Banu Qaynuqa - Arrival of Muhammad

Arrival of Muhammad

In September 622, Muhammad arrived at Medina with a group of his followers, who were given shelter by members of the indigenous community known as the Ansar. He proceeded to set about the establishment of a pact, known as the Constitution of Medina, between the Muslims, the Ansar, and the various Jewish tribes of Medina to regulate the matters of governance of the city, as well as the extent and nature of inter-community relations. Conditions of the pact, according to traditional Muslim sources, included boycotting the Quraysh, abstinence from "extending any support to them", assistance of one another if attacked by a third party, as well as "defending Medina, in case of a foreign attack".

The nature of this document as recorded by Ibn Ishaq and transmitted by Ibn Hisham is the subject of dispute among modern historians many of whom maintain that this "treaty" is possibly a collage of agreements, oral rather than written, of different dates, and that it is not clear when they were made or with whom.

Muhammad's quick rise to power in Medina shook the pre-existing power relations that existed there, and caused resentment, jealousy among the Jewish and non-Jewish elites who were seeing their power on the wane. As a natural consequence, in order to protect their self-interest and maintain their privilges they may have come in contact with the enemy Quraish to restrict Muslims from gaining even more power. As such this suspicion may have given an impetus to the expulsion of this elite merchant Jewish tribe.