Prophet Muhammad (s) - Madinan Era ... Grade 4 & 5 (MCCGP)/Ages 8 & 9 (MAP)

Prophet Muhammad (s) migrated from Makkah to Madina in the 13th year of his Prophethood. He was accompanied by Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) in this journey.

On his journey towards Madina, Prophet Muhammad (s) stayed in Quba for 14 days. It was situated in the outskirts of Madina. The first Masjid of Islam in the history was built in Quba.

As they approached Madinah, the people had gathered on the streets, eager to greet them. Everyone wanted the Prophet (s) to be his guest.

Finally by Allah's command the camel Qaswa, that Muhammad (s) was riding on stopped by Abu Ayyub Ansari's house and thus Prophet (s) stayed there.

The first thing Muhammad (s) did on reaching Madina was to construct a mosque. It was a simple structure made of mud bricks, wooden poles and a roof made of Palm leaves. Here prayers to God were offered five times daily in a free atmosphere for the first time in the history of Islam. This mosque was known as Masjid An Nabwi.

He next turned to establishing a brotherhood of the Muslims in Madina. Those who had fled from Makkah, called Muhajireens (immigrants) had left all their property and belongings behind. So, to provide shelter for them, every refugee was bound in a bond of brotherhood with one of the residents of Madina, called Ansar (Helpers).

Every Ansar would adopt a Muhajir and share half his possessions with him or her (Muhajir).

The Ansar happily responded to the call and soon every poor Muslim from Makkah was given the means to earn a living. This built the bond of brotherhood strongly in the hearts of people and helped ease the suffering of the poor.

To establish peace, Prophet (s) issued a document known as the Constitution Of Madinah. It described the duties and rights of the residents.

The Jews of Madina had also welcomed Prophet (s) warmly and they had hopes he would join them.

The Prophet (s) also made a Treaty with the Christians of Najran, a land in Northern Arabia.

All these treaties were made to show that Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace.

After the mosque was built, the issue came up of how to call people to Salah. People had suggestions to use a horn like Jews or a bell like Christian churches. Prophet (s) wasn't satisfied and then Allah SWT sent a dream to Abdullah Ibn Zayd, one of Prophet's (s) companion. He saw a man in green robes reciting some beautiful verses to him. The prophet SAW declared this dream as a true one and asked these words be taught to Bilal RA. So the first Muaddhin in Islam was Bilal RA.

Muslims were beginning to enjoy a stable community life in Madinah.

By the second year of Hijra, duty of Zakah was announced for all the Muslims.

Not everything was peaceful in Madinah. The three Jewish tribes of Qaynuqa, Quraiza and Nadir started feeling hostile towards Prophet SAW. They did not like his teachings. In addition some Jews were leaving their religion and becoming Muslims. Even one of their Rabbi by the name of Abdullah Ibn Salam had accepted Islam.

The idol worshipers of Makkah never forgot the Muslims. Whenever they captured any Muslims, they would often take them back to Makkah and torture them.

The Makkans would send out small groups to attack the outskirts of Madina.

The Prophet( SAW) organized small groups of Muslims to go on patrol and defend against these attacks. In the two years after the emigration, the encounters between the two groups were small skirmishes and raids. In Ramadan of 624 CE, this changed.

That year, the Prophet Muhammad received information that Quraysh had a large caravan returning from Syria to Makkah. The Muslims planned to raid the caravan in retaliation for Quraysh’s taking the property that Muslims could not take with them to Medina. Prophet Muhammad did not intend to go to battle. Abu Sufyan, one of the Makkan leaders who was with the caravan, received word of the plan for the raid and called on the Makkans to send troops to protect the caravan.

Before the Prophet decided to fight the Makkans, he consulted his followers who were made of up Muslims who emigrated from Makkah (called Muhajirun) and Muslims from Medina (called Ansar). He waited for the support of the Muslims from Medina because the Constitution of Medina that they signed on to did not include fighting outside of Medina. Once he received their support, the Prophet Muhammad decided to engage in battle.At the wells of Badr, the Muslims and the Makkans met for battle. The Muslims were outnumbered by the Makkans 3 to 1. The battle began with an Arab tradition where each side sends out warriors to fight each other. Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law and cousin, Hamza, the Prophet’s uncle, and Ubayda, a companion of the Prophet from his clan, represented the Muslims and defeated the Makkan warriors. The battle then began and ended with a decisive victory for the Muslims. Muslims were victorious in Battle Of Badr which made their position even more secure than ever.

Jewish tribe of Banu Qaynuqa, publicly challenged Muslims to a fight and the Muslims surrounded their neighborhood. Eventually, Banu Qaynuqa agreed to pack up and leave the city forever. They broke the treaty and were exiled.

The remaining two Jewish tribes continued living peacefully but never gave up their secret plotting against the Muslim Community.

In the same year,the Muslims were ordered from Allah (SWT) to pray in the direction of Ka'bah instead of facing Masjid Al Aqsa. Thus the direction of qibla was changed to Makkah.

The next battle was Battle of Uhud, that took place near Mount Uhud to the north of Madina in Shawwaal of the third year after Hijrah. The polytheists sought support from their allies and mobilized an army made up of three thousand men to take revenge for their destructive defeat in the Battle of Badr. Muslims lost this battle to the Quraysh. Prophet Muhammad (s) was hurt on this battle and his Uncle Humza Ibn Muttalib was martyred. Humza was struck by an Abyssinian slave, Wahshi.

The Muslims had a new threat from home. Banu Nadir, another Jewish tribe that lived in the city tried to kill Prophet (s). They were told to leave Madina forever. Some of them went to live in Khaybar and some went to Palestine. But they were determined to take revenge against the Muslims.

A delegation from khaybar consisting of leaders from Banu Nadir met with the leaders of Makkah and they decided to attack Muslims of Madina.

The Jews sent messages to all the hostile Arab tribes to join them in fighting against the Muslims.

Makkans marched towards Madina with 10,000 soldiers to battle Muslims.This was known as Battle Of Khandaq or Battle Of Trench.It is also known as Battle Of Ahzab.To prepare for this battle, Muhammad (SAW) called a council for strategic planning. A companion, Salman Al Farsi came up with the idea of digging a trench around Madina. His plan worked and the Makkans could not cross the trench. And they got caught in a fierce storm that forced them to go back to Makkah. Muslims won this battle without fighting.

In the sixth year of Hijrah, Muhammad (s) left for Makkah to perform Umrah with 1400 companions.He camped at Hudaybiyyah, just short of Makkah. His match was entirely peaceful but the Makkans leaders barred their entry to perform Umra. Here at Hudaybiyyah, Prophet (s) signed a peace treaty with them, known as Treaty Of Hudaybiyyah. It provided for 10 years of peace between the Quraysh and the Muslims.

Within a year, the Makkans broke the deal and attacked a group of Muslims. Muslims then decided to go and free Makkah from idol worshiping.

Prophet (s) raised an army of 10,000 Muslims and set out to Makkah in the month of Ramadan. They camped outside of Makkah. The Makkans had no hopes of fighting such a huge army. Abu Sufyan declared his acceptance of Islam and agreed to surrender Makkah peacefully. Ka'bah was cleaned of all the idols and rededicated to the service of Allah SWT alone. Prophet's bitter enemies in Makkah became Muslims, after seeing the fair, kind and just treatment of our beloved Prophet (s).

Our beloved Prophet (s) passed away at the age of 63 years in the month of Rabiul Awwal.