Salam (Peace) - Part 9

[Guest guest]

Salam (Peace) - Part 9

 

(p.198) On 10 Ramadan (January 630), Muhammad set out at the head of the largest

force ever to leave Medina. Nearly all the men in the ummah had volunteered and

along the road their Bedouin allies joined forces with the Muslims, bringing the

numbers up to ten thousand men. For security reasons, the destination of the

expedition remained secret, but there was naturally a good deal of excited

speculation. Certainly Mecca was a possibility, but Muhammad could just as

easily have been heading for Ta'if, which was still implacably hostile to Islam,

so the southern tribe of Hawazin started to assemble a massive army there. In

Mecca, the Qurayshan leaders feared the worst. 'Abbas, Abu Sufyan, and Budayl,

chief of Khuza'ah, all made their way under cover of night to the Muslim camp.

There Muhammad received them and asked Abu Sufyan if he was ready to accept

Islam. Abu Sufyan replied that even though he now believed that Allah was the

only God--the idols had proved to be useless--he still had doubts about

Muhammad's prophethood. But he was shocked and impressed when he watched all the

members of the massive army prostrating themselves in the direction of Mecca

during the morning prayer, and when he saw the various tribes marching past on

their way to the city, he knew that the Quraysh must surrender.

 

(p.199) He hurried back to Mecca and summoned the people by crying at the top of

his voice: " O Quraysh, this is Muhammad who has come to you with a force you

cannot resist! " He then offered them an option that had been suggested to him by

'Ali during his visit to Medina. Anybody who wanted to surrender should put

himself under his personal protection: Muhammad had agreed to honor this. They

should either take sanctuary in his home or remain in their own houses. Hind,

his wife, was beside herself with rage; seizing him by his moustaches, she

yelled to the townspeople: " Kill this fat greasy bladder of lard! What a rotten

protector of his people! " But Abu Sufyan begged them not to listen. He described

what he had seen in the Muslim camp. The time for such defence was over. His

grim sobriety impressed most of the Quraysh. Pragmatic to the last, they

barricaded themselves into their houses as a token of surrender.

 

A few wanted to fight, however. 'Ikrimah, Safwan, and Suhayl gathered a small

force and tried to attack Khalid's section of the army as it approached the

city, but they were quickly beaten. Safwan and 'Ikrimah fled, thinking their

lives were at stake; Suhayl laid down his arms, and retired to his home. The

rest of the Muslim army entered Mecca without striking a single blow. Muhammad

had his red tent pitched near the Kabah and there he joined Umm Salamah and

Maymunah, the two Qurayshi wives who had accompanied him, together with 'Ali and

Fatima. Shortly after they had settled, 'Ali's sister Umm Hani' arrived to plead

for the lives of two of her relatives who had taken part in the fighting.

(p.200) Even though 'Ali and Fatima wanted them executed, Muhammad immediately

promised that they would be safe. He had no desire for bloody reprisals. Nobody

was made to accept Islam nor do they seem to have felt any pressure to do so.

Reconciliation was still Muhammad's objective.

 

After he had slept for a while, he rose, and performed the morning prayer. Then,

mounted on Qaswa' [his favorite camel], he rode round the Kabah seven times,

crying " Allahu Akhbar! " The shout was taken up by the troops and soon the words

rang through the entire city, signalling the final victory of Islam. Next

Muhammad turned his attention to the idols of the Haram; crowded onto their

roofs and balconies, the Quraysh watched him smash each stone effigy while he

recited the verse: " The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished away; surely

falsehood is certain to vanish. " [38] Inside the Kabah, the walls had been

decorated with pictures of the pagan deities, and Muhammad ordered them all to

be obliterated, though, it is said, he allowed frescoes of Jesus and Mary to

remain.

 

By this time, some of the Quraysh had ventured forth from their houses and made

their way to the Kabah, waiting for Muhammad to leave the shrine. He stood in

front of the house of Allah and begged them to lay aside the arrogance and

self-sufficiency of jahiliyyah, which had created only conflict and injustice.

" O Quraysh, " he cried, " Behold God has removed from you the arrogance of

jahiliyyah with its boast of ancestral glories. Man is simply a God-conscious

believer or an unfortunate sinner. All people are children of Adam, and Adam was

created out of dust. " [39] (p.201) Finally Muhammad quoted the words that God

had spoken to the whole of humanity:

 

Behold, we have created you all out of a male or a female, and have made you

into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Verily, the

noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of

him. Behold God is all-knowing, all-aware. [40]

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 5, 'Salam', p. 198-201

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

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

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Note:

 

[38] Qur'an 17:82, Arberry translation.

 

[39] Ibn Ishaq, 'Sirat Rasul Allah', 821, in Asad, 'Message of the Qur'an', 794.

 

[40] Qur'an 49:13, Asad translation.