lying, nothing intervened between the abode of the Khazraj and Harrata Wabrah in the
West. (Makkah wal Madinah, p. 311).
The Khazraj consisted of four clans: Malik, ‘Adiy, Mazin and Dinar, all co-laterals to Banu
Najjaar and also known as Taym Al-Lat. Banu Najjaar took up residence in the central part of
the city where the Prophet (r)’s mosque now stands. The Aus, who have settled in the
fertile, arable lands were the neighbors of the more influential and powerful Jewish tribe.
The lands occupied by Khazraj were comparatively less fertile and they had only Banu Qay-
nuqaa as their neighbors. (Makkah wal Madinah, p. 311).
It is rather difficult to reckon the numerical strength of Aus and Khazraj with any amount
of certainty, but an estimate can be formed from different battles in which they took part
after the Prophet’s (r) departure to Madinah. The combatants drafted from these two
tribes on the occasion of the conquest of Makkah numbered four thousand. (Al-Imta, Vol. I,
p. 364).
When the Prophet (r) migrated to Madinah, the Arabs were powerful and in a position to
play the first fiddle. The Jews being disunited had taken a subordinate position by seeking
alliance either with the Aus or the Khazraj. Their mutual relationship was even worse for
they were more tyrannical to their comrades in religion in times of clashes than to the Arabs
themselves. It was due to the antipaYour and bitterness between them that the Bani Qay-
nuqaa were forced to abandon their cultivated lands and resorted to working as artisans.
(Makkah wal Madinah, p. 322).