NAMES AND PLACES


Abdullah bin Jahsh: the Muslim warrior who carried out the first Muslim
raid (at Nakhla) on Muhammad's orders

Abdullah bin Salam: a Jewish rabbi who became an early convert to
Islam.

Abdullah bin Ubayy: a leader of the "Hypocrites," insincere Muslims
who opposed Muhammad

Abu Bakr: One of Muhammad's earliest companions and his successor as
leader of the Muslims (caliph).

Abu Jahl: A leader of the pagan Quraysh who opposed Muhammad

Abu Lahab: Muhammad's uncle, who opposed him and was cursed in
the Qur'an (111:1-5)

Abu Sufyan: A leader of the pagan Quraysh who opposed Muhammad,
but who later converted to Islam.

Al-yAqaba: A city where the early Muslims pledged fealty to Muhammad

Al-Lat: One of the goddesses worshipped by the pagan Quraysh

Al-Uzza: One of the goddesses worshipped by the pagan Quraysh

Ali: Muhammad's son-in-law, whom Shi'ite Muslims regard as his rightful
successor; he reigned briefly as the fourth caliph, after Abu Bakr,
Umar, and Uthman

Badr: An Arabian town about 80 miles from Medina where the Muslims
won their first great military victory, against the Quraysh in 624

Bahira: A Syrian Christian monk who recognized the boy Muhammad as a prophet

Bukhari: Ninth-century collector of traditions about Muhammad that
Muslims generally consider reliable

Buraq: The winged horse with a human head that has  carried Muhammad from Mecca
to Jerusalem and thence to Paradise on his Night Journey

Chosroes: The Persian emperor in Muhammad's day, whom Muhammad
called to Islam

Gabriel: The angel who is to have delivered Allah's revelations
To Prophet Muhammad.

Ghatafan: The pagan Arabian tribe that, along with the Quraysh, laid
siege to Medina in the Battle of the Trench

Hafsa: One of Muhammad's wives

Heraclius: The Byzantine emperor in Muhammad's day, whom Muhammad
called to Islam

Hudaybiyya: A town about nine miles from Mecca where Muhammad
concluded a treaty with the Quraysh

Hunayn: A dry riverbed near Mecca where Muhammad defeated the last
large-scale resistance to him in Arabia

Ibn Ishaq: Muhammad's first biographer (704-773 C.E.)

Ibn Sa'd: An early compiler of biographical traditions about Muhammad
(d. 845)

Jerusalem: The city from which Prophet Muhammad is said to have
ascended to Paradise on his Night Journey

Khadija: Muhammad's first wife and first convert

Khalid bin al-Walid: A renowned Muslim warrior

Khaybar: An oasis near Medina which Muhammad attacked, exiling the
Jews who inhabited it

Medina: An Arabian city north of Mecca, in which Muhammad first
became a political and military leader after his flight there (Hijra)

Nadir: A Jewish tribe of Medina; Prophet Muhammad besieged and exiled them

Nakhla: An Arabian town where the Muslims carried out their first military
raid against the Quraysh

Qaynuqa: A Jewish tribe of Medina; Muhammad besieged and exiled
Them

Quraysh: The pagan Arabs of Mecca; Muhammad belonged to this tribe,
but they rejected his prophetic message.

Qurayzah: A Jewish tribe of Medina; their men were killed and their women and children
enslaved by the orders of Sa'd bin Mudah  after they betrayed an alliance with the Muslims

Sa'd bin Muadh: The Muslim warrior who pronounced the death/enslavement sentence
against the Qurayzah tribe.

Tabuk: A northwestern Arabian city/tribe to which Prophet Muhammad led an expedition
against the Byzantines

Ta'if: A city south of Mecca that initially rejected Prophet Muhammad and was
later conquered by the Muslims

Uhud: A mountain near Mecca where the Quraysh defeated the Muslims
after the Battle of Badr.

Umar: One of Muhammad's earliest companions and the successor of
Abu Bakr as leader of the Muslims (caliph).

Waraqa: Khadija's uncle and a Christian priest; he is said to have
Confirmed Prophet Muhammad's prophetic status

Zayd bin Haritha: Muhammad's adopted son and the first husband of
Zaynab bint Jahsh




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