Al-Anṣār: A People Made Ready

Ibn Isḥāq goes on with the story of al-Anṣār. Who are al-Anṣār? Al-Aws and al-Khazraj, the two Arab tribes living in Madīnah, were called al-Anṣār — the protectors — once they became Muslim. They were descendants of the branch of Qaḥṭān: the Arabs are divided into ʿAdnān and Qaḥṭān, and Qaḥṭān are the Arabs, so al-Aws and al-Khazraj were of Qaḥṭān. They were neighbours to three Jewish tribes: Banū Qurayẓah, Banū Qaynuqāʿ and Banū Naḍīr. Madīnah was unique in offering protection from three sides: there were two rocky tracks to the east and west, inaccessible to armies, and then the trees and farms of Madīnah to the south, so that the only direction from which an army could attack Madīnah was the north — giving it this natural protection from three sides.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) visited the camp of al-Aws and al-Khazraj at Ḥajj — at that time, in fact, he visited al-Khazraj. When he came to them, he asked: "Who are you?" They said: "We are from al-Khazraj." He asked: "Are you the allies of the Jews?" They said yes. He asked: "May I speak with you?" They agreed, sat down, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) invited them to Islam. They were eager to hear what he said and accepted immediately, telling him: "We have left our own people, for there is such discord and dissension between them as is not found in any other people. Perhaps Allah will unite them through you. We will go among them and invite them to you, presenting this religion we have accepted from you, and if Allah unites them around you, no one will be dearer to us than you."

This was the immediate acceptance of Islam by this small group of al-Khazraj — the number was six. How did it come about that way? How did it happen that al-Anṣār were not resistant to the message of Islam as the other Arab tribes had been?

There are a few reasons for this. First, the people of Madīnah were in constant warfare among themselves. Al-Aws and al-Khazraj were fighting an age-old war between themselves — two tribes living in the same city, fighting each other — so they were yearning for peace. When these young men of al-Khazraj heard the message of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), they said: "Maybe Allah will unite us through you. We really need peace — we have been at each other's throats for so long." That was one reason.

Second, al-Aws and al-Khazraj had a natural attraction to monotheism, because they were neighbours of the Jews, and the Arabs used to see the religion of the Jews as superior to their own. Why was that? The Jews were learned; they had scripture, they had teachings, they had knowledge — while the religion of the Arabs was merely myths and idols and the killing of their daughters. If it were not for Jewish prejudice and arrogance towards the Arabs, al-Aws and al-Khazraj would most likely have become Jewish; but the reason they did not convert is that the Jews always treated them as a lower class, as if the Jewish religion were suitable only for the elite. Sometimes there were conflicts between the Arabs and the Jews, and the Jews would say that this was the time of a prophet who would appear, and when he came, they would follow him and kill the Arabs as the people of ʿĀd were killed.

Third, the Arabs also knew that this was the time of a prophet, so al-Aws and al-Khazraj were prepared for this message — Allah (swt) had prepared them. They knew of the monotheistic religion of the Jews, knew the value of tawḥīd, the oneness of Allah, knew that a prophet was coming, and needed peace.

Fourth, a few years before the hijrah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), a battle called Buʿāth occurred between al-Aws and al-Khazraj. It was such a violent war that it ended up killing most of the leadership then standing in both tribes — two clans with the majority of their leaders, their seniors, killed. So now there was a people looking for leadership; al-Aws and al-Khazraj no longer had that hurdle in front of them. Ibn Isḥāq says: "One way in which Allah facilitated their acceptance of Islam was that the Jews were there with them in their country. These were followers of the Scripture and men of knowledge, though they themselves were polytheists and idol-worshippers. Al-Aws and al-Khazraj had previously attacked these Jews in their territories, and whenever a dispute arose, the latter had told them: a prophet will now be sent, his day is coming, we will follow him and give you the same treatment as the peoples of ʿĀd and Iram."

This shows how Allah (swt) was preparing al-Aws and al-Khazraj for this great responsibility.

It could be that something is disliked, when it is good: the Battle of Buʿāth between al-Aws and al-Khazraj, though it caused much bloodshed and harm and killed many of them, was one of the reasons that brought them closer to Islam.

These six men accepted Islam, and they told the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): "We will go back to our people and start preaching the message." They made an appointment with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to meet him next year in the season of Ḥajj. A year passed, the season of Ḥajj approached again, and the six returned as twelve: the original six, all from al-Khazraj — though one narration says five were from al-Khazraj and one from al-Aws — joined by six more; in the second year, ten of the twelve were from al-Khazraj and two from al-Aws.