From Makkah to Madinah

Persecuted in Makkah, the Prophet (pbuh) and his followers migrated in 622 CE to Yathrib, which became Madinah — Madinat an-Nabi, the city of the Prophet. This is the hijrah.

• The people of Yathrib had invited the Prophet to come and arbitrate between their feuding tribes.
• The Muslim (Hijri) calendar dates from this year — a sign of how important the community, not just the individual, is in Islam.

Muhajirun and Ansar

Muhajirun and Ansar

The new community was built out of two groups:

• The Muhajirun — 'the emigrants' who left their homes and property in Makkah.
• The Ansar — 'the helpers', the Madinans who welcomed them, shared their homes and wealth, and took them in as brothers.

Why this is examinable: it is the first practical demonstration of the ummah — loyalty to fellow believers placed above tribe, wealth and comfort.

The mosque

The first mosque

On arrival, the Prophet established a mosque — the Prophet's Mosque, Masjid an-Nabawi — which was not only a place of prayer but the centre of the community's life: teaching, meeting, welfare, and decisions.

The 0490 syllabus makes exactly this point about mosques today: the mosque is 'a centre for Muslim worship' and 'the centre of the ummah'.

Madinah is also the place where the Prophet (pbuh) died, and he is buried there — which is why Muslims often visit Madinah when they travel for Hajj, although visiting Madinah is not part of Hajj itself.

Where does it belong?

Tap a card, then tap the group it belongs to.

An agreement for a mixed city

Madinah was not only Muslim. The Prophet drew up an agreement — often called the Constitution of Madinah — setting out the rights and duties of the different groups in the city, including its Jewish tribes, and providing for common defence.

It shows the early community organising itself as a society: with obligations to neighbours, arbitration instead of blood feud, and protection for those who were not Muslim.

Zakah or sadaqah?

What the ummah means

The ummah is the worldwide community of Muslims. Belonging to it cuts across nationality, language, wealth and race.

• Muslims stand in rows in prayer with no reserved places for the rich.
• On Hajj, pilgrims wear simple ihram clothing so that no one can be told apart by status.
• Jumʿah — Friday midday prayer — gathers the local ummah every week.

The ummah

The Pillars hold the community up

The Five Pillars are the framework of Muslim life, and each of them binds the individual to the community:

• Shahadah — the declaration of faith that makes someone a Muslim.
• Salah — prayer five times a day, ideally in congregation.
• Sawm — fasting in Ramadan (Surah 2:183), which the whole ummah does together.
• Zakah — obligatory charity, redistributing wealth within the community.
• Hajj — pilgrimage to Makkah, the ummah gathered in one place.

Key terms

Tap a term on the left, then its meaning on the right.

Zakah and sadaqah

The syllabus distinguishes two kinds of giving:

• Zakah — obligatory charity, a fixed share of surplus wealth, given annually.
• Sadaqah — voluntary giving, any amount, at any time; it is especially encouraged during Ramadan.

Behind both lies the belief that wealth is loaned by Allah and that people will be judged by how they treated others. Muslim charities such as Muslim Aid and the Red Crescent work from this principle.

Madinah

Shariʿah: living as a community

The word Shariʿah means 'the straight path' — the code of behaviour that guides Muslim life. Its sources are the Qurʾan and the Sunnah, worked out by scholars through fiqh (jurisprudence), using tools such as ijmaʿ (consensus) and qiyas (reasoning by analogy).

From this come the everyday categories of halal (permitted) and haram (forbidden).

Evaluation

Is the ummah a reality or an ideal?

A common 0490 evaluation prompt: 'The ummah unites all Muslims.' Discuss.

• Support — shared shahadah, shared prayer direction (qiblah), shared Ramadan and Hajj; the zakah system moves wealth across the community.
• Challenge — Muslims are divided by nationality and by tradition (Sunni, Shiʿah, and others), and are affected by conflict and inequality like anyone else.
• Balanced view — many Muslims would say the ummah is a real bond and a demanding ideal that the community is still called to live up to.

The big ideas to know

You have covered the Madinah and ummah material in Cambridge 0490 topics I3.4 and I6. Press Finish to see your score.