7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7strained. According to Muslim sources, Jews rejected
Muhammad’s claims to prophethood and seem to have
joined with his opponents to defeat him.
A few emigrants from Mecca, with the approval of
Muhammad, went on razzias (ghazawāt, or raids) in the
hope of intercepting Meccan caravans passing near Medina
on their way to Syria. In 624 the raids led to military con-
flict with Mecca. On March 15, 624, near a place called
Badr, there was a battle in which at least 45 Meccans were
killed, while only 14 Muslims died. To Muhammad this
was a divine vindication of his prophethood, and the vic-
tory of Badr greatly strengthened him. In April of 627, a
great confederacy of 10,000 men moved against Medina,
but the army withdrew after a two-week siege. In 629 the
Meccans formally surrended and were promised a general
amnesty. Although Muhammad did not insist on their
becoming Muslims, many soon did so.
Ever since the Hijra, Muhammad had been forming
alliances with nomadic tribes. When he was strong enough
to offer protection, he made it a condition of the alliance
that the tribe become Muslim. Muhammad was soon mili-
tarily the strongest man in Arabia. By this time in Medina
he had also repelled all serious challenges to his control.
Jews in settlements north of Medina surrendered to him
and assumed what would later be called dhimmī (protected)
status, as did Christians in other parts of Arabia.
In 632, after performing one last pilgrimage to Mecca,
Muhammad fell ill in Medina and died in the arms of his
wife ‘Ā’isha, the daughter of his friend Abu Bakr. Since no
arrangement had been made for his succession, the Prophet’s
death provoked a major crisis among his followers. The
dispute over the leadership of the Muslim community even-
tually resulted in the most important schism in the history
of Islam: the one between Sunni Muslims, led by the caliph
(or official successor), and Shi‘ite Muslims, led by the