54 No god but God
dominated by some twenty Jewish clans of varying sizes. Unlike the
Jews who had settled throughout most of the Hijaz, who were mostly
immigrants from Palestine, Yathrib’s Jews were primarily Arabs who
had converted to Judaism. Apart from their religious designation as
Jews, little differentiated them from their pagan neighbors. Like all
Arabs, the Jews of Yathrib considered themselves first and foremost
members of their own individual clans—each of which acted as a sov-
ereign entity—rather than as a single community of Jews. And while a
few Jewish clans may have had alliances with one another, even these
in no way constituted a united Jewish tribe.
As the earliest settlers in the region, the Jews occupied Yathrib’s
most fertile agricultural lands, called “the Heights,” quickly becoming
masters of Arabia’s most prized crop: dates. The Jews were also skilled
jewelers, clothiers, arms makers, and vintners ( Jewish wine was con-
sidered the best in the Peninsula). But it was Yathrib’s dates, coveted
throughout the Hijaz, that had made them rich. As a matter of fact,
five of the largest Jewish clans in the oasis—the Banu Thalabah, the
Banu Hadl, the Banu Qurayza, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Qaynuqa
(who also controlled the city’s sole market)—enjoyed an almost com-
plete monopoly over Yathrib’s economy.
By the time a number of Bedouin tribes gave up their nomadic
existence and also settled in Yathrib, all the most fertile lands had
already been claimed. What remained were the barely cultivable lots
situated in a region termed “the Bottom.” The competition over lim-
ited resources had not only created some conflict between the “pagan”
and Jewish clans, it had also resulted in a gradual decline of the Jews’
authority and influence in Yathrib. For the most part, however, the
two groups lived in relative peace through strategic tribal affiliations
and economic alliances. The Jews regularly employed the Arabs to
transport their dates to nearby markets (especially in Mecca), while
the Arabs maintained a high esteem for the learning, craftsmanship,
and heritage of their Jewish neighbors, who were, in the words of the
Arab chronicler al-Waqidi, “a people of high lineage and of proper-
ties, whereas we were but an Arab tribe who did not possess any palm
trees nor vineyards, being people of only sheep and camels.”
The real conflict in the oasis was not between the Jews and Arabs,