10.1
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of ʿUthmān al-Jazarī—Maʿmar commented that ʿUthmān al-Jazarī was also known as “the eyewitness” (al-mushāhid)—on the authority of Miqsam, the slave-client of Ibn ʿAbbas, who said:
10.1.1
During the two-year period of the Messenger of God’s truce with the Quraysh at al-Ḥudaybiyah, it is said that there was a war between the Bakr clan, allied with the Quraysh, and the Khuzāʿah clan, allied with God’s Messenger. Now, the Quraysh provided aid to their allies against Khuzāʿah, and when word of this reached the Messenger of God, he said, “By Him in Whose hands my soul resides, I will surely deny them what I and my household have been denied!” He then began making preparations for war against the Quraysh. Word of this reached the Quraysh, and they said to Abū Sufyān, “What are you going to do? These armies are preparing to march against us! Leave now and renew the treaty between us and Muḥammad!” That was during his return from Syria.151
10.1.2
Abū Sufyān proceeded onward and eventually came to Medina. Addressing God’s Messenger, he said, “Come now, let’s renew the treaty between you and us.” But the Prophet replied, “We’re still bound by the agreement from before. Have you Quraysh committed any infraction?” “No,” answered Abū Sufyān, so the Prophet continued, “Then we will continue to observe that agreement.” ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib came, and Abū Sufyān said, “Wouldn’t you like to be lord over the Arabs and, in a gracious gesture toward your tribe, grant them sanctuary and renew the treaty with them?” ʿAlī replied, “Far be it from me to act contrary to God’s Messenger in a matter.” Then Abū Sufyān went in to see Fāṭimah and said, “Wouldn’t you like to be finest lamb of the Arabs and offer sanctuary among your people? Indeed, your sister protected her husband, Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ, from God’s Messenger, and that was not overruled.” Fāṭimah replied, “Far be it from me to act contrary to God’s Messenger in a matter.” Then he said the same to al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn: “Grant sanctuary among the people—just say, ‘Yes’!” But they said nothing. Looking to their mother, they said, “We stand by what our mother says.” Thus Abū Sufyān gained nothing he sought from any of them.
10.1.3
Abū Sufyān left and eventually came back to the Quraysh, who asked, “What have you brought?” He answered, “I’ve come to you from a people of one mind and one heart. By God, whether young or old, male or female, I left none of them be until I had spoken with them, but I gained nothing from them.” “You’ve done nothing! Go back!” they exclaimed, so Abū Sufyān headed back.
10.1.4
The Messenger of God set out from Medina heading for the Quraysh. When he had reached a certain point along the way, he said to a group of the Allies, “Search for Abū Sufyān, and you will find him.” They searched for him, and indeed they found him. When Abū Sufyān entered the encampment, the Muslims rushed forward to strike him, but he cried out, “Muḥammad! I am already a dead man! Order them to hand me to al-ʿAbbās!” For indeed, al-ʿAbbās had been his comrade and friend during the Age of Ignorance. So the Prophet commanded that he be handed over to al-ʿAbbās, and Abū Sufyān spent the night with him.
When the time for the morning prayer arrived, the muezzin gave the call to prayer and the people began to stir. Abū Sufyān thought that they were coming after him and said, “ʿAbbās, what are these people doing?”
“They’ve merely begun to stir and answer the crier’s call to prayer,” he answered.
“All the people are stirring just because of Muḥammad’s crier?”
“Yes,” answered al-ʿAbbās.
Then al-ʿAbbās stood up for the prayer, and Abū Sufyān stood alongside him. When they had finished, he asked, “ʿAbbās, whenever Muḥammad does something, do they do likewise?”
“Yes,” he answered, “and if he were to command them to go hungry and thirsty until they died of starvation, they would do it. Indeed, I believe they will destroy your people tomorrow.”
Abū Sufyān pleaded, “Take us to see him!”
He went in to see the Prophet, who was under a domed canopy of leather. Now ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was behind the canopy, and as the Prophet began to explain Islam to him, Abū Sufyān said, “What shall I do with al-ʿUzzā?”
“Take a shit on her!” ʿUmar exclaimed from behind the canopy.
“And on your father, you vulgar man!” Abū Sufyān retorted. “I did not come to you, Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb; rather, I came to my cousin, and it is he whom I address!”
“O Messenger of God!” al-ʿAbbās interjected. “Indeed, Abū Sufyān is one of the notables of our tribe, one of its elders. It would please me if you were to grant him something in recognition of his status.”
The Prophet then decreed, “Whoever enters the house of Abū Sufyān is safe.”
Abū Sufyān replied, “My house? My house!”
“Yes,” answered the Prophet, “and whoever lays down his weapons is safe; and whoever locks the door to his house is safe.”
Abū Sufyān left with al-ʿAbbās, and while they were going down the road, al-ʿAbbās feared that Abū Sufyān might still commit some act of treachery, so he sat him down on a mound of earth until the armies had passed.
10.1.5
A troop of fighting men passed by, and Abū Sufyān asked, “Who are these men, ʿAbbās?”
“That is al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām commanding the right flank,” al-ʿAbbās answered.
Another troop passed by, and Abū Sufyān asked, “Who are these men, ʿAbbās?”
“They are the Quḍāʿah tribe,” he answered, “and it is Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ who leads them.”
Yet another troop passed by, and Abū Sufyān asked, “Who are these men, ʿAbbās?”
“That is Khālid ibn al-Walīd commanding the left flank,” he answered.
Then there passed by him a company of men marching in iron armor, and he asked, “Who are these men, ʿAbbās, who are like blackened lava strewn across the desert?”
“These are the Allies,” he answered, “and they march with the Red Death.152 In their midst is God’s Messenger, and the Allies surround him.”
Abū Sufyān exclaimed, “March on, ʿAbbās, for never before today have I seen a people so ready for war and so arrayed in their tribes!”153
10.1.6
Abu Sufyān left after that, and when he could look out over Mecca, he cried out using the war cry of the Quraysh, “O Victorious People! Surrender as Muslims, that you may be saved!”
His wife Hind then came out to join him, but grabbing hold of his beard, cried out, “O Victorious People! Kill the old fool! He’s abandoned his religion!”
Abū Sufyān replied, “I swear by the One in Whose hand my soul resides, you will be a Muslim or have your head severed from your neck!”
10.1.7
When the Prophet was able to look out over Mecca, he commanded that none should enter it until al-ʿAbbās’s envoy had returned to him.154 When the wait became long, the Prophet said, “Perhaps they have done to al-ʿAbbās what the Thaqīf tribe did to ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd.155 If such be the case, I swear by God, not one of them will be spared.”
Soon thereafter, al-ʿAbbās’s envoy arrived, and the Messenger of God entered Mecca, ordering his companions not to attack. They kept their weapons undrawn, save for the Khūzaʿah clan, who fought against the Bakr clan for a brief time,156 but then he commanded them to desist, so they did so. The Prophet gave all the people sanctuary except for Ibn Abī Sarḥ, Ibn Khaṭal, Miqyas al-Kinānī, and a woman.157 Later the Prophet said, “It is not I who has made Mecca sacred; rather, it is God who sanctified it. Its conquest has been permitted to no man before me, and will not be permitted to any man after me until the Day of Resurrection; and God has only made its conquest licit to me for a single hour before the dawn.”
Afterward ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān came to the Prophet, pleading on behalf of Ibn Abī Sarḥ. “Spare him!” he said, but the Prophet turned from him. ʿUthmān came to him from the other side, saying, “Spare him, O Messenger of God!” The Messenger of God said, “I had turned away from him, suspecting that one of you would kill him.” One of the Allies’ men said, “Did I not see you wink at me, O Messenger of God?” “The Prophet does not wink,” he replied, as though he regarded him as guilty of betrayal.
10.1.8
Al-Zuhrī said: The Messenger of God sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd out to battle and, with the Muslims by his side, he fought several ranks of the Quraysh in the lower plains of Mecca until God brought them low. The Messenger of God issued the command, and he relented in his attack against them. Thus they embraced the true religion, and God revealed:
«When God’s help comes and the Triumph, when you see people embracing God’s faith in crowds, celebrate the praise of your Lord and ask His forgiveness: He is always ready to accept repentance.»158
10.2
Maʿmar said: al-Zuhrī said:
Afterward the Messenger of God, alongside those Quraysh who went with him—that is, the Kinānah clan—and those who had embraced Islam on the Day of Triumph, returned to Medina before the events at Ḥunayn. Ḥunayn is a wadi lying in the direction of Taif, and has many sources of water. There on the day of the battle were the Pagans from the rear of the Hawāzin tribe,159 and the Thaqīf tribe was also with them. The leader of the Pagans that day was Mālik ibn ʿAwf al-Naṣrī. They fought a battle at Ḥunayn, and God gave the victory to His Prophet and the Muslims. It was a trying day for the people, so God revealed:
«God has helped you on many battlefields, even on the day of the Battle of Ḥunayn. You were well pleased with your large numbers, but they were of no use to you: the earth seemed to close in on you despite its spaciousness, and you turned tail and fled.»160
10.3
Maʿmar said: al-Zuhrī said:
The Prophet had already begun to cause their hearts to turn;161 that is the reason he sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd out to battle on that day.
10.4
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Mālik ibn Anas, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb:
When the Messenger of God entered Mecca on the Day of Triumph, he wore a coat of mail.162