Talking about the emergence of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah has a special feature, due to its large status in the hearts of Muslims since the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) emigrated to and until God inherits the earth and the people on it, which made the researchers strive to explore, pick up the stories and examine them carefully, and put aside the myths and legends, and take what is logical and reasonable. Prior to the migration of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah was called "Yathrib" as such name was expressed in the Holy Qur'an on the lips of some of the hypocrites: (And when party among them said: "Ye men of Yathrib ! There is no stand "possible" for you! Therefore turn back) Al-Ahzab "the Clans" – Verse 13.  The-Messenger of God (peace be upon him) changed its name from Yathrib to "Al-Madinah", and forbade the use of the old name.

      Most of the Arab sources are unanimous on the fact that "Yathrib" is the name of a man from the descendants of Noah (peace be upon him), and that man has founded that town, and it was therefore named after him. Despite their different stories, the end result is that: the settlement of Giants in Yathrib at a time which we cannot define precisely, and we can conclude from these stories that the establishment of Yathrib took place at the hands of an immigrant human group who were looking for a home to provide them with food and safety. It is likely that Yathrib was found sometime before more than (1500) year of the migration of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to it. For a long time, Yathrib was the scene of for wars and battles between the Aws and Khazraj which started by the "Samir" war and ended by the fighting encounter "lechery II". Yathrib has known a number of faiths and religions prior to Islam, including the Pagan religion, the Judaism and Alhanifieh. On the political side of that period, the historians consider more likely that in most of its old ages, Yathrib was and independent or semi-independent society that was self-existent by itself, and in a few ages it was subjoined to a Kingdom in the south or in the north or to an area of influence of an authority far away from it, to which it used to pay an annual royalty. As to the economic aspect of Yathrib old society, it depended mainly on agriculture because of the nature of the site and its relevance to the founder of the city. The influx of settlers to Yathrib after the Giants has resulted in the interest in expanding the agricultural area and crop diversification, and exchange and increase of experiences, most important of which were the dates and grains such as barley, corn and wheat. The active commercial movement in Yathrib has set up several markets, the first was the Shelf market and the second was at the extreme end of the Btahan Valley, and the third was at Al-Osbah, and the fourth in the west of the city between Quba and Btahan. Yathrib has known a number of industries including the metal industry (Al-Masahi – the axes – the spearheads, the swords, the pots or plates) as well as the jewelry and goldsmith industries and the woodworking industries, such as the chairs, the tables and the doors of houses and the windows and plows and farming tools, and the beds and boxes, in addition to livestock. Social life is no different in Yathrib in the first ages than the social life in any primitive community. The tribal system produces a set of norms that govern the relationship between individuals and divides the population into mixed and dissimilar classes, namely the class of the free people of the same tribe and the class of Al-Muwali (the supporters), who are individuals or clans and kinsfolk who are not related to the tribe, and then the slaves, whom the freemen take possession of them either by purchase or captivity from the invasions or by donations or inheritance.

 
  
Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in the Prophet's Era:

     Yathrib was on the date promised by God since the early ages, where everything has changed, so that its calmness and inactivity has turned into persistent movement and its smallness has turned into large numbers and crowdedness. After the Grand Pledge of Allegiance that took place between the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) and the Muslims of Yathrib in the ramifications of the mountains between Makkah and Mina in the months of Hajj. From that date, Yathrib started a new stage of its lifetime, namely the stage of reception of migrants of the Muslims of Makkah in preparation to receive the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and in the last ten days of the month of Safar the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) walked our, accompanied by Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, (may Allah be pleased with him) and a guide for them, and the procession of the Messenger of God arrived at  Quba on the twelfth of Rabi Al-Awwal (Rabi I) after the midday became extremely hot, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stayed in Quba from the noon of Monday 12^th of Rabi Al-Awwal till the morning of Friday 16^th of Rabi Al-Awwal. During his stay, he founded the mosque, which is still known up till now as Masjid Quba (Quba Mosque). On Friday morning, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and a group of Muslims proceeded to the heart of Yathrib, and not far from Quba, it was the time for the Jumu'ah prayer (Friday prayers), and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)  got down at the house of Salem bin Auf in the belly of the Valley of Ranona'a accompanied by a group of Muslims and founded in that site a mosque that was later on named the Mosque on Al-Jumu'ah (Friday). The site where the she-camel knelt down was a free piece of land that included the remains of palm trees and some old tombs, and it was in that piece of land that the dates were dried after being pulled off, and the Messenger of God had the desire to build a mosque on it, so he asked about its owners, and was told the it belonged to two orphan boys of Bani Najjar brought up by Mu'az bin Afra'a Al-Khazraji. Mua'az hastned to give it as a gift, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) refused to take it as a gift and insisted on buying it from the two boys on sell/buy basis, and that was exactly what took place. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave his directions that the piece of land be leveled and cleaned, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) drew up the design of the mosque which eventually became named as: the Prophet's Mosque, and the Muslims were assigned to work in the construction, and he contributed by himself in the building process, and was reportedly transporting the stones and bricks on his honorable belly  (peace be upon him) and the work in the mosque was finished in a short time. Since his advent (peace be upon him) a series of changes began to take place in Yathrib and in the lives of its inhabitants. These changes included the abolition of the old name (Yathrib), and launching new names to it, such as Teibah and Tabah. . and Al-Madinah, in addition to changing the values and concepts and the new formation of the personality of the individual as well as the society. During the first months of his settlement in Al-Madinah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) concerned himself with the ideological construction of the new society, and used to hold daily sessions with the Muslims in the mosque, to tell them and teach them and strengthen the faith in their hearts, and to receive new numbers of Al-Madinah residents who did not embrace Islam yet, and they would listen to him and testify between his hands that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and therefore the number of Muslims would increase and the number of polytheists would become less. In the month of Safar of the second year of Al-Hijra (migration), Al-Madinah has witnessed a new military, as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has decided the to stand up to the tribe of Quraish and to punish it for what it did to the Muslims in Makkah, and to show the prestige and the standing of the new Islamic society. He directed the regiments to block the way for the trade the Quraish, thus declaring that Al-Madinah has turned into s center of a military movement that would proceed outside its borders, and show the power of the new Islamic society, and threaten the trade the Quraish. In the tenth year of Al-Hijra (migration), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) passed away, and with his death, came to an end the most important phase in the history of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah and the greatest ever, namely the phase of building up the first Islamic Society and the first Islamic State.

Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in the Era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs:

 
     After the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) the allegiance was paid to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) at the meeting which was held at Saqifah (Shelter) of Bani Sa'edah, and of" his most important achievements (may Allah be pleased with him) was the fact that he fought the apostates in the wars that were called" Wars of Apostasy", and that took place in the first year of the Caliphate (Succession). The second year, however, has passed and Al-Madinah was swaying between ebb and flow among the population, and the streets and mosque were filled as well as the Islamic Jihad camp in the war, then before long they would be vacant after their departure to the places of Jihad. Before the passage of a few months of the thirteenth year of migration that Al-Madinah was the capital of a region that includes the entire Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, and a part of Palestine and the south of the Levant and the east of Iraq, and its people were either Muslims or vowing to pay the Jizyah (Tribute), and the era of Omar has witnessed as a growing movement in the conquests which started at the era of Abu Bakr and the organization of the postal service and Al-Madinah enjoyed a state of security, safety and standardization of the Taraweeh prayers (prayers  in congregation during the nights of Ramadan) in the month of Ramadan, and the "Givings Office" began as the people were given fixed livelihoods to be distributed to them every year. Omar also gave orders to establish a teaching method called "Katatib" or Madrassas" at each neighborhood where the boys would come to learn the Book of Allah and the principles of reading and writing. He decided to pay a salary to the full-time teacher for his work. The Prophet's Mosque witnessed the first expansion process in the era of Omar ibn al-Khattab, and the relief came after the year of Al-Ramadah (Severe Starvation), and the  non-Muslims were evacuated, until the Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) was stabbed while he was getting ready to lead the people in the Fajr (the Dawn) prayer, and his soul went to its Creator three days after his injury and therefore Omar left by the end and departure of the twenty-third year  of Al-Hijra (Migration) and was buried in the first of Muharram of the year twenty-four After Al-Hijra (Migration), and Al-Madinah, rather all Muslims, lost a great leader and governor with no parallel in the entire history. Uthman ibn Affan was sworn allegiance to become the third of the Guided Caliphs, and the implementation features started n the era of the new Caliph, as he increased the "giving" to the people vis-à-vis what was given at the era of Omar. The Jihad was still going on outside Al-Madinah, and the Muslims opened cities in the land of the "Romans" and "Armenia" and reached Kabul, and in Africa, where Abdullah ibn Abi Al-Sarh proceeded in the north and in Cyprus and Astrkh, Tabaristan and Kadman and Sajstan. Uthman was mindful of the markets and used to visit and inspect them from time to time, and he appointed policemen to watch the conditions of Al-Madinah, and roam in its streets, markets and farms, but they were few in number and more like the monitors of the municipalities. In the thirtieth year after Al-Hijra (Migration) Othman gave orders to put down in writing a "Mushaf" (copy of the Holy Qur'an) that embraced all Suras and Verses, and to verify and adjust them in a in one Version. Othman and those who joined him in this blessed work had the credit and merit of protecting the Muslims from dispersion in their greater Book, namely the Book of Allah, the Wise and Exalted in Power. Likewise, in the year (29) after Al-Hijra (Migration) started the expansion and renovation process of the Prophet's Mosque. Then came the sedition propagated by Abdullah bin Saba's, and Othman was assassinated and buried in a piece of land adjacent to Al-Baqie (the principal graveyard of Al-Madinah) that was subsequently joined to the cemetery. The Caliphate of Ali began in difficult circumstances that resulted from the sedition, and he made his main concern to provide security in Al-Madinah city itself and to protect its people from the Desert Arabs and the Sabaeans. By mid-Rajab of the year (36) began a new phase of the life of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah . . . a phase where the Caliphate (Succession) went outside it with all its responsibilities and problems. Since the end of the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs until the beginning of the Saudi era, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah witnessed a lot of incursions and invasions made by the tribes, either on the roads leading to those tribes or to "Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah" itself, which led to the construction of a fence wall around it for protection purposes. In the year 545 AH a compact and secure wall was built around Al-Madinah in lieu of the old down-and-out fence, and it was such fence that saved Al-Madinah from the evils of the attackers later on. In 557 AH, Nur Eddin Zanki performed the Hajj (Pilgrimage), and visited Al-Madinah, and some residents outside the fence appealed for his help and told him about the severe harms which they were facing and therefore he ordered the construction of a new wall covering all the houses of Al-Madinah inside as well outside the old fence. The fence was built in a short time, and was finalized in the year 558 AH. When Sultan Suleiman assumed the Caliphate (Succession), at the time of the Ottoman era, some of the people of Al-Madinah complained to him about their suffering of the Desert Arabs who cause corruptions and damages at the outskirts of Al-Madinah, and therefore he gave orders to construct a high and strong stone wall to surround Al-Madinah from all sides. In the month of Muharram 939 AH, the work started upon the arrival of workers and the construction process took seven and a half years, and it began as well-fortified with high walls and large compact gates and towers where the defenders would become secure and inaccessible and the towers were equipped with the modern guns available at the time. A Castle was built at Bab Al-Shami to be complementary to wall fence from its western north side, and was located on a high hill with monitoring and control towers. Inside the Castle, the housing units of the army were built in addition to a house of the commander of the garrison,  and a gate was made leading to inside Al-Madinah and another one leading outside it, and appointed a military garrison for Al-Madinah.

 
  
Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in Saudi Era:

 
     On the morning of the month of Jumada I of the year 1342 AH,  Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz to Al-Madinah, along with his entourage and his soldiers were he was received by a gathering of the people of Al-Madinah who declared their loyalty to him and his father and the procession proceeded to the Prophet's Mosque where they prayed, then expressed their salute to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his two companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and then went to the headquarters of the Emirate, and the Prince began to receive the people, and over three days, Prince Mohammed continued to receive the  residents of Al-Madinah and listen to them and hold conversations with them, and distribute to them the donations of rice, wheat, and money. On the fourth day, Prince Mohammed held a large meeting with the elite and masters of Al-Madinah people, and its senior officials in the Town Hall, and spoke to the attending people, and repeated the declaration of General Amnesty, and addressed the residents of Al-Madinah from the officers and staff of the Shawwam (people of the Levant), Iraqis and Libyans, who were working in management with the Hashemites and Alnajdiyin who were among the opponents of Aal Saud, and gave the option either to remain in Al-Madinah or move to any point according to their wish, where nobody would obstruct them or stand in their way, Some have requested permission to leave, and some stayed,  and Sultan Abdul Aziz decided to appoint his son Mohammad as the Emir of Al-Madinah, after its people  asked that it would be handed over to one of his sons, as an expression of its status and doing honor to its people. He also decided to appoint Ibrahim Al-Sabhan as an authorized representative of the prince. Prince Mohammed preferred to keep close to his father to be helpful in face of successive developments and left his representative Ibrahim Al-Sabhan to administer the affairs of Al-Madinah after it became stable and quiet, and he left to Jeddah on the third of Rajab 1342 AH. We have seen in a long history of Al-Madinah and its surroundings what the pilgrims and travelers used to suffer by some tribes and individuals, and the tax which the delegates used to pay to the tribes proximate to the pilgrimage route in exchange for not interfering with the pilgrims and Umrah performers and to let them pass in peace, and the salaries which the Tribes Sheikhs used to receive from the Ottoman Empire, and even from the Mamlukes before, against not intruding upon the pilgrims, and that was the hardest thing which the Muslims suffer in their pilgrimage. At the end of Rajab 1344 AH, King Abdul Aziz called for all leaders of the tribes of Harb and Juhainah at his home and preached to them and conferred honor upon them and gave them donations and informed them of the end of the era of fear and invasion and looting and the necessity of setting in security and stability and surety, and the fact that the State would assume its responsibilities by the help of the tribes themselves. King Abdul Aziz was very strict and resolute in the application of sanctions and legitimate penalties, in order to plant the fear in the hearts of the tribes that were accustomed to disobedience and lived on highway robbery on the routs of the pilgrims and Umrah performers.  He reinstated the system of outposts which the Ottomans had erected on the roads and sufficed to transfer the responsibility of the Security to the tribes themselves. This way has turned out well with regard to addressing that historical dilemma was unprecedented success. Immediately after the end of the Hashemite rule, and Hijaz paid allegiance to King Abdul Aziz, he announced the establishment of local advisory boards in each of Makkah and Al-Madinah, Jeddah Yanbu, and Al-Taif to consider important local issues. He also formed the Municipal Council to study the local issues related to planning, construction and municipal affairs in general. He standardized and unified the judicial system, and the cars arrived to Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah for the first time in a test run, and made the distance from Jeddah to Al-Madinah in (24) hours, and the largest convoy of cars witnessed by Al-Madinah was the convoy of the royal cars on which King Abdul Aziz arrived in the late Rabi II in the year 1345 AH, followed by the convoys of pilgrims in the last ten days of Dhul-Hijja  in the same year. On the twenty first of Rabi II 1345 AH King Abdul Aziz arrived at Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, and stayed there for nearly two months, and that visit had large administrative and organizational effects including the removal of Deputy of the Emirate Prince Ibrahim Al-Sabhan and the appointment of Prince Mishary bin Galloway Aal Saud, who stayed for a few months only then was hit by disease and asked to be relieved from his position and King Abdul Aziz positively responded to him and replaced him with Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim, whom Al-Madinah witnessed during the term of his rule at the Emirate various developments in its administrative and construction, economic and cultural aspects, and therefore the Electricity Company expanded its services and the commercial movement promoted in the market, the cultural movement became active, and the education started in Al-Madinah through public schools and private schools. Likewise, Al-Madinah witnessed a development in the transport and the movement of visitors and pilgrims, as it took advantage of the entry of vehicles to the Kingdom in an intensive manner and the creation of more than one Transport Company, as well as cars owned by individuals acting on them. Also the Postal Services were developed in the month Rabi I of the year 1348 AH. Then King Abdul Aziz made a brief visit to Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, where he arrived on the morning of Wednesday  12 Dhul-Qaeda 1346 AH, and left on Friday, 14 Dhul-Qaeda 1346 AH on his way to Jeddah. Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim stayed for nearly ten years in the post of Deputy Emir of Al-Madinah, and when he became seriously ill, he requested from King Abdul Aziz to relieve him from his post and the King has positively responded to his request and issued a Royal Order to exempt him and to appoint Abdullah bin Sa'ad Al-Sudairy in the post of Deputy Emir in Al-Madinah on the ninth month of Safar 1355 AH. In the year 1366 AH the first airport of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah was finalized and became able to absorb the regular flights, and the Saudi Arabian airline opened a regular line by a twin-engine plane. When Prince Abdullah Al-Sudairy passed away on 13/8/1379 AH, the position of  Deputy Secretary of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah was assumed by his son, Abu Abdul Rahman Al-Sudairy and the Royal Decree in this respect was issued on 29/8/1380 AH, and in the year of 1380 AH the idea of the Islamic University was put forward once again and a number of those involved contributed to the revival of the idea and the State positively responded and King Saud issued a Royal Decree establishing the university on 25 Rabi al-Awwal 1380 AH, and the actual study began at the university on the second Jumada II, 1381 AH in the first and only College at the time,  namely the Faculty of Sharia. Prince Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Aziz was appointed as the Emir of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah in 1385 AH, and he was gentle and friendly and kind to the people of Al-Madinah, and he was keen to run things by himself and look at the progress of work at the various departments of Al-Madinah, just as he was keen to meet people of Al-Madinah. As a result of the shortage of drinking water in consequence of the urban development witnessed by Al-Madinah, that the search began to find alternatives to that issue, including the transfer of desalinated water from Yanbu to Al-Madinah, where King Khalid bin Abdul Aziz opened the station for receiving desalinated water from the desalinated units in the month of Muharram 1401 AH. As there is a distinct historical relationship between Al-Madinah and the Holy Mushaf (Qur'an)  since Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) collected the Mushaf for the first time, God guided  the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to give his orders to  establish an integrated complex to print the Holy Qur'an and the translations of its meanings to the different languages, and to make audio recordings of famous reciters of the Holy Qur'an, and that complex was inaugurated in the month of Safar 1405 AH and began to distribute the first sets of its production. Prince Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Aziz, (may God have mercy on him) died in the year 1405 AH after suffering an incurable disease since 1402 AH, and it was the Emirates deputy Sa'ad Al-Nasser Al-Sudairy who has run the affairs of Al-Madinah in his absence. A Royal Decree was issued on 15/5/1406 AH regarding the appointment of Prince Abdul Majid bin Abdul Aziz as the Emir of Al-Madinah Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. In the period that followed such an appointment, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah has witnessed accelerated and uninterrupted developments that jumped with Al-Madinah for a considerable distance as if it were digesting several decades to put it in a prominent place among the cities consistent with its religious status, and consistent with the large cultural leap of the great entity comprising it, namely the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah had also witnessed an annual visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, to follow up the development of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, and to stand close to the implementation of projects which he, God save him, has given instructions for implementation. He ordered the formation of a special ministerial committee under his chairmanship that would meet on regular basis to follow up the development and draw up the future plans for Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah.