The City of the Prophet 55but among the Arabs themselves, and more specifically between
Yathrib’s two largest Arab tribes: the Aws and the aforementioned
Khazraj. While the origins of this conflict have been lost to history,
what seems clear is that the Law of Retribution, the purpose of which
was to deter precisely this kind of ongoing tribal conflict, had failed to
solve the long-standing quarrel. By the time Muhammad arrived in
Yathrib, what had probably begun as a disagreement over limited
resources had escalated into a bloody feud which had spilled over even
to the Jewish clans, with the Banu Nadir and the Banu Qurayza sup-
porting the Aws, and the Banu Qaynuqa siding with the Khazraj. In
short, this conflict was splitting the oasis in two.
What the Aws and the Khazraj desperately needed was a Hakam.
Not just any Hakam, but an authoritative, trustworthy, and neutral
party who was totally unconnected with anyone in Yathrib, someone
who had the power—better yet, the divine authority—to arbitrate
between the two tribes. How fortunate, then, that the perfect man for
the job was himself in desperate need of a place to live.
That Muhammad came to Yathrib as little more than the Hakam
in the quarrel between the Aws and the Khazraj is certain. And yet
the traditions seem to present Muhammad arriving in the oasis as the
mighty prophet of a new and firmly established religion, and as the un-
challenged leader of the whole of Yathrib. This view is partly the re-
sult of a famous document called the Constitution of Medina, which
Muhammad may have drafted some time after settling in the oasis.
This document—often celebrated as the world’s first written constitu-
tion—was a series of formal agreements of nonaggression among
Muhammad, the Emigrants, the Ansar, and the rest of Yathrib’s clans,
both Jewish and pagan.
The Constitution is controversial, however, because it seems to
assign to Muhammad unparalleled religious and political authority
over the entire population of the oasis, including the Jews. It indicates
that Muhammad had sole authority to arbitrate all disputes in Yathrib,
not just that between the Aws and Khazraj. It declares him to be
Yathrib’s sole war leader (Qa‘id) and unequivocally recognizes him
as the Messenger of God. And while it implies that Muhammad’s