammad migrate to Mecca?

Muhammad preached that there was no God but Allah. This infuriated the leaders of Mecca, the Quraysh tribe, who believed in many different deities. Therefore, they began to persecute Muhammad and his followers. Initially, Muhammad's clan protected him from physical harm, but when leadership of this clan changed hands in 619, Muhammad's life was in danger. Therefore he decided to migrate to Medina where he would be safe.

2. Consolidation and the Constitution of Medina (622-624)

One of the Prophet Muhammad's first actions when he arrived in Medina was to create a document to determine how the Muslim emigrants from Mecca, the Arab tribes in Medina and the Jews of Medina would get along with one another peacefully. This document became known as the Constitution of Medina.

Illustration Showing Muhammad Teaching at Medina. Wikimedia Commons.

In the Constitution of Medina, the Prophet Muhammad created a new political community which he called the 'Umma'. The Umma was a revolutionary idea in the region because it said that membership to the Umma was based not on which tribe you were born into, but whether you believed in one God and agreed to 'follow' Muhammad.

3. Conflict with the Quraysh (624-630)

The majority of the Medinan period was spent in continuous conflict between the Muslims and the Quraysh tribe of Mecca.

It was not until 629-630 that the Prophet Muhammad finally defeated the Quraysh. Then the Quraysh were forced to submit to Muhammad and the Muslims, and they converted to Islam. The historian Fred Donner writes that:

There are no easy answers to this puzzle. One convincing explanation by Fred Donner is that Muhammad's strategy of raiding trade caravans from the northern Arabian peninsula and Syria enabled him to control the food supply to major cities. This tactic was so effective that Muhammad caused a severe famine in Mecca, which severely weakened the Quraysh.

4. Expansion into the Arabian Peninsula (630-632)

After conquering Mecca in 630, the last two years of the Medinan period was spent extending Islam into the rest of the Arabian peninsula. There were two major campaigns during this time:

1. The Eastern Expedition: The Muslims won a decisive victory against the Hawazin and Thaqif tribes in the Battle of Hunayn in 630. This extended their influence to the east of the Arabian peninsula.

2. The Northern Expedition: The Muslim force went north to engage with the Byzantines and Ghassanids. They didn't actually meet any enemy forces but Muhammad used the opportunity to ally with many of the local chiefs in the northern territories.

Map showing Muhammad's conquests in the Arabian Peninsula. Wikimedia Commons.

The green arrows on the map highlight the Prophet Muhammad's conquests and battles to the north, south and east of Medina. The black arrows represent the conquests under the first four leaders of the Islamic community after Muhammad's death.

Medinan Period Events

Here is a short table highlighting the key events of the Medinan period.

Characteristics of Medinan Period

What were the major characteristics of the Medinan period?

Growth

The dominant characteristic of the Medinan period was the rise of Islam. The Muslim community grew in strength, in allies, in military success, in territorial conquest, and in political power throughout this period.

Transition

Accordingly, another significant characteristic of the Medinan period was transition. As Islamic scholar Dr Ibrahim Syed argues:

Some of these changes included:

1. Transformation of Islam from a small, persecuted minority to a powerful political community with allies.

2. Transformation of Islam from an informal group of family and friends to a political unit with a constitution.

3. Transformed focus within Islam from converting the Quraysh of Mecca to all the people in the Arabian peninsula, and possibly even further to the rest of the world.

3. Violence

It is hard to escape that this decade was marked by continual violence between the Muslims at Medina and other groups. There were two main groups on the receiving end of Muslim military action.

1. Quraysh

As we have already noted, the Medinan period was marked by continual fighting between the Muslims and their greatest enemy, the Quraysh of Mecca. Significant battles included the Battle of Badr (624), the Battle of Uhud (625), the Siege of Medina (627) and the Conquest of Mecca (630).

2. The Jewish tribes of Medina

Between 624 and 627, the Prophet Muhammad successively turned on the three major Jewish tribes of Medina: the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Qurayza.

Muhammad riding out to receive the submission of the Jewish Banu Nadir clan in 626. Wikimedia Commons.

The first two tribes were expelled from Medina in 624 and 626 respectively. However, the worst violence was unleashed on the Banu Qurayza. When Muhammad learned that they had assisted the Quraysh at the Siege of Medina, he ordered that every Jewish male who was not willing to convert to Islam would be executed. The result was a massacre in which nearly all of the men of the Banu Qurayza were killed. The women and children were enslaved.

Medinan Surah

The Medinan Surahs were the chapters of the Qur'an which the Prophet Muhammad taught while he was in Medina. In this way they are distinct from the Meccan Surahs, which are the teachings that the Prophet Muhammad gave while he was in Mecca. This table outlines some of the differences:

Differences between Meccan and Medinan Periods

As we saw from the quote by Ibrahim Syed earlier, the Muslim community sees a sharp divide between the Meccan and Medinan periods. There is no doubt that there were many distinctive features that made these two periods different eras within the beginning of Islam. Let's take a look at some of these differences in this table.

The Medinan period represented Muhammad's incredible rise to power. It saw the transformation of the Muslims from a small and persecuted minority into a force to be reckoned with.