Misplaced Pages

Banu Najjar

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Banu Najjar ( Arabic : بَنُو نَجَّار , "sons of the carpenter") or Banu al-Naggar is the name of several unrelated historical and modern-day tribes throughout the Arab world . The individual tribes vary in religious composition.

#346653

33-554: One Banu Najjar group is mentioned in the Charter of Medina , and the Banu Najjar of Medina were the maternal clan of Muhammad's grandfather Abdul-Muttalib . Islamic historians like Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and al-Tabari list them as a clan of the large Banu Khazraj tribe of Medina. Al-Asqalani states that their ancestor was Taymallah ibn Thalabah ibn Amr ibn al-Khazraj. The Banu Najjar had at least three sub-clans. Before Islam,

66-554: A delegation from Medina from its twelve important clans invited him as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community. There had been fighting in Medina involving mainly its pagan and Jewish inhabitants for around 100 years before 620. The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans had been involved, made it obvious to them that

99-498: A few remain skeptical however, including Robert Hoyland, and some others think that the Constitution existed but its wording or content is no longer accessible. In the case of some historians, skepticism is constrained to particular aspects of the Constitution as well as the context of its emergence; disagreements persist on whether the documents resulted from negotiated settlements or were merely unilateral edicts by Muhammad,

132-417: A hadith attributed to Muhammad. This article about ethnicity is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Saudi Arabia related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Constitution of Medina The Constitution of Medina ( Arabic : وثيقة المدينة , romanized :  Waṯīqat al-Madīna ; or صحیفة المدينة , Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna ; also known as

165-562: A kind of alliance or federation" of the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca and specifying the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina, including that of the Muslim community to other communities: the Jews and the other " Peoples of the Book ". According to chroniclers such as Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (785-845 CE), the composition of

198-523: A remainder, a so-called " edited " version of Ibn Ishaq's original text (otherwise lost). In addition, Guillaume (1955) , p. xxxi points out that Ibn Hisham's version omits various narratives in the text which were given by al-Tabari in his History . In these passages al-Tabari expressly cites Ibn Ishaq as a source. Thus can be reconstructed an 'improved' " edited " text, i.e., by distinguishing or removing Ibn Hisham's additions, and by adding from al-Tabari passages attributed to Ibn Ishaq. Yet

231-482: Is an important event in the development of the small group of Muslims in Medina to the larger Muslim community and empire. Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah (Ibn Ishaq) Sirat Rasul Allah (The Life of God's Messenger) is a biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Ibn Hisham published a further revised version of the book, under the same title Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah . Ibn Isḥaq collected oral traditions about

264-457: Is based on its inclusion of non-Muslims and its portrayal of the Quraysh as enemies of God, a view inconsistent with later Islamic periods. Other factors include the perceived archaic style of the text, its abundance of unexplained allusions that were considered to be likely understood only by contemporaries, and its apparent inclination towards tribal law over developed Islamic norms. At least

297-565: Is based on the version of the document found in Ibn Hisham's recension of the Seerah of Ibn Ishaq , Abu Ubaid's Kitab-al-Amwal , and Ibn Kathir's al-Bidaya wa l-Nihaya . The translation was aimed at being clear, with clauses numbered in line with international standards for ease of future reference. There is general agreement on the authenticity of the text. The Constitution is only known from excerpts in early Muslim sources , primarily

330-565: Is no single sound chain of authorities ( isnad ) supporting it. There are differences of opinion as well as to how many documents the constitution comprises—from one to eight. It is also unclear with which Jews this agreement was made, whether it was only with some of the smaller Jewish social units that had lost their tribal structure and affiliated with the Arabs , with the Judaized Arabs, or also included what later sources described as

363-527: The Al-Sīrah Al-Nabawiyyah of Ibn Hisham (early 800s CE), a recension of the Al-Sīrah Al-Nabawiyyah of Ibn Ishaq , though transmitted without a chain of narration, a crucial criterion for hadith scholars. Other important sources for the Constitution includes those of Sayyid al-Nas and the Kitab al-Amwal of Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam . According to L. Ali Khan, scholars do not agree on whether

SECTION 10

#1732772887347

396-712: The Quran . The name "Constitution of Medina" is misleading as the text did not establish a state. The name was coined by modern historians, whereas source texts just describe it as a document ( kitāb , ṣaḥīfah ). The text was recorded by Ibn Ishaq and Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam , though how they encountered the text is unclear. Nevertheless, it is widely accepted as authentic. It may have been preserved due to interest in its manner of administration. According to traditional Islamic belief, in Muhammad's last years in Mecca,

429-544: The Sīrat Rasūl Allāh by Ibn Ishaq did not survive. Yet it was one of the earliest substantial biographies of Muhammad. However, much of the original text was copied over into a work of his own by Ibn Hisham ( Basra ; Fustat , died 833 AD, 218 AH). Ibn Hisham also "abbreviated, annotated, and sometimes altered" the text of Ibn Ishaq, according to Guillaume (1955) , p. xvii. Interpolations made by Ibn Hisham are said to be recognizable and can be deleted, leaving as

462-712: The Umma Document ), is a document dealing with tribal affairs during the Islamic prophet and later Statesman Muhammad 's time in Medina and formed the basis of a multi-religious state under his leadership. Many tribal groups are mentioned, including the Banu Najjar and Quraysh , as well as many tribal institutions, like vengeance, blood money , ransom , alliance, and clientage . The Constitution of Medina has striking resemblances with Surah 5 (Al-Ma'idah) of

495-474: The "main binding tie" for the newly created ummah is religion. That contrasts with the norms of pre-Islamic Arabia, which was a thoroughly tribal society, but Serjeant postulates the existence of earlier theocratic communities. According to Denny, "Watt has likened the Ummah as it is described in the document to a tribe, but with the important difference that it was to be based on religion and not on kinship". That

528-399: The 622 CE drafting. Others, such as Hubert Grimme, suggested that it must have been drafted after the 624 CE Battle of Badr . Still others, such as Leone Caetani , suggested that the document was written before that battle. Portions of the constitution are corroborated by multiple sound hadith reports. Its validity in its stated single form, however, has been called into question, as there

561-411: The Banu Najjar of Medina practiced notably traditional Arab polytheism, and owned idols named Samul, Husa, and at-Tamm that were destroyed after the clan converted to Islam. They may have had a tribal alliance with Jews of Medina. Muhammad initially settled with them when he emigrated from Mecca to Medina. The Prophet's Mosque was later built in the tribe's garden. The Banu Najjar are praised in

594-469: The Constitution of Medina must have been written in the early Medinan period (i.e., in 622 CE or shortly thereafter), because if the document had been drafted any later, then it would have both had a positive attitude towards the Quraysh and given Muhammad a more prominent place. Malay scholars, Fadzilah Din and Mohamed Noh Abdul Jalil, as well as the noted Pakistani scholar, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri , cite

627-520: The Hungarian scholar Edward Rehatsek prepared an English translation, but it was not published until over a half-century later. The best-known translation in a Western language is Alfred Guillaume 's 1955 English translation, but some have questioned the reliability of this translation. In it Guillaume combined ibn Hisham and those materials in al-Tabari cited as ibn Isḥaq's whenever they differed or added to ibn Hisham, believing that in so doing he

660-412: The constitution was a single document or "a compilation of multiple agreements reached at different times". According to mid-20th century scholar, Robert Bertram Serjeant , the 'Constitution of Medina' consists of "eight distinct documents ... issued on various occasions over the first seven years or so of Muhammad's Medinan period". In its first recension , Serjeant hypothesizes that the text sanctioned

693-572: The constitution's more interesting aspects was the inclusion of the Jewish tribes in the ummah because although the Jewish tribes were "one community with the believers", they also "have their religion and the Muslims have theirs". L. Ali Khan says that it was a social contract derived from a treaty and not from any fictional state of nature or from behind the Rawlsian veil of ignorance . It

SECTION 20

#1732772887347

726-634: The establishment of a confederation; in its second, it admonished the Aws and Khazraj to abide by their treaty; in its third, in conjunction with the proceeding verses, it encouraged of Muhammad's adherents to face the Meccan forces they eventually fought at Uhud . He also suggests that 3:101–104 of the Qur'an may refer to the constitution. The Constitution has been highly influential among contemporary Muslims, celebrated for its religious pluralism, unique character and

759-416: The first "Constitution" and belief that God is its ultimate source. On the other hand, historians have variously characterized it as a "municipal charter” ( Gemeindeordnung ); or as a "unilateral proclamation" by Muhammad, whose "purpose was purely practical and administrative", rather than a treaty in the modern sense. Most historians have accepted the authenticity of the Constitution of Medina. This

792-494: The ideal that he cherished of an ummah (community) based clearly on a religious outlook to sink temporarily into the background and is shaped essentially by practical considerations." Another important feature of the Constitution of Medina is the redefinition of ties between "Believers" (as they are described in the document). It sets faith relationships above blood-ties and emphasizes individual responsibility. Tribal identities are still important to refer to different groups, but

825-399: The identity of participants (including uncertainty about the inclusion of the three major Jewish tribes of Medina— Banu Qaynuqa , Banu Nadir , and Banu Qurayza ), the quantity of documents, the precise timing of its creation (or that of its constituent parts), and the appropriate approach to its translation, among other issues. One 20th-century scholar, W. Montgomery Watt , suggested that

858-852: The justification for Muhammad's subsequent attacks on the Jews as retaliation for their opposition to him. There is a suggestion, however, that if this constitution really existed, it was probably created after the elimination of the three major Jewish clans in Medina by Muhammad and his troops. Another question raised about the constitution is that though it gives a list of Jewish tribes/clans of Medina involved, not among them are three famous in traditional Islamic history for being driven into exile (the Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir tribes) or "massacred and dumped into pits" (the Banu Qurayza tribe), after conspiring and rising up against Muhammad. One of

891-490: The life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. These traditions, which he orally dictated to his pupils, are now known collectively as Sīrat Rasūl Allāh ( Arabic : سيرة رسول الله "Life of the Messenger of God"). His work is entirely lost and survives only in the following sources: According to Donner, the material in ibn Hisham and al-Tabari is "virtually the same". However, there is some material to be found in al-Tabari that

924-533: The population of Medina at that time consisted of two supergroup local Arab tribes, the Aus and the Khazraj, with eight clans and 33 other smaller groups under them. Meanwhile, the Jewish tribes at least consisted of around 20 groups, with the most well-known tribes Qaynuqa, Nadhir, and Qurayza among them, (who are not mentioned in the agreement). The following English translation is that of Michael Lecker from 2004. It

957-654: The result's degree of approximation to Ibn Ishaq's original text can only be conjectured. Such a reconstruction is available, e.g., in Guillaume's translation. Here, Ibn Ishaq's introductory chapters describe pre-Islamic Arabia , before he then commences with the narratives surrounding the life of Muhammad (in Guillaume (1955) , pp. 109–690). In 1864 the Heidelberg professor Gustav Weil published an annotated German translation in two volumes. Several decades later

990-498: The three major Jewish clans in the city, namely Banu Qaynuqa , Banu Nadir , and Banu Qurayza , (who are not mentioned in the agreement). This constitution gave the Islamic prophet Muhammad , who had just escaped persecution in Mecca , a leading role in the community of Medina. By dating this treaty at the outset of his arrival, it credited Muhammad with honor and power earlier than he would later gain, but more importantly, it gives

1023-410: The tribal conceptions of blood feud and an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless there was one man with the authority to adjudicate in disputed cases. The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and to protect him physically as if he was one of them. After emigration to Medina, Muhammad drafted the constitution, "establishing

Banu Najjar - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-461: Was built upon the concept of one community of diverse tribes living under the sovereignty of one God . It also instituted peaceful methods of dispute resolution among diverse groups living as one people but without assimilating into one religion, language or culture. Welch in Encyclopedia of Islam states: "The constitution reveals Muhammad 's great diplomatic skills, for it allows

1089-637: Was not preserved by ibn Hisham. For example, al-Tabari includes the controversial episode of the Satanic Verses , while ibn Hisham does not. Following the publication of previously unknown fragments of ibn Isḥaq's traditions, recent scholarship suggests that ibn Isḥaq did not commit to writing any of the traditions now extant, but they were narrated orally to his transmitters. These new texts, found in accounts by Salama al-Ḥarranī and Yūnus ibn Bukayr, were hitherto unknown and contain versions different from those found in other works. The original text of

#346653