2.1
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, who said: al-Zuhrī related to me, saying: ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr related to me from Miswar ibn Makhramah and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, each of whom attested to the truth of the other’s account. They said:
The Messenger of God departed from Medina at the time of Ḥudaybiyah, leading a group of his Companions numbering a couple thousand men. When eventually they arrived at Dhū l-Ḥulayfah, the Messenger of God adorned the sacrificial camel with garlands and made an incision on its hump, marking it for sacrifice. He donned the two seamless garments for undertaking the rites of a pilgrimage to Mecca54 and sent ahead of him one of his spies from the Khuzāʿah tribe to bring him reports concerning the Quraysh. The Messenger of God then marched onward. When he reached the pool of al-Ashṭāṭ, close to ʿUsfān, his Khuzāʿī spy came to him and said, “I just left the Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy and ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy clans; they’ve gathered some hired troops55 and several bands of men to oppose you. They’re set to battle you and bar you from the Sacred House.”
The Prophet said, “Lend me your counsel—do you reckon that we should seize the women and children of those who have aided them in order to capture them? If they stand down, then they do so as defeated men unable to retaliate. If they escape, then their necks will be God’s to sever. Or do you reckon that we should head for the Sacred House and battle against anyone who bars us from entering?”
They said, “The Messenger of God knows best, O Prophet of God! We have only come as pilgrims and not to fight anyone. But we are ready to fight whoever stands between us and the Sacred House.” “Go forth then,” said the Prophet.
2.2
Maʿmar said: al-Zuhrī said:
Abū Hurayrah would say, “I’ve never seen anyone more inclined to consult his companions than the Messenger of God.”
2.3
Al-Zuhrī continued with the story reported by Miswar ibn Makhramah and Marwān:
2.3.1
They then went forth and, at a certain point on the journey, the Prophet said, “Khālid ibn al-Walīd is at al-Ghamīm with a troop of cavalry from the Quraysh serving as scouts, so take the path to the right.” And, by God, not until Khālid came upon the army’s dusty trail did he realize they had been there. Then Khālid headed off straightaway, racing to warn the Quraysh. The Prophet marched onward until he reached the mountain pass from which he could descend upon the Quraysh. His she-camel, al-Qaṣwāʾ, knelt down there, and the people said, “Ḥal, ḥal!”56 They also said, “Al-Qaṣwāʾ has turned defiant; al-Qaṣwāʾ has turned defiant!” “Al-Qaṣwāʾ has not turned defiant,” the Prophet replied, “for that’s not in her nature. Rather, He Who halted the march of the war elephant57 has caused her to stop.” Later he said, “By Him in Whose hands my soul resides, there is no course of action magnifying the sacred things of God that I will not grant them.” Then the Prophet spurred on his she-camel, and she rushed forward with him on her back.
He turned away from them and descended to the farthest reaches of Ḥudaybiyah, at a spot overlooking a dried-up puddle containing little water. The people sipped at it little by little, and they had not tarried there long before they drank it all up. Complaints were made to the Messenger of God, so he removed an arrow from his quiver and ordered them to place it in the puddle.
Al-Zuhrī said: By God, it did not cease gushing forth water until they had left.58
2.3.2
Meanwhile, Budayl ibn Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī came in a group of his tribesmen from Khuzāʿah who were trusted advisers of the Messenger of God from the people of Tihāmah. Budayl said, “I just left the Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy and ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy clans. They have encamped among the wells of Ḥudaybiyah—and with them are women and children—and they are ready to battle against you and to bar you from the Sacred House.”
The Prophet said, “We have not come to battle against anyone. Rather, we have come as pilgrims. War has exhausted the Quraysh and brought them to ruin. If they wish, I shall grant them a period of respite, but they must leave me and the people alone. If I prevail, and if they wish to join the people in embracing Islam, then they may do so. If not, and if, after having gathered their strength, they refuse, then by Him in Whose hand my soul resides, I will not hesitate to fight against them for the sake of this cause of mine until my neck is severed! Surely God will see His cause through to the end!”
Budayl said, “I will convey your words to them.” He then set out until he reached the Quraysh, whereupon he declared, “We have come to you having met this man Muḥammad, and we have heard him put forward a proposal. If you wish for us to present it to you, then we will do so.” Their dim-witted men said, “We don’t need for you to tell us anything!” But the reasonable ones said, “Tell us what you heard him say.” Budayl said, “This is what I heard him say . . .” and so continued to relate to them what he heard the Prophet say.
Then ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī stood up and said, “My people! Are you not like my children?”
“Aye,” they said.
He said, “Am I not like your father?”
“Aye,” they said.
“Do you,” he asked, “hold me in any suspicion?”
“No,” they said.
He said, “Do you not know that I called the people of ʿUkāẓ to your aid? When they failed to heed me, did I not come to you with my family, my sons, and whoever else would obey me?”59
“Aye,” they said.
He said, “This man has offered you an upright course of action, so accept it and allow me to go see him.”
“Go to him, then,” they said.
So he went.
2.3.3
So ʿUrwah conversed with the Prophet, and the Messenger of God said more or less what he had said to Budayl. At that point, ʿUrwah said, “O Muḥammad! Have you not considered what will happen if your people come to ruin? Have you ever heard of any other Arab before you who so devastated his people? And if that doesn’t come to pass, I see no men of renown here—I see only a motley group of people apt to forsake you.”
“Go suck on Allāt’s clit!” interjected Abū Bakr. “Are we the sort to forsake him and leave him?”
“Who is that?” demanded ʿUrwah.
“Abū Bakr,” the Prophet said.
“By Him in Whose hand my soul resides!” replied ʿUrwah. “Were it not for my respect for you, I would have surely retaliated!”
ʿUrwah resumed his conversation with the Prophet, and as he was speaking to him, he grabbed hold of the Prophet’s beard. Now al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah was standing right next to the Prophet, armed with a sword and wearing a helmet. Whenever ʿUrwah would reach out his hand to grasp the Prophet’s beard, al-Mughīrah would hit his hand with the hilt of the sword and exclaim, “Remove your hand from the beard of God’s Messenger!”
ʿUrwah lifted his head and asked, “Who’s this?”
“Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah,” they answered.
“What a scoundrel!” ʿUrwah exclaimed. “Why, you’ve been most keen to pursue your treachery!”
Now, while a disbeliever, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah had entered into the company of a clan whose members he later murdered and robbed of their wealth.60 Afterward he came to Medina and became a Muslim. The Messenger of God said, “As for your submission to God, I accept it. As for the property you stole, I have no part in that.”
Then ʿUrwah began to look around at the companions of the Prophet, staring at them wide-eyed. “By God,” he said, “when the Messenger of God hawks up his phlegm, one of these men catches it in his hand and smears it on his face and skin. And when he commands them to do something, they hasten to accomplish his orders. And when he performs his ablutions, they nearly kill themselves over the ablution water. Whenever they speak, they lower their voices before him, and out of deference to him, they never look him in the eye.”
ʿUrwah returned to his companions and said, “O people! By God, I have been sent as an emissary to kings, sent as an emissary to Caesar, Khosroes, and the Negus!61 By God, I have never seen a king whose companions so revered him as the companions of Muḥammad revere Muḥammad. By God, if he were to hawk up phlegm, then it would be caught in the palm of one of his companions, who would smear it on his face and his skin! If he commands them to do something, they hasten to accomplish his orders. Whenever he performs his ablutions, they nearly kill themselves over the ablution water. Whenever they speak, they lower their voices before him, and out of deference to him, they never look him in the eye. Indeed, he has presented you with an upright course of action, so accept it.” A man from the Kinānah tribe said, “Permit me to go to him.” “By all means,” they said, “go to him.”
2.3.4
When the man from Kinānah saw the Prophet and his companions from a distance, the Messenger of God said, “This is so-and-so; he’s from a tribe that greatly reveres sacrificial camels. Send them out to him.” They sent the camels out to him, and the people headed toward him crying out the pilgrims’ invocations: “Here we are, O Lord!”62 Once he saw that, he exclaimed, “Glory be to God! It is not proper for these people to be turned away from the Sacred House.”
When he returned to his people, he said, “I saw that the sacrificial camels had been garlanded and marked for sacrifice, so I do not think these people should be turned away from the Sacred House.” One of their men, Mikraz ibn Ḥafṣ, said, “Allow me to go to him.” “Go to him,” they said. When he could see them from a distance, the Prophet said, “This is Mikraz; he’s a dissolute man.” Mikraz began speaking to the Prophet, and while he was speaking, Suhayl ibn ʿAmr came to see the Prophet.
2.3.5
Maʿmar said: Ayyūb informed me on the authority of ʿIkrimah:
When Suhayl came, the Prophet said, “Your cause has just become easier for you.”63
2.3.6
Maʿmar said: al-Zuhrī continued with his narration:
Suhayl ibn ʿAmr came and said, “Let’s do this and be done with it! Write an agreement between us and yourselves.”
The Prophet called for the scribe and said, “Write: In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate.”64
Suhayl said, “As for ‘the Merciful,’ by God, I know not who he is. Rather, write: In your name, O Lord, as you used to write.”65
The Muslims said, “By God, don’t write anything except for In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate!”
“Write: In your name, O Lord,” ordered the Prophet, and then he said, “This is what Muḥammad the Messenger of God negotiated.”
“By God,” Suhayl objected, “if we had recognized you as being the Messenger of God, then we would neither have barred you from the Sacred House nor fought against you! Rather, write: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh.”
“By God, I am indeed the Messenger of God,” replied the Prophet, “but if you disbelieve, write: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh.”
Al-Zuhrī added: And that was due to the Prophet’s declaration, “I will grant them any course of action that magnifies the sanctity of God.”
The Prophet said, “Let it be stipulated that you grant us access to the Sacred House, so that we may circumambulate it.”
“We can’t have the Arabs saying that we gave in under pressure; rather, that pilgrimage can wait until next year,” replied Suhayl. So it was written. Then Suhayl continued, “And let it be stipulated that none of our men may come to you, even if they have accepted your religion, without you returning them to us.”
“Glory be to God!” said the Muslims, “How can a person be sent back to the Pagans when he has come to Medina seeking protection as a Muslim?”66
At that very moment, Abū Jandal ibn Suhayl ibn ʿAmr67 came forward shackled in his bonds. He had fled from the lowlands of Mecca and thrown himself before the Muslims. Suhayl then exclaimed, “This one, O Muḥammad, is the first one I’ll charge you to return to me!”
“We have not yet finished the written agreement,” replied the Prophet.
“By God, then, I will never draw up a treaty with you,” retorted Suhayl.
“Hand him over to me,” the Prophet demanded.
“I will not release him to you!” Suhayl declared.
“In that case,” the Prophet said, “we have released him to you!”
Abū Jandal then cried out, “O Muslims! Shall I be sent back to the Pagans after I have come to you as a Muslim? Do you not see how I have been treated?” Indeed, Abū Jandal had been severely tortured for his belief in God.
2.3.7
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said, “By God, until that day, I had never once had doubts since becoming Muslim, so I went to the Prophet and asked:
“‘Are you not truly God’s prophet?’
“‘Yes,’ he said.
“‘Are we not in the right and our enemies in the wrong?’
“‘Yes,’ he said.
“‘Then why,’ I asked, ‘do we wrap our religion in disgrace?’
“‘I am indeed the Messenger of God,’ he said, ‘and I do not disobey Him. He is the one who grants me victory.’
“‘Did you not tell us that we would come to the Sacred House and circumambulate it?’
“‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but did I inform you that you would come to it this year?’
“‘No,’ I said.
“He said, ‘But you will indeed go to it and circle around it.’”
ʿUmar said, “Then I came to Abū Bakr and asked,
“‘O Abū Bakr! Is this not truly the prophet of God?’
“‘Yes,’ he said.
“I asked, ‘And are we not on the side of truth and our enemies on the side of error?’
“‘Yes,’ he said.
“‘Then why,’ I asked, ‘do we wrap our religion in disgrace?’
“He replied, ‘Listen, man! He is indeed the Messenger of God! He does not disobey his Lord, and He is the one who grants him victory. So hold tightly to his saddle until you die. By God, we are on the side of truth!’
“I asked, ‘And has he not told us that we will come to the Sacred House and circumambulate it?’
“‘Did he inform you that you would come to it this year?’ Abū Bakr asked.
“‘No,’ I said.
“‘But,’ he said, ‘you will indeed come to it and circle around it.’”
Al-Zuhrī said: ʿUmar said, “Because of my doubts, I performed several good deeds in expiation.”
2.3.8
When he had finished with the matter of the written agreement, the Messenger of God said to his companions, “Rise up and make your sacrifices, and then shave your heads,” but not a single man from among them stood up, even after the Prophet had said that three times. When not one of them had risen, he stood up and went to see Umm Salamah. When he told her how the people had responded to him, Umm Salamah said, “O Prophet of God! If you don’t like that, then go back out, but don’t say anything to them until you have sacrificed your camel and called for your barber to shave your head.” So he got up, went out, uttered not a word to any of them, and did just that: he sacrificed his camel and called for his barber, who shaved his head. When his followers saw this, they stood up, sacrificed their camels, and each began shaving the head of the other, nearly killing each other out of remorse.
2.3.9
Afterward, believing women came to the Prophet, and God revealed:
«You who believe! Test the believing women who come to you as emigrants—God knows best about their faith—and if you are sure of their belief, do not send them back to the disbelievers: they are not lawful wives for them. Give the disbelievers whatever bride gifts they have paid—if you choose to marry them, there is no blame on you once you have paid their bride gifts—and do not yourselves hold on to marriage ties with the unbelieving women.»68
And on that very day ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb divorced two women who had remained polytheists. One of them was subsequently married to Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān and the other to Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah.
2.3.10
Later, the Prophet returned to Medina, where Abū Baṣīr, a Qurashī man who became Muslim, came to him. The Meccans sent two men in his pursuit, and they demanded, “Honor the agreement that you made with us.” So the Prophet handed Abū Baṣīr over to the two men. The two men departed, and in time they brought Abū Baṣīr to Dhū l-Ḥulayfah, where they made their camp and ate some dates they had with them.
Abū Baṣīr said to one of the two men, “By God, I see this sword of yours is quite fine!”
The other unsheathed it and said, “Yes, by God, it is indeed quite fine. I’ve wielded it in battle many times over.”
“Do you think,” asked Abū Baṣīr, “that I could have a look at it?”
The man handed it to him, and Abū Baṣīr struck him down, leaving him stone-cold dead. The other man fled and eventually reached Medina. He sprinted into the mosque, and when the Messenger of God saw him, he said, “This man has seen something terrifying!” When he reached the Prophet, he said, “My companion, by God, he’s been killed! And I’m as good as dead!”
Abū Baṣīr arrived and said, “O Prophet of God, God has honored your end of the bargain. You returned me to them, but God delivered me from them.”
The Prophet said, “Woe to your mother! He would set the fires of war ablaze if he had supporters!”
When Abū Baṣīr heard those words, he knew that the Prophet would return him to the Quraysh, so he left Medina and made for the coast. Abū Jandal ibn Suhayl also escaped from the Quraysh; they joined forces and formed a band of marauders.69
2.3.11
By God, whenever these men heard that a Qurashī caravan was on its way to Syria, they would attack it, kill the men, and take their possessions. The Quraysh sent a message to the Prophet, invoking God and their bonds of kinship, stating that, if the Prophet were to send a message to those men, then whoever would come to him would be safe. So the Prophet sent a message to them, and God revealed:
«In the valley of Mecca it was He who held their hands back from you and your hands back from them after He gave you the advantage over them—God sees all that you do. They were the ones who disbelieved, who barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and who prevented the offering from reaching its place of sacrifice. If there had not been among them, unknown to you, believing men and women whom you would have trampled underfoot, inadvertently incurring guilt on their account—God brings whoever he will into his mercy—if the believers had been clearly separated, We would have inflicted a painful punishment on the disbelievers. While the disbelievers had fury in their hearts—the fury of ignorance . . .»70
Their “fury” means that they neither affirmed that he was the Prophet of God nor used the words In the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate, and that they stood between him and the Sacred House.
2.4
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār, who said: Abū Zamīl Simāk al-Ḥanafī informed us that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say:
The scribe who wrote down the pact on the day of Ḥudaybiyah was ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.
2.5
ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: Maʿmar reported to us:
I asked al-Zuhrī about this, and he laughed and said, “The scribe was ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, but were you to ask them”—by whom he meant the Umayyads—“they would say it was ʿUthmān.”71
2.6
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī who said:72
Heraclius was a seer73 who would look into the stars. One morning when he awoke, the people of his court saw something amiss in his appearance. So they asked him, “What troubles you?”
“I looked into the stars last night,” he said, “and I saw that the king of the circumcised74 has appeared.”
“Do not let this trouble you,” they said, “for only the Jews are circumcised. Dispatch an order to your cities to have every Jew killed.”
Al-Zuhrī said: Heraclius wrote to one of his fellow seers, who also looked into the stars, and he wrote back to him with the like of what Heraclius had told his court. Later, the ruler of Bostra sent him an Arab man to inform Heraclius about this Prophet, so Heraclius said, “Find out whether he is circumcised!” His courtiers answered, “They have looked, and lo, he is circumcised.” “Truly,” they said, “the king of the circumcised has appeared.”
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority al-Zuhrī who said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd related to me from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Abū Sufyān reported to me straight from his lips to mine:
2.7.1
Abū Sufyān said: I went on a journey during the respite from the fighting between us and the Messenger of God, and while I was in Syria, a missive from the Messenger of God was delivered to Heraclius. It was Diḥyah al-Kalbī who carried and delivered it to the governor of Bostra, who in turn delivered the letter to Heraclius. Heraclius said, “Is there in Arabia anyone who claims he is a prophet from this man’s people?” “Yes,” his attendees answered.
Abū Sufyān continued: I was summoned along with several of the Quraysh, so we entered Heraclius’ court and sat down with him. He asked, “Which of you is the closest relative of this man who claims he is a prophet?”
“I am,” I said, so they sat me down in front of him and sat my companions behind me. Then he called for his translator and said,
“Say to them: ‘I am going to ask this one here about the man who claims he is a prophet. If he lies, then the others are to expose him as a liar.’”
(Abū Sufyān admitted: I swear by God, if it were not for the risk of earning a reputation as a liar, then I would have lied!)
Then Heraclius said to his translator, “Ask him, ‘How is he esteemed among you?’”
“He is well esteemed among us,” I said.
“Was there a king among his ancestors?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“Did any of you accuse him of mendacity before he said this?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“And who follows him,” he asked, “the powerful or the powerless?”
“Just the powerless,” I said.
He asked, “Do their numbers decrease rather than increase?”
“No,” I said, “they are increasing.”
He asked, “Does anyone who has entered his religion apostatize from it out of any displeasure with him?”
“No,” I said.
“Have you fought against him?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“How did your battles against him fare?” he asked.
“The war between us and them has been a stalemate,” I said. “A number of ours have fallen, and a number of theirs have fallen.”
“Does he commit any treachery?” he asked.
“No,” I said, “we are at an armistice with him. We don’t know what he’s planning to do at this time.”
Abū Sufyan said: By God, Heraclius did not permit me to say another word about the subject.
“Has anyone else made this claim before him?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
2.7.2
Heraclius then said to his translator, “Say to him, ‘I asked all of you about how this prophet is esteemed, and you said, “He is well esteemed among us.” And so are all prophets God has sent esteemed among their people. I asked you if there was a king among his ancestors, and you claimed there was not. I said that if there had been a king among his ancestors, then I would have said he is a man seeking the kingdom of his forefathers. I asked you about his followers “Are they the powerless among them or the strong?” You said the powerless among them, and the powerless are indeed the followers of prophets. I asked you, “Did you accuse him of mendacity before saying what he said?” And you claimed not. Then I knew that he would not eschew lying to the people and then go and lie against God. I asked you, “Has any one of them apostatized from his religion after entering it due to displeasure with him?” You claimed not, and so it is with true faith, when it gladdens hearts. I asked you, “Are they increasing in number or decreasing?” You claimed that they were increasing in number, and so it is with true faith—it does not cease to grow until it is complete. And I asked you, “Have you fought against him?” You claimed that you had fought against him, and that the war between you has been a stalemate. Sometimes he gains the upper hand and sometimes you gain the upper hand. And so it is that the prophets are tested. Afterward, to them belongs the final outcome. And I asked you, “Does he act treacherously?” And you claimed that he does not act treacherously. And so it is—the prophets do not act treacherously. I also asked you, “Has anyone made this claim before him?” And you claimed not. So I say, “If this claim was made by someone before, then I would have said he is a man following a claim said before him.” What does he command of you all?’”
I said, “He commands us to pray, to pay alms, to act virtuously, and to honor the bonds of kinship.”
“If what you say is true,” he said, “then he is a prophet, and I have indeed come to know that he has appeared. I did not suspect that he would be one of you Arabs. Had I known that I could reach him, then it would have delighted me to encounter him; and had I found myself in his company, then I would have washed his feet. His dominion will stretch to the very earth beneath my feet.”75
2.7.3
Abū Sufyān said: Then he called for the letter of the Messenger of God and read it. Its contents were as follows:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. From Muḥammad the Messenger of God to Heraclius the Emperor of Rome. Peace upon those who follow guidance. Now to the heart of the matter: I summon you with the summons of Islam. Submit and be saved. Submit, and God will reward you twice over. But if you turn away, then you will fall prey to the sin of the wicked tenants.76 «People of the Book! Come to common terms between us and you, that we shall worship none but God and shall ascribe no partner to Him, nor shall we take others beside God as lords. If they turn away, say, “So bear witness that we are Muslims.”»77
When he had finished reading the letter, many voices were raised around him and there arose a great clamor. He then ordered that we be shown out of the hall.
Abū Sufyān added: I said to my companions when we left, “This affair of Ibn Abī Kabshah has grown to such proportions that God may even cause me to embrace Islam!”
2.7.4
Al-Zuhrī said: Heraclius summoned the dignitaries of Rome and gathered them together in one of his residences. Then he said, “Romans! Do all of you wish to have felicity and guidance until the end of time and to secure your dominion for yourselves? Then give your allegiance to this prophet!” Then the dignitaries hurriedly fled to the doors like wild asses, but found that they had been locked. Then he summoned them back and said, “I have tested your dedication to your religion, and I am pleased with what I have seen from you.” Then they bowed low before him and voiced their satisfaction with him.