Madina is the second most sacred place in Islam as first one is Makkah. It is also known as Madina Munawarah which means “the enlightened city. This city has a great history and is very important place in the Islamic history. Therefore, knowing about the history of Madina is important.
The old name of Madina was Yathrib and it was named Madina after the advent of Islam. The word “Yathrib” is also in Surah Ahzab of Quran. “And when a faction of them said, “O people of Yathrib, there is no stability for you [here], so return [home].” And a party of them asked permission of the Prophet, saying, “Indeed, our houses are unprotected,” while they were not exposed. They did not intend except to flee.” (Quran 33:13)
In third century CE, there was a war between Jews and Romans. Many Jews went to Jerusalem and migrated to Yathrib (today’s Madina). A grand Roman force was sent to Madina to kill Jews. However, a community survived and when Prophet (SAWW) migrated to Madina there were good numbers of Jews around this city.
The Jews were waiting for a prophet and according to their texts, he would appear in Madina. They thought that a prophet would be from Jews and thus, they told Arabs that when their prophet would come, the Jews would destroy the idol worshippers. However, when Jews saw that the last prophet was chosen from the Arabs and not from Jews, their all pride got shattered and they rejected the final prophet of Allah. However, some Jews did accept the Islam and Hussain bin Salam was one of them whose name was changed to Abdullah ibn Salam by the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW).
While studying the history of Madina, we must know that Prophet (SAWW) was familiar with Madina even before the migration as he visited this place with his mother when he was a little kid. The father of Prophet (SAWW) was buried in Madina and his mother was also buried in a place near Madina.
One year before migration, Hazrat Muhammad (SAWW) sent Hazrat Mus’ab bin Umair (RA) to Madina on a mission to invite people of Madina to Islam. As a result, many from the people of Madina (Ansars) became Muslims at his hands.
When people in Makkah went so much against Prophet (SAWW) that they planned to kill him, Hazrat Muhammad (SAWW) migrated to Madina as per the orders of Allah. He migrated with Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique (RA). The people of Madina welcomed Prophet (SAWW) and Ansars helped those who migrated from Makkah to Madina (Muhajreen). In the form of Madina, Muslims got a safe place where they could rule and practice Islam easily. Also, they could easily spread Islam by living in Madina.
The name of the city was changed from Yathrib to Madinat-un-Nabwi by the Holy Prophet (SAWW) after he migrated to Madina in 622 (AD). It was because the word Yathrib means ‘blame and scolding’ so, he (SAWW) changed the name of the city with Madinat-un-Nabwi which means ‘the city of Prophet.’
Being Muslims, we all should study the history of Madina. It is important to know what events took place at this city in the past days. In this way, we will get knowledge about the past events and about our religion, Islam.
