76 THE MADINA PERIOD

a goodly abode in this world, but greater the reward of the next life, did they but know it. 43.
To those who after their trials fled their country, then fought and endured with patience, verily thy Lord will in the end be forgiving, gracious. 111.

The climate of Madina did not suit the Immigrants who longed for their native air, and so it was necessary to induce them to settle down by bringing them into greater unity with the Ansar. A feast of fraternity was made between the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and about fifty men from each party entered into a bond of brotherhood so close that in the event of one dying his adopted brother became his heir. This custom lasted about a year and a half, after which it was not needed and the usual law of inheritance was carried out.

The next step was to form a constitution, and a treaty offensive and defensive between all the Muslims (into which Jews for war purposes were admitted).1 The general purport of it was that they
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who deny this say that, the reference is to the refugees who went to Abyssinia (ante, p. 30). The commentator Husain says that the reference in verse forty-three is to the flight to Abyssinia, but that the 'goodly abode' is Madina and that the flight referred to in verse one hundred and eleven is the Hijra:—
لِلَّذينَ هَاجَرُوا مر آنانرا كة هجرت كردند بسوى مدينة
Other verses in this Sura, such as 115-17, 119, are evidently Madina portions.
The Muhajirun are also referred to in the seventy third verse of the Sura Al-Anfal (viii) as having the rights of kinship, but by that time such a bond was no longer needed, and so in verse seventy-six such rights are cancelled, where in contrast with the Muhajirun and the Ansar those who have real blood relationship are to be preferred. The commentator Husain on this verse says:—
اين آيت ناسخ توارث آن جماعت است بسبب هجرت ونصرت ميراث ميكيرند
'This verse abrogates the inheriting of those who, on account of the Hijra and the victory, had obtained an inheritance.' Vol. i, p. 246.
1 Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 78 is said to refer to this.
POSITION OF THE JEWS 77

were to help one another, to avenge even on a believer the slaughter of a believer, to pay their own expenses in war, to hold Madina sacred and inviolable, to receive privileges for those under their protection, and in all matters of dispute to submit to the decision of the Prophet. The Jews were allowed to retain their own religion, but were not permitted to go to war without the express sanction of Muhammad. He thus, at this early stage, became the dictator in all matters, religious, civil and military, and made use of the Jews as auxiliaries in war. At this period, however, he did all he could to conciliate them. Margoliouth gives several instances from Muslim authorities which show this.1 When the chief of the Bani Najjar died, the Jews came to Muhammad and asked him to appoint a successor. He said, 'You are my maternal uncles, I belong to you, I will be your chief.' 2

It was at this time when Muhammad was feeling his way in Madina that the famous verse, 'Let there be no compulsion in religion,' 3 was revealed. Whether it refers to the attitude then to be adopted
1 Mohammed, p. 226.
2 Ibn Ishaq quoted by Koelle in Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 123.
3 Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 257.لاَ اِكْرَاهَ فى الّدِيْنِ This verse, however, is much more liberal in appearance than in fact. It applies only to Jews, Christians, Parsees and Sabians, and to them only if they accept the position of Dhimmis and pay the jizya, or poll-tax. As regards the pagan Arab tribes the verse is abrogated by theوايتِ قتال , the 'verse of the killing.' Sura Al-Baqarah (ii) 187. They are to be killed unless they become Muslims, as the commentator Husain (vol. i, p. 48) says in the following passage:—
اكرهة بة بايد كرد هيجكس را از يهود ونصارى ومجوس وصابيان ببرآوردن اسلام بشرط قبول جزية كفتة اند حكم اين آيت بآيت قتال صنسوخست از تمام قبائل عرب جزدين اسلام قبول نبود اصا با ديكران قتال بايد كرد تا مسلمان شوند
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