The Conquest of Makkah

it had been mentioned in the treaty of hudaybiyyah that the tribe of khuza`ah entered an alliance with the prophet peace be upon him and that bakr had allied with the quraysh. then it happened that a man from khuza`ah heard a man from bakr reciting poetry insulting to the prophet peace be upon him, so he struck him and injured him. this caused hostility between them and bani bakr determined to fight khuza`ah. they asked for help from the quraysh who supplied them with weapons and animals to ride. some from the quraysh secretly fought along with them, among them: sufwan ibn umayyah, `ikramah ibn abi jahland suhayl ibn `amr. khuza`ah sought refuge in the haram of makkah but bani bakr did not observe the sanctity of the haram and fought them there, killing more than twenty.

thus, the quraysh had violated the peace treaty between themselves and the messenger of allah peace be upon him by assisting bani bakr against khuza`ah, the prophet's peace be upon him allies. when khuza`ah informed the prophet peace be upon him of what they did he said, "i will defend you as i defend myself."

after that, the quraysh regretted what they had done but it was too late. they sent abu sufyan to the prophet peace be upon him to renew the treaty of hudaybiyyah and extend its term, but the prophet peace be upon him ignored him and did not respond. he tried to get some of the influential companions to intercede for him with the messenger of allah peace be upon him but they all refused. so, abu sufyan returned to makkah without having obtained any kind of agreement.

faced with the quraysh's violation of their agreements, the prophet peace be upon him decided on the conquest of makkah to teach a lesson to its unbelievers, but he peace be upon him concealed this matter in order to surprise the polytheists in their home territory. hepeace be upon him sent word to the neighbouring arab tribes: aslam, ghifar, muzaynah, juhaynah, ashja` and sulaym until the number of muslim soldiers had reached ten thousand. the prophetpeace be upon him appointed abu ruhm al-ghifari in charge of madinah and set out on wednesday, the 10^th of ramadhan. they put up their standards and flags at qadeed.

the quraysh were unaware of the prophet's peace be upon him march so they sent abu sufyan to find out some information. they told him, "if you should meet muhammad, secure from him for us a guarantee of security." abu sufyan set out with hakeem ibn hazaam and budayl ibn warqaa'. when they saw the camp they were alarmed. al-`abbas (the prophet's uncle) heard the voice of abu sufyan and called to him. he said, "this is the messenger of allah peace be upon him with ten thousand men." so abu sufyan accepted islam and al-`abbas  took him under his protection. he accompanied him and his two companions to the messenger of allah peace be upon him and they too entered islam.

the prophet peace be upon him told al-`abbas to take abu sufyan to the road where the muslim army was to pass and let him see their strength for himself. al-`abbas  suggested to the prophet peace be upon him that he grant something to abu sufyan  of which he could be proud, as this would please him. so, he peace be upon him said, "whoever enters the house of abu sufyan will be safe, and whoever enters al-masjid al-haraam will be safe, and whoever closes the door of his house will be safe."

and he peace be upon him prohibited fighting and ordered his generals not to kill any except those who fought them. the muslims met no resistance, except for khalid ibn al-waleed . he met sufwan ibn umayyah, suhayl ibn `amr and `ikramah ibn abi jahl  among a group from the quraysh at al-khandamah, who tried to prevent their entry, drew their weapons and shot them with arrows. khalid ordered those with him to fight them. thirteen men from the polytheists were killed and they were defeated. from the muslims, karz ibn jabir  and hubaysh ibn khalid ibn rabi`ah were killed.

the prophet peace be upon him set up his tent in hujun and entered makkah as a conqueror; and the people accepted islam. he performed tawaaf around the ka`bah on his camel. there were 360 idols in the vicinity of the ka`bah, so every time he came to one of them, he would point at it with his stick and say, "truth has come and falsehood has been departed." at that, the statue would fall on its face, broken; the largest of them represented the goddess, hubal, and was near the ka`bah.

the prophet peace be upon him then went to maqaam ibraheem and prayed behind it two rak`ahs. after that he addressed the people and peace be upon him said,

"o quraysh, what do you think i should do with you?" they said, "what is good. you are a generous brother and the son of a generous brother."

the messenger of allah peace be upon him said,

"no blame will there be on you today. go, for you are free."

he peace be upon him pardoned them after allah had empowered him over them, and thus presented an exemplary illustration of amnesty and forgiveness toward offenders that have been conquered. then, the messenger of allah peace be upon him sat on the hill of safa and accepted pledges of submission and obedience; people continued coming, group after group.

the conquest was on friday, with ten days remaining of ramadhan. the prophet peace be upon him stayed in makkah fifteen nights and then marched to hunayn. in makkah, he left `uttab ibn usayd  to lead the people in prayer and mu`adh ibn jabal  to teach them the sunnah and fiqh.