Muhammad: The Hijra
to the coming Messiah seem to have at least partially induced the Khazraj
to accept Muhammad as a prophet. The new converts are then sa^12 id to have
propagated Islam in Medina, and twelve men are reported to ha^1314 ve made
the Qur'anic women's pledge (cf. 60:12) at al-Aqaba (near Mecca) the following year. After their return to Medina they requested^15 that Muhammad send them a Qur'an teacher, and Musayb b. Umayr was sent. Musayb later returned to Mecca, and the Medinan Muslim^16 s came to
the pilgrimage to meet with Muhammad again. Some 70 men and t^17 wo
women pledged to support and defend Muhammad as one of their own in
this second meeting at al-`Aqaba, and twelve men were appointed to be the
leaders of the people.^18
During this time period, Muhammad is said to have dreamed he was to
marry A'isha. At first, Abu Bakr objected to giving his young^19 daughter, on the grounds that Muhammad was his brother in Islam, but Muhammad replied thatA'isha was permitted him. `A'isha is said to h^20 ave been six
years old when she was engaged to Muhammad, who was approximately 50
then.^21
Not long after the second pledge of al-`Aqaba, some Sira traditions report
that the command to fight against the pagans was given to Muhammad.^22
However, one version gives Qur'an 22:40-42 as the revealed command,^23
and another references Qur'an 8:40; both of which appear to^24 be Medinan
passages dating from about the time of the battle of Badr.^25
Although the Sira traditions are remarkably silent about how Muhammad
came to assimilate Jewish ideas and rituals, the canonical hadith very
strongly imply that there was such a period, which took place in Medina
prior to Muhammad's break with the Jews in 2 AH. It is reported that the
Jews (of Medina) used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then translate it for
Muslims, that in the absence of specific revelation Muhamma^26 d is said to
have followed the practices of the People of the Book, that h^27 e adopted the
Jewish fast on the Day of Atonement and the Jewish qibla (dire^28 ction of
prayer). Furthermore, the Qur'an appears to show that the "mi^29 ddle" prayer
(2:239) and the abstention from carrion, blood, pork and thi^30 ngs offered to
other gods (6:146) were the result of Jewish influences.^31