MEDINAH

Pre-Jewish times

The first mention of the city dates to the 6th century BCE. It appears in Assyrian texts (namely, the Nabonidus Chronicle) as "Iatribu".^[1] In the time of Ptolemy the oasis was known as Lathrippa.^[3]The first people to settle the oasis of medina were the tribe of banu matraweel and banu hauf who trace there lineage to shem the son of noah. They were the first ones to plant trees and crops in the city. when the yemenite tribes banu aus and banu khazraj arrived there were approximately 70 arab tribes and 20 jewish tribes in medina.

[edit] Jewish tribes

Jews have arrived to the city in the 2nd century CE in the wake of the Jewish-Roman wars. There were three prominent Jewish tribes which had inhabited the city till the 7th century CE: the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Qurayza, and Banu Nadir.^[4] Ibn Khordadbeh later reported that during the Persian Empire's domination in Hejaz, the Banu Qurayza served as tax collectors for the shah.^[5]

[edit] The Aus and Khazraj

The situation changed after the arrival from Yemen of two Arab tribes named Banu Aus (Banu Aws) and Banu Khazraj. At first, these tribes were clients of the Jews, but later they revolted and became independent.^[6] Toward the end of the 5th century^[7], 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.^[4].

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.^[8] According to William Montgomery Watt, the clientship of the Jewish tribes is not borne out by the historical accounts of the period prior to 627, and maintained that the Jews retained a measure of political independence.^[6]

Ibn Ishaq tells of a conflict between the last Yemenite king of the Himyarite Kingdom^[9] 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, 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 Kaaba 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.^[10]