Muhammad
Break with the Jews
Sira traditions report that shortly after Muhammad arrived in Medina, the
Friday prayers were held, Muhammad gave his first message,^12 and a
constitution was drawn up to define the relationship between the Muslims,
Medinans and the Jews. However, evidence shows that the insti^3 tution of
the Friday prayers was a result of Muhammad's later contact with the Jews,^4
the traditional texts of Muhammad's first sermon differ widely from one
another, and the present form of the constitution describe^5 s situations which
could hardly have predated the battle of Badr.^6
From an Islamic standpoint, the inhabitants of Medina and its surrounding
areas were: the emigrants from Mecca, the Ansar (="helpers"; the Muslims
of Medina), the hypocrites (those who feigned to accept Islam), the Jews,
their Arab allies and the Arab pagans. In Sira traditions, Muhammad is said
to have paired the emigrants and the Ansar with each other in order to bond
them into a sort of clan. Nevertheless, the two Muslim groups^7 appear to
have been somewhat independent, since, for example, none of the Ansar are
said to have participated on the raids predating Badr.^8
The bonding of emigrants to the Ansar also had an economic side to it. Ever
since their arrival in Medina, the emigrants had been staying in the homes
of the Ansar. These no doubt supported them financially, as th^9 e alleged
terms of their bonding to the emigrants stipulated that they would support
and be able to inherit from one another. In that the emigrant^10 s had left their
own homes in Mecca, their economic situation was probably not the best,
and even the Qur'an describes them as having been "poor" (59:8).^11
Economically, Muhammad himself probably did not fare much better than
his followers. There are quite a few Islamic traditions about the poverty of
Muhammad and his family, which though generally discredite^12 d by
Western scholars, may have originally been based on Muham^13 mad's first
months at Medina. Some Sira traditions attempt to show that Muhammad
began the raids on the Meccan caravans as a result of revelation, but the
Qur'an verses cited in these traditions indicate that the armed conflict had