The settlement was engulfed in tribal warfare of the worst kind. It was an example of where the whole system in Arabia was beginning to break down. One killing led to another and nobody could seem to find a solution.

Nobody, that is, until the clans of Yathrib heard about the trustworthy Muhammad.

Reuven Firestone: The deal is that he will serve as their binding arbitrator, that is both sides to the conflict have agreed already that they will accept the arbitration of Muhammad, whatever it would be.

Muhammad's arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic new chapter in the history of Islam. For the first time, he would be the leader of a sovereign community, based on Islamic law. Yathrib would henceforth become known as Medina.

Reuven Firestone: [Muhammad] essentially establishes a pact, an agreement, sometimes it's called the Constitution of Medina. Whether you were a Pagan or a Muslim or a member of the Jewish tribes or any other tribes in Medina, you had to sign on to this pact. And the pact established that, if there were ever an attack on Medina from the outside, all the inhabitants of the town of would be responsible to defend the city. This way, Muhammad really developed a revolutionary idea which was transcend your tribal responsibilities, your petty particularism, and begin to think in larger terms, as an entire community.

Karen Armstrong: Now this was a very fearful terrifying time for Muslims but nevertheless it was seen as a creative time when faith was at its strongest. It's a creative act for Muslims to look back at the Muslim community in Medina and try to apply the ideals to their own society so that they can reproduce something of the Prophet's original spirit.