To the north of Mecca is the city of Madinah, which was then called Yathrib. The residents of Madinah were more familiar with monotheistic beliefs, perhaps because of the Jewish community in residence there. They also had no dependence on the revenues from a pagan site of pilgrimage, as the Meccans
had. Some pilgrims from Madinah saw in Muhammad a powerful and influential leader and invited him to come to Madinah to settle differences among rival factions.

Muhammad sent some of his followers from Mecca to take up residence in Madinah in order to escape persecution. Muhammad and Abu Bakr were the last to leave when it became known that the Koraysh intended to kill the Prophet. They were followed, but escaped, the story goes, by hiding in a narrow cave
whose entrance was quickly covered by a spider's web. The web convinced Koraysh that the cave had been abandoned for a long while.

The Hijrah, or "migration" from Mecca to Madinah (often transliterated as Hegira), took place in September 622. The event was such a turning point in the history of Islam that the year is counted as Year One of the Islamic calendar. In Madinah, the Prophet met with entirely different circumstance than
in his birthplace. His leadership turned Madinah (Madinat al Nali, or the City of the Prophet) into the leading center of power in the Arabian peninsula.