Safia Of A Jewish Tribe, Banu Nadir, In Arabia

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                                Ofra Haza of Yemen, the famous Jewish Israeli singer . I'm using her to represent the lovely Jewish women of Yemen, where most Jews of Arabia were living.  They lived within their Jewish tribes, with names starting with Banu....

A Yemenite Jewish family on Shabbat reading from Psalms

Banu (بنو) is Arabic for "the children of" or "descendants of" and appears before the name of a tribal progenitor. The English counterpart would be "House of", for example the House of Saud. Another example of the usage is the Bani Quraish, the tribe from which Muhammad came, for which a Quranic Surah is also named.  

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_vIydVt7wc

About in the year 600, Safia or Ṣafīyyah bint Ḥuyayy was born to the chief of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir.  Safiyyah was born in Medina to Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir. Her mother, Barrah bint Samawal, was from the Banu Qurayza tribe. Her maternal grandfather was Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, a celebrated pre-Islamic Arabian Jewish poet from the Banu Harith tribe.  

Some of the Jewish tribes of Arabia historically attested include:Banu Harith or Bnei Chorath;  Banu Qaynuqa

• Banu Shutayba; Jafna Clan of the Banu Tha'laba who were exiled members of the Banu Ghassan - while both tribes were not Jewish, they did have Jewish members; whereas the Jafna Clan was solely Jewish;  Banu Zaura;  Banu Zurayq In Islamic lore, Labid ben Asam was a Jewish sorcerer who cast a spell on Muhammad that made him ill for several months and prevented him from having sexual relations with his wives;  Banu Quda'a — Himyarite tribe of converts to Judaism;  Banu Qurayza — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina);  Banu Nadir — sub-clan of the al-Kāhinān, located in Yathrib (Medina);  Banu Juw — sub-clan of the Banu Qaynuqa, Fled to North Africa.
• Banu Aws and Banu Awf.  

According to a source, Safia was married off to Sallam ibn Mishkam, who later divorced her. Sallam ibn Mishkam ibn Al-Hakam ibn Haritha ibn Al-Khazraj ibn Kaab ibn Khazraj was a member of the Nadir tribe. He was a distant cousin of the tribal chief, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, and he was also related to the Abu’l-Huqayq branch of the tribe. His house bordered on the territory of the Qurayza tribe, and Sallam, who had many friends among the local pagans as well as the Jews, was apparently on good terms with the Qurayza tavern-keeper next door.  At some stage, Sallam married Safiyya bint Huyayy, but they were later divorced. It is possible that the whole family changed their minds about this match amicably and early, before Sallam and Safiyya actually lived together.  Sallam ibn Mishkam (died 628) was a Jewish warrior, rabbi and poet who lived in Medina, Arabia, in the early seventh century.

 Safia was probably about 13 when married to Sallam.  When the Banu Nadir were expelled from Medina in 625, her family settled in Khaybar, an oasis near Medina. Her father and brother went from Khaybar to join the Meccan and Bedouin forces besieging Muhammad in Medina during the Battle of the Trench. When the Meccans withdrew Muhammad besieged the Banu Qurayza. After the defeat of the Banu Qurayza in 627 Safiyya's father, a long-time opponent of Muhammad, was captured and executed by the Muslims.  In 627 or early in 628, Safiyya was married to Kenana ibn al-Rabi, treasurer of the Banu Nadir; she was about 17 years old at that time.  Kenana ibn al-Rabi' also known as Kenana ibn al-Rabi'a and Kenana ibn al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq, was a Jewish Arab tribal leader of seventh-century Arabia and an opponent of Muhammad. He was a son of the poet al-Rabi ibn Abu al-Huqayq. Ibn al-Rabi' was killed during early Muslim clashes with the Banu Nadir.

 At that time she was hit in the face and retained a scar, said to be caused by her husband over a dream she told him about where he raged in jealousy.  Now she had one divorce and was a widow with the 2nd marriage and with her father deceased, had lost his protection.  

Mohammad won a battle with the Jews where her father was killed  and took her for himself as another wife.   "From the information provided in the Hadith, it can be reasonably concluded that Safiyah did not have a choice in this marriage; rather she was war booty for Muhammad, a not uncommon practice at the time. There do exist passages in ibn Sa'd's "Tabaqat" or lives that indicate that Muhammad gave Safiyah the choice between marrying him and returning to her people:

Safia had gone through 2 Jewish marriages where she had been badly treated-not the usual with Jewish marriages in other places.  She found herself living with the head of her people's enemy and was treated well.  She would have been worse off if she returned to her people, she figured. There she remained.  

The Jewish tribes of Arabia were ethnic groups professing the Jewish faith that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before and during the advent of Islam. In Islamic tradition, the Jewish tribes of the Hejaz were seen as the offspring of the ancient Hebrews. According to historical Muslim sources, they spoke a language other than Arabic, which al-Tabari claims was Persian. This implies they were connected to the major Jewish community of Babylonia. Certain Jewish traditions record the existence of nomadic tribes such as the Rechabites, which converted to Judaism in antiquity.

Jewish records relate Jewish settlement in Arabia's peninsula of SW Asia

even in biblical times, but strong evidence of being there from the 1st

century CE with 3,000 scattered all over the country and increased through

the conversion of Arabs to Judaism, especially in the South where even 

some rulers, like Dhu Nuwas embraced Judaism.  In the 6th and early 7th

centuries there was a large Jewish population in HEJAZ and especially in

Medina and around this city.  Judaism spread from Medina to the South.

Smaller Jewish communities also existed in BAHREEN, at Makna on the 

Gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between MAAN and PETRA, and further north at

JARBA.   After the rise of Islam in 632, these Jews and those of Yemen 

were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes as Jews now 

became Dhimmis (2nd class).  Most of the Hejazi Jews were either expelled

or killed.  Most Jews of Arabia now lived in Yemen, Hadramaut and Aden.  

Jews had become assimilated to their Arab neighbors not only in language 

and culture but in manners and customs, social organization and mentality.

Only a couple of thousand Jews were left in the entire peninsula of 

Arabia by 1992 with nearly all in Yemen.  The overwhelming majority had 

emigrated to Israel.  Yemen in 2011 was listed as having a population of

23,580,000 and was 99% Muslim., an Islamic State. .  Saudi Arabi itself

was listed with 27,601,038 population and 100% Muslim, an Islamic State.

A lone Jewish person remains in Yemen, down from seven a month ago, according to a new United Nations report about the treatment of religious minorities in conflict zones.                                

A report of March 2022, which was published by the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, described the treatment of religious minorities around the world. “that Jew is undoubtedly Levi Salem Musa Marhabi, who has been illegally imprisoned and tortured by Ansar Allah since 2016,” said Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation, referring to the Houthi rebel forces by their official name, Ansar Allah.   “In recent years, the rise in situations of conflict and insecurity has impacted communities of every religion or belief system, subverting their enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion or belief,” the report noted.  One Jew was left in Yemen.                                           

        Older Arab men of Oman

Note that Oman is a neighbor of Yemen.  the Jews of Muscat in his memoirs Travels in Arabia, vol. 1.of Benjamin of Tudela;  He mentions that there are "a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries (they did not have to live in Ghettos, nor identify themselves as Jews, not walk in the road if a Muslim was walking on the same street, as was the case in Yemen). The Jews of Muscat were employed mostly in the making of silver ornaments, banking, and liquor sale. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is believed to have disappeared before 1900. During World War II, a Jewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants from Yemen.Omani officials have begun to reach out to Jewish American and Israeli leaders. The American Jewish Committee recently hosted a meeting at which: "Israeli and Omani leaders gathered at AJC to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Middle East Desalination Research Center, one of the success stories of efforts to deepen Arab-Israeli cooperation. Speakers include Sayyid Badr, secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry of Oman; Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; and Charles Lawson of the U.S. State Department. (Video: Israeli, Omani Leaders Celebrate.)  Why isn't Oman on the Abrahamic Accords yet?  In line with the Arab League position in relation to Israel, Oman does not officially recognize the state of Israel and took part in the boycott of Israel during much of the 20th century.

Resource:

https://dbpedia.org/page/Banu_(Arabic)#:~:text=Banu%20(%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%88)%20is%20Arabic%20for,Quranic%20Surah%20is%20also%20named.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_tribes_of_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallam_ibn_Mishkam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenana_ibn_al-Rabi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Oman#:~:text=Despite%20the%20lack%20of%20persecution,of%20recent%20migrants%20from%20Yemen.

Rarely Mentioned History of Jews From Saudi Arabia

 Nadene Goldfoot                                   

                                                                                    

Saudi Arabia has a special section they call the Hejaz.  It's a coastal province in NW Arabia. 

 Jews lived there between the 1st and 4th centuries CE.  They are spoken of in poetry of the region, depicted chiefly as traders and wine merchants.  This period is one of uproar in Israel with the Roman Occupation and takeover with Jerusalem falling to them in 70 CE, with the result of barring all Jews returning.  The Jewish General, Bar Kokhba, fought for Jerusalem again from 132 to 135 when he and his army took back their capital, with him dying in battle in 135, ending the fight with thousands of deaths. 

The most important Jewish community in the Hejaz was the town of Medina.  Several Jewish colonies were also found North of Medina including Khaibar, Fadak, Wadi'l-Qura, and Taima.  

The Jewish population increased through the conversion of Arabs to Judaism. There were about 3,000 Jews in Arabia, including  Yemen in the 1st century.  in the south where even some rulers, such as Dhu NuWas embraced Judaism.  In the 6th and early 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, especially in Medina.  Judaism spread from Medina to the South.  Smaller Jewish communities also existed in Bahrein, at Makna on the gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between Maan and Petra, and further north at Jarba.                                      

There were three main Jewish tribes in Medina before the rise of Islam in Arabia: the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.The Jews had a very rich and flourishing settlement at Yathrib and built strongholds in the city and vicinity. The principal families were the Banu Ḳainuḳa', the Banu Ḳuraiẓa, and the Banu al-Naḍir. The latter two were known as the "Al-Kahinan 'Cohen'," because they traced their descent from Aaron. 

In the 4th century Arab tribes from Yemen began to encroach upon the Jews in Medina. They were divided into two clans, the Banu Aus and the Banu Khazraj. By calling in outside assistance and treacherously massacring at a banquet the principal Jews, these Arab clans finally gained the upper hand at Medina toward the end of the fifth century (for date see "J. Q. R." vii. 175, note).  

The Jewish tribes of Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib until the 7th century, when the men were executed and the women and children were enslaved after they betrayed the pact they made with the Muslims following the Invasion of Banu Qurayza by Muslim armies led by Muhammad.

From then on Jews were 2nd class people, Dhimmis.  Most Jews had gone to Yemen, Hadramaut, and Aden.  the former Jews of northern Arabia in particular, though living in isolated communities had become strongly assimilated to their Arab neighbors not only in languiage and culture but also in manners and customs, social organization, and mentality.  the Arabic verses composed by their poets hardly differed in any respect from other Arabic poetry, and they expressed the contemporary notions, views, and feelings of Arabic society.    

Some Jews also lived in Mecca, at least temporarily, before the rise of Islam.  It is the most important city in Arabia along the trade route, about 50 miles east of the Red Sea. The shrine called the Ka'ba is what makes Mecca a holy city.  The reason is because probably more than 1,000 years before Christ, the Arabs of the area saw a meteor fall from the heavens and, because of this, regarded it as holy.  Their tradition is that Abraham had built the Ka'ba in the first place.  Mecca became the economic and cultural center of central and north Arabia..  the political control of the city was in the hands of the Quraysh tribe of Arabs.   At the time of Mohammad, the Quraysh tribe had passed the zenith of its power and was losing in prestige and control.  They continued to send well-protected caravans north to  Syria, Egypt, and Iran to sell their goods and replenish their stock for the business of the next season.  

As there were Jewish and Christian tribes and settlements in Arabia, the pagan Arabs no doubt knew something about their beliefs.  Among the gods, the Arabs knew the name of Allah the same as El-loh and Elohim of the Old Testament; and in Mecca a small group of people, known by the name of Hanif, seem to have had monotheistic beliefs.                                     

Muhammad, of the Quraysh tribe,  was born in Mecca in 570. His parents,  Abdullah and Amina , died when Muhammad was 6 years old.  His granduncle and then his uncle took care of him.  He became the prophet of his people and created Islam. The Koran was made up of his dictated thoughts. Jews were said to be "People of the Book" and now he could say, "Now you have a book in Arabic." 

After the rise of Islam, these Jews and those of Yemen were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes having been classified as Dhimmis or 2nd class people. Mohammed married a Jewish girl, Safia, one of his 4 wives.     Shortly after the arrival of Mohammed (570-632) , almost all the Jews of Medina were expelled or massacred.                              

Muslim leader, Umar ibn al-Khattab also known as Umar or Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph. He was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history.  

The Mosque of Omar is standing over the Jewish 2nd Temple on the Temple Mount.  The area was taken over after 70 CE when Romans held the siege of Jerusalem and it served as a center of military activity.  A Roman temple was then built on the site, taken over by Omar. After the 67 WAR, Moshe Dayan gave the policing rights to Jordan's religious rights, and since then Jews are again even worse shape than being Dhimmis.  They are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. There are now several mosques standing.   The Jews can only pray below at the Kotel (Wall-wailing wall).  

 Mohammed subdued the Jewish colonies North of the city but permitted the inhabitants to stay.  Under the reign of OMAR, the Jews were expelled from Khaibar and Fadak and possibly from Wadi 'l-Qura.  In the latter place, however, they reappeared in the 10th century. There are no subsequent traces of Jews in Hejaz. 

In the past centuries, Jews have not been allowed in Saudi Arabia.  They have been able to keep 100% of the population as Muslims only.  It's even classified as an Islamic state whose main sect are Sunnis of the Hanbali main fiqh.  The country counted a population of 27,601,038 in  2011.    

A fairly recent death of the Yeminite singer, Ofra Haza of Israel was very sad.  She was a favorite, certainly my favorite singer. Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza (Hebrew: בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter and actress, commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Haza at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. Bat-Sheva or Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Mizrahi Jewish parents from Yemen who had immigrated to Israel in 1949 with eight children. She was the youngest of nine children.  She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, with the song Chai-"Hi", meaning "Life"  finishing second with 136 points.  I was there watching my TV when she sang this and won.     I cherish her CDs.  She sang Yemenite and modern Israeli music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-McgjMi5W4   Chai-to Life.

Her Yerushalaim Shel Zahav tears at my heart.  "Jerusalem of Gold"  It has that far eastern minor key, reminding us of Yemen's songs.  

          Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud

                                             Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

 

Only a couple of thousand Jews are now left in the entire peninsula of Arabia with nearly all in Yemen.  the overwhelming majority have emigrated to Israel.  Is it not strange that with the loss of Jews, as of 2020, Yemen ranked highest on the Fragile State Index and second-worst on the Global Hunger Index, surpassed only by the Central African Republic. Additionally, it has the lowest Human Development Index out of all non-African countries. They've had nothing but political unrest and killings, all without Jews.  

 None live nor are allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia,1992

Textbook: Middle East Past & Present, Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Saudi_Arabia#:~:text=There%20were%20three%20main%20Jewish,Qainuqa%2C%20and%20the%20Banu%20Qurayza.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofra_Haza

Mohammed and the Jews of Arabia

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                      

                   Moses with the 10 Commandments

There is the saying about G-d going to all the nations and people of the world seeing how many would accept the 10 Commandments and it was only the Jews who would accept all 10 unconditionally.  The story is that it was the Jews, who were the stiff-necked people, who would stay the course  with G-d about his other 613 laws to be accepted.  That's why the Jews came to be called, the Chosen people.  They accepted G-d's Laws.   They were told to beware of prophets who would try to make them follow other religions.                                      

These same Chosen People were chosen by Rome to lose their country, Judea, which contained Jerusalem, their capital.  It happened in 70 CE when they ruthlessly burned down the city and their 2nd Temple of Solomon.  The people were not only starved to death, but whoever was left, taken as slaves to Rome.  The few who escaped fled to the surrounding country-sides or hid out successfully in the crags and crannies of Judea.                                      

Southern Arabia became a Persian (today's Iran) dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the Sassanid Empire.  Sassanid period (570 – 630 CE).  This covered the life-span of Mohammed who died in 632.  

Many such Jewish tribes made it to  Arabia for many reasons.  Some lived  in Medina, one of the larger cities.  From 70 CE  until about 590, Jews lived there in peace.  There were at least 5 different Jewish tribes living in Arabia;  

• 1. Banu Harith or Bnei Chorath.
• 2. Banu Qaynuqa.
• 3. Banu Shutayba.
• 4. Jafna Clan of the Banu Tha'laba who were exiled members of the Banu Ghassan - while both tribes were not Jewish, they did have Jewish members; whereas the Jafna Clan was solely Jewish.
• 5. Banu Zaura.
• What brought them there were several reasons:
•  
• 1. After the collapse of Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE.
• 2. After the Roman conquest of Judea in 70 CE.
• 
  
• After the Jewish rebellion in 66 CE, and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, exiles found a home in the desert.
• 
  
• 3. Survivors of the Bar Kochba Revolt, in 135 CE, who sought religious freedom in the Arabian desert rather than live under the yoke of the Romans.
• 4. Immigration, around 300 CE, by people who are known in Islamic literature as the Banu Aus and the Banu Khazraj who fled the Ghassanids in Syria.
• 
  
• 5. Migration from Judea into southern Arabian Peninsula to ride the ascent of the Himyarite Kingdom around 380 CE.
•                                           
  
  This was taken from a 13th-century Persian manuscript (most likely a different edition of al-Biruni's The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries) housed at the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland.

In 570 CE, Mohammed was born, probably in Mecca,  who was to become a prophet of his Middle Eastern people.  In his early days, he accompanied the Meccan trade caravan and often met Jews and Christians  who probably first turned  his interests into religious questions.  

Therefore, it's possible that there were these migrations continuing to come into Arabia.  

By the time he was 40 years old in 610, he was doing a lot of meditating  about G-d, the hereafter and the Day of Judgement.  He felt such a day was close at hand.  He knew about the Jewish prophets as he heard the stories as they were told outside when he passed by the Jewish storytellers of Medina.  Mohammed was illiterate; could neither read nor write.  At any rate, he had convinced himself that G-d had come to him and revealed himself to him.  So he thought he had been chosen as the first Arab prophet.                                                   

Detail of Gabriel from Pinturicchio's The Annunciation (1501)

Annunciation is a painting on wood that is attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci and dated to circa 1472–1475. It is housed in the Uffizi gallery of Florence, Italy.  Christianity also includes Gabriel in the Catholic denomination.  

Mohammed then proclaimed himself in public  and started preaching in 613 of his revelation and that he had the experience of an intermediation  of the angel, Gabriel, the leader of the angels found in the Tanakh (Dan. 8-10) of the Jews.  Gabriel's messages to him eventually were written down as Mohammed told his scribe to write as he reiterated them.  In the Hebrew Bible, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions (Daniel 8:15–26, 9:21–27). The archangel also appears in the Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings. Alongside archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending its people against the angels of the other nations.                                                 

In 620 Mohammad experienced his NIGHT JOURNEY where he reported that he had been carried to Paradise on his flying horse and had met the other prophets.  As the Koran/Quran has it, Prophet Muhammad took a night trip to heaven aboard a trusty winged pony-horse-mule-ish creature called Buraq. It's an episode that's inspired Islamic art ever since, because few artists can resist a theologically sound reason to draw a winged horse.  

                                                      

               al Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem

For one night, Muslims commemorate the Prophet Muhammad’s journey in 620  from Mecca to the “Farthest Mosque” in Jerusalem, which is the al Aqsa Mosque-3rd holiest to Muslims,  and then, finally, to heaven, where he was purified and given instructions from Allah to pray five times per day. Muslim tradition also describes the prophet, accompanied by the archangel Gabriel, meeting other prophets during his journey: Adam, John the Baptist, Moses and Abraham, just to name a few. The events of this night are recorded in both the Quran and the Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet).

Up to this point, the religion of Saudis was paganism.  Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia was a mix of polytheism, Christianity, Judaism, and Iranian religions. Arab polytheism, the dominant belief system, was based on the belief in deities and other supernatural beings such as djinn. Gods and goddesses were worshipped at local shrines, such as the Kaaba in Mecca.                         

Keeping well spaced during COVID 19 at Kaaba

The Kaabais believed by Muslims to have been rebuilt several times throughout history, most famously by Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Ismail (Ishmael), when he returned to the valley of Mecca several years after leaving his wife Hajar (Hagar) and Ismail there upon Allah's command.                          

Jews first introduced Abram who went through a name change to Abraham as he mentally developed.  Sarai, whose name was also changed to Sarah, seemed to be barren,  so as they both aged without children, This went against the dictum that Abraham had received from G-d  about having many children.   Abraham took Hagar as wife to produce a child.  Hagar was Sarah's Egyptian handmaid. Problems arose between the women but Hagar produced a son, Ishmael.  Then Sarah conceived (this often happens-pressure was off of her), and they named Sarah's son, Isaac.  This even happened in biblical days before the Exodus, which is dated sometime around 1579 BCE, which would be about 2,179 years before Mohammed was born.  Isaac was the father of Jacob who gave birth to 12 sons who became the fathers of the 12 Tribes of Israel.  

One can see that Judaism made a great influence on Mohammed.  We see Judaism in his revelation stories, in his tenets of faith and his religious precepts of the Koran.  He did believe in One G-d to a point.

He himself held that all Holy Books  were copies of a heavenly model and that all revelations were essentially one, but distorted in several ways by the respective people.  He said that his mission was only to confirm what had been revealed to former prophets, and to correct their distortions.  

Mohammed  understood that there was no differences between Judaism and Islam, so hoped that Jews would now follow him and accept the new faith he was offering.  In his sales pitch to the Jews, he even added a Jewish ritual in Medina to his Islam.  He added a 3rd daily prayer practiced by Jews.  He introduced a day of fast corresponding to Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement; and a day of public prayer like the Jewish Sabbath.  Then he directed his people to face Jerusalem when praying.  

 An angry and disappointed Mohammed saw that Jews were not buying into his new religion.  He altered his Islam by taking out the Jewish clauses he had added.  He was now hostile to the Jews of Medina.  Gradually, Mohammed had these same Jews of Medina either annihilated or expelled.  

Mohammed's relationship ended with the Quraysh tribe of Jews.  There had been many raids on this tribe's caravans by the new Islamic warriors.  Mohammed heard about one of their caravans coming from Syria that was laden with money and goods.  He said that it was likely that Allah may give it to you as booty. "He told these warriors to fight fiercely and behead the Jews.  

There were still other Jews living in Arabia.  He treated them better, possibly from political and economical considerations. Mohammed was a warrior, a leader with his own army of men.   

One of his wives, Sofia or Safiyya, was born in a Jewish family. She was the daughter of Huyayy bin Akhtab, who had induced the Banu Quatayzah Jews of Arabia to repudiate their alliance with Mohammed after the Khaybar Pass was conquered. 

  Sofia had  been married to a Jewish leader, when Mohammed was now going to give her to his friend, Dihya and had killed her father along with the rest of the other Jews in the battle.  Her husband had been Kinana ibn Rabi, who had been tortured and killed by Mohammed's men.  Sofia was a beautiful woman.  When he saw her he told dihya to take any slave girl other than her from the captives.  He then freed her and married her himself-since she agreed to convert to Islam, she was able to be elevated beyond the position of a slave.  That night, Sofia was dressed as a bride and a wedding feast was hastily arranged.  On the way out of Khaybar that night, Mohammed halted the caravan as soon as they were outside the oasis, pitched a tent, and consummated the marriage.  Here she had been the wife of a Jewish chieftain, to a widow, to a captive,, to the wife of the Prophet of Islam in the course of a single day.   

Circling the Kaaba seven times counterclockwise, known as Tawaf (Arabic: طواف‎, romanized: tawaaf), is a Fard (obligatory) rite for the completion of the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. The area around the Kaaba on which pilgrims circumambulate is called the Mataaf.                                             

 The Kaaba is a windowless building at the center of Islam's most important mosque, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the most sacred site in Islam. It is considered by Muslims to be the Bayt Allah (Arabic: بَيْت ٱللَّٰه‎, lit. 'House of God') and is the qibla (Arabic: قِبْلَة‎, direction of prayer) for Muslims around the world when performing salah.

In early Islam, Muslims faced in the general direction of Jerusalem as the qibla in their prayers before changing the direction to face the Kaaba, believed by Muslims to be a result of a Quranic verse revelation to Muhammad.  A good Muslim is to make the trip to Mecca and walk the walk.  For that they will receive a title to their name of Haj.  

                                                

"It was only in 1932 when Arabia became Saudi Arabia.  Since King Abdulaziz Al-Saud established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, its transformation has been astonishing. In a few short decades, the Kingdom has turned itself from a desert nation to a modern, sophisticated state and a major player on the international stage."  The discovery of oil helped that to happen.  no Jews are allowed to step foot in Saudi Arabia.  Their population is 100% Muslim.  They follow the Sunni sect and Hanbali fiqh.  It is an Islamic State, and the 14th largest in population.  The  land area is of approximately 2,150,000 km² or 830,000 sq mi. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East, and the second-largest country in the Arab world. Their population had been 27,601,038 in 2011. The current population of Saudi Arabia is 35,304,697 as of Sunday, May 30, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. 

Compare that to 8,019---8,522 sq mi for Israel. and the current population of Israel is 8,777,703 as of Saturday, May 29, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data.

Resource:  

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.saudiembassy.net/history

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.TOTL.K2?locations=SA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation_(Leonardo)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_tribes_of_Arabia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Saudi_Arabia

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/saudi-arabia-population/#:~:text=The%20current%20population%20of%20Saudi,the%20latest%20United%20Nations%20data.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/pre-islamic-arabia/#:~:text=Overview,as%20the%20Kaaba%20in%20Mecca.

The Truth about Muhammad by Robert Spencer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque