MembersThe Jews of Arabia and the Making of Islam, Part 1

The West only knows of Islam what its own scholars and experts convey. Some of the nature of Islam can also be gleaned from the behavior of Muslim propagandists living in the West. But for their part, Muslims don’t care to know what the West teaches about their history and religion. It makes sense, therefore, to learn directly from Muslims how they see Islam. Additionally, the West, including the large Jewish community there, knows little, if anything, about the Jewish community that thrived in the Hejaz prior to the rise of Islam.

The Jewish community in the Hejaz (the western portion of what is today Saudi Arabia) traced its origins to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC. By the time of Mohammed, there were three very important Jewish tribes living there: the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Najjar that had settled in and around the city of Media, and the Banu Harith that had settled in and around the city of Najran. Jews, as we shall see, had the most profound influence...