Muhammad: His Character and Conduct - Adil Salahi

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to their quarters with three of his trusted Companions. He asked them for help in the payment of the blood money of two men a Muslim man had killed by mistake. They agreed to help, requesting the Muslim group to sit down while they raised the money. However, they tried to assassinate the Prophet while he sat waiting. The angel Gabriel informed the Prophet of the plot, and he immediately left on his own and headed towards his mosque. He then sent them notice to evacuate the city. He offered for them to take what they wished of their possessions and to appoint agents to manage their farmland. At first they agreed, but then they received word from ʿAbdullāh ibn Ubayy, the chief hypocrite, promising full support: he even vowed to fight alongside them if the matter came to a battle. Therefore, they rejected the Prophet’s offer. The Prophet laid siege to their forts. As the siege began to take its toll, and they realized that no one would actually come to their support, they agreed to evacuate the city, accepting terms that were much worse than those the Prophet had initially offered. They had to relinquish their farmland, although they destroyed their homes so that the Muslims would not benefit from them.

      The success against al-Naḍīr did not prevent some Arabian tribes from trying their luck against the Muslim state. A tribe called al-Muṣṭalaq thought that they could attack Madinah and make easy gains, particularly after the setbacks it suffered. However, the Prophet employed a highly successful tactic, making use of the element of surprise. When he received intelligence of an impending attack, he moved very quickly to neutralize the threat. The Prophet’s tactics never included a surprise attack on any people. Rather, he used surprise to make his presence in force felt so that the enemy would realize that resistance was useless. That would achieve much better results for the Muslims, at little or no cost. This is the approach he adopted for the Muṣṭalaq threat. The Muslims were totally unexpected when they actually appeared at the wells of the Muṣṭalaq tribe. A short battle ensued, before the Muṣṭalaq surrendered, having lost ten of their men.

      All these engagements and the victories scored by the Muslim community still did not allow the Muslim state in Madinah to live in peace. They had powerful enemies all over Arabia, who were not prepared to listen to the message of Islam. Even Arabian tribes that lived in remote areas and did not feel concerned with the conflict between the Quraysh and Islam preferred to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. They continued to look at the situation as a conflict between the Quraysh and one of its sons. Those who were actively hostile to Islam began to feel that they must join forces in order to stand any chance of victory. Therefore, an alliance was forged between the Quraysh, the major Arabian tribe of Ghaṭafān, and the Jews. They raised an army of 10,000, which was the largest ever seen in Arabia, and marched towards Madinah, having solemnly pledged to each other that they would exterminate Islam and the Muslim community.

      Madinah was vulnerable to attack only from the north. To the east and west of the city there were two wide stretched areas of volcanic rocks that were too difficult for any enemy to traverse. To the south were the date farms of the Anṣār and the forts of the Jewish tribe of Qurayẓah, which were bound by a treaty with the Muslims. The Prophet ordered that a moat should be dug at the northern entrance to Madinah, which should be wide and deep enough to stop the invading army. This was done very quickly, with all Muslims, including the Prophet himself, sharing in the digging and the removal of the dust and stones. By the time the attacking army arrived, the moat was completed and Madinah was well fortified. The attackers could only lay a siege, hoping for the morale of the defenders to collapse.

      The first couple of weeks of the siege showed no weakening in the Muslim ranks. The mastermind behind the forging of the alliance, Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab (the chief rabbi of the Naḍīr Jews who were evacuated from Madinah eighteen months earlier), worked hard to bring his objective to fulfilment. He went to the Qurayẓah Jews and succeeded in persuading them to join the alliance and to attack the Muslims from the rear: thus, the Muslims would be fighting on two fronts. On learning this, the Muslims responded to the Prophet’s call to show total reliance on God and to place their unwavering trust in Him. Before the Qurayẓah Jews were ready to launch their attack, God sent a violent storm over the area where the allied forces were encamped. This demoralized the unbelievers, as their supplies were already running very low, after having laid siege to Madinah for twenty-seven days. Therefore, the commander of the Quraysh forces, Abū Sufyān, gave orders to withdraw. The Ghaṭafān followed suit. In the morning, the Muslims looked across the moat they had dug and found that the enemy had disappeared.

      That left the Qurayẓah Jews, with whom relations had collapsed and no trust could be re-established. The Muslims laid siege to them in their forts. After twenty-five days of siege, they surrendered, accepting whatever verdict could be passed on them. The Prophet allowed them to choose their judge from among his Companions. They chose Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, who was their ally before Islam. Saʿd’s verdict sentenced the combatants among them to death. Around twenty people were thus executed, including Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab, the forger of the alliance that had aimed to annihilate Islam and the Muslims.

      This left the Muslim state in a much stronger position. The Prophet remarked that the Muslims could now be on the offensive. However, this was not among his priorities. He was certainly ready to meet any threat from any quarters, but he never sought to subdue any tribe or community by force. He would have loved to see all people consider his message and make an informed decision on whether to accept it or not, but he would not force it on anyone, as he considered that to convert people by force would be entirely alien to the nature of Islam. The end of the encounter with the allied forces of unbelievers ushered in a period of relative peace for the Muslim state, which the Prophet used to consolidate the basis of the Islamic society he had established in Madinah. The bond of brotherhood that prevailed in that society was stronger than any that can be seen in any state functioning under any system or ideology. With this internal consolidation, the Muslim state was quietly acquiring greater strength. Therefore, it was with great enthusiasm that the Prophet announced that they would visit Makkah to perform the mini-pilgrimage (i.e. the ʿUmrah) and worship at the Kaʿbah.

      The Prophet marched at the head of 1400 of his Companions carrying no arms other than swords in their sheaths, which was the essential type of arms for a traveller in the desert. They took with them a large number of animals to sacrifice at the Kaʿbah, as part of their religious rituals. The Quraysh were greatly agitated at the news. They needed to take a decision on whether to allow the Muslims to proceed and come into Makkah or to prevent them, even if it led to a battle. Their dilemma was that as custodians of the Kaʿbah (a shrine revered by all Arabs) they were committed to allowing anyone to visit for worship. Besides this, the Muslims timed their march in the middle of the sacred months when all fighting was prohibited. This was an Arabian tradition based on the faith of the Prophet Abraham. On the other hand, if they let the Muslims come in and worship, this would be seen throughout Arabia as tilting the balance of power much further in favour of the Muslims. After much debate, they decided to deny the Muslims entry into Makkah, regardless of the consequences. They despatched an advance force to a position outside Makkah to engage the Muslims should they try to force their entry. Should fighting ensue, they would be ready with their reinforcements. Receiving intelligence of that, the Prophet took a circuitous route to avoid meeting the Quraysh advance force. However, when he reached al-Ḥudaybiyah his she-camel sat down and would not move. No matter how his Companions tried to get the she-camel to rise, she would not. The Prophet realized that this was a sign to seek some peaceful arrangements with the Quraysh. He declared to his Companions that he would agree to whatever the Quraysh were prepared to offer in order to avoid bloodshed.

      The Quraysh sent several emissaries to demand that the Muslims should go back. Each one of them returned with the advice to let the Muslims visit, as they intended no harm. The Quraysh rejected all such advice. The Prophet then sent them his Companion, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, to reassure them of the Muslims’ intentions. ʿUthmān was detained too long in Makkah, and a rumour circulated that he was killed by the Quraysh. At this point, the Prophet took a pledge from all his Companions to fight to the finish. The Quraysh realized that they acted wrongly when they detained ʿUthmān, so they released him and followed that by sending Suhayl ibn ʿAmr to negotiate an agreement. Suhayl behaved in a haughty manner, trying to impose harsh conditions. However, the Prophet was very easy in his approach, agreeing to all conditions demanded by the Quraysh. His attitude immensely surprised his Companions,

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