Where is yathrib located

Noted for its mosque enclosing the tomb and its palaces and fountains, the city was the refuge of Muhammad after his flight from Mecca.

The Arabic word for city, medina, connotes the center of political or economic power. Considered to be the second most important holy city of Islam, the city of Medina is located in a well-watered oasis miles km inland east of the Red Sea. Much fruit and some grain are raised in and around the city. The chief building is the large mosque, which contains the tombs of Mohammed, his daughter Fatima, and the Caliph Omar. When making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, usually a visit to Medina is part of the trip.

The city is surrounded by the low rugged hills of the eastern Hijaz Massif, which parallels the Red Sea coast. The Rahat Lava Field elongated, black features is to the south and east of the city. The complex geology of the poorly explored portion of Saudi Arabia known as the Hejaz, north of the Islamic holy city of Medina, includes geologic forms such as lava fields and flows, intrusive and extrusive basalts, extensive faulting, volcanos, playa lakes, as well as dendritic and trellis drainage.

Medina Ar. One of the sacred cities of Islam, the scene of Mohammed's labors after his emigration from Mecca, and the place of his tomb. It is about miles north of Mecca and north by east of the port of Yambu. The population was estimated by Burton at the time of his visit at 16,; a later estimate placed it at 50, It was by representatives of these tribes that Mohammed was invited to Medina; with them be entered into an alliance, and they were his "helpers" ansar after he had taken up his residence in Medina AD , though among the members of both tribes there were many who hesitated, vacillated, and occasionally took sides with the opponents of the Prophet, the so-called Munafikuna.

There was also a large Jewish population in Medina, the leading tribes being the Kainuka and the Nadhir, who were driven out after the battle of Ohod , and the Kuraiza, who were slaughtered by the Moslems later. Medina remained the residence of Mohammed even after the capture of Mecca in , and he died there in It was the capital of Abu Bekr , Omar and Othman , until Ali removed the seat of government to Kufa and Moawiyah made Damascus the capital of the Ommiad dynasty.

Two of its four gates, viz. The streets, between 50 and 60 in number, were narrow and paved in only a few places. The houses are flat-roofed and double-storied and are built of a basaltic scoria, burned brick, and palm wood.

Very few public buildings of any importance were to be noticed except the mosque, erected near the spot where Mohammed died. It is of smaller dimensions than that of Mecca, being a parallelogram, feet long and feet broad, with a spacious central area called al Sahn, which is surrounded by a peristyle with numerous rows of pillars.

The Mausoleum, or Hujrah, itself behind the mosque proper, is an irregular square, 50 to 55 feet in extent, situated in the southeast corner of the building and separated from the walls of the mosque by a passage about 26 feet broad.

A large gilt crescent above the "green dome" springing from a series of globes surmounts the Hujrah, a glimpse into which is attainable only through a little opening, called the Prophet's window; but nothing more is visible to the profane eye than costly carpets or hangings, with three inscriptions in large gold letters stating that behind them lie the bodies of the Prophet of Allah and the two caliphs Abu Bekr and Omar and an empty tomb for Jesus.

These curtains, changed whenever worn out or when a new Sultan ascends the throne, are supposed to cover a square edifice of black marble, in the midst of which stands Mohammed's tomb. The Prophet's body is supposed to lie undecayed stretched at full length on the right side with the right palm supporting the right cheek, the face directed towards Mecca.

Outside the drapery is the tomb of Fatima, the daughter of Alohammed. Close behind him is placed, in the same position, Abu Bekr, and behind the latter, Omar. The fact, however, is that when the mosque, which had been struck by lightning, was rebuilt in , three deep graves were found in the interior, filled only with rubbish. Many other reasons made it more than problematic whether the particular spot at Medina really contained the Prophet's remains.

Of the fabulous treasures which this sanctuary once contained little now remains. As in Mecca, a great number of ecclesiastical officials are attached in some capacity or other to the mosque, as ulemas, imams, khatibs, etc. The mosque was destroyed by fire in and was rebuilt ; it was restored in by Khaid Bey of Egypt.

It is one of the very few mosques with three minarets. From to the Karmathians were masters of the city. Medina recognized the authority of Selim I in It fell into the power of Saud, the Wahabi general, in , and was reconquered by Tussun Pasha in There are few other noteworthy spots to be mentioned in Medina, save the minor mosques of Abu Bekr, Ali, Omar, etc. The private houses, however, surrounded by gardens, fountains, etc.

A number of madrasahs, or endowed schools, represent what learning there is left in Medina, once famed for its scholars. As is the case with Mecca, non Mohammedans are rigorously excluded from the sacred city.

Muhammad built the first mosque in the courtyard of his house in Medina in It was one of the events that marked the establishment of the Islamic community.

Muslims assembled at this house-mosque for prayer and to discuss business matters. The mosque became Muhammad's burial site. The mosques of Medina, Mecca, and Jerusalem have special status in Islam. According to the hadith, a visit to the Medina mosque will win Muhammad's intercession on the Day of Judgment. The Kaaba, a shrine located near the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, is said to be the earthly representation of God's throne in heaven.

The Prophet's Mosque in Madinah is the second most revered place of worship for Muslims around the world. The Arab population of Yathrib were familiar with monotheism and were prepared for the appearance of a prophet because a Jewish community existed there as well. They also hoped, by the means of Muhammad and the new faith, to gain supremacy over Mecca; the Yathrib were jealous of its importance as the place of pilgrimage.

Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina; by June of the subsequent year, seventy-five Muslims came to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. A delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community.

There was fighting in Yathrib Medina mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of their own. The Hijra is the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina, kilometers miles north, in CE. Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until nearly all of them left Mecca.

According to tradition, the Meccans, alarmed at the departure, plotted to assassinate Muhammad. In June , when he was warned of the plot, Muhammad slipped out of Mecca with his companion, Abu Bakr. It is said that when Muhammad emerged from his house, he recited the a verse from the Quran and threw a handful of dust in the direction of the besiegers, which prevented them seeing him.

He stopped at a place called Quba, some miles from the main city, and established a mosque there. After a fourteen-days stay at Quba, Muhammad started for Medina, participating in his first Friday prayer on the way, and upon reaching the city was greeted cordially by its people. The Hijra and other early Muslim migrations.

The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, which he later renamed Medina, in CE. The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, Ummah , had a religious outlook, also shaped by practical considerations, and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes.

The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans.

This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, with some exceptions. Around CE, the nascent Islamic state was somewhat consolidated when Muhammad left Medina to perform pilgrimage at Mecca.

The Quraysh intercepted him en route and made a treaty with the Muslims. Though the terms of the Hudaybiyyah treaty may have been unfavorable to the Muslims of Medina, the Quran declared it a clear victory. Muslim historians suggest that the treaty mobilized the contact between the Meccan pagans and the Muslims of Medina. The treaty demonstrated that the Quraysh recognized Muhammad as their equal and Islam as a rising power.