With a significant
number of those who embraced Islam migrating from Mecca to Medina, as well as
the majority of the natives of Medina, it could be said that the first Muslim
community began to take shape in the city, under the guidance of the Prophet.
Through his teachings,
the Messenger of Allah brought about harmony and peace between the different
rivalries and warring groups and tribes of the city and its surroundings.
Whereas prior to his arrival, greed, enmity and wars prevailed between the
inhabitants, in a short space of time the Prophet managed to sow the seeds of a
peaceful cohesive order to the extent that they shared everything they had
amongst themselves and with the Muslim migrants from Mecca despite their
poverty.
With the city of
Medina being some 400 km north of Mecca, some of the Muslims considered it to
be a reasonably safe distance from the Quraysh who were mostly in Mecca.
However, the Quraysh and their allies did not relent, and they forced the
Muslims of Medina into a number of battles and skirmishes. These were usually
unequal, especially at the early days, with the Quraysh and their allies being
superior in number and armor. For example at the battle of Badr, which was one
of the early clashes between the two sides, the Muslims combatants were 313
men, who had seventy camels and two horses, while their opponents were about
one thousand, had seven hundred camels and one hundred horses.
Peace between the two
sides was eventually brought about through the peace treaty of Hudaybiyah -
signed in the eleventh month of the sixth year after Hijrah - which was highly
biased in favor of the Quraysh and their allies, to the extent that some of the
companions of the Prophet protested to him for agreeing and signing a treaty
that was 'unfair and unacceptable'. However, subsequent events after the
Hudaybiyah were pointedly in the interest of the Muslims, which in turn
exonerated the Prophet's judgement and decision, and proved his wisdom and
farsightedness.
Less than two years
after the treaty of Hudaybiyah, Quraysh grew impatient with the environment of
peace and security that reigned in the land. Muslim losses in the battle of
Mutah in north Arabia - in today's Jordan - encouraged the Quraysh to stir up
unrest in the land and break the treaty that they had signed with the Messenger
of Allah at Hudaybiyah. They began to distribute weapons to their allies and
urged them to attack the allies of the Muslims at night, in breach of the peace
treaty they had with the Muslims.
The Messenger of Allah
left Medina on a Friday in the month of Ramadan in the eighth year of the
Hijrah. He took with him all the Muslim troops which numbered ten thousand and
nearly four hundred horsemen. Then the Messenger of Allah proceeded until he
arrived at Marr al-Dhahran, the heights of Mecca, in the evening. He ordered
his companions to light more than ten thousand fires. News of his progress had
been kept hidden from the Quraysh who were concerned and feared that he might
attack them.
It is reported that
Abu Sufyan, the Prophet's archenemy, was saying: “I have never seen such fires
as last night nor such a camp.” He said: “What is the news and what are all
these fires?”
The narrator responded to him: “The news is that the Messenger of Allah has arrived here. He has come with a force you cannot resist; with ten thousand of the Muslims.”
The narrator responded to him: “The news is that the Messenger of Allah has arrived here. He has come with a force you cannot resist; with ten thousand of the Muslims.”
Abu Sufyan said: “What
is to be done?” I said: “By Allah, if he defeats you he will surely strike off
your head. So ride this donkey with me so that I can take you to the Messenger
of Allah and I will ask him for an amnesty for you.” So he rode behind me.
It is related that Aliibn Abu Talib said to Abu Sufyan ibn al- Harith: “Go to the Messenger of Allah
and say to him what Joseph's brothers said to Joseph:
“By Allah, Allah has
preferred you over us and we have certainly been sinful. (12): 91
Then the Messenger of
Allah said in answer to him and seeking to behave best to him in speech: “He
said:
Let there be no
reproach upon you this day. Allah will forgive you and he is the Most Merciful
of those who show mercy.” (12): 92
The banner of the
Muslims was with Saad ibn Ibadah and when he passed by Abu Sufyan he said to
him: “Today is the day of slaughter, today the women will be captured.” Abu
Sufyan heard him and kept it to himself until the Messenger of Allah passed by
him when he said: “Do you know what Saad ibn Ibadah has said?” The Messenger of
Allah said: 'What he has said is of no consequence.' Then he sent someone to
Saad and took the banner from him and passed it to Ali and said: “Enter with
kindness.”
Ali took the banner
and began to proclaim: “Today is the day of mercy, today honor will be
protected.” Then the Messenger of Allah turned to Abu Sufyan and said to him:
“O Abu Sufyan, proceed to Mecca and let them know of the sanctuary.”
When the Messenger of
Allah entered Mecca, a tent was pitched for him by the grave of his uncle Abu
Talib. He refused to enter his house or the houses of his companions in Mecca
that had been confiscated by the Polytheists.
Then the Messenger of
Allah, after having rested a little in his tent, bathed and mounted his camel
and set out for the sacred mosque. The Muslims were before him and behind him
and all around him and they were repeating along with the Messenger of Allah
the words of Allah Almighty:
The truth has come and
falsehood has perished, indeed falsehood is (by nature) perishing.” (17): 81
Mecca resounded with
the sound of their voices until he entered the sacred mosque and approached the
black stone at the corner of the Kabah, and kissed it. Then he circled the
House upon his camel and with a bow in his hand. Around the House there were
some three hundred and sixty idols and he began to strike at them with his bow
saying, while the idols fell upon their faces:
The truth has come and
falsehood has perished, indeed falsehood is perishing… (17): 81
and,
The truth has come and
falsehood will not revive again and will not return. (34): 4
Then he raised Ali
upon his shoulders so that he could bring down the rest of the idols, which
were upon the Kabah. And thus a whole era of idol worshipping in Arabia was
brought to an irreversible end, and Mecca was liberated. The conquest of the
Capital City of the idolaters and the liberation of the holy city of Mecca at
the hands of Prophet Muhammad took place without bloodshed.
The Prophet, however,
never again took his birth city, Mecca, as his abode. The Prophet only stayed
in the city for fifteen days to manage its affairs. He appointed Etab ibn
Osayd, who was twenty-one years of age, as the city's governor when he left the
city of Mecca for Medina.
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