EVENTS

622 CE / Help Arrives from Madinah.  13th Year of Prophethood

Important events and incidences that took place

The thirteenth year saw a greater number of pilgrims from Yathrib; seventy-three men and two women. Secretly, Muhammad contacted the leaders of the group and they agreed to meet at ‘Aqaba during the night on the second day following the pilgrimage. The Muslims of Yathrib kept the meeting secret stealing themselves away under the cover of the night. When they reached ‘Aqaba, men and women ascended the mountain awaiting the arrival of the Prophet.

The Prophet arrived with his uncle ‘Abbas who had not yet converted to Islam. He knew from his nephew that this meeting was to conclude an alliance which might incite Quraysh to a war of aggression as much as it was designed to achieve peace and security. Muhammad had informed his uncle that together with some members of Banu Al Muttalib and Banu Hashim he had agreed with the new group from Yathrib that they would protect him personally. Anxious to strengthen his nephew and people against a war whose losses might fall heavily upon Banu Hashim and Banu Al Muttalib, Abbas sought to make sure that among this group from Yathrib he would find real helpers and allies.  

Consequently, he was the first one to open the discussion. He said, “O men from Khazraj, Muhammad’s eminence and prestige among us are known to you. We have protected him even against those of his own people who think as highly of him as we do. Among us, he stands strong and secure. But he insists on joining your party. If you find yourselves capable of fulfilling toward him what you have promised, then you may proceed. But if you would betray him and send him over to his enemies once he has joined your party, you had better now say so and leave him alone.” 

After hearing this speech of ‘Abbas, the men from Yathrib said, “We have heard what you said, O ‘Abbas,” and turning to the Prophet, they continued, “O Prophet, speak out and choose for yourself and your Lord what you desire.” Prophet Muhammad, after reciting some verses from the Quran, preached his faith in God in moving terms. He then said to the men from Yathrib, “I covenant with you on the condition that you will protect me against all, just as you would protect your women and children.” 

Al Bara said, “We have covenanted with you, O Prophet. By God, we are men of many wars; we are men of the sword, having inherited it from father unto son.” Before Al Bara finished his words, Abu al Haytham said, “O Prophet, there are pacts between us and some Jews which we are going to denounce. Should your cause succeed later or among your own tribe, would you return to them and leave us alone?” Muhammad smiled and said, “No! Rather, your blood is my blood and your destruction is my destruction. You are of me and I am of you. I shall fight whomsoever you fight and make peace with whomsoever you will make peace.” 

The people were about to rise and give covenant to Muhammad when ‘Abbas interrupted and said, “O men of Khazraj! Are you fully aware of what you are about to covenant with this man? You are about to covenant with him to make war against all sorts of men without discrimination. If you have any fear that, should you lose your wealth and should your leaders fall by the sword, you might betray Muhammad, say so now and withdraw from this covenant. For if you do not and then betray your oath, you will have lost in this world as well as the next. But if you feel certain that you can stand by him and fulfil this oath, notwithstanding the loss of your property and the murder of your dear ones, then go ahead and covenant with him. He is, by God, the best gain in this world and in the next.”

All the people present answered together, “We take him despite all threats to property, wealth and life. Tell us, O Prophet, what will be our reward’ if we remain true to this oath?” He answered, “Paradise.” They stretched out their hands to him, and he to them, and the covenant was concluded. Thereafter, the Prophet said, “Elect among yourselves twelve representatives who will be responsible to me regarding your behaviour and conduct.” After they elected nine from Al Khazraj and three from Al Aws, the Prophet addressed them in the following words, “You are the guarantors of your people, just as the disciples were guarantors of theirs before Jesus, Son of Mary. I, for my part, am the guarantor of my people.” 

Such was their second covenant which included the words, “We have covenanted to listen and to obey in health and in sickness, in fortune and misfortune, to tell the truth wherever we might be and, at all times, to fear none in the cause of God.”

LESSONS & WISDOMS

622 CE / Help Arrives from Madinah

A closer look at the events; in search of deeper meanings and drawing lessons

In this year help came to the Prophet and his followers in Makkah from a people plagued with bitter conflict and civil war. They had just emerged from a savage conflict with a temporary agreement to stop fighting. The moderate amongst both sides called for a need to be united under one leader; someone who would unite them much like Qusayy had united Quraysh in the past. This background of the people of Yathrib helped the recent converts, who had just returned from the pledging allegiance to the Prophet, in paving the way for Makkan emigration to Yathrib. The events that occurred during this year hold the following points of wisdom:

1) There is an ‘Abu Lahab’ amongst every generation of people, who tries to undo the good work of others. He tries to erect barriers and ill feelings towards the callers of truth. The Prophet did not allow Abu Lahab and his ilk to prevent him from calling others, nor did he engage with him with much significance. Instead he would arrange nocturnal appointments with chieftains to avoid interference; and this is how the 1st and 2nd treaty of al-Aqaba was conducted.

2) Generally, one should not assume that a particular person or group of people will reject the call to truth and thus not approach them. The Prophet would approach people from every background to accept Islam and moreover his morale was not weakened by their rejection.

3) There were certain intrinsic characteristics within the people of Yathrib that made them more susceptible to accepting Islam. They had a sense of modesty, gentleness, and humbleness whereas the people of Makkah were quite arrogant and obstinate.  

4) In the second pledge of al-Aqaba, the Prophet asked the 73 delegates from Yathrib to select from amongst themselves 12 representatives instead of choosing them himself and by doing so was promoting the Islamic concept of mutual consultation. He also gauged from this the proportion of Kazrajites to Awsites; which was 3:1 and then appointed these chosen men as the head propagators of Islam in Madinah. 

5) Nearly all those present at the second pledge were also present in the battle of Badar; bearing testimony to their truthfulness to the covenant made.

EDICTS & RULINGS

622 CE / Help Arrives from Madinah

Revelation and rulings particular to this year

“The pledge of al-Aqabah was addressed by God in the Quranic chapter al-Fath:

Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to God; the hand of God is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with God, He will grant him a mighty reward. 

The last person to leave Makkah was Ali ibn Abi Talib who, upon the instruction of the Prophet, took up the Prophet’s cloak and lay in his bed to remain behind in Makkah whilst the Prophet made his exit. He assured Ali that no harm would come to him and left the house reciting the following verse from the Quranic chapter Ya-Sin:

We have placed a barrier in front of them and a barrier behind them, blindfolding them so that they cannot see.

CONTENTIOUS NARRATIVES

622 CE / Help Arrives from Madinah

Muhammad’s Harem

Muhammad’s harem has excited a good deal of prurient and ill-natured speculation in the West, but in Arabia, where polygyny was more common than the monogamous marriage that Muhammad had enjoyed with Khadijah, it would have been commonplace. 

These marriages were not usually about romantic or sexual love affairs but were undertaken for practical ends. Sawdah, the second wife of the prophet, seems to have been a rather homely woman, who was past her first youth; but she could take care of Muhammad’s domestic needs. Muhammad may also have hoped to win over her father Suhayl, a powerful chieftain, who was still undecided about the revelations. 

There was no impropriety in Muhammad’s betrothal to Aisha. Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at the time between adults and minors who were even younger than Aisha. This practice continued in Europe well into the early modern period. There was no question of consummating the marriage until Aisha had reached puberty, when she would have been married off like any other girl.

The age of Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, when she married the Prophet Muhammad is something that has only recently become controversial. The traditional account is that the marriage was consummated when she was nine years old, which naturally appears strange, if not uncomfortable, to many in a modern, western context. Many have gone so far as to stir up despicable sexual misconduct charges against the Prophet, with even some recent Muslims (of varying levels of intellectuality, motivations and scholarly qualifications) revisiting the sources and reinterpreting the traditionally adduced narrations, to suggest that Aisha may actually have been older, even though there are four authentic narrations in al-Bukhari and three in Muslim clearly stating that Aisha was married to the Prophet at the age of six or seven and subsequently the marriage was consummated three years later when she had reached puberty at nine.

The first most important point to note is that the controversy is a relatively recent one. The Prophet’s own contemporaries took no issue with the Prophet’s marriage to Aisha; it was not problematic in their eyes as puberty indicated maturity and maturity meant readiness for marriage. This includes both his disbeliever antagonists and his believing followers. Certainly, his antagonists were ever eager to discredit him, and the Qur’an itself records details of this. They accused him of being a sorcerer, a madman or a soothsayer. They objected to his marriage to Zaynab, remonstrating that (according to pre-Islamic Arab culture) a man may not marry the divorcee of his adopted son just as he may not marry the divorcee of his biological son. Yet they did not attempt to discredit him on the basis of his marrying a girl much younger than him. Neither in the Qur’an nor in any historical source is there any mention of such an objection having been raised, despite the fact that these sources do mention numerous other strategies used by the Prophet’s opponents.

The reaction of Muhammad’s hostile contemporaries implies that it was acceptable, in 7th century Arab culture, for older men to marry younger girls (even as young as 9), and moreover that it was a practiced norm of the society at that time. Instead of sexual promiscuity such as ‘dating’, honorable families instead chose the more respectable avenue of marrying their children off at a young age.

The general character of the Prophet, and his marital history, speaks clearly against claims of sexual misconduct. His first marriage, at age 25, was to a widowed woman (Khadijah) who was 15 years his senior, and he remained in a happy and solid monogamous marriage to her for a quarter-century; the marriage ending only with Khadijah’s death, aged 65. It was only subsequent to her passing away, and often under specific circumstances that he married other women; with all of them being either widows or divorcees. Aisha was the third wife of the Prophet and the only virgin that he ever married.

Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha must be read in context to early Arab culture, and to avoid viewing the veritable tapestry of human culture, across space and time, through the colored lenses of contemporary, western culture. A slight familiarity with anthropology is sufficient to convince one that there has been, and still is, remarkable variety in human cultural practices and norms. For instance the Catholic Encyclopedia observes about the Virgin Mary that, “it is possible that Mary gave birth to her Son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age.” In Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was only thirteen, yet her mother tells her that “ladies of esteem” younger than her are already mothers. According to the Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, both Christian Canon law and European civil law considered seven years as the age of consent, but judges in medieval England would approve marriages based on mutual consent at ages even lower than 7. As recently as the nineteenth century, ages of consent of 13 to 14 were common in Western countries. 

To conclude, Aisha’s biography attests to the fact that she had a wholesome upbringing and then blossomed to become a woman of high intellectual calibre, a poetess and a medical advisor. She had a sharp inquisitive mind and at times, as the Prophetic narrations show, would often daringly question the Noble Messenger. 

She is one of the fore-ranking specialists in narrating from the Prophet.  She was also a commentator on the Qur’an and knowledgeable in Islamic law. Much of this was due to her early marriage to Muhammad, which made her an eye witness to the personal details of his life. She became a beacon of knowledge for the succeeding generations and a role model for women for all times.