Salam (Peace) - Part 4

[Guest guest]

('Salam' - Peace; often used by Muslims as a greeting. [Muhammad Prophet For Our

Time Glossary pg. 218].)

 

 

Salam - Part 4

 

(p.178) But very few of the Muslims took Muhammad seriously. (p.179) 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. (p.180) 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 [seven ritual

circumambulations around the Kabah] 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 hamstring the man's camel and would have killed him had not

Hulay'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. (p.183) 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; Muhammad 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.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 5, 'Salam', p. 178-183

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[18] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 743, in Guillaume, 'Life of Muhammad'.

 

[19] Ibid.

 

[20] Ibid., 745.

 

[21] Watt, 'Muhammad at Medina', 50.