We discussed the Prophet PBUH reaching outside of Makkah and a number of famous people converting:
- Abbas converted at the valley of Juhfa and he is considered to be the last Muhajir;
- Outside Makkah, Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith and;
- Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah converted — #2 & #3 are both first cousins of the Prophet PBUH;
- The famous Abu Sufyan ibn Harb converted after Abbas spent an entire night debating with him, and then the Prophet PBUH talked to him directly.
(Here is a historical tidbit: It's very interesting that someone wanted to kill Abu Sufyan, but the Prophet PBUH forbade him from doing so. Who was that person? Umar ibn al-Khattab himself. The dynamics of the group that respects, or we should say over-respects, the Ahl al-Bayt — what is their perspective of Umar? We know what they say about him and how they view Yazid the grandson of Abu Sufyan. Yet here we see Umar asking multiple times to finish off Abu Sufyan, the grandfather of Yazid. But the Prophet PBUH himself said no.)
Allah SWT Answered the Prophet's PBUH Du'a
So we are now on the 20th Ramadan, 8 AH, and it is the morning of the Conquest of Makkah. And the people of Makkah still do not know the army is an hour away. Subhan'Allah. The Prophet PBUH made a du'a that, "O Allah, conceal my plan from the Quraysh," and Allah answered. It is humanly impossible to conceal 10,000 people from the city. Yet because of that du'a, Allah did not allow the plans of the Prophet PBUH to be exposed literally to the minute that the army of the Muslims walked in. It is truly a miracle that it was kept under such secrecy.
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Entering Makkah
The Prophet PBUH divided the army up. Al-Waqidi and others have a long list of which tribe did what — in general, there were three primary contingents, and each one had many smaller subgroups. On the one, the Prophet PBUH put the Ansar in charge; on the other side, the Muhajirun; and in the middle was a mixture, and the Prophet PBUH was in the middle group. For the Ansar, Sa'd ibn Ubadah was put in charge — who is the current leader of the Ansar. (Recall the two Sa'ds were the leaders of the Ansar, but Sa'd ibn Mu'adh died after Khandaq [see episode 59].) And the Muhajirun have Khalid ibn al-Walid in charge. Al-Waqidi mentions that there were 700 Muhajirun and 4,000 Ansar — the rest of the army was from other tribes around Madinah. And as Sa'd ibn Ubadah is marching, he chants out, "Today is the day of death and destruction! Today, the Ka'bah itself will lose its haram and become halal!"
Abu Sufyan heard this and rushed to the Prophet PBUH, complaining, "How can the Haram become halal?" (Note: Of course by 'halal,' Sa'd is implying that war and everything else that is normally haram inside the Haram will be made halal, i.e., he is saying, "Today, the Haram will no longer be sanctified." Abu Sufyan and the Quraysh never verbally said this themselves — they may have done things inside the Haram that were wrong, but technically, they have always known it's a Haram. So upon hearing Sa'd's chant, Abu Sufyan rushed to the Prophet PBUH to inform him.) And the Prophet PBUH said, "Sa'd made a mistake." And the Prophet PBUH ordered the banner be taken away from Sa'd because of this mistake, and he gave the banner to Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, a Qureshi.
The middle army was led by Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al-Jarrah. So all the leaders were from the Quraysh — this clearly shows us the thinking of the Prophet PBUH, that the people who enter the Ka'bah should all be led by Qureshi. Only the Muhajirun should lead the conquest into Makkah.
And this also shows that the Prophet PBUH made ijtihad on the spot. Initially, he chose Sa'd; but when Sa'd made a mistake, he gave the banner to Zubayr ibn al-Awwam to lead.
Then al-Abbas told Abu Sufyan, "You had better rush back to Makkah and tell them (the Makkans) not to fight." So Abu Sufyan rushes back into the city, and this is when finally, the people of Quraysh hear the news that the Prophet PBUH is right outside the city. Honestly, it is truly mind-boggling how it's possible for 10,000 to reach the door of Makkah without anyone finding out. It's truly a miracle.
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"Come to My House and You Will Be Safe"
So Abu Sufyan rushes in and is screaming at the top of his lungs, "O tribe of Quraysh! Here is Muhammad! He has come to you with an army you can never fight! So come to my house and you will be safe!" Subhan'Allah, the last place of safety that the Prophet PBUH mentions, he makes it the only place of safety. Indeed, Abbas was correct [see episode 78]. So now Abu Sufyan is almost boasting and is saying, "Come to my house and you will be safe!" And he runs through the streets of Makkah and the people are panicking. They gather around him and he tells them all the details, "I was just with Muhammad, and I have seen the army. You cannot fight. So go ahead and surrender, and do not take up arms." As he is surrounded by this crowd, his own wife is there and she cannot believe her husband is doing this.
His wife is none other than Hind who has done so much in the seerah, and will do more things. She eventually accepts Islam, but at this point, she is still a pagan. And when she sees with her own eyes the rumors are true that her husband is telling the Quraysh to give up, she darts through the crowd and smacks her own husband in public. And she twists his facial hair, and she starts giving him the vilest curses imaginable in public, that, "Kill this coward! What an evil leader he has been!" This was truly a public humiliation. But Abu Sufyan retained his dignity and responded, "Woe to you. Don't let her cause you to act rashly, for I tell you an army has come that you cannot fight. Come to my house, you will be safe."
One of them said, "Of what use is your house to all of us?!" meaning, "How can we all fit?" *Then* Abu Sufyan spills the beans: "Whoever enters the Haram is safe, whoever enters their own house and closes the door is safe, and whoever enters my house is safe." So whoever had a house entered their own house; those without a house, i.e., travelers, hujjaj, or even people whose houses were too far away, they entered the Haram right in front of the Ka'bah, or Abu Sufyan's house. It's also said that the Prophet PBUH allowed the house of Abbas to be a public safety house as well.
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The Conquest of Makkah
The Prophet PBUH divided the army into three, as we said — one of them entered Makkah from the western side, and the other entered Makkah from the eastern side. And the Prophet PBUH forbade them, "Do not kill anyone unless they attack you. It is forbidden to kill anybody." However, he PBUH made a few exceptions — he mentioned a few names [as discussed below] and said, "If you see these people, you may kill them."
In this immediate chaos, a small group of Qureshis banded together and decided to fight back. They literally had just minutes to run around, gather some people and get weapons — so it wasn't an organized assault against the Muslims — it was just helter-skelter. And the one in charge was Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahal along with Safwan ibn Umayyah and Suhayl ibn Amr (the one who did Hudaybiyyah; Abu Jandal's father). So these three senior men, the remnants of the Quraysh, decided to band together and fight back. But it was doomed to failure. The books mention only a handful were killed, around 13-20 from the Quraysh; and from the Muslims, only two were killed in the flank of Khalid ibn al-Walid. After this small skirmish and all threats were eliminated, the Prophet PBUH entered Makkah.
And thus, Makkah was finally conquered on the 20th of Ramadan in the 8th year of the Hijrah with barely any loss of life. After 21 years of difficulty, the Prophet PBUH returned to the place of his birth as the undisputed conqueror. The people of Makkah could not possibly put up a fight, so the Prophet PBUH entered Makkah. He entered it on his camel from the area that in today's time is called Kuday (كدي), and he was dressed in his armor (not ihram). And he had a red turban on him on this day, and it was flung underneath his beard. And Ibn Ishaq mentions that the Prophet PBUH lowered his head all the way down to the camel, so much so that his forehead was almost touching the back of the camel. And he was praising and glorifying Allah immensely and reciting Surah al-Fath:
And thus, Makkah was finally conquered on the 20th of Ramadan in the 8th year of the Hijrah with barely any loss of life. After 21 years of difficulty, the Prophet PBUH returned to the place of his birth as the undisputed conqueror. The people of Makkah could not possibly put up a fight, so the Prophet PBUH entered Makkah. He entered it on his camel from the area that in today's time is called Kuday (كدي), and he was dressed in his armor (not ihram). And he had a red turban on him on this day, and it was flung underneath his beard. And Ibn Ishaq mentions that the Prophet PBUH lowered his head all the way down to the camel, so much so that his forehead was almost touching the back of the camel. And he was praising and glorifying Allah immensely and reciting Surah al-Fath:
إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا
"Indeed, We have granted you a clear triumph [O Prophet]" [Quran, 48:1].Idols Destroyed
The Prophet PBUH made his way through the streets of Makkah, everyone in awe of him, until he got to the Ka'bah still on his camel and began doing tawaf riding the camel. And he had in his hand a staff, and every time he passed by one of the idols (and there were over 350 idols in Makkah, some say 360 — one for every day of their year), every time he passed by, he would point towards it, and if the idol had the face forward, it fell forward; and if its face was backward, it fell backward. And every idol was destroyed directly by the Prophet PBUH simply by pointing the staff — another miracle from Allah AWJ. And the Prophet PBUH kept on reciting:
جَاءَ الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ ۚ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
"Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed is falsehood, [by nature], ever bound to depart" [Quran, 17:81].And every time he passed by the Black Stone/the Hajar, he would touch it with his staff. Note he did not get off his camel this whole time.
The people were gathering while he was doing tawaf —and the Haram has been filling up— until finally, the entire city is now packed inside the Haram. And in front of the Ansar and the Muhajirun and the people of Makkah, the Prophet PBUH calls for the keys of the Ka'bah. And the keys are given to him; so he takes the keys, and with his own blessed hands PBUH, he unlocks the doors of the Ka'bah and enters it. And he finds inside it as well signs of paganism: Pigeons made out of precious materials, etc. He takes them all out and destroys them to cleanse the inside of the Ka'bah. There were also images inside the Ka'bah, of angels, and also of Ibrahim AS with the divination arrows in his hands. So the Prophet PBUH said, "May Allah curse them [the people who made these images]. What has Ibrahim got to do with this divination?" Then he recited, "Ibrahim was neither Yahudi nor Nasrani. Rather, he was a pure hanif that was a Muslim; and he was not of the pagans" [see Quran, 3:67].
According to Ibn Sa'd, on one side of the Ka'bah was a picture of Mary and Jesus. The report however is very weak and it doesn't make sense either. It makes sense for the images of Ibrahim and angels to be there (because Ibrahim was the ancestor of the Quraysh; and the Quraysh thought the angels were the daughters of God [see Quran, 37:149]), but not so much Jesus and Mary. Nonetheless, all the images in the Ka'bah were destroyed.
Thus when all the idols had been demolished, the House of Allah returned to absolute purity.
Short Sermon
When the Prophet PBUH cleansed the Haram of all the filth, he turned to the people, speaking from the door of the Ka'bah, standing on the doorsteps of the Ka'bah with the doors wide open in front of him. Imagine the scene. It's such a pinnacle of the seerah. Here is the House of Allah; and the people of Makkah, Ansar, Muhajirun — more than 12,000 people are standing before the Prophet PBUH. And they are all waiting for the Prophet PBUH to speak. Now he stands and faces the entire gathering from the doors of the Ka'bah itself. What symbolism and imagery. Subhan'Allah.
And he gives a very short khutbah, as recorded by Ibn Ishaq and others: "لا اله إلا الله وحده ، صدق وعده ، ونصر عبده ، وهزم الأحزاب وحده ، لا اله إلا الله (There is no God but Allah alone. He has fulfilled His promise, and He has aided His servant, and He has destroyed all the enemies by Himself. There is no God but Allah.) Verily, every single claim and matter of Jahiliyyah has now been abolished; except [two things]: The sadana (سدنة - custodianship/caretaking) of the Ka'bah, and the siqaya (سقاية - feeding/water distribution) for the pilgrims." (The custodianship of the Ka'bah was of course the keys, i.e., who's responsible for keeping the keys of the Ka'bah — and that was the right of Uthman ibn Talha and his tribe, the Banu Abd al-Dar. And the responsibility of feeding the hujjaj was Banu Hashim's.) Then he said, "Verily, Allah has abolished the arrogance of Jahiliyyah (the hierarchy of tribalism). All of you are from Adam, and Adam was from dust. 'O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may [get to] know one another. Surely, the most noble of you in the Sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware' [Quran, 49:13]."
And then with all of the Quraysh gathered, the Prophet PBUH asked, "What do you think I shall do to you?" They said, "You will do the best for us, for you are one of us, you are a noble brother, and you are the son of a noble brother." And the Prophet PBUH gave those famous lines: "Go, for you are free. There is no blame on you today." That is, he quoted Yusuf AS [see Quran, 12:92]. (And subhan'Allah, this verse came down in the Makkan phase [2-3 years before the Hijrah] when the Prophet PBUH most needed it, when he was being persecuted and tortured, to show him that, "A time shall come that you be in a position of power such that you will utter these same words just like Yusuf did.") Wallahi, words cannot do justice to this scene. We simply cannot describe the significance and the beauty of what has just occurred.
And he gives a very short khutbah, as recorded by Ibn Ishaq and others: "لا اله إلا الله وحده ، صدق وعده ، ونصر عبده ، وهزم الأحزاب وحده ، لا اله إلا الله (There is no God but Allah alone. He has fulfilled His promise, and He has aided His servant, and He has destroyed all the enemies by Himself. There is no God but Allah.) Verily, every single claim and matter of Jahiliyyah has now been abolished; except [two things]: The sadana (سدنة - custodianship/caretaking) of the Ka'bah, and the siqaya (سقاية - feeding/water distribution) for the pilgrims." (The custodianship of the Ka'bah was of course the keys, i.e., who's responsible for keeping the keys of the Ka'bah — and that was the right of Uthman ibn Talha and his tribe, the Banu Abd al-Dar. And the responsibility of feeding the hujjaj was Banu Hashim's.) Then he said, "Verily, Allah has abolished the arrogance of Jahiliyyah (the hierarchy of tribalism). All of you are from Adam, and Adam was from dust. 'O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may [get to] know one another. Surely, the most noble of you in the Sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware' [Quran, 49:13]."
And then with all of the Quraysh gathered, the Prophet PBUH asked, "What do you think I shall do to you?" They said, "You will do the best for us, for you are one of us, you are a noble brother, and you are the son of a noble brother." And the Prophet PBUH gave those famous lines: "Go, for you are free. There is no blame on you today." That is, he quoted Yusuf AS [see Quran, 12:92]. (And subhan'Allah, this verse came down in the Makkan phase [2-3 years before the Hijrah] when the Prophet PBUH most needed it, when he was being persecuted and tortured, to show him that, "A time shall come that you be in a position of power such that you will utter these same words just like Yusuf did.") Wallahi, words cannot do justice to this scene. We simply cannot describe the significance and the beauty of what has just occurred.
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Points of Benefit From the Event of the Conquest of Makkah
Benefits:
1) When the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah, he wanted to honor Makkah like no other city. And he conquered Makkah by commanding the conquerors not to fight and not to attack even. Never in the history of humanity has an army been told, "Don't attack; don't unsheathe your swords." Never has it happened that a city has been conquered simply by an army marching in. This is something Allah blessed the Prophet PBUH with.
2) When Makkah was conquered, we see the humility and humbleness of the Prophet PBUH. He did not enter Makkah with his chest puffed out with pride and arrogance; rather, he entered in a manner unprecedented in human history. Neither before nor after has a conqueror entered with his head bowed down in front of God, so much so that his face was almost touching the back of the camel. Who else can demonstrate this type of gratefulness and humility?
3) The first thing the Prophet PBUH does when he enters the city is worship Allah. He goes straight to the Ka'bah and he venerates and honors Allah. This is the priority. Yes, the biggest victory in mankind has just happened, but Allah comes first. So he thanks Allah by doing the tawaf. And as he does the tawaf, along with worshiping Allah, he does the second greatest act, which is to reject taghut (طاغوت). He is worshiping Allah, and as he is doing tawaf, he destroys the filth around the Ka'bah by destroying the external idols. Then he turns to the internal idols and gets rid of them.
4) His sermon is short and to the point. He summarizes the main points: the worship of Allah alone with no idols —this is the reality of Islam— and after praising Allah, he then mentions, "All of your old ways are abolished and gone, and a new system of taqwa has come in — only the one of taqwa has a higher status; otherwise, everyone is from Adam AS, and Adam AS was from clay."
5) He asks them, "What do you think I should do with you?"—and this is truly beautiful psychology. He doesn't just command. He asks. By asking, many things are demonstrated. Firstly, his own superiority over them — that, now, he is in charge of them; and he demonstrated that in a very gentle manner. He is establishing the rank he deserves in a humble and gentle manner. At the same time, the implicit tone of the question is that, "You have done so much wrong and you deserve a punishment." He PBUH does not say this, but it's implied. This is of the perfection of his mannerisms. He doesn't say, "How could you/why did you do this and that," but still he gets the point across implicitly. Lastly, by asking this question, he extracts their hope and admiration for him. At the end of the day, when push came to shove, they knew he was a good man. And he allows them to testify to this with their own tongues, "You must do the best — after all, you are such a generous man who belongs to us. And your father as well belongs to us."
6) The Conquest of Makkah and the Incident of Ta'if put together is truly the seerah summarized. It demonstrates how the Prophet PBUH is a mercy to mankind. When he was persecuted and alone in Ta'if [see episode 20], and when he was a conqueror at the head of an army at Makkah; at both times he forgave for the sake of Allah. This shows his character, that he is a mercy to mankind. And this also shows the reality of Islam. This religion is not about bloodshed or war, it's about the worship of Allah however it's done — if it requires war, then it's done through war; and if it can be done through peace, then it's done through peace. Sometimes strictness; usually mercy and peace. And this is demonstrated throughout the seerah.
7) It is said that the Prophet PBUH prayed inside the Ka'bah. But we don't know exactly when. Some scholars say before, according to others it's after the sermon. Allah knows best, but it makes more sense that he prayed before he gave the khutbah. According to some, he prayed two rak'at, according to others, six rak'at (2 + 2 + 2) in three different directions. And Bilal RA was with the Prophet PBUH when he prayed. It's narrated in Sahih Muslim that many years later, Ibn Umar asked Bilal, "Where did the Prophet PBUH pray when he went inside the Ka'bah?" So Bilal pointed that he prayed here, here, and here. So Ibn Umar would always want to pray in those same places as well. And of course, praying inside the Ka'bah is an established sunnah from this act. But unfortunately, it is a sunnah that is very rare in our times since the Ka'bah is locked up. If somehow we are blessed to pray inside the Ka'bah, from the narrations of Bilal RA, we learn that we may pray facing any of the walls — the Prophet PBUH began with the wall opposite the door, i.e., with his back to the door.
1) When the Prophet PBUH conquered Makkah, he wanted to honor Makkah like no other city. And he conquered Makkah by commanding the conquerors not to fight and not to attack even. Never in the history of humanity has an army been told, "Don't attack; don't unsheathe your swords." Never has it happened that a city has been conquered simply by an army marching in. This is something Allah blessed the Prophet PBUH with.
2) When Makkah was conquered, we see the humility and humbleness of the Prophet PBUH. He did not enter Makkah with his chest puffed out with pride and arrogance; rather, he entered in a manner unprecedented in human history. Neither before nor after has a conqueror entered with his head bowed down in front of God, so much so that his face was almost touching the back of the camel. Who else can demonstrate this type of gratefulness and humility?
3) The first thing the Prophet PBUH does when he enters the city is worship Allah. He goes straight to the Ka'bah and he venerates and honors Allah. This is the priority. Yes, the biggest victory in mankind has just happened, but Allah comes first. So he thanks Allah by doing the tawaf. And as he does the tawaf, along with worshiping Allah, he does the second greatest act, which is to reject taghut (طاغوت). He is worshiping Allah, and as he is doing tawaf, he destroys the filth around the Ka'bah by destroying the external idols. Then he turns to the internal idols and gets rid of them.
4) His sermon is short and to the point. He summarizes the main points: the worship of Allah alone with no idols —this is the reality of Islam— and after praising Allah, he then mentions, "All of your old ways are abolished and gone, and a new system of taqwa has come in — only the one of taqwa has a higher status; otherwise, everyone is from Adam AS, and Adam AS was from clay."
5) He asks them, "What do you think I should do with you?"—and this is truly beautiful psychology. He doesn't just command. He asks. By asking, many things are demonstrated. Firstly, his own superiority over them — that, now, he is in charge of them; and he demonstrated that in a very gentle manner. He is establishing the rank he deserves in a humble and gentle manner. At the same time, the implicit tone of the question is that, "You have done so much wrong and you deserve a punishment." He PBUH does not say this, but it's implied. This is of the perfection of his mannerisms. He doesn't say, "How could you/why did you do this and that," but still he gets the point across implicitly. Lastly, by asking this question, he extracts their hope and admiration for him. At the end of the day, when push came to shove, they knew he was a good man. And he allows them to testify to this with their own tongues, "You must do the best — after all, you are such a generous man who belongs to us. And your father as well belongs to us."
6) The Conquest of Makkah and the Incident of Ta'if put together is truly the seerah summarized. It demonstrates how the Prophet PBUH is a mercy to mankind. When he was persecuted and alone in Ta'if [see episode 20], and when he was a conqueror at the head of an army at Makkah; at both times he forgave for the sake of Allah. This shows his character, that he is a mercy to mankind. And this also shows the reality of Islam. This religion is not about bloodshed or war, it's about the worship of Allah however it's done — if it requires war, then it's done through war; and if it can be done through peace, then it's done through peace. Sometimes strictness; usually mercy and peace. And this is demonstrated throughout the seerah.
7) It is said that the Prophet PBUH prayed inside the Ka'bah. But we don't know exactly when. Some scholars say before, according to others it's after the sermon. Allah knows best, but it makes more sense that he prayed before he gave the khutbah. According to some, he prayed two rak'at, according to others, six rak'at (2 + 2 + 2) in three different directions. And Bilal RA was with the Prophet PBUH when he prayed. It's narrated in Sahih Muslim that many years later, Ibn Umar asked Bilal, "Where did the Prophet PBUH pray when he went inside the Ka'bah?" So Bilal pointed that he prayed here, here, and here. So Ibn Umar would always want to pray in those same places as well. And of course, praying inside the Ka'bah is an established sunnah from this act. But unfortunately, it is a sunnah that is very rare in our times since the Ka'bah is locked up. If somehow we are blessed to pray inside the Ka'bah, from the narrations of Bilal RA, we learn that we may pray facing any of the walls — the Prophet PBUH began with the wall opposite the door, i.e., with his back to the door.
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Custodianship of the Keys of Ka'bah
When the Prophet PBUH came back out —and he still had the keys in his hands— Ali RA said to him, "Ya Rasulullah, why don't you make the siqaya and the hijaba together and put it to us?" Meaning, "Why don't you combine the feeding of the pilgrims and the care of the Ka'bah to the Banu Hashim?" But the Prophet PBUH did not answer. Rather, he said, "Where is Uthman ibn Talha?" He was brought immediately, and the Prophet PBUH said to him, "Go ahead and take your keys, ya Uthman. Today is the day of fulfilling the promises and giving back what is due." Allah had revealed before, at this, that, "Indeed, Allah commands you to return trusts to their rightful owners" [Quran, 4:58]. (Many scholars interpret this verse to be applicable to this incident.) And so the Prophet PBUH gave the keys back to Uthman ibn Talha. And since that time up until now, never in the history of our religion has anyone dared to take it away from the descendants of Uthman. You can see on YouTube an interview of the descendant of Uthman ibn Talha to this day. So the key is still in the tribe of the Banu Abd al-Dar.
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Conditional Permission for the Khuza'a to Retaliate
Recall, what allowed the Prophet PBUH to conquer Makkah? One of the allies of the Quraysh attacked one of the allies of the Muslims: The Khuza'a were attacked by the Banu Bakr [see episode 76]. The Prophet PBUH had not forgotten this, so he allowed the Khuza'a to attack the Banu Bakr as a retaliation. He allowed them to engage in a minor skirmish, and he said, "You have until Asr and only Asr." So they only had a few hours and it was in the heat of the sun. This was intentionally done to finish the matter quickly. So after the prayer of Asr, the Prophet PBUH then forbade them, "There shall be no more fighting or bloodshed in the Haram now; the Haram has returned to the sanctity it had."
But it so happened that on the next day, one of the people of Khuza'a killed one of the people from the Banu Bakr in revenge. At this, the Prophet PBUH became extremely angry, and he gave a sermon to them, "If this is done again, then the one who does it, it shall be permissible for the murdered's family to extract qisas," meaning, "If you do this again, you are not under my protection anymore." And he said, "The Haram has returned to its sanctity the way that Allah AWJ had created it. And if anyone tells you that the Prophet PBUH himself fought and shed blood in the Haram, then you say to him: 'Allah has allowed the Prophet PBUH, and He didn't allow you. And Allah only allowed him for some time of the day, and it has then returned to its sanctity.' (This is a hadith.)"
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The Conquest of Makkah Was a Very Unique Conquest
The conquest of Makkah was very unique in that:
- No fighting was allowed
- No war booty was taken
- No prisoners of war were taken
- No land was taken
There was no actual battle; it was something Allah blessed the Prophet PBUH with without all these things because of the sacredness of the Haram.
- No fighting was allowed
- No war booty was taken
- No prisoners of war were taken
- No land was taken
There was no actual battle; it was something Allah blessed the Prophet PBUH with without all these things because of the sacredness of the Haram.
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Those Who Were Not Granted Amnesty
As we said, the Prophet PBUH mentioned to the sahaba a list of people who were not given amnesty. He PBUH said everyone should be spared except for a few people. How many are these few people? Books of seerah mention different numbers. Al-Waqidi says six: Four men and two women. Ibn Ishaq does not give a number, but he gives names that al-Waqidi does not give. And Ibn Sa'd as well. So the earliest books of seerah, some mention 6, some 7, some 8, and some even 9. So between 6 and 9. From a city of 2,000+, less than a dozen were mentioned by name. And for these 6-9 people, the Muslims were told, "You may kill them wherever you find them." And the beauty of it is that even these people, more than half were eventually forgiven. Who were these people?
1) Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahal (عكرمة بن أبي جهل) — the son of the pharaoh of this ummah. He was eventually spared, and he has a very interesting story. When Makkah was conquered, he was the one trying to fight. When he lost, he fled immediately and he fled to Jeddah and then took the ship to Abyssinia. On the way to Abyssinia, a storm overtakes the ship. And the captain of the ship says, "We don't have the power to withstand the storm. For sure we will drown. So now is the time to make du'a to Allah, for wallahi, you and I both know that our gods (idols) will not help us now." Even though the captain is a pagan, he admits that only Allah can help now. Subhan'Allah. And Ikrimah says —and he is narrating in the first person—: "That was when it struck me." Imagine, the son of the pharaoh of the ummah, Allah intended good for him. He was the number one on the list, and he deserves to be there, but Allah has another plan.
So, on the ship, after 20 years of fighting Islam, he said, "It occurred to me then if our gods will not help us when we need them, why should we worship them when we don't need them?" It's simple common sense. So he realized after all Islam is the Truth (which shows us again and again, that many of these people [Abu Sufyan, et al.] genuinely believed that these gods were living beings that could hear and answer their prayers.) So finally, he says, "O Allah, I promise You that if You save me, I will accept Islam. And I will go to Your Messenger, put my hand in his hand, and I will find him to be forgiving and merciful." And Allah saved him. He immediately went back to Makkah, wrapped his face in a turban to hide himself, and he made his way through the camp until he stood in front of the Prophet PBUH. And he uncovered himself and said the kalimah, and then he gave this whole story. And the Prophet PBUH forgave him and accepted his Islam. (And later on, Ikrimah died a shaheed fighting against the Romans [13 AH], showing his sincerity.)
2) Abdullah ibn Khatal (عبد الله بن خطل) — he had converted to Islam, came to Madinah and performed the Hijrah, the Prophet PBUH sent him on an expedition with another sahabi, but on the way there, Ibn Khatal murdered the sahabi, took his stuff, and fled back to Makkah and became a murtad. Not only this, he purchased two slave-girls known for their poetry, and told them to write poetry against the Prophet PBUH and the Muslims. In those days, this was the height of propaganda. So this is Abdullah ibn Khatal (note some books say Ibn al-Akhtal [ابن الأخطل]). And he had a very harsh execution. He fled to the Haram itself and jumped on the doors of the Ka'bah when the army was coming in and the Prophet PBUH was still outside. And he begged for forgiveness using the honor of the Ka'bah: He took the curtain of the Ka'bah and put it around himself and said, "Protect me by the honor of the Ka'bah," i.e., he is using the height of sanctity to protect himself. When the sahaba saw this, even they felt this was too much, so they sent an emissary to the Prophet PBUH telling him that Ibn Khatal was protecting himself with the curtains of the Ka'bah. But the Prophet PBUH said, "Kill him," so he was executed then and there.
3) Miqyas ibn Subaba (مقيس بن صبابة) — he too pretended to be a Muslim only to exact a revenge killing. Recall one of the sahaba had accidentally killed his brother in the Expedition of al-Muraysi' [see episode 54], so he wanted to get revenge. So he pretended to be a Muslim, entered Madinah, assassinated the sahabi, and returned to Makkah. So he too was executed.
4) One of the most interesting stories is the story of Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh (عبد الله بن سعد بن أبي السرح). He is a Qureshi. He accepted Islam, Emigrated to Madinah, and he was one of the few who began writing for the Prophet PBUH as a scribe. But eventually, he became murtad and returned back to Makkah, and he started fabricating lies against the Prophet PBUH, saying that the Quran was from his dictation. (This story is used a lot by orientalists.) He would say, "I would change the Quran. I would write differently to what Muhammad told me to write."
He was the foster brother of Uthman ibn Affan, so when the Muslim army entered Makkah, Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh got to Uthman and begged for forgiveness. So Uthman hid him until Makkah was conquered and things calmed down. After a few days, Uthman brings him to the Prophet PBUH, and he begs for forgiveness and asks to be pardoned. He is standing in front of the Prophet PBUH and all the sahaba are around. The Prophet PBUH does not say anything. Complete deafening silence. The silence becomes so thick and dense, and after a long pause, the Prophet PBUH says, "Okay. Accepted." Then Abdullah leaves. The Prophet PBUH then turned to the sahaba and said, "Weren't any of you wise enough to understand why I didn't say yes? Why didn't you execute him?" Meaning the initial command was to execute, so why didn't you do it? One of the Ansar said, "Ya Rasulullah, why didn't you motion with your eyes?" The Prophet PBUH said, "It is not befitting that a prophet of Allah gives signals with his eyes to kill someone."
But subhan'Allah, this man Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh, when he repented, he truly repented. And eventually, his Islam became very strong, so much so that Umar RA appointed him to be the governor of Egypt. And he lived a righteous life and died a beautiful death. And again, it shows us the Prophet PBUH is indeed the best human, but he is not Allah, and Allah had a different plan for Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh. No doubt he deserved to be executed, but Allah had something else planned.
5&6) Also on the list were the two slave-girls who had written lots of poetry, Fartanah (فرتانة) and Sarah (سارة). And of these two, Fartanah was executed, whereas Sarah fled and eventually asked for forgiveness, and she was forgiven.
5&6) Also on the list were the two slave-girls who had written lots of poetry, Fartanah (فرتانة) and Sarah (سارة). And of these two, Fartanah was executed, whereas Sarah fled and eventually asked for forgiveness, and she was forgiven.
So we have discussed 6 people so far — 3 people were spared, 3 were executed. We will discuss 3 more people to total 9 — and out of these 3, only 1 will be killed and 2 spared. So only 4 will be killed out of 2,000+.
7) Habbar ibn al-Aswad (هبار بن الأسود) — he was the one who refused to allow Zaynab, the daughter of the Prophet PBUH, to Emigrate to Madinah [see episode 41]. Recall in Badr, Zaynab's husband was captured and the Prophet PBUH made an agreement to set him free if he sent Zaynab to Madinah. So Zaynab's husband followed up with that promise, and told his brother al-Kinana to take Zaynab to Madinah to the Prophet PBUH. But his brother naively did this in broad daylight in the public. So when the Quraysh saw this, they said, "How dare we return the daughter of Muhammad to him?!" And they surrounded Zaynab's camel, and Habbar was the one who took his spear and shoved it at the camel. The camel jostled backward and Zaynab fell off, and at this, she had a miscarriage. So Habbar as well, his name was put on the list. But eventually, he too repents and he is forgiven. (Tangent: He was the founder of the Habbari Dynasty of India.)
9) Wahshi (وحشي) — the murderer of Hamzah ibn Abdul Muttalib. And Wahshi knew he would not be spared. So as soon as Makkah was conquered, he fled to Ta'if. And he only converted when the people of Ta'if converted, i.e., 1 year later — he was a member of the delegation sent from Ta'if to Madinah [see episode 95]. When he converted, at that point in time, the Prophet PBUH forgave him and asked him to tell the story of how he killed Hamzah in detail. So Wahshi told him everything. And it's said the Prophet PBUH was crying when he heard this. After, the Prophet PBUH said to him, "I have forgiven you, but don't show me your face." Subhan'Allah, what a punishment. So Wahshi, as long as the Prophet PBUH lived —what a punishment— he could not be in the same area as the Prophet PBUH. [See also: episode 48.]
So the full list of people is 9. Of this, only 4 are actually killed, and 5 are spared. So even the exceptions, half are forgiven.
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, June 2022]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, June 2022]
