We discussed the blessings of Madinah and the specialities mentioned about the c

ity.
Today we will talk about the demographics of Madinah. Who lived there etc. We al
l know there were two major ethnic groups living in Madinah. The jewish tribes a
nd the arab tribes. The first question is, where did these jews come from? What
are they doing in the middle of Arabia? Secondly, which arabs are these? Whats t
he relationship between them and arabs in Mecca etc.
This issue is a publicised one. This is because one of the accusations against I
slam is that Islam is antisemetic. And the prophet PBUH had inclinations to disr
egard jews. And the way the three jewish tribes, the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Qura
yza, and Banu Nadir. were treated one after the other is the basis for this accu
sation. From this, this is a key dawah question asked by people to us. We will s
ee exactly what happened. Our basis is not political correctness.
Where did these jews come from? And what are our sources for the Madinah period?
One of the biggest problems is that non Islamic references have no record of je
wish tribes. There are references to jews in Arabia in other sources, but from t
he Islamic sources we get all of the details. This is problematic for non muslim
s because they say these sources are biased to defend the prohpet PBUH at all co
sts. They think anyone who opposes the prophet PBUH will be painted in a negativ
e light. So much so, they think the leader of the munaafiq a noble man. The same
applies to the other story aswell.
We begin by saying there are major theories as to where these jews came from.
1. These tribes were sent by Musa AS himself. That Musa AS sent a small group to
this land as he knew the prophet PBUH would be coming to Arabia - but why would
he send his people to such a land when Musa AS is the current prophet himself.
Also Isa AS came next.
2. Another theory is that the jews of Madinah settled in Madinah after they were
expelled in Jeresullam. Sulayman AS was the king and prophet all the jews were
in Jeresullam - and he built the big temple of Sulayman. Over the next 100, 1000
years the power of that collapsed; the roman came into charge, then the christa
ins and then the sassanids etc. So it was controled by different groups at diffe
rent times until Umar RA conquered. There were two major expulsions of the jews;
and according to scholars they consider these two to have been the two referenc
ed in surah Isra. Some modern scholars say this reference in surah Isra is to a
future event and not a past one. Majority of scholars have understood it to be h
istory i.e. the two expulsions:
2a) 587BC: Nebucant Neza surrounded Jeresullam and for the first time in the his
tory of the jewish empire, he destroyed the actual temple of Sulayman. It was a
structure the likes of which man had never been. It was one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world. One of them was reputed to be the haykal of Sulayman - an
d the reason was the jinn built it for him. Allah says in the Quran, the jinn we
re 'architects' and 'diving deep into the water' to get pearls and treasure. All
ah tells us Sulayman was given this, thus the temple of Sulayman was an amazing
structure. But then Allah willed the first destruction occured, when the origina
l temple was destroyed. And this was the first time the jews had to flee: its ca
lled a diaspere and since this time they have never had a unified land (until 19
47). We know for a fact the majority of them went to Iran until finally a king a
llowed them to come back. But alot of them still stayed in Iran, thus Iranian je
ws are the most ancient of jews. Also they went to areas of Iraq: early Ummayads
was full of jews (as was Kufa and Baghdad). Its also mentioned some jews went t
o Yemen, but some scholars say they went to Yemen only during the second expulsi
on. In any case there is one theory a small group went to Hejaz (Arabia). But th
is is doubtful as it seems far too early for the entrance of the jews. This was

the first diaspora (expulsion).

2b) 70CE: One of the emporers rebuilt the temple of Sulayman and this aswell was
about to be destroyed and this led to a second diaspora.
2c) 132CE: There was a third diaspora when a group of jews revolted against the
ruler of the time as he wanted them to sacrifice a pig for an idol. The emporer
Hadryon slaughtered hundrededs and thousands of jews. It is said this wave of im
migrants some of them running and fleeing wandered down into Arabia; they come a
cross this fertile ground with date palms etc and they settled down there i.e. i
n Yathrib. One group settles in Yathrib, another in Kayba. Its also said another
group continues down until they reach Yemen - and Yemen at the time had the mos
t number of jews. Indeed the prophet PBUH told Mu'ad ibn Jabal "you will go to Y
emen which is a land of jews and chrisitans". Yemen was the only land with only
jews and chrisitans.
2d) Yet another theory is the oppisite: the jews of Yathrib are from the jews of
Yemen. The first theory has it the people from Jeresullam wonder down, settle i
n Yathrib first and then go to Yemen. This says from Yemen small pockets immigra
ted to varying lands working their way up and so some of them end up in Yathrib.
In either case it establishes a relationship between Yemen and the jews. This m
akes complete sense and fits in perfectly as we will see.
Some modern researches looking at the reports at jews in MAdinah and seeing what
they had i.e. institutions, phrases etc. They were trying to reconstruct who th
ese jews were. They say the jews from Madinah were not from sects of mainstream
Judaism. Rather they were from an ancient sect, the Karaites. The reject the aut
hority of the rabbis and say to follow the Torah directly. This is oppisite to R
ibinic Judaism which follow what the rabbis say. So it appears the jews of Madin
ah were Karaites. Thus the theory that these jews were expelled from Jeresullam
makes sense as at this time Karaites jews were large in number. Ribinic Judaism
began around 500CE and the expulsion took place around 100CE. Since these jews h
ave nothing to do with Ribinic Judaism, it adds weight to the fact these jews ar
e Karaites from Jeressulam.
They were three jewish tribes: banu Qaynuqa, banu Qurayda and Banu Nadir. Jews d
o not have tribes. This was an arab tradition. Even at the time of the expulsion
s there were no tribes; they were just one nation, one ethnic group. How did the
se jews get divided into three tribes when if the story is correct that they all
settled together in Yathrib. In the wars of Buath there was a civil war between
the arabs and the jews. The Aws were fighting the Khazraj and the jews were fig
hting each other. So the theory is there is an element in truth in more than one
of the stories: these three tribes represent three new immigrants into Yathrib
and therefore they were split into three different tribes.
The second group of people in Madinah are the Arabs and we know the arab tribes;
in fact their lineage is mapped out. Some modern scholars say actually the jews
were really just arabs that converted to Judaism - this is a ridiculous theory
though because we would know their lineage. But these three tribes appear out of
nowhere. There is no connection to Adnaan or Kahthaan at all. We can trace ever
y single tribe baack to one of them. But we simply cannot for the jewish tribes.
Even their names are not arab names.
The Aws and the
The civil wars
em was the wars
Aws and Khazraj

Khazraj are descendants of Kahthaan (Adnaan is with each other.

between the Aws and Khazraj lasted 100 years and the worst of th
of Bu'ath. Its also known the allied jewish tribes financed the
- whether they actually fought in the civil wars, we don't know.

How many people in Yathrib? Total population of the three jewish tribes seems to
be 2000 men. Adding the women and children, we can say roughly 6000 jews. We al

so know in the conquest of Mecca, the Ansar had 4000-5000 men participating, so
that's around 15,000 Arabs. So they were far more in number but the jews had the
power because they had the money, land and fortresses. So roughly around 20,000
people in Yathrib.
We conclude by talking about the prophet PBUH's arrival into Madinah. We discuss
ed the Hijrah and the various stories that happened along the way. So now the ne
ws has spread the prophet PBUH is about to arrive. Every single day the Ansar wo
uld go outside the city towards Kuba waiting for the prophet PBUH to come. Every
day they would go in the morning and wait until around 11AM until the son got t
oo hot. One day they waited for him, but went back to their houses as nothing ha
ppened. However in the distance the prophet PBUH appeared but there was no Ansar
there. It so happened on the jews was on the top of the tree plucking the dates
- so he was the first to see in the distance the prophet PBUH was coming. And t
he excitement of seeing the prophet PBUH he shouted out "Our Arabs your king has
arrived". Notice he says "your" - why? From the beginning they never expected t
he prophet PBUH to be their king, let along a ruler. The Ansar rushed out in hoa
rds hundreds of them. The prophet PBUH entered on a Monday in the 14th year of t
he dawah which is the 1st year of the Hijrah on the 2nd or 12th of Rabbi Awwal.
Al Bara ibn Azim narrates in Muslim "I saw the Ansar all dressed up and coming o
ut. Over 500 men came outside; all of them armed and dressed to accompany the pr
ophet PBUH. The women climbed up on the hosues. The prophet PBUH are surrounded
by hundreds of people all believing in him. For the first time we get a glimmer
of hope that change is in the air. There is a freshness happening that people in
the thousands are throwing themselves at him. And that we can sense the blessin
gs of Allah will flourish a new era.