and the Khazraj to give their faith readily to the Prophet (r). (Dr. Mohammed Syed al-
Tantawi, Banu Israel fil-Qur’an wal-Sunnah, pp. 73-101.)
The Jews of Arabia spoke Arabic although their dialect was interspersed with Hebrew for
they had not completely given up their religious aspirations. In regard to the missionary
activities of the Jews, Dr. Israel Welphenson says:
“There is less uncertainty about the opportunities offered to the Jews in consolidating
their religious supremacy over Arabia. Had they so willed, they could have used their influ-
ence to the best advantage. But as it is too prominent among every student of Jewish histo-
ry, they have never made any effort to invite other nations to embrace their faith, rather,
for certain reasons, they have been forbidden to preach this to others.” (Dr. Israel Welphen-
son; Al-Yahud fi Balad il-‘Arab, p. 72)
Be that as it may, many of the Aus and the Khazraj and certain other Arab tribes had been
Judaized owing to their close social connections with the Jews or ties of blood. Thus, there
were Jews in Arabia, who were of Israelite descent, with a fraction of Arab converts. The
well-known poet K’ab b. Ashraf (often called an an-Nadir) belonged to the tribe of Tayy. His
father had married in the tribe of Bani an-Nadir but he grew up to be a zealous Jew. Ibn
Hisham writes about him: K’ab b. Ashraf who was one of the Tayy of the sub-section of Bani
Nabhan whose mother was from the Bani al-Nadir. (Ibn Hisham, Vol. P. 514).
There was a custom among the pagan Arabs that if the sons of anybody died in infancy, he
used to declare to God that if his next son remained alive, he would entrust him to a Jew to
rear him up on his own religion. A tradition referring to this custom finds place in the Sunan
Abu Dawud.
“Ibn ‘Abbaas said: Any woman whose children died used to take the vow that if her next
child remained alive, she would make him a Jew. Accordingly, when Banu an-Nadir were
deported they had the sons of Ansaar with them; they said, “ We would not forsake our
sons”, thereupon the revelation came: “There is no compulsion in religion.” (Sunan Abu
Dawud, Kitaab-ul-Jihad, Vol. II).
AUS AND KHAZRAJ
The two great Arab tribes of Madinah, Aus and Khazraj, traced a common descent from
the tribe of Azd belonging to Yemen from where successive waves of emigrants inundated
the northern regions from time to time. The exodus was brought about by a variety of rea-
sons, some of which were the unstable political conditions in Yemen, Abyssinian aggression
and disruption of irrigation system supporting agriculture after the destruction of Ma’rib
dam. However, both the Aus and Khazraj came down to Madinah after the Jews. The Aus
settled down in ‘Awali, an area in the south-east of Madinah while the Khazraj occupied the
lands in the central and northern parts of it. With the northern part of the city being low-