Muhammad

by Karen Armstrong

  When they reached Hudaybiyyah, Muhammad’s camel Qaswa’ fell to her knees and refused to budge. The pilgrims yelled at her, trying to make her get up, but Muhammad reminded them of the elephant who had knelt before the Kabah during the Abyssinian invasion all those years ago—a divine “sign” that had persuaded the enemy army to turn back without a fight. Something similar was happening today. “The One who restrained the elephant from entering Mecca is keeping Qaswa’ back,” he explained, and yet again he reminded the pilgrims that they were coming in a spirit of reconciliation: “Whatever condition the Quraysh make in which they ask me to show kindness to kindred, I shall agree to.”17 Muhammad had never planned to overthrow the Quraysh but had simply wanted to reform the social system, which, he was convinced, would bring the city to ruin. The Quraysh thought that their pilgrimage amounted to a declaration of war but, like Qaswa’, Muhammad was determined to prostrate himself humbly before the holiness of Mecca. The war had achieved nothing of lasting value and both sides had committed atrocities. This was to be a peaceful offensive, not an invasion.

  But very few of the Muslims took Muhammad seriously. Keyed up by the excitement and drama of the occasion, they were expecting something spectacular. Perhaps there would be a miracle! Maybe they would enter Mecca in triumph and drive the Quraysh from the city! Instead, Muhammad calmly ordered them to water their camels and sit down beside them. What followed was what used to be called a “sit-in.” Waiting obediently for permission to enter the city, refraining from violence, Muhammad was demonstrating that he was more in line with Arab tradition than the Quraysh, who had been prepared to kill him while he was making his way unarmed toward the sacred ground.

  And, indeed, the Bedouin got the message. A chief of Khuza’ah who was visiting Mecca rode out to Hudaybiyyah to see what was going on. He was horrified to hear that the pilgrims had been denied access to the holy places, and went back to the city to protest angrily to the Quraysh. Mecca had always been an inclusive city; it had welcomed all Arabs to the Haram and this pluralism had been the source of its commercial success. What did they think they were doing? They had no right to bar a man who had clearly come in peace, he complained. But the Qurayshan elders laughed in his face. They were prepared to stand between Muhammad and the Kabah and fight him until their last man had been killed. “He may not have come wanting war,” they cried, “but by Allah he shall never come in against our will, nor shall the Arabs ever say that we have allowed it.”18

  At this point, the Meccan resistance to Muhammad was led by Suhayl, the pious pagan whom Muhammad had hoped to attract to Islam, and the sons of some of Islam’s earliest opponents: ‘Ikrimah, who like his father, Abu Jahl, was implacably opposed to any compromise; and Safwan ibn Umayyah, whose father had died at Badr. Interestingly, Abu Sufyan seems to have played no part in the events of Hudaybiyyah. A man of outstanding intelligence, he probably realized that Muhammad had wrong-footed the Quraysh and that it was no longer possible to deal with him with the conventional defiance of jahiliyyah.

  The Meccans had tried to kill the pilgrims, but Muhammad had eluded them; their next ploy was to try to cause dissension among the Muslims, by inviting Ibn Ubayy to perform the rites at the Kabah. But to everybody’s surprise, Ibn Ubayy replied that he could not possibly perform the tawaf before the Prophet. He would clash with Muhammad again in the future, but at Hudaybiyyah, Ibn Ubayy was a loyal Muslim. Safwan and Suhayl persuaded ‘Ikrimah to agree to negotiation, and sent one of their Bedouin allies, Hulays, chief of al-Harih, an extremely devout man, as their representative. When Muhammad saw him coming, he sent the sacrificial camels out to greet him, and when Hulays saw them trotting towards him, beautifully decked out in their garlands, he was so impressed that he did not even bother to interrogate Muhammad but returned immediately to the city. These were bona fide pilgrims, he reported, who must be admitted at once to the Haram. Safwan was furious. How dared Hulays—an ignorant Bedouin—give them orders! This was a grave mistake. Hulays rose and replied with great dignity:

  You men of Quraysh, it was not for this that we made an alliance with you. Is a man who comes to do honor to the house of Allah to be excluded from it? By Him who holds my life in his hand, either you let Muhammad do what he has come to do or I shall take away my troops to the last man.19

  Safwan hastily apologized and asked Hulays to bear with them until they found a solution that was satisfactory to everybody.

  Their next envoy was ‘Urwah ibn Mas‘ud of Ta’if, a crucial ally of Mecca. ‘Urwah immediately put his finger on Muhammad’s weak spot. “So you have gathered this medley of people, O Muhammad, by whom you came back to break the might of your own tribe,” said ‘Urwah, gesturing contemptuously at the pilgrims. “By Allah, I could see these disbanding against you tomorrow!”20 Muhammad knew that despite this apparent show of strength and unity, he had very few dependable allies. His Bedouin confederates, who had refused to accompany him on the pilgrimage, had only a superficial commitment to Islam; his position in Medina was still desperately insecure; and he knew that some of his closest companions would not understand what he was about to do. How could he realistically oppose the Quraysh—his own tribe—with this motley rabble? The Quraysh, on the other hand, were solidly united and armed to the teeth, ‘Urwah told him; even the women and children had vowed to prevent him entering Mecca. Nevertheless, almost in spite of himself, ‘Urwah was impressed by the Muslims’ devotion to the Prophet during this crisis, and he told the Quraysh that—at least for the time being—Muhammad held the winning cards and they would have to make some kind of agreement with him.

  Muhammad decided to send an ambassador of his own into Mecca. First he dispatched one of the Helpers, thinking that this would be less inflammatory, but the Quraysh hamstrung the man’s camel and would have killed him had not Hulays’s tribesmen intervened. Next Muhammad approached ‘Umar, but none of his clansmen in the city was strong enough to protect him, so it was decided that the well-connected ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan should undertake the mission. The Quraysh heard him out, but were not convinced by his exposition of Islam, though they gave him permission to perform the rites of the pilgrimage. ‘Uthman, of course, refused so the Quraysh decided to keep him as a hostage, but sent word to the Muslims that he had been killed.

  This was a terrible moment. It seemed as though the expedition had horribly misfired. In this extremity, Muhammad fell into a trance but this time there was no message from Allah, and he had to find a solution himself, listening, as he always did, to the under-current of these fearful events in order to discover what was really going on. Finally, he asked the pilgrims to swear an oath of fealty. One by one, they took his hand and swore the Oath of Good Pleasure. The sources all have different interpretations of this event, but Waqidi’s account is probably the most persuasive. He says that the Muslims vowed to obey Muhammad implicitly and to follow what was “in his soul” during this crisis.21 Muhammad had never been able to command absolute obedience, but, shaken by the report of ‘Uthman’s murder, even Ibn Ubayy and the Hypocrites were ready to take the oath. Muhammad had resolved, at a deep instinctual level, to take a course of action that he knew many would find intolerable and he wanted to ensure their loyalty in advance. After everybody had taken the pledge, things began to improve. First came the good news that ‘Uthman had not been killed after all, and then Muhammad saw Suhayl, whom he had always respected, approaching the camp, and realized that the Quraysh were now seriously prepared to negotiate.

  This in itself was an important achievement. At last Muhammad had compelled the Quraysh to take him seriously, and there was a real possibility of a peaceful solution. Muhammad sat with Suhayl for a long time but the terms that were agreed filled many of his companions with dismay. First he promised to return to Medina without visiting the Haram, though Suhayl promised that the following year the Muslims could return and perform the traditional rites of the hajj within the city limits. There would be a truce between Mecca and Medina for ten years; Muhamm
ad promised to return any member of the Quraysh who converted to Islam and made the hijrah to Medina without the consent of his guardians, but agreed that the Quraysh would not have to return a Muslim who defected to Mecca. The Bedouin tribes were released from their former treaty obligations and could choose to form an alliance with either Medina or Mecca.

  The Qur’an had long stipulated that in the interests of peace, Muslims must agree to any conditions that the enemy proposed, even if they seemed disadvantageous.22 But many of the pilgrims found these terms dishonorable. The truce meant that Muslims could no longer raid the Meccan caravans; why was Muhammad abandoning the economic blockade that was really starting to bite? Why had he consented to return new converts to Mecca, when the Quraysh did not have to reciprocate? During the last five years, many Muslims had died for their religion; others had risked everything and given up family and friends. Yet now Muhammad had calmly handed the advantage back to the Quraysh, and the pilgrims must agree to go home meekly, without even forcing the pilgrimage issue. The treaty assaulted every single jahili instinct. “The apostle’s companions had gone out without any doubt of occupying Mecca, because of the vision the apostle had seen,” explained Ibn Ishaq. “When they saw the negotiations for peace and a withdrawal going on and what the apostle had taken on himself, they felt depressed, almost to the point of death.”23

  Mutiny was in the air. The fragile solidarity that had united the pilgrims throughout this dangerous expedition was shattered and the deep rifts that had always existed within the ummah became suddenly apparent. ‘Umar leapt to his feet and strode over to Abu Bakr. “Are we not Muslims and they polytheists?” he demanded. “Why should we agree to what is demeaning to our religion?”24 Abu Bakr was also disturbed, but managed to reply that, in spite of everything, he still had faith in the Prophet. Later ‘Umar said that if he could have found a hundred companions to follow him, he would have defected. At this point, he could not share Muhammad’s vision.25 Like many of the Medinese Muslims and those Emigrants who came from the more peripheral, disadvantaged Qurayshan clans, he did not want merely to reform the social order of Mecca but to overthrow it and replace it with a purely Qur’anic regime. ‘Umar was courageous, unselfish, and passionately committed to the ideals of justice and equity, which had been so lacking in the Meccan polity. But he was not a man of hilm and was still fired by the fierce impetuosity of jahiliyyah. He did not understand that the values of gentleness and nonviolence were also central to the Islamic ideal. He was a man of action, prone to reach, jahili-like, for his sword without thinking matters through.26 Faced with Muhammad’s apparent about-face at Hudaybiyyah, he was bewildered and confused.

  After defeating the Quraysh at the Battle of the Trench, the obvious plan would have been to press on and destroy them unilaterally. But this had never been Muhammad’s intention. The downfall of Mecca would be an inconceivable catastrophe for Arabia, a backward region that sorely needed the commercial genius of the Quraysh, who would never see the point of Islam while the war continued to fuel destructive anger and hatred on both sides. By abandoning the economic blockade, Muhammad hoped to win them over. He could see further than anybody else at Hudaybiyyah. Far from caving in weakly, he knew exactly what he was doing. He was moving toward an unprecedented political and religious solution for the Arabs, and that meant that he could never do the expected thing, because that would bind him to the unhappy status quo.

  When he looked at the stunned, miserable faces of the pilgrims, Muhammad had to tell them that they must accept the terms of the treaty because Allah had dictated them. This did not satisfy the rank and file, who had expected some kind of miracle, and it was intensely disappointing to the Hypocrites, who had joined the ummah simply for worldly gain. The atmosphere became even more strained when the Muslims heard the wording of the treaty. Muhammad summoned ‘Ali to write to his dictation, and when he began with the usual Muslim formula—“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”—Suhayl objected. The Quraysh had always found these attributes of Allah somewhat feeble, so he insisted that Muhammad begin with the more conventional formula: “In thy name, O Allah.” To the horror of the Muslims, Muhammad agreed without demur. Worse was to follow. Muhammad continued: “This is the treaty that Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has agreed with Suhayl ibn ‘Amr.” Again Suhayl interrupted. If he had believed that Muhammad was God’s prophet, he argued, reasonably enough, he would not have fought him all these years. He asked that Muhammad simply use his own name and that of his father in the usual way. ‘Ali had already written down the words “the Messenger of God” and told Muhammad that he simply could not bring himself to excise them, so the Prophet held out his hand for the pen, asked ‘Ali to point to the words on the parchment, and crossed them out himself. He continued: “This is what Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah has agreed with Suhayl ibn ‘Amr.”27

  At this extremely difficult juncture, just as the treaty was being signed, Suhayl’s son, Abu Jandal, burst onto the scene. He had converted to Islam, but Suhayl had locked him up in the family home in order to prevent him making the hijrah to Medina. Now, however, he had managed to escape and arrived triumphantly to join the Muslims at Hudaybiyyah, dragging his fetters behind him. Suhayl smashed his fist into his son’s face, grabbed his chains, and turned to Muhammad. Would he keep his word and return this renegade to his lawful guardian? Muhammad did not falter, even though Abu Jandal screamed in anguish as Suhayl dragged him back to Mecca: “Am I to be returned to the polytheists that they may entice me from my religion, O Muslims?” With classic understatement, Ibn Ishaq remarks: “That increased the people’s dejection.”28

  This was the last straw for ‘Umar. Yet again, he jumped to his feet and yelled at the man he had followed so loyally for twelve years. Was he not God’s messenger? Were not the Muslims right and their enemies wrong? Had not Muhammad assured them that they would pray again at the Kabah? This was all true, Muhammad replied mildly, but had he promised that they would return to the Haram this year? ‘Umar remained grimly silent, so Muhammad continued firmly: “I am God’s messenger. I will not go against his commandments and he will not make me the loser.”29 Even though he was bitterly perplexed, ‘Umar subsided and reluctantly put his hand to the treaty. But the pilgrims were still furious and there was a dangerous moment when they seemed about to rebel. Muhammad announced that, even though they had not reached the Kabah, they would complete the pilgrimage right there at Hudaybiyyah: the Muslims must shave their heads and sacrifice their camels, just as they would if they were in the heart of Mecca. There was absolute silence, and the pilgrims stared grimly back at Muhammad, tacitly refusing to obey. In despair, the Prophet retreated to his tent. What on earth could he do? he asked Umm Salamah. She judged the situation perfectly. Muhammad should go out and, without uttering another word, sacrifice the camel that he had consecrated to Allah. It was exactly the right decision. The spectacular bloodletting broke through the torpor of depression, and immediately the men fell over themselves to sacrifice their own camels and shaved each other’s heads with such zeal that Umm Salamah said later that she thought they would inflict mortal wounds in their pious frenzy.

  The pilgrims started home in a lighter mood, but some anger remained and the Prophet himself seemed distant and preoccupied. ‘Umar was afraid that his defiance had irreparably damaged their friendship, and his heart sank when he was summoned to join Muhammad at the head of the party. But to his intense relief, he found him looking radiant, as though a great weight had fallen from his shoulders. “A surah has descended upon me, which is dearer to me than anything under the sun,” he told ‘Umar.30 This was Al-Fatah, the Surah of Victory. It laid bare the deeper meaning of the events of Hudaybiyyah and began with a luminous assurance that Muhammad had not suffered a diplomatic defeat there but that God had given him “a manifest victory.” He had sent down his sakinah, the spirit of peace and tranquillity, which had entered the hearts of the Muslims; they had made a courageous act of faith when they had agreed
to accompany Muhammad on this perilous expedition—showing a commitment that had been beyond the Bedouin. They had shown their faith and trust again when they had sworn the Oath of Good Pleasure. Finally, the treaty that Muhammad had made with Mecca was a “sign,” an ayah, which revealed God’s presence.

  The victory at Hudaybiyyah had distinguished the Muslims from the Quraysh, who had shown throughout the day that they were still in thrall to the overbearing haughtiness and intransigence of the jahiliyyah, a stubborn resistance to anything that might injure their sense of honor or their traditional way of life. They had even been ready to massacre the innocent unarmed pilgrims rather than accept the “humiliation” of admitting them to the Haram.

  When in the hearts of those who persist in unbelief arose the characteristic arrogance, the arrogance of jahiliyyah, then God sent down his peace of soul (sakinah) upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and imposed upon them the formula of self-restraint (hilm), for that was most befitting to them and they were most suited for that.31