The Hijra and the Community at Medina

Facing growing persecution in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers migrated in 622 to the oasis town of Yathrib, later called Medina ('the city of the Prophet'). This migration, the Hijra, is so important that it marks year 1 of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad became both religious and political leader, mediating among tribes; an agreement known as the Constitution of Medina set out rights and duties of Muslims, Jews and others in the community.

Conflict with Mecca followed, including the battles of Badr (624) and Uhud (625), and tensions also arose with some Jewish tribes in Medina, episodes that historians reconstruct from Muslim sources written later. In 630, Muhammad entered Mecca with little fighting, removed the idols from the Kaaba and rededicated it to the worship of one God. He died in 632. The Medina period established the idea of the umma, a community bound by faith rather than tribe, and a model of religion and governance closely linked.