EMIGRATION FROM MAKKAH TO MADINAH

The Prophet’s emigration from Makkah to Madinah was the most important event in Islamic history. That is why the companions marked the beginning of the Islamic calendar with this event. But to understand the real significance of emigration, it is necessary to remove the dust of legends and fairy tales that have, over the years, accumulated over the glass case of history.

One of these myths has grown over the Prophet’s stay in the Cave of Thawr on his way from Makkah to Madinah. The Quraysh were hot on his heels, and he took refuge in the cave to hide from them. The story goes that God commanded a spider to weave a web at the cave door after the Prophet entered. Then He commanded a dove to come and lay an egg on top of the web, thus—providentially—giving the impression that the cave was uninhabited. But as is usual with such events, the facts of the Prophet’s emigration to Madinah have been exaggerated and distorted beyond recognition. This is clear from the actual historical version of what happened.

As the historian Ibn Kathir has pointed out, the most reliable account of events is that Imam Ahmad gave on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn Abbas. This is how the account goes:

They (the Quraysh) followed close on the heels of the Prophet, but when they reached the mountain, they lost a trace of him. They then climbed the mountain and passed by a cave. Noting a spider’s web at the mouth of the cave, they said to one another, “If he had entered this cave, the spider’s web would not have remained intact.”

It is not explicitly stated that they saw the cave of Thawr. Even if we accept that it was, all that is clear from this account is that they saw a spider’s web in the mouth of a cave. There is no mention of God commanding a spider to weave a web after the entry of the Prophet or of His making a dove lay its egg on top of the web. Such additions are fanciful and are the result of wishful thinking.

The greatest damage caused by such interpolations is that they divert one’s attention to fantastic, far-fetched tales and cause one to miss the real lesson, which is to be derived from purely factual accounts.
 

The Emigrants are Made to Feel at Home

How the tribes of Madinah aided the Prophet is one of the most extraordinary events in history. Because of their assistance, they became known as the Ansar—the Helpers. Usually, when people give something, it is in return for some favour or to ingratiate themselves with someone. Some provide offerings for “holy men” because they think doing so will cause blessings to descend on their families and properties. But the emigration of the Prophet is perhaps the only example of people opening their doors to destitute and forlorn refugees when they had nothing to gain and probably a great deal to lose by doing so. The action of the Ansar was based entirely on their dedicated commitment to the cause of Islam. They accommodated the emigrants in their homes, treated them as brothers and sisters, and shared their possessions with them. And they did all this, fully conscious that their action involved much more than economic sacrifice. They knew full well that what they were doing would arouse the hostility of the most powerful factions in both Arabia and Persia. There are no words more fitting than those of ‘Ali to describe them: “They were true to their word, steadfast in adversity.”

When the Muhajirun forsook their own country for Madinah, every Ansar was eager to extend hospitality to them. They even drew lots among themselves for the privilege of being able to entertain such noble guests. They handed over the better part of their properties to the Muhajirun. And all this even though, in their oath of allegiance, it was explicitly laid down that others would be given priority over them. Though they had made the most extreme sacrifices for the sake of Islam, they did not show the slightest disapproval of this clause.¹⁴¹

Despite all the assistance, the Prophet did not have an easy life in Madinah. Apprehensions that the whole of Arabia would unite against the Muslims proved only too true. This is how Ubayy ibn Ka’b, a companion of the Prophet, describes the situation:

When the Prophet and his companions arrived in Madinah, and the Ansar gave them asylum, the Arabs united against them. The Muslims used to remain in their armour, night and day.

The Quraysh declared economic sanctions against the people of Madinah. All Arab tribes, following the Quraysh’s lead, severed links with the city. Internal resources ran far short of providing for the considerably increased population of Madinah, and the expense of defending the town pushed the economy to its very limit. ‘Umar says that the Prophet was restless with hunger all day in Madinah. There were not even enough rejected dates for him to eat his fill. In later years, someone asked ‘Aisha if they had a lantern. “If we had had oil to burn a lantern,” she said, “we would have drunk it.” The Muslims used to go out on expeditions with hardly any provisions. Abu Musa tells of one expedition he made with the Prophet. “There was only one camel between the six of us. We used to take turns riding on it. The skin began peeling off our feet from incessant walking, and we used to bind them with rags. That was why the expedition came to be known as Dhat al-Riqa, (riqa meaning rags or patches).”

Food rations used to run so low that people used to suck dates rather than eat them. Acacia leaves and locusts would make up the rest of their diet. Additionally, the Muhajirun had to contend with a drastic diet change. In Makkah, they had been used to a diet of meat and milk. In Madinah, dates constituted the major portion of their diet. Tabarani had related an incident one day when the Prophet came to take the Friday congregational prayer. A Makkan Muslim called out to him: “Prophet of God, these dates have burnt our intestines.”

The emigration to Madinah was a watershed in Islamic history. From a practical point of view, Islam emerged from a purely missionary episode and entered a period of active confrontation. During the period when he was solely concerned with preaching, the Prophet used to work according to one hard-and-fast principle. He used to steer clear of all controversial issues and concentrate entirely on giving the good news of the joys of paradise and warnings of the punishment of hell. He would avoid any discussion of political, economic and tribal affairs. When he preached the message of Islam to the Banu ‘Amir ibn Sa’sa’ah tribe at the fair of ‘Ukaz, he assured them at the same time that all he would do was peacefully pursue his preaching work; he would not raise any extraneous issue. “I am God’s Prophet,” he said. “If I come amongst you, will you protect me so I can continue communicating my message? I will not force you on any matter.”

In Madinah, preaching work remained the primary purpose of the Prophet’s mission. But the spectrum had broadened, and now Islam had to take account of social issues as well. The policy adopted by the Prophet at this juncture was aimed at softening people’s hearts towards Islam so that the purpose of his mission could be achieved without conflict. “I have been assisted by the feelings of awe which I inspire—this has been the equivalent of one month’s journey,” he once said. Usually, his missions were carried through to success by sheer force of personality.

There were two complementary aspects to this method: one was based on overawing the opponents of Islam, while the other aimed to plant the seed of love in them. The first meant accumulating strength awesome enough to convince the opponents of Islam that they could not beat it and that being so, they had best come to its fold.

The second way was to offer gifts to the opponents of Islam to soften their hearts towards Islam and Muslims.¹⁴⁶ The generosity that the Prophet showed to win people over to his cause was without a peer. No one before or after him can lay claim to such boundless munificence. Safwan ibn Umayyah, a noble of Makkah, hid in a mountain ravine. After the Muslim conquest of Makkah, the Prophet extended an amnesty to him and asked to see him. After Hawazin had been subdued, the Prophet was overseeing the distribution of spoils at Ji’ranah. Safwan ibn Umayyah was with him. As yet, he had not accepted Islam. Standing on the gully’s side, he gazed wonderfully at the goats and camels swarming beneath him. “Abu Wahab,” the Prophet enquired on seeing him, “would you like all these cattle?” Safwan said that he would. “It’s all yours,” the Prophet told him. “No one but a Prophet could be so generous,” Safwan replied. He immediately accepted Islam and testified that there was no one worthy of being served to save God and that Muhammad was His servant and Prophet.

The Prophet’s numerous marriages were also part of this policy. Prime importance was attached in the tribal system to relationships through marriage. This gives us insight into the marriages the Prophet entered after emigrating to Madinah. They established relationships with countless people whose hearts then mellowed towards his mission. The Prophet’s first marriage was with Khadijah, a widow almost twice his age. Except for that one marriage, his other marriages were entered into for the political and missionary advantages that accrued to Islam from them.

The year after the Peace of Hudaybiyyah (A.D. 628), the Prophet and 2000 Muslims went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Ka’bah. During his three-day stay in Makkah, he married a widow named Maymunah bint al Harith. She had eight sisters, all married into distinguished Makkan families. By marrying her, the Prophet became related to all these eight families. Khalid ibn al-Walid was Maymunah’s nephew, and she had brought him up as a son. So Khalid, the Quraysh’s greatest warrior, became the Prophet’s stepson. After this, Khalid did not join in any hostilities against the Muslims, and before long, he entered the fold of Islam. After his marriage to Maymunah, the Prophet arranged a wedding reception for the people of Makkah, but the Quraysh reminded him that—according to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah—he was only allowed to remain in Makkah for three days. After that, his period was up, and he would have to leave the city immediately. So the wedding reception, aimed at attracting people to the faith, could not occur. But Khalid ibn al-Walid and ‘Amr ibn al-’As had become Muslim together. So that, on their arrival in Madinah, people exclaimed: “With these two in the bag, Makkah has been tamed.”

Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan, a prominent member of the Quraysh, and her husband Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh accepted Islam and emigrated to Abyssinia. There, however, the husband became a Christian. Not long after that, he died. Hearing of this, the Prophet arranged to marry Umm Habibah by proxy. After the death of Abu Jahl in the field of Badr, Abu Sufyan became the most prominent leader of the Quraysh. The Prophet would now be his son-in-law. The marriage had to be completed by proxy, for it was feared that if Umm Habibah returned to Makkah, her father would not allow the marriage. The ceremony was then conducted by Najashi, King of Abyssinia, and the bride left immediately for Madinah. With this relationship established, Abu Sufyan’s enmity toward the Prophet mellowed, and he converted to Islam one day before the conquest of Makkah.

The other aspect of this policy was that of “striking terror” into the hearts of the enemies of Islam. This consisted of mustering up enough strength and making such a show of it that there would be no need to use it. The defeat of the Muslims at Uhud (A.H. 3) could have turned into a rout if Abu Sufyan had followed up his victory with another attack instead of returning to Makkah. Indeed, when he reached Ruha, he realized his mistake and made to turn once again on the Muslims’ stronghold. But even in utter disarray, the Prophet’s information system worked effectively. He heard about Abu Sufyan’s intention and decided to meet him. Immediately he reassembled his shaken army and set off towards Makkah.

Contrary to his moral practice of maintaining a veil of secrecy over military manoeuvres, this expedition was given a fanfare of publicity. When the Muslims reached Hamra al-Asad, eight miles from Madinah, Abu Sufyan heard of the pursuit. Thinking that fresh reinforcements must have arrived, he gave up his idea of attacking Madinah and returned to Makkah. The Prophet returned to Madinah when he became sure of Abu Sufyan’s army withdrawal.

One year after the Battle of Mu’tah, which occurred in the month of Jumada al-Awwal, A.H. 8, the Byzantine emperor started gathering his forces on the Syrian border. The Ghassanids and other Roman allies among Arab tribes in the region followed the emperor’s lead. In response, the Prophet advanced to Tabuk with an army of 30,000. The expedition to Tabuk was a military manoeuvre, a pre-emptive strike. The aim was to strike fear into the enemy so they would lose heart and abandon their hostile intentions. When the Prophet reached Tabuk, he heard that Caesar was not advancing to meet the Muslims but, instead, was beginning to withdraw his forces from the frontier. There was now no question of a battle, and Caesar’s very withdrawal had assured the Prophet of a moral victory, which he decided to turn to his political advantage. During his 20-day stay in Tabuk, he established contact with the neighbouring Arab tribes, who were at that time under Roman influence. As a result, the Christian chieftain of Daumat al Jandal, Ukaydir ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Kindi, Yuhannah ibn Ruyah from Aylah, along with Christians of Maqna, Jarba and Azruh, agreed to pay jizyah, a tax levied on non-Muslims living under the protection of a Muslim government, which guarantees the safety of their lives and property, and free exercise of their religion.

The same reason lay behind the expedition under Usamah, undertaken soon after the death of the Prophet. Except for the tribes of Madinah, the whole of Arabia had risen in revolt when the Prophet died. Suddenly the Muslims found themselves at odds with all their Arab countrymen. It appeared expedient to preserve all strength in Madinah to counter the enemy within. But rather than do this, Abu Bakr acted on a decision taken by the Prophet. A force of 700 men was sent to the Roman front under Usamah. Abu Hurayrah explains the impact that this expedition had on the rebellious Arab tribes:

When Usamah’s force passed those tribes by that were on the verge of apostasy, they would exclaim: “If the Muslims did not have great reserves of strength, they would never have despatched a force like this. Let us leave them to fight against the Romans.’ The Muslims fought against the Romans and defeated them, returning safely after battling with them. Seeing this, those thinking of apostasy became firm in Islam.”

When the Prophet reached Madinah, there were, besides a small minority of polytheists, two main communities living there—the Jews and the Muslims. These two communities were split up into several small groups. Neither was able to present a united front. People were waiting for someone who would organize and unite them. When the Prophet realized this was what people wanted, he issued a decree in which Jews and Muslims were recognized as communities in their own right. “The Jews are a community along with the Muslims... They shall have their religion and the Muslims theirs.” No encroachment was made on the customary rights and responsibilities of either Jews or Muslims, and acceptable concessions were made to the sentiments of both communities. A clause was added, however, which read as follows:

Whenever there is a disagreement about something, the matter should be referred to God Almighty and Muhammad.

This decree amounted to a political initiative that, most tactfully and ingeniously, introduced the Islamic constitutional government to Madinah.

Instead of appeasing the Quraysh, the Prophet’s departure to Madinah aroused their anger to new intensity levels. They saw the Muslims gathering in one place and becoming stronger. Only two years elapsed before the Prophet decided whether to meet the Quraysh army outside the city or allow them to enter Madinah and cast the newly built nest of Islam into disarray. The Quraysh had 950 men in their army, while the Muslims numbered only 313. But the Prophet’s insight told him that solely negative impulses moved the Quraysh.

Hatred of the Muslims, and jealousy of the Prophet, lay behind their aggression. The Muslims, on the other hand, were moved by the most positive and noble instincts. They had faith in God to spur them on and the certainty that they were fighting for a genuine cause. The Muslims, then, were immeasurably more strongly motivated than their foes. Besides this, Arab warfare was a personal affair. Every warrior sought to make a name for himself by exhibiting his bravery. Faith in God had removed this weakness from the Muslims. The Prophet was the first person in Arab history to command his forces to pursue a united course of action and fight in ranks. He stressed the importance of fighting, not as individuals, but as a unit. The believers were urged to destroy the Quraysh’s strength with the strength of solidarity:

God loves those who fight for His cause in ranks as if they were a solid, cemented edifice.

Faith and the Muslims’ ability to fight as one unit brought about the first victory of Islamic history—the Battle of Badr.
 

Victory of Islam

Defeat at Badr had the effect of further provoking the Quraysh, and several battles, notably those of Uhud (A.H. 3) and the Trench (A.H. 5), ensued within the space of a few years. The Muslims ran into severe difficulties during these campaigns. For example, the 800 who participated in the Battle of the Trench suffered extreme cold, hunger and exhaustion. So much so that no one stood up when the Prophet asked someone to volunteer for a spying foray into the enemy camp. Eventually, the Prophet personally delegated this task to Huzayfah.

There were also recurrent problems with the Jews of Madinah, who, in alliance with the Quraysh, were always conspiring against the Muslims. As a result, Madinah was besieged for twenty days during the Battle of the Trench. Finally, the Quraysh were forced by a violent sandstorm to return to Makkah. Now that collaboration with the Quraysh had been exposed; the Prophet chose this time to solve this problem. There were three Jewish tribes in and around Madinah—the Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqah and Banu Qurayzah. Immediately after the Battle of the Trench, they were besieged and exiled, applying their Judaic law. The threat that they had posed to the Muslims in Madinah was thus permanently eliminated.

Then there was the problem of Khaybar. Six years after the Prophet’s emigration, Madinah was an island of Islam between the Quraysh in Makkah, 400 kilometres to the south, and the Jews in Khaybar, 200 kilometres to the north. The Quraysh and the Jews were united in their enmity towards Islam, but neither being strong enough to take the Muslims on alone, they had negotiated to set out a joint action plan against the Muslims. The latter, for their part, were not in a position to take on both enemies simultaneously.

Against this background, the Prophet, acting under divine inspiration, set out for Makkah in the year A.H. 6, along with 1400 companions. He clarified that the Muslims had no intention of fighting anybody and were going for Umrah. The sacrificial camels, which the Muslims took with them, further proved their peaceful intentions. The camels were even given the sacrificial emblem, known as qaladah, so the people of Makkah could be sure they were meant for sacrifice. This journey was also aimed at allaying the fears of the Quraysh that the Muslims intended to destroy the Ka’bah’s religious and commercial status.

As expected, the Quraysh advanced to prevent the Muslims from entering Makkah. The two parties met at Hudaybiyyah, some eleven kilometres from Makkah. Anxious to avoid hostilities, the Prophet set up camp then and there. He then sent a message to the Quraysh, suggesting a peace treaty between the two sides. He impressed his envoys that they had not come to fight anybody. “We have come as pilgrims. War weakened and caused the Quraysh to suffer great losses. If they wish, I am willing to make a truce with them: they shall not come in between myself and the people during that time. If I emerge supreme, and they so wish, they can accept the religion others have accepted. If I do not emerge supreme, they will have the right to do as they please. If the Quraysh refuse this offer, I will fight with them to support my cause, even at the risk of losing my life. And what God wishes will come to pass.”

The theme of this message shows that the Prophet was appealing to a soft spot in the Quraysh’s psyche. When the Prophet first commenced his public mission in Makkah, ‘Utbah ibn Rabi’ah came to him on behalf of the Quraysh. When he returned to his people, this is what he had to say to them:

Leave this fellow to continue with his work for, God knows, he will never give it up. Do not prevent him from preaching to the Arabs. If he wins them over, then his honour will be your own. If they prevail over him, then, thanks to others, you will be free of him.

The Prophet thus appealed to the Quraysh in the same terms they had been thinking; consequently, he could find supporters of his peace initiative within the enemy
camp itself.

The Prophet sent the Quraysh this message and, at the same time, initiated various procedures aimed at influencing them. One Banu Kinanah came from Makkah to Hudaybiyyah to ascertain the Muslims’ intentions. When the Prophet heard about his impending arrival, he told his followers of the Banu Kinanah’s reverence for sacrificial camels and directed them to take them with them when they met him. They did so, simultaneously chanting the pilgrimage prayer—“We are here at your service, Lord...”. The Quraysh’s envoy was highly impressed. On his return to Makkah, he told the Quraysh that he was sure the Muslims had come on a pilgrimage for no other reason and should be allowed to carry on.

The spectacle of 1400 Muslims displaying their faith in God also profoundly impacted the Quraysh. When one of their envoys came into the Muslim camp, the Muslims were all praying in ranks, lined up behind the Prophet. He was highly impressed by the organization and discipline of the worshippers. When he returned to the Quraysh, he told them that the Muslims worked as a unit: when Muhammad made a move, all his followers did likewise. Another envoy saw that when the Prophet performed his ablutions, the Muslims rushed to catch the water he had used in their hands before it could touch the ground. He noticed the hush, which descended upon them when the Prophet spoke, the reverence preventing them from looking him straight in the eye. When this envoy reported back to the Quraysh, they were deeply impressed by his description of the Muslims’ loyalty and affection for their leader. ‘Urwah ibn Mas’ud asked them: “Are you not as my fathers and sons?” The people told him that they were indeed. “Are you suspicious of me in any way?” he asked them. They said not. “Well,” ‘Urwah continued, “this man (Muhammad) has made a good proposal to you. Agree to it, and let me go to confer with him.”

The Prophet made clear his intention to accept any demand the Quraysh made as long as it did not contradict the law of God. The Quraysh displayed all manner of bigotry while the treaty was being compiled. They removed the words “Muhammad, Messenger of God” from the draft and inserted “Muhammad, son of ‘Abdullah” instead. Taking offence at the words “In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful,” they insisted on “In Your Name, Oh God,” being written. Finally, they added a clause saying that any Quraysh who joined the Muslims must be returned.

On the other hand, the Quraysh would not have to do the same with any Muslim who came to them. They refused the Muslims permission to enter Makkah for their pilgrimage that year. These clauses were more than the Companions could bear. ‘Urwah ibn Mas’ud even commented that those whom the Prophet had gathered around himself were about to desert him. ‘Urwah’s remark was too much for the normally placid Abu Bakr, who sternly rebuked him and said, “So you think that we will leave the Prophet on his own?” But the Prophet himself refused to be provoked. He accepted all the Quraysh’s demands and completed a ten-year truce with them. As long as the truce lasted, the Quraysh were prevented—directly or indirectly—from participating in any hostilities against the Muslims.

This treaty weighed so heavily on the Muslims that, after it had been completed, no one responded to repeated calls by the Prophet for the sacrifice of the camels they had brought with them. So it was with heavy hearts that they finally rose to make the sacrifice. So much so that when they shaved their heads afterwards, it seemed as if they were going to cut one another’s throats, so deep was their sorrow. But this truce, the terms of which appeared so unfavourable to the Muslims, was destined to reap incalculable benefits for them later.

At the time of the truce, two main enemies confronted the Muslims—the Jews of Khaybar and the Quraysh of Makkah. The Muslims were not yet strong enough to face both simultaneously. Attacking one would have given the other a golden opportunity to attack Madinah from the rear, thus demolishing the Muslims’ stronghold. By accepting all the Quraysh’s demands, the Prophet had consolidated a ten-year truce with one of the two. No longer could they conduct forays against the Muslims. With the Quraysh out of his way, the Prophet could now turn his attention to the Jews of Khaybar. The attack on Khaybar (Muharram A.H. 7) followed quickly after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (Dhu’l-Qa’dah, A.H. 6), finally solving the Jewish problem.

Twenty thousand armed men were holding out in the eight mighty fortresses of Khaybar. The fortresses were also equipped with highly sophisticated defences. The story of this fortified city’s sacking is long, in which methods of extraordinary military ingenuity were used. First, the town gate was broken with a massive tree trunk wielded by about fifty men. A few strong blows were enough to break the gate, allowing the Muslims to enter amidst a hail of arrows and stones. Four fortresses were captured in this manner. The rest took fright, opened their gates, and put themselves at the mercy of the Muslim army.

There remained the Quraysh to be subdued. The Prophet’s intuition told him to wait until they broke the treaty before entering the battlefield with them. The Prophet knew the negative sentiments that spurred the Quraysh in their fight against the Muslims. Since the former was motivated by feelings of jealousy, hate, greed and arrogance, the Prophet realized that they would stop short of no immoral and unreasonable action in pursuit of their aims. His estimate proved correct. In Sha’ban A.H. 8, fighting erupted between the tribes of Khuza’ah and Banu Bakr. The Banu Bakr were allied to the Quraysh and the Khuza’ah to the Muslims. In blatant contradiction to the terms of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the Quraysh provided their allies with clandestine support, enabling them to attack the Khuza’ah. This incident occurred just two years after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. During this time, the number of people with the Prophet had risen from 1,500 to 10,000. Along with them, the Prophet secretly set out for Makkah. So wise and diplomatic was his strategy that Makkah was conquered with next to no bloodshed:

God has promised you many gains, which you will acquire, and thus He has given you this beforehand, and He has restrained the hands of men from you.

When the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was signed, the Prophet had been preaching for twenty years. The message of Islam spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. There were people in every tribe whose hearts the Prophet’s religion had found a place. But they still looked up to the Quraysh as their leaders. Many who realized the truth of Islam could not proclaim their faith out of fear of the Quraysh. They knew that declaration of Islam amounted to war against the mightiest tribe in Arabia. They heard that the Muslims and the Quraysh had agreed to curtail hostilities for ten years. The Quraysh would no longer be able to take reprisals against people becoming Muslims. There was now nothing to stop people from accepting Islam. It was as if a large crowd had gathered at the gate of Islam. The gate was thrown open with the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and the crowds flocked in.

As Ibn Shahab al-Zahri and others have pointed out, the Muslims gained more from the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah than from any of their campaigns. The Prophet returned to Makkah two years later with 10,000 men, whereas previously, the Muslims had numbered no more than 3,000. This directly resulted from removing the greatest obstacle to Islam acceptance—the Quraysh’s anger and irritation, which would result from such a move. Bara’ was one of the Muslims present at Hudaybiyyah. Bukhari has related how he used to say to later-day people, those who considered the Conquest of Makkah to be the great victory of Islam, that the Companions of the Prophet used to think of the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyyah as an outstanding victory.

The economic blockade of Madinah was now lifted. Caravans from that city were now permitted to pass freely through Makkah. But Abu Jandal, Abu Basir, and others who had accepted Islam had to be returned to the Quraysh under the treaty’s terms. Before long, however, they escaped and took refuge in Dhu’l-Marwah. So many Muslim converts assembled in that place that it became Islam’s new, flourishing centre. From there, they used to play havoc with the Quraysh’s trading caravans. Finally, the Quraysh were forced to abandon their insistence that anyone deserting the Quraysh for the Muslim camp would have to be returned to the Quraysh.

The great lesson of Hudaybiyyah is that one should avoid impatience and not judge matters by appearances alone. The outwardly unfavourable Treaty of Hudaybiyyah held great opportunities for the Muslims, which only people of insight could perceive. Ibn ‘Asakir recorded some comments of Abu Bakr on the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. “It was the greatest Islamic victory,” he said, “though people were too shortsighted on that day to realize the secrets between Muhammad and his Lord. People are impatient, but God is not. He lets matters take their course until they reach his intended stage.” Realism brings success in this world, but people want instant success and are unwilling to go through the lengthy stages it takes to achieve it.

After finishing with Khaybar, the Prophet began preparing for another campaign. The target he kept secret, not even telling Abu Bakr where they would be advancing. Only in Ramadan A.H. 8, when the Muslim army was directed to set out towards Makkah, did people realize where they were heading. So stealthy and discreet was their advance that they reached Marruz-Zahran without the Quraysh knowing that the Muslims were upon them. The Prophet had prayed before he set out that “the spies and informers of the Quraysh” should be restrained until the Muslims entered the city of Makkah.

The Prophet went to great lengths to keep preparations for the advance on Makkah secret. He ordered Madinah to be cut off from the rest of Arabia: no one was allowed to enter or leave the city. A party under ‘Ali was sent to guard the roads leading to Madinah. They arrested Hatib ibn Abi Balta’ah’s messenger, who was taking a letter to the people of Makkah warning them of the danger to their city. As Tabarani reported on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas, “every tribe provided manpower and weaponry in full measure.”

No one was left behind. The army of 10,000 was divided into groups of several hundred men. Each division marched in ranks, led by a commander bearing a standard. The Prophet asked his uncle (Abbas to let Abu Sufyan, an old opponent of the Prophet, witness the Muslims’ march. Abu Sufyan watched from beside a narrow mountain pass as, row upon row; the Muslim army filed past. He could hardly believe his eyes. “Who has the power to confront this army?” he exclaimed. “I have never seen anything like it.” The Prophet thus went to great lengths to impress Abu Sufyan. At the same time, he announced that anyone entering Abu Sufyan’s house would be safe. The result was that Abu Sufyan himself appealed to the people of Makkah to capitulate before Muhammad, for no one was strong enough to fight him. Events, which followed the conquest of the city, prove that the extensive preparations were not aimed at causing bloodshed: they were aimed at frightening the Makkans into submission so that the city could be captured for Islam without any need for fighting. As the Muslim army neared Makkah, one of its leaders, Sa’d ibn ‘Ubadah, said, “Today is the day of battle!” The Prophet told him it was not; it was the day of mercy. Saad was then told to step down, and the standard was handed over to his son instead.

There were some engagements after the Conquest of Makkah, bringing the total number of military expeditions that the Prophet conducted up to eighty. But now that the Muslims had gained control of the capital of Arabia, it entailed only minor skirmishes before all of Arabia capitulated and accepted the Prophet as their leader.