Holy Wars The Life of Muhammad


Holy Wars

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1,400 years ago, a man born here in Mecca, in Saudi Arabia,

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changed the course of world history.

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If you had to rate the top people in the history of the world as leaders,

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the name of Muhammad would be in the top three.

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Here we have a man who began a mission. He gave light to the world.

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For one and a half billion Muslims, he is the last and greatest

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of that long line of prophets who've brought the word of God to humanity.

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He was not just a spiritual genius

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but he also had political gifts of a very high order.

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He laid the foundations for a religion, Islam,

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that after his death developed a culture and civilisation that spread

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around the world and inspired some of the most beautiful architecture.

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But today, Islam is at the very heart

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of the conflict that defines our world,

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and Muhammad's name

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is associated with some of the most appalling acts of terrorism

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the world has ever seen.

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Osama Bin Laden and others who have committed acts of Jihad terrorism,

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consistently invoke the Qur'an

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and Muhammad's example to justify what they are doing.

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Obedience to one true God, Allah, and follow in the footsteps

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of the final Prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

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Outside of the Islamic world

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almost nothing is known about Muhammad,

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whereas for Muslims he is the ultimate role model

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and his life is known in every detail.

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So who was he? What was his message?

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And why are so many people, Muslims and non-Muslims,

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divided over his legacy?

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In this groundbreaking series, I will explore

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the many complexities of his life story...

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about the Revelations he is said to have received from God,

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about his many wives, about his relations with

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the Jews of Arabia, about his use of war and peace

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and about the laws that he enacted when he set up his own state.

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I want to examine his life and times and understand

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how they still affect today's world,

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and whether they are a force for good or evil.

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I want to uncover the real Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam,

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peace be upon him.

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Muhammad was born in Mecca in the year 570

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into the ruling tribe of the city, the Quraysh.

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At the age of 40, according to Muslim tradition,

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he received a blinding revelation from God, the first of many

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that would change not just his life, but the history of the world.

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This is THE defining moment in Muhammad's life.

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And today, for the one and a half billion people

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all around the world who follow him,

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completely accepting his revelation

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defines what it means to be a Muslim.

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Muhammad's Revelations would become the Sacred Text of Islam

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the Qur'an literally 'the recitation'.

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The Orthodox Muslim position is that it is God himself

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who was the author of the Qur'an

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and Muhammad was just the person to whom it was first revealed.

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When he started preaching, Muhammad had quickly attracted

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a small band of followers, but they were now under threat of death

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from the rulers of Mecca who controlled the Ka'aba,

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a shrine that housed the many Gods of Arabia.

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They feared that Muhammad's message that there was only one true God,

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would destroy the importance of the Ka'aba

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and in turn lead to Mecca's economic and political ruin.

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By 620, Muhammad had also just lost two of his greatest supporters,

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his loyal wife of 25 years, Khadija,

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and his clan protector, his uncle Abu Talib.

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He had reached one of the lowest points of his life.

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But it was at this moment that he had another extraordinary

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spiritual experience that would transform his life.

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According to Muslim tradition, one night,

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after falling asleep at the Ka'aba in Mecca,

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Muhammad was transported on a metaphysical journey to a place

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hundreds of miles north,

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a city that is also holy to Christians and Jews - Jerusalem.

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What would become known as Muhammad's Night Journey

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would establish Jerusalem in Muslim eyes as a sacred city,

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a place of devotion and pilgrimage, second only to Mecca and Medina.

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It's one of the main reasons why today,

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Jerusalem is at the heart of the Middle Eastern conflict.

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The conflict between Israeli and the Palestinians is a struggle

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between two peoples over the same piece of land.

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But why is it that this issue

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has become such a defining cause across the Muslim world,

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and why is it that the call for the liberation of Jerusalem,

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a city 800 miles from Muhammad's birth place,

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has become such a rallying cry for so many Muslims?

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-In TRANSLATION:

-Jerusalem is very important to Muslims

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because it represents

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a part of our creed and faith.

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The first event was the Night Journey

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and Ascension to Heaven -

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when God sent Muhammad to his night journey

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from Mecca to Jerusalem

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and ascended him from Jerusalem to the heavens.

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According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad is awoken during the night

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by the Angel Gabriel who lifts him up onto a winged horse

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called al-Buraq, and he is then miraculously

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transported across the desert to Jerusalem.

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And it's from this point that Muhammad begins

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one of the most powerful

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and extraordinary experiences of his life.

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He's taken on a journey were he meets all the past prophets

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from Abraham to Moses and even Jesus,

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and he prays with all of the prophets.

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He is then offered water, wine or milk to drink

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and he chooses milk,

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in order to signify the middle path he is trying to steer through life.

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And then, a celestial ladder appears and Muhammad begins

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a mystical ascent through the seven heavens where he is eventually

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taken to the heavenly throne itself and is spoken to by God himself.

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To modern, rational ears, it's an incredible story,

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but for Muslims, it is one of the most important events

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in Muhammad's life. Whether it can be seen

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as a literal physical journey or a spiritual experience,

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has divided believers and non-believers alike.

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-IN TRANSLATION:

-This was a miracle.

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and the miracle is part of the faith.

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It does not have any scientific explanation

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and it is against what is normal.

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We believe it because it is said in the Qur'an

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and in the honourable quotes of the Prophet.

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I think very deeply that it was a spiritual journey

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and the meaning of it is in fact that he went to Jerusalem

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and then he went very close to the one God, the creator.

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This is actually the shrine inside the rock which is covered by

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the famous gold dome Mosque known as the Dome of the Rock.

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And it's exactly from this point where the Prophet Muhammad

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is said to have gone on his night journey.

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Now for some people, it was and is, a literal physical journey

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in which the Prophet Muhammad travelled,

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in the blink of an eye, from Mecca,

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800 miles away, all the way here to Jerusalem, but for other people

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the Night Journey is actually symbolic, it's a spiritual journey,

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in which the Prophet's soul enters a new realm of divine revelation.

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It was highly important, symbolically,

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because in this night journey, the Prophet Muhammad leads

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Moses, Abraham, Noah, Jesus, Jacob, all the prophets, he leads them

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in prayer and God speaks with Muhammad. And in this discourse,

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God orders upon the Prophet and upon all the Muslims

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the single most important action

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that a Muslim has to perform - the five daily prayers.

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You look for it in the Qur'an

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and you find three little mentions,

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but the whole story about the Prophet going, flying on al-Buraq,

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going to meet the previous prophets, going to Jerusalem, being given

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instructions about the five daily prayers,

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all of this journey to heaven, journey to the glimpse

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of the edge of the uttermost throne of God

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has all been added on later to build up this sort of wonderful,

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cosmological gift to the Islamic world, but it's not in the Qur'an.

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The history of religion is embellishment and interpretation.

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How many times should it be in the Qur'an?

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That it is in the Qur'an is what is significant.

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Muhammad's Night Journey to Jerusalem

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and his Ascension to Heaven when he meets all the past prophets

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dating back to Abraham, so familiar to Jews and Christians,

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is a crucial moment in his life.

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For Muslims, it is a confirmation,

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an acceptance by these other prophets,

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and even God himself, that Muhammad is the last in the long line of men

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who have brought the word of God to humanity, and that Islam

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and its followers were also a part of the ancient Abrahamic tradition.

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It was also an indication that Muhammad was now prepared to leave

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his tribal past behind him and bring his message to the wider world.

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The Prophet's Night Journey goes away from tribalism,

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it finishes not with the tribe but with an embrace of humanity

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and an abandonment

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of the tribal spirit and a reaching out to others.

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That's the theological meaning

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of what's happening.

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Because of what happened just behind me,

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Jerusalem is considered by Muslims

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to be the third holiest shrine in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

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And because this city continues to be under Israeli control,

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that's why Jerusalem continues to be such a potent symbol

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for Muslims around the world.

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Muhammad's Night Journey was a seminal moment.

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It marked the ending of one period of his life

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and the beginning of another.

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He was about to begin a new and even more dangerously radical phase

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of his mission in which he would abandon his tribal life completely.

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Rather than trying to defeat the Quraysh in Mecca,

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he would leave the city and start again somewhere else.

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One day, in a place here, which used to be a small oasis,

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Muhammad met a group of men from the town of Yathrib,

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which is about 15 days' camel ride to the north.

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The men told Muhammad about the warfare and the constant feuding

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that affected their community. Muhammad listened to them

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and for his part, he told them about his mission about the unity of God,

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about the importance of living a virtuous live

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and of the rewards of Heaven.

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Now importantly, the men sat

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and were even excited by what Muhammad had to say.

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And this was important, because it was completely different to

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the reaction that Muhammad was used to getting in Mecca.

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The meeting ended with the six men from Yathrib converting to Islam

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and agreeing to meet Muhammad once again.

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Conditions had now got so bad in Mecca for Muhammad,

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he felt that he had no choice

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but to get his followers to do the unthinkable,

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to abandon the city of their birth for Yathrib and an uncertain future

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in a place where they would live without any clan protection.

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The community in Yathrib

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was made up of a number of different tribes,

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some of them were pagan, the Aws and Khazraj, some of them were Jewish.

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There were three main Jewish tribes.

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And there was a lot of disagreement in fact

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in Yathrib between the communities about how they wanted to do things,

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there was sort of a lot of jostling for power and prestige

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and they felt that they needed a mediator.

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And they had heard about Muhammad who at that time was a preacher in Mecca,

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growing reputation in that part of the peninsula and perceived in him

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someone who could perhaps mediate in their disputes

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and be a sort of neutral arbiter

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and come and help them resolve the problems within Yathrib.

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It wasn't till the following year that an even bigger delegation

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came all the way from Yathrib

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seeking out another meeting with the Prophet Muhammad. And this time

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they held it under cover of darkness and in secret,

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and it led to a unity between the two,

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between the Prophet Muhammad and the community in Yathrib,

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"I am of you and you are of me," Muhammad said.

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Now this agreement, it's important to bear in mind,

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was something really new, something that was a radical departure

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because it wasn't based on clan alliances,

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on family or on tribal allegiances.

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It was based on something far more universal

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that went way beyond kinship.

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It is an act of extraordinary daring,

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audacity and genius in a sense.

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In Arabia at this time it was absolutely unheard of

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to leave your tribe, your blood group, permanently,

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and take up permanent residence with another.

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It was blasphemy. The sacred tribe

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was the most, the absolute value in Arabia,

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and for him to leave it like that

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and create a new kind of community, an 'Ummah',

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a community based on ideology rather than relationship, was unheard of.

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If the rulers of Mecca got wind of Muhammad's plans,

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the consequences could be disastrous.

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So Muhammad now had to get his followers out of the city

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without alerting the Quraysh.

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Over the next few months,

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a few of Muhammad's companions left the city each night,

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so as not to arouse any suspicions

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until finally only a handful were left,

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including his faithful companion

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Abu Bakr, his young cousin Ali and Muhammad himself.

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Meanwhile, the Quraysh themselves had been planning this time

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to assassinate Muhammad himself.

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The idea was that one member of each of Mecca's clans

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would stab Muhammad at the same time,

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making it impossible for Muhammad's own clan to revenge his death

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as too many people would have been involved.

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One night, the group surrounded his house

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and believing they saw someone sleeping in Muhammad's bedroom,

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the assassins with their daggers drawn rushed into his bedroom.

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But instead they found his young cousin Ali asleep in his place.

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Muhammad had fled.

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He's a very canny man.

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They were going to kill him, and this assassination plot

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that he escaped from and goes on a wonderful journey with Abu Bakr.

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The thing I like is that he made certain

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that everybody paid their debts. They were leaving Mecca

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but every debt had to be fulfilled,

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there's an underlying Arabic code of honour feeding the division.

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Along with Abu Bakr, Muhammad had slipped out of Mecca unnoticed.

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He was now en route to his new home in Yathrib.

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Even though Muhammad had fled,

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the Meccans were really determined to pursue him

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and within hours they were hot on his trail

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and they chased him all the way through the punishing, steep climb

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on the foothills of Mount Thawr.

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But by the time they reached the top, there was no Muhammad

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and there was none of his footprints.

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Eventually the Meccans just had to give up

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and go all the way back down to Mecca.

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But all this while, unknown to them,

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Muhammad and his companion, Abu Bakr,

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had been hiding in a cave at the top of Mount Thawr.

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And when the coast was clear,

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they just simply continued on their journey towards Yathrib.

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It was now 622 AD and Muhammad was in his early fifties.

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He had grown up in Mecca as an orphan.

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He had experienced some of the wider world

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with his uncle on many caravan trading trips.

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He been married and had a family.

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He had received a series of divine revelations,

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but had been rejected by his own tribe.

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For over ten years, he and his small band of about 200 followers

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had suffered extreme humiliation and persecution.

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Finally, with people plotting to assassinate him,

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he had fled his home, to a place completely unknown to him.

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This event became known as the Hijrah,

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literally a 'cutting off' from the past.

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There was now no way back for Muhammad and his new movement.

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He went as a preacher.

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He didn't go as a conqueror, they said, "Come here

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"and be our judge. We're not going to accept you as prophet of god,

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"we'll accept you as a prophet. A revered man whose word we trust."

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He didn't come with a conquering army,

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he came as a refugee as an exile, as a dignified man of respect.

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Muhammad was preaching Islam

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in Mecca for 13 years.

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He only had 150 followers, max.

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He was a very good calculator, he knew

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if he fought them from inside Mecca he was going to lose.

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He left at the right time because he wanted to expand his message

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and he went to the perfect location where he can actually hurt

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the Mecca people and conquer Mecca from outside, not from inside.

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The Hijrah, or migration from Mecca to Yathrib, is the turning point,

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if you like, in Muhammad's life.

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The Hijrah is so important in Muhammad's life

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and the history of Islam itself, that the year in which it took place

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is the starting point for the traditional Islamic calendar.

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All Islamic religious festivals and events are still fixed

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using this calendar,

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dating back to the moment Muhammad left Mecca in 622 AD.

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I think it's of great theological significance that this marks

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the beginning of the Muslim era.

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The Muslim era does not begin as the Christian era with the birth

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of the Prophet but with the date of the Hijrah.

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This break with the tribal spirit is being undertaken.

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When Muhammad and his followers first came here,

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what they found was nothing like the city of Mecca they had left.

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Yathrib, as it was then known, was basically a large oasis,

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a series of villages each village dominated by a different tribe.

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It was a situation that inevitably led to

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intense rivalries and conflicts.

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Yathrib would later have its name changed in honour of Muhammad.

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It became known as Madinah-tun-Nabi, The City Of The Prophet,

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or Medina for short.

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They arrived with nothing.

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And they immediately had to integrate themselves

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from being a great trading Meccan aristocracy,

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to being poor, penniless, wearing the rags of their clothing

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in a very, very wealthy oasis full of its own wealth hierarchies.

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They ground corn, they wove mats and they fitted in.

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When Muhammad came to Medina what kind of a place was Medina?

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OK, Medina at that time was not a complete city,

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it was what you call sub communities...

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A collection of different tribes and communities?

0:21:400:21:43

Yes, the centre of Medina was where the Prophet

0:21:430:21:46

-and the main of al'Ansars.

-The followers.

-The people of Medina,

0:21:460:21:49

and then you have people in Quba,

0:21:490:21:52

you have people in Al-Qiblatain and then you have the Jew -

0:21:520:21:56

east of Medina - and also in the south of Medina, so you have tribes

0:21:560:22:00

surrounding Medina

0:22:000:22:02

but as a general they call it Medina.

0:22:020:22:04

Muhammad's new-found freedom allowed him to build his own mosque.

0:22:060:22:11

It became almost an extension of his own home.

0:22:110:22:16

Tell me about when the Prophet Muhammad

0:22:160:22:18

built his first mosque here in Medina.

0:22:180:22:20

He found the land in the centre of Medina and he built this mosque.

0:22:200:22:24

But this mosque, the model that you have here,

0:22:240:22:27

is very different from the one that is in Medina now

0:22:270:22:30

which is one of the biggest and the grandest mosques in the world,

0:22:300:22:33

this is very simple.

0:22:330:22:34

Yeah, because at that time, try to imagine talking about 14 centuries

0:22:340:22:39

before, the building was very simple, about 55 metre by 35 metre,

0:22:390:22:44

but it was similar to the building around Medina which was built

0:22:440:22:48

by mud and also stones in foundation

0:22:480:22:52

and palm trees so they can cover part of the mosque

0:22:520:22:55

and they make an open area in the back of the mosque.

0:22:550:22:58

Now, that same mosque has been transformed into this,

0:22:590:23:03

one of the biggest in the world, able to hold

0:23:030:23:06

up to half a million worshippers at any one time.

0:23:060:23:09

Muhammad used his mosque like a community centre.

0:23:110:23:14

He not only preached here,

0:23:140:23:15

but also made it his office where he could settle disputes,

0:23:150:23:19

hold negotiations and have public debates.

0:23:190:23:23

Everyone was free to enter and speak with him -

0:23:230:23:25

Jews, Christians, non-believers, even slaves.

0:23:250:23:29

Above all, he and his followers could now come to the Mosque

0:23:290:23:33

and worship in relative peace.

0:23:330:23:35

But they faced one practical problem.

0:23:350:23:38

There was no effective means to tell people when it was time to pray.

0:23:380:23:44

According to tradition, one day, the Prophet Muhammad gathered

0:23:450:23:49

everyone here in the courtyard of his mosque where they wanted

0:23:490:23:53

to discuss how the faithful should be called to prayer.

0:23:530:23:56

Should it be like the Christians at the time using bells,

0:23:560:23:59

or the Jews who used a horn, or should it be something else

0:23:590:24:03

like using fire beacons?

0:24:030:24:05

Eventually after much discussion, it was decided that the new religion

0:24:050:24:08

of Islam should be proclaimed with the human voice itself.

0:24:080:24:13

CALL TO PRAYER IN TRANSLATION:

0:24:130:24:16

The man Muhammad picked

0:24:200:24:21

as the first person to announce the call for prayers

0:24:210:24:25

was a very symbolic choice. Bilal, a freed African slave who had endured

0:24:250:24:29

the most brutal persecution in Mecca.

0:24:290:24:32

In Muhammad's time,

0:24:350:24:37

slavery existed all over Arabia and although he never abolished it,

0:24:370:24:42

Muhammad and his companions did free slaves like Bilal.

0:24:420:24:45

Every day, Bilal would climb to the rooftop of the Mosque

0:24:510:24:54

and in a loud voice he would call the faithful to prayer.

0:24:540:24:57

This call to prayer has since become an integral part of Muslim life.

0:25:020:25:06

Although the words used are the same the world over,

0:25:100:25:13

each call has a distinctive sound, characteristic to its place.

0:25:130:25:18

The Mosque and its later distinctive tower or minaret

0:25:450:25:49

would become one of the most identifiable Islamic symbols.

0:25:490:25:54

A mosque is not just

0:25:540:25:56

a place of worship.

0:25:560:25:57

A mosque is a focal point of community,

0:25:580:26:01

it is a place where the transformative mission of Islam

0:26:010:26:06

must be put into practice by services for the needy,

0:26:060:26:11

services for the community,

0:26:110:26:13

services to help people to achieve the objectives of Islam,

0:26:130:26:18

it's a centre for education - that's what a mosque should be,

0:26:180:26:24

it's not what an awful lot of mosques are today,

0:26:240:26:26

and the other thing is that mosques have to be welcoming, open places

0:26:260:26:32

not just for Muslims, because the transformative mission,

0:26:320:26:35

the social objectives of Islam,

0:26:350:26:37

don't belong just to Muslims they are for everybody.

0:26:370:26:40

But Muhammad was now not only the Prophet of a new religion,

0:26:430:26:47

he was also effectively the political leader

0:26:470:26:50

of the community here in Medina,

0:26:500:26:52

and he fused these two roles right here

0:26:520:26:54

in the courtyard of his mosque where he spent most of his days.

0:26:540:26:58

Now, as his role grew, Muhammad decided that what he really needed

0:26:580:27:03

was an agreement that would not only formalise his role in Medina

0:27:030:27:06

but also his relationship with the various tribes.

0:27:060:27:10

It became known as the Constitution of Medina and is thought to be

0:27:100:27:14

one of the earliest written constitutions anywhere in the world.

0:27:140:27:19

This was the first attempt in Arabia to form a state

0:27:220:27:26

based not on tribal ties but mutual interest.

0:27:260:27:28

To do it, Muhammad had to win over

0:27:280:27:30

the trust of both the pagan and Jewish tribes

0:27:300:27:32

and make them work with each other

0:27:320:27:34

and with his newly arrived Muslim community.

0:27:340:27:38

Prince Hassan bin Talal of the Jordanian Royal Family

0:27:380:27:42

is an expert on the Constitution of Medina.

0:27:420:27:44

The constitution was necessary for the establishment

0:27:440:27:48

of a new diversity in Medina, that is to say

0:27:480:27:53

Muslims, Jews, Christians.

0:27:530:27:56

So it organised the relationship between Muslims, Jews and non-Muslims

0:27:560:28:01

on the basis of recognition of the importance of respecting the lives,

0:28:010:28:09

the properties, the places of worship

0:28:090:28:12

and in particular, ultimately,

0:28:120:28:15

respecting the relationship between the descendants of Abraham.

0:28:150:28:22

It regulated rights and obligations - in a sense it was a Magna Carta,

0:28:220:28:27

if you will, of the Muslims.

0:28:270:28:28

In the case of Medina, this was not a religious state.

0:28:280:28:32

On the contrary, it was a civil state

0:28:320:28:34

and the government and the people were subject to the rule of law,

0:28:340:28:39

which recognised their respective rights

0:28:390:28:41

and encouraged them to live together.

0:28:410:28:43

No complete copies of the original document have survived

0:28:430:28:47

and although a number of versions are found in early Muslim sources

0:28:470:28:50

written about a hundred years after Muhammad's death,

0:28:500:28:55

some historians doubt its very existence.

0:28:550:28:58

Was there a treaty of Medina?

0:29:000:29:02

We only know this from one set of sources, which had

0:29:020:29:06

their particular biases, their particular agendas.

0:29:060:29:09

There are some historians who are of the view that there wasn't

0:29:090:29:12

a constitution at all, there wasn't a treaty,

0:29:120:29:15

but this was something made up subsequently.

0:29:150:29:19

The historian's job in those circumstances

0:29:190:29:21

is extremely difficult.

0:29:210:29:23

According to the Muslim chroniclers,

0:29:230:29:25

there certainly was a treaty and there was a constitution.

0:29:250:29:28

Incidentally, if you look at the constitution

0:29:280:29:30

there is nothing in it that would surprise you

0:29:300:29:33

if you immersed yourself in the political sociology of that period.

0:29:330:29:37

It is absolutely unsurprising.

0:29:370:29:39

Thank you very much.

0:29:390:29:41

The Arabic used in it is archaic. There is every reason to assume

0:29:420:29:46

that this is a surviving document

0:29:460:29:49

from that period and it deals, essentially,

0:29:490:29:52

with exactly the sort of practical things that you would imagine.

0:29:520:29:55

What is going to be the position of Muhammad with regard to the tribes of Medina,

0:29:550:30:00

with regard to the property of the people of Medina and so on?

0:30:000:30:04

It's a very... it's not a blueprint for an empire.

0:30:040:30:07

'The Constitution of Medina is the earliest known model'

0:30:070:30:13

of governance in Islam and it clearly lays out the duties

0:30:130:30:18

and the rights of citizens,

0:30:180:30:20

as well as responsibilities of those that govern them.

0:30:200:30:23

For example, it clearly does away with

0:30:230:30:26

the whole customary practice of vengeance

0:30:260:30:28

and the practice of private justice, and establishes the rule of law.

0:30:280:30:32

This constitution, all the tribes of Medina they sign it together.

0:30:340:30:39

Including the Jews, including the pagans...

0:30:390:30:42

Including everyone, everyone.

0:30:420:30:44

They sign it to call what they call it Ummah...

0:30:440:30:46

The community...

0:30:460:30:48

Yeah, everyone is responsible for the protection of Medina,

0:30:480:30:51

and they are equal against the law.

0:30:510:30:53

They run a complete state with all its law.

0:30:530:30:57

For example, if any two Jews fight each other,

0:30:570:31:00

they will come to the Prophet

0:31:000:31:02

and he will judge them not according to Islamic law, to the Jews' law.

0:31:020:31:07

There is a complete court - everything is there as a state,

0:31:070:31:11

So he built what you call it a complete civilised state in Arabia.

0:31:110:31:16

The interesting thing about the constitution of Medina is that

0:31:200:31:24

it recognised that all these people,

0:31:240:31:27

pagan Arabs as well as the Muslims, the Ansar and the Muhajirun,

0:31:270:31:31

and the Christians in that city

0:31:310:31:34

were part of the same Ummah, of the same nation.

0:31:340:31:38

Nowadays, of course, Muslims often use the term Ummah to mean

0:31:380:31:44

the Muslim community, but that is not how it was used

0:31:440:31:47

in that very first constitution of an Islamic state.

0:31:470:31:52

So when people today say to me, "We would like to create

0:31:520:31:55

"an Islamic state here or there," I say to them,

0:31:550:31:58

"Will it be like the first one in Medina or not?

0:31:580:32:01

"And if not, why not?"

0:32:010:32:04

Although it survived throughout his lifetime,

0:32:040:32:08

after his death, Muhammad's Constitution of Medina

0:32:080:32:11

was first changed and, later,

0:32:110:32:12

completely discarded by later Muslim leaders.

0:32:120:32:16

This is one of the worst problems that we have today.

0:32:160:32:21

To me, the most important part of the example of the Prophet

0:32:210:32:25

and the message of the Qur'an is the acceptance of plurality,

0:32:250:32:31

the need for and the realisation that there are many faiths,

0:32:310:32:35

many ways and all capable of being a community, an Ummah, together.

0:32:350:32:43

I think Muslims marginalise this message.

0:32:430:32:48

I think they fail to hold it as the central principle of social existence

0:32:480:32:53

and by doing that, they actually defy the example of the Prophet.

0:32:530:33:00

Muhammad and his followers had arrived in Medina penniless.

0:33:060:33:09

And although they were now free of the daily persecution

0:33:090:33:12

they faced in Mecca, their enemies still sought to destroy them.

0:33:120:33:16

In tribal Arabia, vengeance was a very powerful motive.

0:33:160:33:20

The Muslims in Medina now faced a threat to their very existence.

0:33:270:33:31

The much more powerful Meccans, who had driven Muhammad out,

0:33:310:33:35

persecuted his followers by taking their property

0:33:350:33:38

and their very means of survival, were still plotting to destroy them.

0:33:380:33:42

Muhammad had to find a way over their enmity and fast.

0:33:420:33:45

Then, according to Muslim tradition,

0:33:450:33:48

Muhammad received a series of revelations

0:33:480:33:51

urging him and his followers to fight back

0:33:510:33:54

against those who had expelled them from their homes.

0:33:540:33:58

The exact interpretation of these verses

0:33:580:34:01

has remained highly controversial ever since.

0:34:010:34:03

Some have seen them as the validation for a "just war",

0:34:030:34:07

the occasional necessity to fight in self-defence,

0:34:070:34:10

whereas others have seen them as a justification for the killing

0:34:100:34:14

of anyone who doesn't accept Muhammad's message.

0:34:140:34:17

The revelation that is in the Qur'an in chapter 2, verse 191,

0:34:200:34:24

and again at 218, that persecution is worse than slaughter...

0:34:240:34:28

In other words, if the Quraysh are persecuting you, it's all right

0:34:280:34:31

for you to slaughter them,

0:34:310:34:32

which leads to a kind of elasticity of Islamic morality

0:34:320:34:36

without any absolute other than what is good for Islam is good

0:34:360:34:41

and any kind of moral principle otherwise can be set aside.

0:34:410:34:45

And so that as the basis of warfare

0:34:450:34:47

and also Muhammad's oft-repeated dictum, "war is deceit"

0:34:470:34:51

which is found in numerous Hadith,

0:34:510:34:53

it unfortunately lays the groundwork for a culture

0:34:530:34:59

that is often quite martial and belligerent

0:34:590:35:01

toward its neighbours and others.

0:35:010:35:04

The permission is only this, in the Qur'an -

0:35:040:35:08

you are under oppression,

0:35:080:35:10

the people are attacking you, you have the right to resist,

0:35:100:35:13

so this is why from the mainstream classical legal Islamic tradition,

0:35:130:35:17

it's the, you know, the defensive, what we call the defensive jihad,

0:35:170:35:22

which is - you are oppressed,

0:35:220:35:24

you can resist this oppression in the name of your rights.

0:35:240:35:27

So all the people and some of the Muslim groups

0:35:270:35:30

who are using these verse to say

0:35:300:35:32

"We can kill and this is a carte blanche for war," are wrong,

0:35:320:35:36

this is not what is said in the verse, the verse here

0:35:360:35:39

is they are attacking you, you have the right to resist

0:35:390:35:41

because at the end of the day, it's a question of survival.

0:35:410:35:45

Muhammad and his followers were engaged in a battle for survival.

0:35:540:35:58

He saw these revelations as justification to attack the Quraysh

0:35:580:36:03

where it hurt most -

0:36:030:36:04

their caravan trade with the outside world.

0:36:040:36:07

During March 624, the Prophet heard about an exceptionally large

0:36:080:36:13

Quraysh caravan returning from Syria back to Mecca.

0:36:130:36:16

He decided to capture the caravan in the desert.

0:36:160:36:19

For their part, the Quraysh had anticipated Muhammad might do this

0:36:190:36:23

and so diverted the caravan away from Medina

0:36:230:36:26

and instead, sent an army to intercept him.

0:36:260:36:30

The two sides met here, at a remote watering hole in the desert

0:36:300:36:33

called Badr.

0:36:330:36:34

And the two forces,

0:36:340:36:37

the force coming from Mecca and Muhammad's force coming from Medina,

0:36:370:36:41

meet up at the well of Badr.

0:36:410:36:42

There is a confrontation that probably only lasts a few hours,

0:36:420:36:46

between certainly less than 1,000 people,

0:36:460:36:49

probably 300 or 400 on Muhammad's side.

0:36:490:36:53

Possibly up to 900 on the Meccan side.

0:36:530:36:56

We're always told that the Meccans are more numerous than the Muslims,

0:36:560:36:59

but we've no real method of knowing

0:36:590:37:01

whether that's historical reality or not.

0:37:010:37:05

What was actually happening in the battle between

0:37:050:37:07

Mecca and Medina

0:37:070:37:09

in a sense, the Prophet in exile at Medina, was an ideological battle.

0:37:090:37:13

We think - we don't know for certain because it didn't happen -

0:37:130:37:16

we suspect that if the Meccans had won they would have

0:37:160:37:19

exterminated the heretics, as they saw them, the Muslims,

0:37:190:37:23

because they were too much of a threat.

0:37:230:37:25

The Meccans were defeated

0:37:250:37:28

and the threat to Medina was temporarily lifted.

0:37:280:37:32

Round one in this struggle for dominance

0:37:320:37:34

between Mecca and Medina went to Muhammad.

0:37:340:37:36

By modern standards, this was hardly a battle, more a skirmish.

0:37:370:37:42

But its significance was massive.

0:37:420:37:44

It was the first time that Muhammad

0:37:440:37:46

and his followers had gone to war in the name of God

0:37:460:37:49

and they were jubilant at this extraordinary victory

0:37:490:37:52

over the Quraysh.

0:37:520:37:53

Muhammad's reputation throughout Arabia was hugely improved.

0:37:530:37:57

But for the Quraysh, it spelt shame,

0:37:570:38:00

which could not be forgotten or forgiven.

0:38:000:38:03

This humiliation would have to be avenged.

0:38:030:38:07

It meant that Muhammad's prestige in Medina,

0:38:070:38:09

where he had just recently arrived, of course, shot up.

0:38:090:38:12

And also the booty

0:38:120:38:14

was extremely useful for rewarding his followers in Medina.

0:38:140:38:18

Having gifts to give and so on

0:38:180:38:20

made his position much, much stronger.

0:38:200:38:22

For Muhammad and his followers,

0:38:260:38:28

the victory at Badr had a deep religious meaning.

0:38:280:38:32

It was a vindication of the faith that had sustained him

0:38:320:38:35

and his followers for now nearly 14 years.

0:38:350:38:38

They saw it as God's approval for their new movement.

0:38:380:38:43

Ever since, Muslims have seen this early victory

0:38:430:38:46

as a divine deliverance, comparable to the Israelites' deliverance

0:38:460:38:49

from Egypt at the Red Sea.

0:38:490:38:51

One day, while he was praying, following this victory,

0:38:550:38:58

Muhammad received another revelation that would give him

0:38:580:39:01

and his followers a more distinct identity.

0:39:010:39:04

The revelation instructed him

0:39:070:39:10

to change the direction in which Muslims pray,

0:39:100:39:13

known as the Qibla.

0:39:130:39:15

Now, originally Muhammad and his followers,

0:39:150:39:18

just like the Jews and the Christians at that time,

0:39:180:39:22

prayed towards Jerusalem,

0:39:220:39:23

so that Qibla in this mosque here faces north towards Jerusalem.

0:39:230:39:28

But then according to tradition,

0:39:280:39:30

Muhammad turned the whole congregation around

0:39:300:39:32

and made them pray in that direction towards the Qibla facing Mecca.

0:39:320:39:36

And for that reason,

0:39:360:39:37

this mosque is known as the Mosque of the Two Qiblas.

0:39:370:39:43

Now this seemingly simple change was actually really quite profound

0:39:430:39:47

because it marked, first of all, the emergence of a new

0:39:470:39:51

and proud identity, that of the Muslims,

0:39:510:39:53

which was different, in how they prayed,

0:39:530:39:55

towards the Jews and the Christians.

0:39:550:39:57

It also means to this day that Muslims,

0:39:570:40:00

wherever they are in the world,

0:40:000:40:02

five times a day all pray in the same direction,

0:40:020:40:06

towards Mecca.

0:40:060:40:07

This change of the direction of prayer,

0:40:090:40:13

from Jerusalem to Mecca, is a curious moment

0:40:130:40:15

and some hostile commentators have seen the early element of Islam

0:40:150:40:20

as being too Judeaising

0:40:200:40:22

and, you know, drawn to the Holy Land, and Christianising about Islam

0:40:220:40:26

as being a revival movement that's going to purge

0:40:260:40:28

the Holy Land of all its problems

0:40:280:40:30

and create this sort of one unified faith,

0:40:300:40:33

but leaning very strongly on these previous traditions.

0:40:330:40:37

One could imagine

0:40:370:40:38

a process where as Islam wants to build

0:40:380:40:44

its distinct institutions, one of the other things it develops is,

0:40:440:40:47

of course, its own spiritual centre, Mecca.

0:40:470:40:50

And so one could imagine Mecca being consciously chosen as a way

0:40:500:40:55

of distinguishing this new faith from the ones that had gone before.

0:40:550:41:00

But not all the people of Medina welcomed this move

0:41:000:41:04

to create a more Muslim identity.

0:41:040:41:06

In particular, some of the more prominent Jewish tribes.

0:41:060:41:10

I can certainly envisage that the idea

0:41:100:41:12

that one should pray to anywhere other than Jerusalem

0:41:120:41:16

would have aroused enormous suspicion

0:41:160:41:18

amongst the Jewish tribes of the peninsula at that time.

0:41:180:41:24

The members of the Jewish tribes saw the new direction of prayer

0:41:240:41:28

as an act of defiance,

0:41:280:41:29

symbolic of their deteriorating relationship with Muhammad.

0:41:290:41:33

There is, as it were, a religious aspect to it and an economic aspect

0:41:330:41:38

that made relationships between the two very difficult.

0:41:380:41:41

The Jewish tribes were unable to accept Muhammad as the apostle of God

0:41:410:41:46

because that went against their scripture

0:41:460:41:48

and their tradition and so on.

0:41:480:41:49

So, there was a fundamental problem there.

0:41:490:41:52

But the other thing was just control of trade and resources.

0:41:520:41:55

There is a lot of struggle for the control of the economy,

0:41:550:41:59

if you like, the silver market and metalwork and things like that.

0:41:590:42:03

The newly arrived followers of Muhammad from Mecca were keen

0:42:030:42:07

to dominate the local economy.

0:42:070:42:10

The more powerful and successful Muhammad became,

0:42:140:42:16

the more his relations with the Jewish tribes worsened.

0:42:160:42:21

He expected their support in his conflict with Mecca

0:42:210:42:24

but they had lucrative commercial ties with the Quraysh in Mecca

0:42:240:42:28

which they were not about to give up

0:42:280:42:30

and so, according to Muslim tradition,

0:42:300:42:33

the Jewish tribes began to have secret meetings

0:42:330:42:36

with Muhammad's enemies.

0:42:360:42:37

Some of the pagan tribes that had converted to Islam also started

0:42:370:42:42

to resent Muhammad's success, and they too began to turn against him.

0:42:420:42:47

Muhammad now faced a dual threat from both inside

0:42:470:42:51

and outside his own ranks.

0:42:510:42:54

It wasn't long after the battle of Badr

0:42:570:42:59

that Muhammad began to encounter

0:42:590:43:01

his first serious problems with the Jewish tribes from Medina.

0:43:010:43:04

He learned of a series of secret meetings between the Jewish tribes

0:43:040:43:08

and his Quraysh enemies from Mecca.

0:43:080:43:11

Muhammad's fear was that if the Quraysh attacked,

0:43:110:43:14

the Jewish tribes may well swap sides wholesale

0:43:140:43:17

and help to crush him.

0:43:170:43:19

And thus he felt he had to act.

0:43:190:43:20

He surrounded one of the villages of the Jewish tribe south of Medina.

0:43:200:43:26

After a two week siege, they surrendered

0:43:260:43:28

and then they were banished en masse from Medina.

0:43:280:43:31

Part of the constitution that Medina had been a compact in which

0:43:310:43:37

people of different tribes and faiths could live together,

0:43:370:43:41

that the Jews had a right to live and function

0:43:410:43:44

within the society commercially,

0:43:440:43:46

to practise their faith, but what they owed the state was loyalty.

0:43:460:43:51

And what happens at a certain point is that the Jews,

0:43:510:43:56

not all of the Jews, but particular groups of Jews,

0:43:560:44:00

are seen as in effect committing treason, as aligning themselves

0:44:000:44:04

and making vulnerable the Medinan community,

0:44:040:44:07

allying themselves with the enemy.

0:44:070:44:09

The exact nature of the relationship between Muhammad

0:44:090:44:13

and the Jewish tribes is another controversial aspect of his life.

0:44:130:44:17

Most Muslim scholars regard the Constitution of Medina

0:44:170:44:21

as a formal treaty between the two

0:44:210:44:23

and that when some of the Jewish tribes met with Muhammad's enemies,

0:44:230:44:27

they broke that treaty. Others dispute this interpretation.

0:44:270:44:32

You speak about controversies or differences of opinion

0:44:320:44:36

about the treaty of Medina. Spell it out.

0:44:360:44:39

This is a dispute that I don't think historians can solve.

0:44:390:44:44

It's interesting that we don't really have

0:44:440:44:47

any reliable independent contemporary Jewish sources for this

0:44:470:44:51

so you can take the view that they entered into a treaty and broke it,

0:44:510:44:55

or you can take the view

0:44:550:44:57

that the treaty was a Muslim chronicler's invention,

0:44:570:45:01

in order to justify ex post facto what had happened.

0:45:010:45:06

There's a spark of realpolitik, of power politics,

0:45:060:45:09

by expelling these very wealthy communities

0:45:090:45:14

who had put themselves in each case in a treasonable situation.

0:45:140:45:18

On one level, the Prophet came with

0:45:180:45:20

a whole lot of penniless, migrant refugees

0:45:200:45:22

and certainly when the first Jewish clan who owned all this property,

0:45:220:45:26

owned all the valleys, when they had broken the pact

0:45:260:45:28

and negotiated outside, they made the whole point of him coming

0:45:280:45:32

to Medina was that he was going to be the chair

0:45:320:45:35

and stop all of this schism.

0:45:350:45:37

At that time, the acceptable punishment for treason was death.

0:45:370:45:41

So the fact that Muhammad

0:45:410:45:42

only banished this Jewish tribe from Medina

0:45:420:45:45

might suggest he was still hoping for

0:45:450:45:47

some kind of reconciliation with the others.

0:45:470:45:50

But relations between the two sides remained fraught.

0:45:500:45:54

Another event was to increase the tension even more.

0:45:540:45:59

Almost exactly a year after the Battle of Badr,

0:45:590:46:02

the Quraysh returned to Medina looking for vengeance

0:46:020:46:05

with a new army three times larger than Muhammad's.

0:46:050:46:08

This was no longer a tribal squabble,

0:46:080:46:11

but an all-out war of extermination.

0:46:110:46:13

Once again Muhammad decided to meet the Meccan forces outside the oasis

0:46:150:46:20

here at Mount Uhud.

0:46:200:46:21

But his forces were greatly depleted.

0:46:210:46:24

For one thing, the Jewish tribes decided not to fight

0:46:240:46:27

because it was the Sabbath.

0:46:270:46:29

And one of Muhammad's commanders deserted him,

0:46:290:46:32

taking 300 soldiers with him.

0:46:320:46:34

The Meccans, on the other hand,

0:46:340:46:36

were motivated by the desire for vengeance.

0:46:360:46:39

This time neither side was able to deliver a crushing blow

0:46:410:46:45

and the battle ended in a stalemate.

0:46:450:46:47

It was a hard-fought battle.

0:46:500:46:52

It was a draw, if you like, but the important thing

0:46:520:46:55

was that the Muslim community of Muhammad in Medina survived.

0:46:550:47:00

The crucial difference was that this time the Meccans

0:47:000:47:03

had some inside help. According to Muslim tradition,

0:47:030:47:05

some of the Jewish tribes in Medina

0:47:050:47:08

were now actively helping Muhammad's enemies.

0:47:080:47:11

The third and final battle took place in 627 AD,

0:47:160:47:21

five years after Muhammad had moved to Medina,

0:47:210:47:23

when the Quraysh returned

0:47:230:47:25

with a massive army of 10,000 warriors.

0:47:250:47:28

Muhammad could only muster a force of 3,000 and so this time

0:47:290:47:33

there was no question of him facing the Quraysh in open battle.

0:47:330:47:36

So he decided to fortify Medina against a siege.

0:47:380:47:41

Medina was relatively easy to defend

0:47:440:47:46

because it's surrounded by volcanic hills.

0:47:460:47:49

But its most vulnerable point was to the north

0:47:490:47:52

and so Muhammad adopted a very simple tactic -

0:47:520:47:56

he dug a huge trench and its effect on the Quraysh advance was dramatic.

0:47:560:48:01

This area of present-day modern Medina is where the so-called

0:48:040:48:08

Battle of the Trench took place. Over there

0:48:080:48:10

was the Meccan army and over there was the Muslim army

0:48:100:48:13

and the trench dividing the two forces.

0:48:130:48:15

The Meccan army was said to be so large that it covered an area

0:48:150:48:19

as far as the eye could see.

0:48:190:48:20

Thus began what must have been an incredibly strange standoff.

0:48:200:48:24

The Meccan army was absolutely unable to do anything.

0:48:240:48:28

They didn't have siege equipment in which to get over this trench

0:48:280:48:32

that Muhammad and his forces had built.

0:48:320:48:34

For his part, Muhammad was quite prepared to sit and wait

0:48:340:48:38

and allow the Meccans to get frustrated and leave.

0:48:380:48:40

Digging a trench meant that

0:48:400:48:43

the horses of the Meccans couldn't enter the city.

0:48:430:48:47

And it's been taken by Muslims through the centuries,

0:48:470:48:51

as a sign of Muhammad's astuteness in ordering, commanding

0:48:510:48:58

this different sort of defence which caught the Meccans off-guard,

0:48:580:49:02

it meant the strategies or tactics they were pursuing didn't work.

0:49:020:49:06

According to Muslim tradition,

0:49:060:49:10

after two weeks, the Meccans' supplies were starting to run out

0:49:100:49:14

so they asked their new secret ally, one of the Jewish tribes,

0:49:140:49:18

the Banu Quraiza, to attack the Muslim forces from within the city.

0:49:180:49:23

Whereas before, Jewish tribes had only traded with Muhammad's enemies

0:49:230:49:28

or refused to take up arms in support of Muhammad,

0:49:280:49:31

this time they were now on the verge of actually attacking him.

0:49:310:49:34

The Quraiza were inside Medina with Muhammad and the Muslims

0:49:370:49:41

and they had an accord

0:49:410:49:42

with Muhammad and the Muslims,

0:49:420:49:44

but after they had seen what had happened to the other two

0:49:440:49:47

Jewish tribes of Medina, the Nadir

0:49:470:49:49

and the Qaynuqa, they, understandably I think, reached out

0:49:490:49:53

to the Quraysh and offered to make an accord with them against Muhammad.

0:49:530:49:57

So you have these people,

0:49:570:50:00

part of the alliance of Medina,

0:50:000:50:03

siding with their most bitter enemy to finish off the Muslim community.

0:50:030:50:08

That was high treason because the Muslims, as the Qur'an tells us,

0:50:080:50:13

were shaken to the foundation

0:50:130:50:16

and thinking it was a loss - the end is nigh.

0:50:160:50:20

Muslim scholars claim that at the very least, the Banu Quraiza

0:50:200:50:25

betrayed Muhammad by negotiating with the Quraysh

0:50:250:50:27

and being on the brink of attacking the Muslim forces, even though

0:50:270:50:31

the Quraysh and their allies withdrew

0:50:310:50:33

before this attack could take place.

0:50:330:50:36

That's the traditional explanation. He was betrayed.

0:50:360:50:41

There is, by the way, no record of any actual attack of the Jews

0:50:410:50:48

against the Prophet or anything like that.

0:50:480:50:51

Now during this siege, the Quraiza lent weapons to the Prophet.

0:50:510:50:57

On the other hand, they probably also traded with the besiegers

0:50:570:51:01

because they were traders.

0:51:010:51:03

I think the Banu Quraiza probably did side with the Quraysh.

0:51:030:51:07

I think this would have been a natural thing for them to have done.

0:51:070:51:11

Jews are always looking for allies.

0:51:110:51:14

In the diaspora, a cornerstone of Jewish political theory

0:51:140:51:20

has been you meet and make friends with everyone

0:51:200:51:22

that you can meet and make friends with

0:51:220:51:24

and I think this would have been absolutely natural

0:51:240:51:27

for them to have done this.

0:51:270:51:28

If this plot had succeeded,

0:51:310:51:32

the Quraysh would have been able to enter Medina,

0:51:320:51:35

they would have slaughtered Muhammad and all of his followers

0:51:350:51:38

and his attempts to start this new religion would have come to a halt.

0:51:380:51:42

His reaction to this latest act of treachery would lead to

0:51:420:51:46

one of the most controversial incidents in his entire life.

0:51:460:51:50

Muhammad ordered his army

0:51:500:51:52

to surround the village of the Jewish tribe.

0:51:520:51:55

They held out for 25 days before surrendering.

0:51:550:51:58

He now faced a dilemma.

0:51:580:52:00

If he allowed them to go free, they could join the Quraysh in Mecca

0:52:000:52:04

and help them to crush him.

0:52:040:52:06

Rather than make the decision himself,

0:52:060:52:08

Muhammad agreed that an independent arbiter be appointed.

0:52:080:52:11

He allowed the Jewish tribal leaders to choose a respected local leader

0:52:110:52:15

to arbitrate and pronounce judgment.

0:52:150:52:18

It was the third time he was meeting some of the people

0:52:200:52:23

and saying, "I am now going to ask someone to judge you.

0:52:230:52:26

"Are you happy with this?"

0:52:260:52:28

And he asked Sa'd ibn Mu'adh to come and to decide.

0:52:280:52:32

He decided that the men should be killed and before this,

0:52:320:52:35

the Prophet said, "I am not going to judge. I am going to ask someone."

0:52:350:52:39

The point for us here is to acknowledge two things.

0:52:390:52:42

First, it happened that men were killed

0:52:420:52:45

but in a situation where he spared the life of the people

0:52:450:52:48

two times before and this was the last time

0:52:480:52:51

and say, "This is enough because you are continuing,

0:52:510:52:54

"even though we are sparing your life,

0:52:540:52:55

"to attack us, which was betraying us."

0:52:550:52:59

He said

0:52:590:53:01

all the fighters amongst Banu Quraiza should be put to the sword

0:53:010:53:05

and the women and children should be taken as captives.

0:53:050:53:09

This is what happened.

0:53:090:53:10

They were executed.

0:53:100:53:13

This is the first holocaust against the Jews.

0:53:130:53:17

How can a prophet order a massacre of 800 men,

0:53:170:53:23

even if they tried to kill him?

0:53:230:53:25

He could have banished them or he could have moved.

0:53:250:53:29

It had nothing to do with the fact that they were Jews.

0:53:290:53:34

They could have been a Christian tribe or any other tribe.

0:53:340:53:37

It wasn't a holocaust,

0:53:370:53:39

it wasn't directed at the Jews because of their religion.

0:53:390:53:44

If that was the case, it would have set a precedent in Muslim history

0:53:440:53:50

and we would not have found the golden age of Jewish Enlightenment

0:53:500:53:53

taking place under the Muslims in Spain.

0:53:530:53:55

If this claim was true, then we would have found the position of Jews

0:53:550:54:00

throughout Islamic history would have been very, very different.

0:54:000:54:04

It's this incident, perhaps more than any other,

0:54:060:54:09

that has led many critics to brand Muhammad as a bloodthirsty tyrant

0:54:090:54:13

willing to use all violent means in order to maintain his rule.

0:54:130:54:17

And it's also seen as the origins for much of the hostility

0:54:170:54:21

in the Islamic world today towards Jews,

0:54:210:54:24

and certainly, judging by our own standards today,

0:54:240:54:27

it was an appalling act of brutality,

0:54:270:54:30

but we have to see it within the context of the time.

0:54:300:54:34

The fact that very few people were shocked by this act

0:54:340:54:38

is a stark reminder of the brutality of the age and society

0:54:380:54:42

in which Muhammad grew up.

0:54:420:54:44

I think that the massacre at that time

0:54:460:54:49

had an impact on the outlook of Islam towards the Jewish world.

0:54:490:54:56

I think over the centuries since then,

0:54:560:55:01

the Islamic world has, in a sense,

0:55:010:55:04

bought into a particular view of Jews.

0:55:040:55:07

Now having said that, I think there are other factors

0:55:070:55:11

that have influenced Islamic attitudes towards Jews

0:55:110:55:15

but I think that was certainly one of them.

0:55:150:55:18

I think it seared itself into the Muslim historical memory

0:55:180:55:22

and to that extent it has had an impact

0:55:220:55:25

that we feel down to this day.

0:55:250:55:27

In some parts of the Muslim world,

0:55:270:55:29

and Muslim communities in the West, a new anti-Semitism

0:55:290:55:33

has appeared that claims legitimacy from the Qur'an.

0:55:330:55:37

Its offensive rants are to most

0:55:370:55:39

Muslim and non-Muslim ears, completely abhorrent.

0:55:390:55:43

SPOKEN IN ARABIC:

0:55:430:55:46

All the people who are confusing

0:55:590:56:02

some of the historical events with taking a position against the Jews,

0:56:020:56:07

only because they are Jews, are not respecting the Islamic tradition.

0:56:070:56:10

This is unacceptable, this is racist this is anti-Semitism,

0:56:100:56:15

this is against our religion.

0:56:150:56:16

We can't at the same time say "ummah ahl al-Kitab"

0:56:160:56:19

that they are people of the book

0:56:190:56:21

and they are following the monotheistic tradition,

0:56:210:56:25

and at the same time have racist statements

0:56:250:56:28

just targeting the Jews while the Prophet when he arrived in Medina -

0:56:280:56:32

this is something which is very important for us -

0:56:320:56:35

when he started this Islamic society with the rules -

0:56:350:56:39

he spoke about "al-ummah al-islamia", the community,

0:56:390:56:43

and he said... (IN ARABIC) ..they are members of our Ummah.

0:56:430:56:49

Who? The Jews and the Christians. So how come he is saying this

0:56:490:56:54

and now we come with these statements that are completely unacceptable

0:56:540:56:58

from an Islamic viewpoint and we are confusing what a state

0:56:580:57:03

a government can do, for example in the Middle East,

0:57:030:57:06

with what the Jews are.

0:57:060:57:08

The Jews are our brothers and sisters in faith and humanity.

0:57:080:57:12

The legacy of Muhammad's treatment of the Jewish tribes in Medina

0:57:120:57:17

is still with us today.

0:57:170:57:19

But at the time, it saw him emerge

0:57:190:57:21

as the leader of a powerful new movement in Arabia

0:57:210:57:23

that was gaining in confidence. But would this be his only legacy?

0:57:230:57:29

He was now in his late fifties and for most of his life,

0:57:290:57:32

had had to face brutal persecution.

0:57:320:57:34

He'd been forced out of his home town

0:57:340:57:36

and was engaged in almost continual bloody conflict.

0:57:360:57:40

In particular, Muhammad had to resolve

0:57:400:57:43

this struggle for supremacy with the Meccans.

0:57:430:57:46

Would that end in yet more violence

0:57:460:57:48

or could he find a safer future for his followers?

0:57:480:57:52

In essence, would Muhammad be remembered as a leader

0:57:520:57:55

and warrior who conquered Arabia,

0:57:550:57:57

or as a Prophet with a wider message for the entire world?

0:57:570:58:02

In the next and final part,

0:58:020:58:05

Muhammad faces his enemies one more time and wins, but through peace.

0:58:050:58:10

And he outlines his legacy in a final sermon in Mecca.

0:58:100:58:14

The Prophet's final sermon sets the agenda for modern contemporary

0:58:140:58:18

Muslim society.

0:58:180:58:20

It shows where we failed and it shows where we have to try to get to.

0:58:200:58:24

It sums up the transformative mission that was the life of the Prophet.

0:58:240:58:30

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.

0:58:450:58:48

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0:58:480:58:51

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